Lost a Geek Stripe
by Slack, on July 20th, 2004
Ok, this entry is primarily for all the geeks out there. I have a sad story to relate about how yesterday I lost a Geek Stripe. All you geeks can follow along the troubleshooting logic train, and any non-geeks shouldn’t worry it’s so bad, you’ll also feel so much smarter than me by the end of this…
So, I bought a 6-in-1 card reader from Think Geek. I figured since I didn’t have a floppy it would be a welcome addition to my workstation. So, I downed my system and began installing it. I had to jimmy the guts of my system to get it working since it was USB, and needed to be clipped onto the USB mains inside the board and not plugged into a regular USB external plug. Ok, all installed, passed the smoke test, and we’re booting into Linux. :)
“# dmesg” reports some new lines in there showing me four (there’s four slots on the 6-in-1 reader) new scsi drives. I figure that’s a good sign. I funked around with it for a long time figuring out which drive was which (as best I could) and also what filesystems to expect. After all of this, I could read my CompactFlash cards, but not my MultiMediaCards. Much tinkering with the device and the kernel all the way up to modifying header code in my usb-storage module. Still no go, in fact modifying the code made the drive go completely away. So I reach the point where every Linux geek hates… Time to test in Windows… We all know Windows will use just about anything - it’s a hardware whore. So, boot up in Windows and the drive auto detects just fine. I get three drives in windows… Strange… Still can’t read MMC cards… So I figure I have a bad Card Reader! So I write Think Geek, letting them know about the bustified Card Reader and how I want a new one!
Boot back into Linux and four drives read, just like before. So that encourages me to keep tinkering… I finally get it to read MMC’s and the solution is QUITE embarassing… Well, you see, when you put the MMC card in upside down, apparently it won’t read very well…. Ugh… ::hangs head in shame::
Lastly, here’s a pic of Rhys when he, mom, and I went to BigBucks coffee. :)
lol.is all i can type. allen. lol. love the picture with rhys holding the coffee. cute. give everyone a kiss and a hug. love,
charity
Actually Allen You should tittle the picture “Rhys figures out why his father is the way he is”. :) Sorry couldn’t resist.
Anyway what was Think Geek’s response to your “bustified Card Reader”? If their response is this: “Dear Allen, turn the card over and try again.” (Without asking for any further information to troubleshoot the problem) Turn in one of your geek stripes. If they attempt to trouble shoot it and are unsuccessful you should be allowed to keep your stripe on a probationary period. (30 days or the next 2 geek-like items you purchase…whichever happens first.)
Have fun…
Mike
Mike, I just figured I’d show him early on what he’s going to need to do to help calm the voices in his head… Afterall, he is *MY* son. Hopefully there’s more of his mom in him than his dad… :)
And the response from the Think Geek Overlords, was basically “Fill this out and send er back.”
Remind me to tell you about the time I took apart the dishwasher thinking the door was broken only to find that a plate was blocking it from closing. Yeah, that’s alot of laughs…especially because it took me 2 hours to figure it out. Molly doesn’t ever let me forget that one and it has been 4 years!
Great pic of the boy!
So is the coffee to keep him awake during the day so that he sleeps at night?
Jason, I think the dishwasher takes the cake. I tried to think of something to compete, but I think you get the trophy! ;)
Adam, the coffee is to give dad enough energy to keep up with the little one. ;) I’m sure you know better than I!