Plugging in...
Electricity and electronics. Can't have one without the other. And this week, the electricity sparked that dreaded blinking 12:00 on a client's stove. It should have been easy to re-set the clock, if the touchpad "settings" didn't fail to respond when touched. EVERY other touch button on the stove worked, except for the one we needed. My client lamented about the old-fashioned dials that we used to use to twirl about to set clocks.
Seemed like a costly event to get the stove button fixed - the circuit board might have been the culprit, but the company could not say for certain. So, the Tutor was asked, "anything you can do"? And there was. Quite a low tech solution, but it worked.
It just so happened it was 11:55am when the Tutor put the thinking cap on. Knowing that most electronic clocks default to 12:00 on a power outage, the Tutor created a power outage by turning off the breaker to the stove. We waited until it was high noon, flipped the breaker back on, and pressed the CANCEL button on the stove. Choosing cancel stopped the blinking, and the clock began keeping time at 12:00pm, which was the correct time of day.
The Tutor suggested the client use the same technique the next time the house lost power. Quick, elegant, and a no cost solution.
ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, and is it turned on?
Unplugged
Monday, October 30, 2017
Monday, October 9, 2017
NETGEAR Blocking
Plugging in...
How's this for puzzling? A website you used to visit regularly now blocks you, stating the security certificate is out of date. Hmmm. Was fine yesterday. Not only could the Tutor's client not get to the website on her laptop, but also not on her iPhone. Yet... everyone the client asked did not have any trouble viewing the website on their devices, including the Tutor, who tried it on her cell phone at the client's home without a problem.
Thinking harder now. What was the common factor between the laptop and the iPhone? Can you guess? A wireless connection, used on both. Once the Tutor tried the iPhone without WiFi, the website loaded just fine. Small problem with the laptop though. The client had an ultra slim laptop without an Ethernet port, meaning, it can't connect to the router with a cable :( so wireless was the only option without purchasing a USB Ethernet cable connector.
After a session with good old Google, it appears this Netgear router has this issue reported on a variety of online user forums but alas, nothing to fix it short of buying a different router. Now what do we do? I suggested the short, easy way out: if it's only that ONE website, view it on the iPhone while disconnected from w-fi. Still waiting on that to see if it is viable. Door #2: buy a USB Ethernet connector. Door #3: buy a new router. What would YOU do??
ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, and is it turned on?
Unplugged
How's this for puzzling? A website you used to visit regularly now blocks you, stating the security certificate is out of date. Hmmm. Was fine yesterday. Not only could the Tutor's client not get to the website on her laptop, but also not on her iPhone. Yet... everyone the client asked did not have any trouble viewing the website on their devices, including the Tutor, who tried it on her cell phone at the client's home without a problem.
Thinking harder now. What was the common factor between the laptop and the iPhone? Can you guess? A wireless connection, used on both. Once the Tutor tried the iPhone without WiFi, the website loaded just fine. Small problem with the laptop though. The client had an ultra slim laptop without an Ethernet port, meaning, it can't connect to the router with a cable :( so wireless was the only option without purchasing a USB Ethernet cable connector.
After a session with good old Google, it appears this Netgear router has this issue reported on a variety of online user forums but alas, nothing to fix it short of buying a different router. Now what do we do? I suggested the short, easy way out: if it's only that ONE website, view it on the iPhone while disconnected from w-fi. Still waiting on that to see if it is viable. Door #2: buy a USB Ethernet connector. Door #3: buy a new router. What would YOU do??
ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, and is it turned on?
Unplugged
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