Old machine + new postgrad + 'I want it now'

So a new postgrad arrives, and is allocated a desk and a machine. Do you
think Tech Services would maybe have thirty seconds prior warning, so
that we can determine that the machine 1) physically works, 2) has a
working OS, 3) is, in fact, physically present? What do you think?

So said postgrad arrives this morning and informs us that she can't log
in. I go down and have a look. Well, she can't log on because the machine
isn't connected to the fnzon qbznva. No problem, I'll just log on as
administrator... I'll just log on as admini... I'll just log... Ah. *None*
of the passwords we use or have historically used for the admin account
work. Joy.

Ah, well, it's running Jva2X anyway, better upgrade. I'll just get the
Ghost floppies, and we'll get it up and running. What type of machine is
it? Tngrjnl TC-600. Nearest relatively recent image for Tngrjnlf is for
the E3400. Should be close enough. We'll just boot from floppy and...
We'll just boot from floppy, and... bad sector. bugger. Walk up stairs
from level 3 to level 6, grab another set of floppies, walk back down, try
agai... No, it is the floppy *drive* which is fubar. fsck.

Go back upstairs again, look for replacement floppy drive. disassemble one
machine for spares, only to find that it is some sort of weird-arse IDE
bus combo drive that also happens to read floppies. Don't trust it, start
on another machine, which is even more painful to get apart, and a
co-worker finds a spare sitting on a shelf in the store room. Why didn't I
look there first? Good question. Ah well, go back downstairs, disassemble
machine, replace floppy drive (and these old Tngrjnlf, you really *do*
have to disassemble them to get to anything), boot to ghost, start
session... ah. A 10G image, and a 10G drive. That is getting a little
tight. Back upstairs, find a spare 20G drive, back downstairs,
re-disassemble machine, replace HDD, suck cut bleeding fingers, crawl out
from under desk and start the session agai... ***. The session stopped
when I told it to cancel. Phone call, request the session be restarted,
ghost. 10G takes a while. Twiddle my thumbs and re-assemble machine.

Ghost finishes, machine reboots, machine reboots, machine reboots,
fsckfsckfsckwhat now. Ah. the E3400 and the GP-600 are *not*, in fact,
'close enough'. I will have to grab the WXP install disk and repair the
thing before I can finish localising it and hand it over. It's 1:00pm.
It's lunchtime.

She's not in sight, so I mention to another postgrad that the machine is
still fubar, and I will fix it after lunch. 'Oh,' he says, 'do you want to
use this one?' pointing to a marginally newer machine of the E3400 type
sitting unused under his desk.

So, after lunch, I will swap the machines over, ghost... again, localise
and join to domain, take the old machine and drop it off the roof of the
building, collect the bits and do it again, repeat a few times, then
start larting random undergrads for not tucking their shirts in or talking
in the corridors or something until I feel better.

The more I work with computers, the better and better subsistence farming
looks as an alternative.

For added frivolity, every time I appeared from beating my head against
the wall, I got "Is it finished yet?"
*Every* damn time.

I'm going to eat now, and after that comes the afternoon's entertainment...

--
David Cameron Staples | staples AT cs DOT mu DOT oz DOT au
Melbourne University | Computer Science | Technical Services
note to self: make sure your cat is not sleeping in the bass drum before
you start playing them -- bash.org/?281421

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