3 Part Problem

Today we only had one major problem to deal with. A professor’s computer had three separate, yet equally annoying, problems with her computer. Her keyboard wouldn’t work right, her computer wouldn’t boot up, and her printer was broken. All of the solutions for us were pretty easy. We began by loading the BIOS to fix the computer problem. It turned out that the time on the system had reset, and so the computer was not working properly. Once the time was fixed, the computer booted up fine. (However, Steve believes that the problem may be a little deeper: that the battery on the system is actually dead, so power to the computer must always be on.) For the keyboard issue, we simply got a new keyboard from Edwards and brought it back to her. The last problem, the one with the printer, was not an easy fix. However, our printer guy is Gary, so all we had to do was refer the problem to him, and our work was done.

Most of the work I’m experiencing now is pretty easy. I may actually be able to go out on my own sometime before the end of the year.

Buffet

Our main problem of the day was attempting to fix that USB problem mentioned previously. I loaded the drivers needed onto My Scratch, and went over to the problem computer with Steve. However, our attempts were still futile. No matter what we do, it doesn’t seem to fix the problem, even if it should.  I also Googled more information today, but found nothing more than what we tried already. We may need to replace the computer.

On the bright side, I got to experience a little  more of the college life today. I was taken to a buffet type meal in Brockway. After eating there, I can understand why so many people have problems with the “Freshman 15″.

Clones

Today was not a very busy day due to Spring Break. For the first hour I came in, nobody was there. I sat down at the computer and waited for someone to show up.

When Emily and Tanasee finally came back, we ate lunch (turkey sandwich for me). I then got to work on a couple of small tasks: cloning (which is a piece of cake) and adding a couple computers to the surplus pile in the room (which I have never done before). I was mainly used for muscle for the surplus area, there was nothing that really required thought. I had to find the work number (“W######”), write it on a pad, and then leave the computer on the table.

While I cloned I watched the first couple episodes of Scrubs, which was playing on the computer next to the cloning machine. I suppose this job does have its perks, such as being able to do whatever you want in private while working, as long as you get the job done. Since there’s a lot of waiting time involved with everything, it leaves plenty of time to do other things.

Did not attend Internship due to Spring Break on the college campus.

USB Connectivity

We encountered a very strange error (at least strange to me) today while on the job.

Our main task of the day was to fix a computer with a faulty USB port. When we arrived on the site of the faulty computer, we started a simple test: we plugged a USB printer into several of the hubs and test printed pages. The printer successfully printed, however, I suggested we should try a USB storage device (a flash drive). Since I happened to have one on me, I popped it into a hub, and oddly enough it didn’t work, even though the printer worked through that same hub.

Missed internship today.

There was absolutely nothing to do today. No tickets and no work around the shop. Nothing.

Personal note: today is not to be counted in internship/community service.

Note to Ms. Suess: anyone doing this next year may wish to find some sort of alternative community service right on campus that they can go to at any time theywould normally be at their internship.

Unbooting

Today I resumed the normal activities of an internship day. Both college and high school were back in session, and so I headed over to Edwards to start my first internship day of the semester.

Not only was Steve back, but Emily apparently now also works on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Hopefully this means I’ll be a lot less bored, since now I’ll have more people to follow around to learn from and/or help. However, today I followed Steve around during the entire work period.

 == Exact Date Unknown ==

Today was an interesting day. It began easy and ended confusingly.

We started by fixing a professor’s keyboard on a Mac. Well, it wasn’t really “fixing” but more of an instruction thing. The professor (as well as me) learned how to delete both forwards and backwards on a Mac keyboard. They keyboards aren’t like a PC keyboard, which have both a Delete and a Backspace key. In order to delete in the other direction with the Delete key, you have to hold the Apple key.

After this, we went over to the Telecommunications section of Allen, to fix someone’s computer. He had a weird “generic host error” that Steve had never seen before and couldn’t figure out. We finally went back to Edwards and did some research on it. While at Allen, I saw Colin (from last year’s NV class) but didn’t talk to him.

Last Day

 == Exact Date Unknown ==

Today was yet again a slow day. Our only task today was to go to Tower and fix a problem with one of their computers. The ticket wasn’t too specific, and none of the people at the office knew what was wrong either. However, one of the printers was having a problem, and we fixed a paper jam. Once the paper was out, the printer worked fine again.

Looking forward to the IT Student party tomorrow.