Things that are not our problem

[that_chick_in_I.T.]

Your gallery page with 30 15KB images and 20 nested tables does not load quickly over dial-up. This is not a server problem.

The 50MB e-mail that you sent to some guy with a 10MB size limit on his account bounced back. This is not a problem with our mailserver.

You ordered a DIY site builder plan and didn't know that one "submit" button doesn't send data for two seperate forms. This is not a problem with SiteBuilder.

You submitted a bogus e-mail address to the registrar. It is not our fault that you didn't receive their e-mail notice that your domain was going to expire. We do not owe you a refund. We are not going to buy your domain back from the guy who purchased it 6 months ago.

You called tech support regarding your website - and you don't know your own domain name. If you don't know what website you're calling about - we can't help you.

[jb17kx]

You were told that FDISK was a really cool command to use. That is not our fault.

You plugged a 250VAC charger into a a device that takes 120VAC. The fact that we use a entirely different design of plug here in the antipodes, not to mention your high position in the company, means that you should have done the maths and read the label. The destruction of your PSU is not our volt... fault.

"Windows" is not sufficient information when describing a system fault. I am not psychic. It is not my problem that you cannot locate a version descriptor. Even "green start button" would be good.

It is not my problem that you smegged up your machine satisfying your... desires. Symantec use machines like yours to test a command they like to call

gdisk 1 /del /all

. Ad-aware will not help you now, and neither can I.

It is not my problem that you jammed an xD card in a CF card slot. You get it out.

[Geek King]

The building manager did not fix the roof properly. The sodden mess all over your desk is probably the remains of the celing tile over your desk..

No, I won't have it fixed in time for you to start working in five minutes.

I will spending the next hour with a hairdryer trying to save the system.

Yes, you probably SHOULD have backed up those files to a server that gets backed up.

No, I don't know what you're going to do.

[Gurndigarn]

You plugged a 250VAC charger into a a device that takes 120VAC. The fact that we use a entirely different design of plug here in the antipodes, not to mention your high position in the company, means that you should have done the maths and read the label. The destruction of your PSU is not our volt... fault.

Agggghhh... I've got one that I want to state loudly and clearly was not my fault.

As I've said before, I work on video games. I had one that had a marquee light (the light that illuminates the "game name" part of the machine) die. It was an import from asia, so the light bulbs didnt match what was readily available here (flourescent, slightly different length than the US standards), so I decided to replace the fixture with a US standard.

Which blew within fifteen seconds of powerup. With smoke, and blown fuses. Complaining about our parts supplier, I replaced it.

Fifteen seconds, again. OK, it's not our parts supplier. They're usually reliable. Once may be coincidence, twice isn't. So I look in the game.

OK. First, the usual power path on a game is kind of like a computer:

Wall current (AC)
to
on/off switch, interlocks, and fuses
to
AC splitter (sends AC lines to things that use AC, tyically the marquee and monitor. Most of the game uses DC)
to
AC to DC power supply
to
rest of game

I looked inside this thing... and groaned. Most people, if they expect to have stuff for export, consider the local standards, right? They only use the non-local spec parts when it would be too expensive to retool. So why is there a freaking step-up transformer in this thing? Think about it. Nearly the whole damn thing runs on five or twelve volts DIRECT CURRENT. You need to make a current and voltage change at the power supply. So why adjust the current, just to readjust it later? We are past the days of big transformers with bridge rectifiers, people. Or at least we should be.


Actually, now that I've ranted, I figured out possibly why not. If the monitor runs on 220, they would need appropriate power for that. Now, in fourteen years doing this, I've never seen a 220v monitor in a North American game... but still...

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

I will spending the next hour with a hairdryer trying to save the system.

I'd never go that far. If the hard drive didn't get soaked and only got splashed I'll hit it with the compressed air cans until I can dry off it's logic board. Otherwise my favorite trick is to soak the motherboard, ram, and expansion cards in 90% isopropinol alcohol to displace the water.

Takes 5 minutes for the soak, 15 to hang dry.

[Depot Denizen]

Do you mean arcade-style game cabinets?

[Acolyte]

If you're dumb enough to unplug your HDD while the computer is running, Dell will not replace it.
Especially if it says in the warranty.
Double-especially, in a seperate case, if your comp is not a Dell.

[technical.angel]

The building manager did not fix the roof properly. The sodden mess all over your desk is probably the remains of the celing tile over your desk..

I'm not the only one this happened to?

In my case, it was a frat that used a meeting room with a separate AC unit. They turned the AC up to it's max. (Hazing, who us?) They forgot to change it before they left. AC kept blowing and blowing and blowing until it froze. It then defrosted, right over the admin asst's desk for Financial Aid. Luckily, she had a cabinet above her desk, it hung over enough of the PC to protect everything but the keyboard.

