Candes Saint-Martin, my favourite spot in La Touraine.

Friday 15 August 2014

Three attempts - part 2

You’ll all agree that my printing problem totally justified the purchase of a new printer, nothing fancy or expensive. Just a user-friendly device that meets my limited requirements. I chose the cheapest model in the store, a small Epson inkjet (print/scan/copy). As the model has been taken out of production, I got the showroom printer, with a nice 15% discount without having to ask for it. The young man at the counter, probably a computer wizard, explained that all I had to do was to plug it in, install the software on my computer, using the CD that came with the printer and follow the instructions. ‘Simple comme bonjour’ (as the say in French).

The first part was easy. However, when it came to following the instructions, I found them rather confusing. I tried a first time on Friday and failed. Somehow the screen I was supposed to see, didn’t appear. I tried again on Saturday … with the same frustrating result. I decided to give the machine a rest and ignored it completely on Sunday. That ought to teach it. On Monday, I somewhat reluctantly decided to give it one more try, before returning it to the shop in case of yet another failure.

My news Wi-Fi printer. All set up and ready to go.

I discarded the manual and followed my own instinct. Somehow I managed to get to the point where you have to put in the secret password to connect the printer to the BBOX (router). I typed in the password and the green Wi-Fi light started flashing. There was some activity on the touchscreen of the printer too. Fingers crossed! The result? ‘Connection failed – password error’. I tried again. Same result. By then I had almost run out of patience. And suddenly it downed on me: Could the password be case-sensitive? I fiddled around with the touch screen, trying to figure out whether it was possible to change the case. It was. Holding my breath, I typed in the password for the third time …. Suspense …. And then, almost 96 hours after my first attempt on Friday, the outcome was positive: ‘Congratulations, you have successfully established your Wi-Fi connection’. At last. What a relieve!

The printer works just fine and I am really pleased with it. What will happen to the old HP? I put a short ad on our office’s intranet, offering it for free. Two hours later a young woman sent me an e-mail, asking whether there wasn’t a mistake in the ad: ‘Is it really for free?’ she asked … She’ll be picking it up next Monday. Must remember to tell her about the 110 mg paper requirement!


5 comments:

chm said...

My grandmother used to say: "La mauvaise volonté des choses qui nous servent." This is exactly what happens with the computer paraphernalia we have to be confronted with every minute of the day!

Glad you figured out what to do. I won't mention the frustration though!

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

Hi , I am glad that after a lot of perseverance that you managed to get it working , well done.

Amazing isn't it that people don't think they can get something for free.

Louise said...

Martine...lucky you! After a few months with a new WiFi printer which I bought with my iMac I still can't scan...so I keep reverting to the old,and ancient friend, with its expensive ink, which "talks" to me...Actually, changing technology (from PC to Mac) has taken away some of the pleasure of "just writing my blog"...I need to make friends with this new machine!

ladybird said...

Chm, Your grandmother was a very wise woman. Wonder what she would say when she saw all the gadgets we have to deal with today. :)

Anne, It was rather funny indeed when the young woman asked me whether it wasn't a typo. I had never expected that.

Louise, What made you switch from Mac to PC? Most Mac users look down on PC's.;) I hope you'll soon get the knack of it, so that you can continue blogging with pleasure.

Bob said...

Hang in there Louise. I've used PCs and I don't care to ever see another EXE file or try and read through the directory. I have Apple everything and they really are easy to use. I still have an original "box" MacIntosh that still runs, but it's just an antique now. Now, if we could get Martine to switch???????