[ale] My Fn Keys stopped working - FURTHER OT

Mon Sep 26 11:10:17 EDT 2011

Years ago (in DOS days) there was a secretary that couldn't seem to manage simple data entry to a Lotus spreadsheet and/or get to it in the first place.  In frustration I created an autoexec.bat that automatically launched Lotus 123 - set Lotus 123 to automatically launch the specific spreadsheet and set an autoexecute macro in the spreadsheet to automatically put her to the first field for data entry.   The macro also automatically moved from field to field as she did data entry and automatically saved when she got to the last field.   She couldn't break out of the macro so the worst she could do is power cycle the machine and start over.  It made my life so much easier.

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From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Rich Faulkner
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2011 10:48 AM
To: ale at ale.org
Subject: Re: [ale] My Fn Keys stopped working - FURTHER OT

Yeah, I've had those too...

Back when I was an admin in the wholesale business I had an Inside Sales Manager call me to the Sales Office to fix the Secretary's computer.  She always complained about it never working.  (...it was always working but not so well due to "user error").  In this case she, the sales manager, (Anita) stood before the desk complaining that the computer never worked.  The company President and my boss were standing nearby talking and heard the whole thing.  I looked at the monitor...noted it was powered-up with the default signal pattern being displayed for that type...and noted the tower was OFF.  I pressed the power button, watched it boot and called to Anita that the computer was fixed (all within ear shot of the company President and my boss).

She called back from her office, "What was wrong with that stupid computer this time?"  I replied, "You forgot to turn it on!"

The President and my boss BURST into laughter and Anita crawled back under her desk...a priceless moment!  : )

Ah the memories....

On Mon, 2011-09-26 at 14:26 +0000, Lightner, Jeff wrote:
Support is fun.

At that job we once got a call from someone complaining that the TV on their kitchen table didn't work.   After some discussion we found that this was a site where the management couple lived on site and they had put the system console on their kitchen table.

Another fun one I've heard is people thinking the mouse was a foot pedal because it looked like the one they had for their sewing machine.

Back in the original IBM PC XT days I had a Director of Human Resources ask me for help because her computer didn't work.   She said she had tried turning it off and on multiple times but it didn't help.   It turned out she'd been turning the old monochrome monitor off and on and had never turned on the system itself.   Those XTs had a huge red toggle switch with "I" in one position and "O" in the other.   When she asked what the problem had been I told her "The red interrupt was in the O position".  :-)

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From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Rich Faulkner
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2011 10:10 AM
To: ale at ale.org
Subject: Re: [ale] My Fn Keys stopped working - FURTHER OT

In doing tech visits to private homes (back when that was my business) I commonly found CD's crammed into cases through the front-panel covers.  This was often due to the client's kids trying to play games on their computer and usually resulted in the parental response of, "So that's where that disk went!"  One of the better ones I witnessed was a man standing in line at CompUSA (tech desk) complaining that his "drink tray" had broken.  He didn't understand why the hole was so small that he couldn't get a cup in it and that the try was so flimsy it could barely hold a glass!  I couldn't help but laugh while hiding behind a book rack...

One of my funniest tech calls was a grown woman asking me where the "Any" key was...that was a good one, but the best was a grown man (owner of an insurance agency) leaving a message on the tech v/m at the Kotter Group in Lilburn (back in 2003) explaining that he had moved his mouse all the way to the left side of the mouse pad but the pointer didn't reach the things on the screen.  He needed urgent assistance in figuring out how to get the pointer to the far side of the screen and that we needed to call him back right away!

I still have that call saved as a file...will post it to the web if anyone is interested.  It's a good laugh and absolutely real.  I didn't do the call back for this guy...I would have been laughing too hard to be of help...(hopefully he would have found it equally funny!)

Rich in Lilburn

On Mon, 2011-09-26 at 13:51 +0000, Lightner, Jeff wrote:

Years ago we had a chain of sites on SCO Xenix and AT&T 286 machines with the 1.2 MB floppy drives.   The backups were done via tar to floppies.  One day we had to have a site restore the floppies.  The technician walked the customer through starting the restore via phone then told them after the first floppy finished they'd be prompted to put in the next floppy and should do so until done.

About an hour later we got a call from the (l)user telling us "I did what you said but can only force 4 floppies in there at the same time."

-----Original Message-----

From: ale-bounces at ale.org<mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org> [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Pete Hardie

Sent: Monday, September 26, 2011 9:04 AM

To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts

Subject: Re: [ale] My Fn Keys stopped working

I'm no longer amazed by the persistence and strength some uses must

have.  Long ago, I worked on a system that used Amigas as graphics

engines.  This was when you needed to use one floppy to boot it, and a

second to load the actual worki program.  One day, the customer

reported that one of the machines was not working.  When we

investigated, we found that someone had managed to jam a second 3.5"

floppy into a drive that was already loaded.  after removing the case

and extracting the errant disk with pliers, we tried to replicate the

feat, but it took a hammer to get the second disk into the drive.

Someone was very determined to get that disk into that drive over night.

On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 08:50, Lightner, Jeff <JLightner at water.com<mailto:JLightner at water.com>> wrote:

> Reminds of a system years ago that had a keyboard lock button right next to the power button.   They both looked the same.   More than once I'd come in and find the night shift had power cycled the system because "the keyboard quit working".  The power cycle of course didn't work so they then tried detaching and reconnecting the keyboard with no luck and would leave me a note.  Usually that was just an annoyance but one morning I found one of them had pushed the keyboard connection in so forcefully but upside down that they'd bent all of the pins on it.

>

> Which also reminds me of the VP I worked with who asked me to look at his personal Gateway (yes I know) PC.   I found he had actually forced the power connector into his hard drive upside down which had to have taken some work given the D shape made for such connectors to prevent exactly that.

>

>

>

>

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: ale-bounces at ale.org<mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org> [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Jim Lynch

> Sent: Monday, September 26, 2011 7:13 AM

> To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts

> Subject: Re: [ale] My Fn Keys stopped working

>

> On 09/25/2011 10:07 PM, Joshua Roberts wrote:

>> Hi all.

>>

>> My Fn keys are not working correctly anymore.

>>

>> I am running mint 11 64-bit.

>>

>> I came home one day and my Cat had been laying on my keyboard and I

>> had dozens if not hundreds of print screen dialogues on my screen.

>> Since then they Fn keys have not worked.

>>

>> Google has little info that is easy to find and the IRC rooms are

>> silent when I ask.

>>

>> Does anyone have any thoughts?

>>

>> Joshua

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>>

> I have a F Lock key on my keyboard.  It converts the F1-F12 keys into

> something strange. I have no idea what the purpose is, but when I

> accidentally press it, my function keys stop working.  Perhaps you have

> one too?

>

> Jim.

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