We swapped harddrives, and set her up a new system. After we were sure everything was dry, we started it up and it was just fine (I, of course, had taken the power strip with me behind a metal chair, so the exploding computer wouldn't kill me.) It worked, and we sent it over to a technophobe. She was happy to know she had a very lucky computer.

Jenni, the who misses work.

[Gurndigarn]

Do you mean arcade-style game cabinets?

Yes. I work in coin-op entertainment.

[HawaiianShirts]

It is not my problem that you jammed an xD card in a CF card slot. You get it out.

Been there. Can I add to that statement?

Ahem.

It is not my problem that you jammed a memory card into the wrong card slot on one of our display laptops, then broke the card tyring to get it out, damaging the card reader in the process. You just bought a damaged computer and ruined your card. That'll be $900.

[jb17kx]

I have actually seen somebody do that with a 1GB SD card and a display IBM Thinkpad T43. The bill was closer to $3000...

[Geek King]

I'd never go that far. If the hard drive didn't get soaked and only got splashed I'll hit it with the compressed air cans until I can dry off it's logic board. Otherwise my favorite trick is to soak the motherboard, ram, and expansion cards in 90% isopropinol alcohol to displace the water.

Takes 5 minutes for the soak, 15 to hang dry.

<<shakes head>> Mongo, Mongo, Mongo. You have forgotten the Scotty rule. Always tell people it will take at least twice as long than it really will. Then they think you're a miracle worker when you get it done sooner.

BTW. The hairdryer I use is always on the 'no heat' setting. I've found it works well for larger jobs like drying boards or dustbunny races. The alcohol idea is good, I'll have to try that sometime. It wouldn't have worked well here though, as the remains of the tile had gotten in the case somehow (I suspect the case was open, but can't prove it ). I had to pick pieces out with tweezers. Everything worked though, so yay me

[BravoOrig]

I'm new to the world of arcade cabinets, acquiring one to setup a Mame system, but I found the same thing with my marquee light fixture. I measured it for a 14" bulb I believe and couldn't find that size anywhere. Was I looking at the same thing you found? My cabinet started out as a Williams cabinet by all indications.
I just ended up replacing it with an under the cabinet fluorescent light fixture since all the electronics were gutted except for the Jamma interface. Works well in my case but that is since all the new electronics have a standard plug in with their own power supplies. BTW, when I first recieved it and played the game currently in it, the sound was way too loud. I mean I had it sitting outside in the country and you could go down a long driveway and hear the thing. Any idea what or where the volume control was?

You can see pics at:

http://home.mchsi.com/~markdr/

Thanks,
Mark
BravoOrig


[QUOTE=Gurndigarn;48264].

As I've said before, I work on video games. I had one that had a marquee light (the light that illuminates the "game name" part of the machine) die. It was an import from asia, so the light bulbs didnt match what was readily available here (flourescent, slightly different length than the US standards), so I decided to replace the fixture with a US standard.

[Gurndigarn]

I'm new to the world of arcade cabinets, acquiring one to setup a Mame system, but I found the same thing with my marquee light fixture. I measured it for a 14" bulb I believe and couldn't find that size anywhere. Was I looking at the same thing you found? My cabinet started out as a Williams cabinet by all indications.

Bulbs typically aren't measured by their length, exactly. I'm not familiar with any that measure 14 inches, but I usually don't work with stuff that small. Industry normal for at least a decade has been F15T8s, which measure around 17 1/2". The one I was replacing was close in size to an F20T12, about 24 inches, but only close.

I just ended up replacing it with an under the cabinet fluorescent light fixture since all the electronics were gutted except for the Jamma interface. Works well in my case but that is since all the new electronics have a standard plug in with their own power supplies. BTW, when I first recieved it and played the game currently in it, the sound was way too loud. I mean I had it sitting outside in the country and you could go down a long driveway and hear the thing. Any idea what or where the volume control was?

Under-cabinet flourescents work, but tend to die quickly, in my experience. If it dies, consider a couple of cheap standard light sockets and some compact flourescent bulbs. Make sure they're back from the marquee at least threeish inches. Try not to use incandescent (regular) light bulbs if possible; the heat from them is bad for the game, especially if the marquee is a translight (piece of plastic behind glass), rather than screened glass.

As for the game's volume, given the age of the game, it was either on a potentiometer, which would probably have been mounted on the coin box, and been removed and bypassed at some point, or it would have been a dial or pot mounted on the CPU. Some of those volume controls were Real Small.

[jb17kx]

It is not my problem that the internet is slow today. It is your problem that you beleived my explainaton about a failed "gate multiplexer"...

It is not my problem that you wrecked your Li-Ion battery charger putting a NiMH battery in it.
Tool. They're bloody different sizes!