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in which Dell drives me to drink
Mar. 2nd, 2009 09:07 pmOne hour of listening to M on the phone with Dell before they dropped the call + one hour of me being on the phone with Dell before they dropped the call + two hours of me on the phone with Dell = whiskey please stat
I don't know yet if we made any progress. In a way we did, because the repeated calls have enabled us to get software tech support for free. Previously they insisted they would charge us for anything beyond very basic hardware support. Right now the solutions are 1) install new codecs and see if that helps (done, don't know yet); 2) if that doesn't work, reinstall Vista; and 3) if that doesn't work, a tech guy comes to our house and swaps out the motherboard. The tech people were nice, by and large, but often seemed incapable of hearing what I had already stated a few times over. It wasn't a language thing, either. The tech would ask me, "is the sound distorted?" to which I replied no, it pops and drops out for a fraction of a second and comes back, the basic sound quality is fine. Okay, says the tech. A moment later, "So when you hear the sound distorted..." I repeat no distortion, okay says the tech, and moments later it's "Is is still distorted?" Argh. I think the tech was trying to talk me into saying it was a problem that he knew how to fix. He also kept insisting it had something to do with the bitrate at which mp3s were ripped from CDs, even though I emphasized this happened with all kinds of files, even those created from scratch that had never been on a CD or had never been mp3s.
So as things stand now, I installed up to date codecs, and M will do some sound work tonight and see if the problem reoccurs. A Dell person is supposed to call tomorrow night to check up on it. Whatever.
I feel like I spent a full day at work despite the snow day. I had intended to watch/dance with Ranya Renee's new baladi DVDs today, but only got to watch the first 45 minutes or so of the first disc. That said, though, I officially join the Ranya cult. So much information, and she is such a stellar dancer! I think this DVD is pretty unique in the way she breaks down rhythm and song structure. I especially liked the demonstration of how a maqsoum layered over a fellahi sounds--light dawned for me. I loved the stories of her accordion player, too.
I don't know yet if we made any progress. In a way we did, because the repeated calls have enabled us to get software tech support for free. Previously they insisted they would charge us for anything beyond very basic hardware support. Right now the solutions are 1) install new codecs and see if that helps (done, don't know yet); 2) if that doesn't work, reinstall Vista; and 3) if that doesn't work, a tech guy comes to our house and swaps out the motherboard. The tech people were nice, by and large, but often seemed incapable of hearing what I had already stated a few times over. It wasn't a language thing, either. The tech would ask me, "is the sound distorted?" to which I replied no, it pops and drops out for a fraction of a second and comes back, the basic sound quality is fine. Okay, says the tech. A moment later, "So when you hear the sound distorted..." I repeat no distortion, okay says the tech, and moments later it's "Is is still distorted?" Argh. I think the tech was trying to talk me into saying it was a problem that he knew how to fix. He also kept insisting it had something to do with the bitrate at which mp3s were ripped from CDs, even though I emphasized this happened with all kinds of files, even those created from scratch that had never been on a CD or had never been mp3s.
So as things stand now, I installed up to date codecs, and M will do some sound work tonight and see if the problem reoccurs. A Dell person is supposed to call tomorrow night to check up on it. Whatever.
I feel like I spent a full day at work despite the snow day. I had intended to watch/dance with Ranya Renee's new baladi DVDs today, but only got to watch the first 45 minutes or so of the first disc. That said, though, I officially join the Ranya cult. So much information, and she is such a stellar dancer! I think this DVD is pretty unique in the way she breaks down rhythm and song structure. I especially liked the demonstration of how a maqsoum layered over a fellahi sounds--light dawned for me. I loved the stories of her accordion player, too.
