steveo
08-17-2002, 03:22 AM
After convincing myself I wasn't going back to the computer biz a few months ago I get a phone call. These people just bought a business that has a IBM server and 4 IBM pc's attached to it via a network. As new owners they decided to scrap the existing win98 o/s and install fresh Windows XP. So they called me and asked if I could do it. I hummed and hawed not really wanting anything to do with it. This morning they call again. One hard drive is toast, another pc is frozen, one printer won't work. Invoices/payroll has to be done etc...we're in a panic, how soon can you be here? I've never even seen XP before so I have no idea how it works. I shouldn't be taking this job at all but being a idiot I take it because it's run and gun quick cash.
I arrive and get the lay of the land. The tape drives are out and a burner is in. The server is out and the best of the 4 pc's will act as the new server so I double the ram and install a new HDD/burner. Backups are done and all the boxes are wiped clean. I find out they bought the XP upgrade. This worries me to no end. I install their copy of win98se and then the XP upgrade. Where's all the drivers I ask? They look at me with blank stares. I need another pot of coffee. In goes XP and it begins to install. Why arn't these boxes crashing I wonder? I chew off a few nails. The server pc is installed. All drivers are automatically installed. I have to install some business programs so I know this will crash the server-pc. But it never does. I barely have to do anything outside of a few clicks here and there. I hit the next box and the next, same thing. Why is all this stuff working perfectly? Are the planets aligning? Is Stonehenge falling down? Have the aliens finally landed? Now all the boxes have XP including the software and nothing has crashed. I still have the laser HP printers to do. Surely this will crash the whole lot. XP just picks up the printers and test pages are flowing. Last is the network itself. For sure this isn't going to work...it just can't. I don't even know what kind of network is in place. Token ring? Star? Basic hub? I have no idea. I click away on the fly, pretending I'm using win98 but things are making sense. Xp isn't so hard afterall. The network is up and running and the boxes are talking to each other. I do little print jobs back and forth. I can see everything and everything can see me. I can even troubleshoot one box from another.
By 7pm I'm finished. The owners are happy, they wan't me as their pc tech plus if they get this upcoming contract I have a job in their shop over the winter. I brought home the toasted 10g hardrive which isn't toasted at all...they just panicked...it works fine. I have the server and tape drives as well. They want me to use it for a while to make sure it all works then I can sell it for them. It's been a weird day.
As far as I'm concerned Windows XP is a thing of beauty. Now, if I could only remember where I left my socks...
I arrive and get the lay of the land. The tape drives are out and a burner is in. The server is out and the best of the 4 pc's will act as the new server so I double the ram and install a new HDD/burner. Backups are done and all the boxes are wiped clean. I find out they bought the XP upgrade. This worries me to no end. I install their copy of win98se and then the XP upgrade. Where's all the drivers I ask? They look at me with blank stares. I need another pot of coffee. In goes XP and it begins to install. Why arn't these boxes crashing I wonder? I chew off a few nails. The server pc is installed. All drivers are automatically installed. I have to install some business programs so I know this will crash the server-pc. But it never does. I barely have to do anything outside of a few clicks here and there. I hit the next box and the next, same thing. Why is all this stuff working perfectly? Are the planets aligning? Is Stonehenge falling down? Have the aliens finally landed? Now all the boxes have XP including the software and nothing has crashed. I still have the laser HP printers to do. Surely this will crash the whole lot. XP just picks up the printers and test pages are flowing. Last is the network itself. For sure this isn't going to work...it just can't. I don't even know what kind of network is in place. Token ring? Star? Basic hub? I have no idea. I click away on the fly, pretending I'm using win98 but things are making sense. Xp isn't so hard afterall. The network is up and running and the boxes are talking to each other. I do little print jobs back and forth. I can see everything and everything can see me. I can even troubleshoot one box from another.
By 7pm I'm finished. The owners are happy, they wan't me as their pc tech plus if they get this upcoming contract I have a job in their shop over the winter. I brought home the toasted 10g hardrive which isn't toasted at all...they just panicked...it works fine. I have the server and tape drives as well. They want me to use it for a while to make sure it all works then I can sell it for them. It's been a weird day.
As far as I'm concerned Windows XP is a thing of beauty. Now, if I could only remember where I left my socks...