Solo Technology

The daughter’s laptop is slowly falling apart. The LCD panel is barely attached (but functional) and the hinges are shot. The keyboard doesn’t really work, but the touchpad still does. The case is slowly splitting apart. If it wasn’t a Dell P3 500 I’d probably be distressed, but it has lived and long useful life and is still hanging in there

Her wifi card died the other day. Computer just didn’t like it and it wouldn’t light up properly. After some experimentation, it seemed as if the pcmcia slot was just plain hosed. Again, as the case is slowly splitting, I wasn’t overly surprised.

In my bag of tricks, I carry a little Linksys USB 10/100 ethernet adapter. For basic troubleshooting and such it has always been pretty handy to have around. Tonight, I figured that since the laptop wouldn’t do wifi, and I don’t want to run ethernet from 3rd to 1st floor, I’d just have her move her laptop up to my office for a bit. I’d use that USB adapter and just run her “wired” until I decide how to proceed. Of course, the wrinkle here is that laptop is old enough to only have 1 USB port and she uses a mouse. No problem, I have tons of old USB hubs laying around… and a mix’n'match box of AC adapters for ‘em as I’m sure bus power won’t be enough for the ethernet thingy.

Lesson learned: Voltage Matters. After a sip from the 7.5v adapter, the ethernet adapter has indeed died a violent death. Probably should have looked at the hub before I plugged it in as it apparently was expecting 5v. Perhaps a USB 1 vs. USB 2 thing? Anyways, dead adapter. Hey, maybe it was plugging it into the USB2 hub? Regardless, I’m bummed.

Final irony here: In a fit of desperation, I grabbed a very old PCMCIA Xircom 10/100 adapter. Works fine. Ok… so why won’t the Wifi one work?!?

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