January 2, 2006
So after my DVD drives disappeared on Wednesday, I gave up for a little while. After all, I still had a mostly-functional system. Then Saturday rolled around and I just had to go and futz with it.
I managed to "repair" W2K, which means reverting everything back to the original install. I then started the upgrade process. Oddly enough, IE6 stayed installed, even though the OS thought it was running 5. I "upgraded" back to 6 and restarted...
...only to find that my ethernet adapter was gone. All right, says I, fuck this. I booted from the CD again and wiped out the old install. I'll have to replace some programs, but I can also upgrade to Office 2003 without any worries. And with a fresh registry some things may actually work the way they're supposed to, like the status indicator on my new UPS.
After the install I attempt to launch Windows Update and discover that the ethernet port still isn't there. Attempting to install a generic driver is a dismal failure. Which is understandable: Ethernet was only a decade old when W2K launched, so it's perfectly understandable that the system would have no idea what the fuck to do with it.
God I hate Windows somwtimes.
So I'm now at work on a Sunday (and a holiday), downloading what I hope are the right drivers and getting my Net fix. You'll know whether or not the drivers work by the amount of cursing in the next entry.
Oh, and happy new year.
Edit, 1/2/2006 10:42 AM: Aaaaand it turns out I'm about as dumb as Windows. When I had trouble tracking down the drivers for the on-board sound, I dug the manual for the moboard out of my bookcase to see what specific string I should go look for on Google.
When I opened the book, the CD with the drivers on it fell out. Glad to know I could have fixed the thing a day sooner if I'd just spent more time rooting around in the slagheap known as my thought process. That CD is now with all the other install discs I'll ever need, in a nice, sturdy carrying case. Where they should have been in the first place.
But I've got sound now! Just like a real computer!
