Help Desk 1
Sunday, December 8, 2002 by joetheblow | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
Has anybody heard of a school (company) called HDI (Help Desk Institute)? I want some Help Desk background but I am not sure I already got that. I know about Networks and databases, systems, programs and junk. Anybody know what it takes to be at the beginning level of the Help Desk?
tinkergaloot
Reply #3 Monday, December 9, 2002 12:33 AM
Reply #3 Monday, December 9, 2002 12:33 AM
Three things you'll definately need are a sense of humour, an infinite amount of patience, and some lateral thinking ability...especially when you come across questions like "I had a drink in my computer's cup holder and I spilled it, now my computer doesn't work, can you tell me how to fix it?". When you figure out that the CD-Rom drive tray has been mistaken for, and used as, a cup holder you'll want to laugh and cry at the same time 
c242
Reply #4 Monday, December 9, 2002 1:02 AM
Reply #4 Monday, December 9, 2002 1:02 AM
'#3 by tinkergaloot - 12/9/2002 12:33:13 AM
Three things you'll definately need are a sense of humour, an infinite amount of patience, and some lateral thinking ability'
Never read a better summary.
Three things you'll definately need are a sense of humour, an infinite amount of patience, and some lateral thinking ability'
Never read a better summary.
Jafo
Reply #6 Monday, December 9, 2002 1:06 AM
Reply #6 Monday, December 9, 2002 1:06 AM
"I've plugged everything in, but the screen is still blank."
"Did you turn it on?"...
"Did you turn it on?"...
c242
Reply #8 Monday, December 9, 2002 1:10 AM
Reply #8 Monday, December 9, 2002 1:10 AM
I once had a user who had poured his monitor instead of the flower standing besides it and calling me that 'His monitor smells strange.' It was really difficult to be patient with him. (Which I didn't mangage to be...)
Jafo
Reply #9 Monday, December 9, 2002 1:15 AM
Reply #9 Monday, December 9, 2002 1:15 AM
Rubbish, tinker....that thing that says 'VHS' on the front...THAT'S a toaster...
Jafo
Reply #12 Monday, December 9, 2002 7:15 AM
Reply #12 Monday, December 9, 2002 7:15 AM
Tinker...no, a waffle-maker has 'HP Scanjet' written on it...
tinkergaloot
Reply #13 Monday, December 9, 2002 7:19 AM
Reply #13 Monday, December 9, 2002 7:19 AM
Jafo- I'll try it at work on Thursday and report back with the results...
joetheblow
Reply #14 Monday, December 9, 2002 11:37 AM
Reply #14 Monday, December 9, 2002 11:37 AM
So basically a person with a little more know how on computers could be at Help Desk 1. Why are there so many places that offer a certificate? sheesh!!!
Yes I heard the one about the CD tray being a cup holder many times. Some people know what it is for and are surprized when something goes wrong with the CD player when they finally use it for which it was made.
Sitting plate on it with cookies on the plate is fine though and helps the computer smell good. It also attracts helpful vermin that fix little parts inside the computer.
Yes I heard the one about the CD tray being a cup holder many times. Some people know what it is for and are surprized when something goes wrong with the CD player when they finally use it for which it was made.
Sitting plate on it with cookies on the plate is fine though and helps the computer smell good. It also attracts helpful vermin that fix little parts inside the computer.
Jafo
Reply #15 Monday, December 9, 2002 4:17 PM
Reply #15 Monday, December 9, 2002 4:17 PM
Now and then I get a stack of bits of computer to mess with...to see if I can turn 'em into a computer again.
Recently it was 3 MoBo's, CPUs and a pile of ram....nothing else, though.
2 of the boards were the same, as were the CPUs....they were OK...2 P100s on AT boards with 4x8 meg of EDO....only problem was the CPU fans which needed kick-starting...[dusty].
The third board was a micro AT/ATX [unknown name/model] and I think its matching CPU...a P166....takes the early dimm ram...128 pin or there-abouts.
I plugged in an AT power supply which promptly informed me it had to 'go' and shuffled off this mortal coil, emitting a bright spark.
A second AT PSU got a chip on the board smoking a treat....smelled terrible.
So, I figured the Board must be toast.
Then I had an ATX PSU hanging around so I tried that.....no hystrionics this time.....but also no post.
I wasn't sure if the MoBo WAS pickled or maybe the AGP 8meg card or perhaps it was the wrong ram or that was bad or even that the clock settings and voltage was wrong for the CPU...[it wasn't heating up....'bad' sign].
I tried other CPUs....P100, P233, changed voltages [why do they have to print jumper numbers so damn small?]...but as yet, no luck.
Since a comp's innards can be susceptible to micro-amp static discharge and I zapped the damn thing with either 5volts or 12....I figure it's probably an 'ex-parrot'...
Ah, tinkering 'can' be fun...
Recently it was 3 MoBo's, CPUs and a pile of ram....nothing else, though.
2 of the boards were the same, as were the CPUs....they were OK...2 P100s on AT boards with 4x8 meg of EDO....only problem was the CPU fans which needed kick-starting...[dusty].
The third board was a micro AT/ATX [unknown name/model] and I think its matching CPU...a P166....takes the early dimm ram...128 pin or there-abouts.
I plugged in an AT power supply which promptly informed me it had to 'go' and shuffled off this mortal coil, emitting a bright spark.
A second AT PSU got a chip on the board smoking a treat....smelled terrible.
So, I figured the Board must be toast.
Then I had an ATX PSU hanging around so I tried that.....no hystrionics this time.....but also no post.
I wasn't sure if the MoBo WAS pickled or maybe the AGP 8meg card or perhaps it was the wrong ram or that was bad or even that the clock settings and voltage was wrong for the CPU...[it wasn't heating up....'bad' sign].
I tried other CPUs....P100, P233, changed voltages [why do they have to print jumper numbers so damn small?]...but as yet, no luck.
Since a comp's innards can be susceptible to micro-amp static discharge and I zapped the damn thing with either 5volts or 12....I figure it's probably an 'ex-parrot'...
Ah, tinkering 'can' be fun...
joetheblow
Reply #16 Monday, December 9, 2002 11:10 PM
Reply #16 Monday, December 9, 2002 11:10 PM
OK.....
what?
Da only think I have any clue on is "dimm" and "cpu"
So I guess you would be Help Desk 2, right Jafo?
what?
Da only think I have any clue on is "dimm" and "cpu"
So I guess you would be Help Desk 2, right Jafo?
Jafo
Reply #17 Monday, December 9, 2002 11:29 PM
Reply #17 Monday, December 9, 2002 11:29 PM
Joe...
I'm a self-taught computer 'wrangler'....my current PC is home-grown....and seems to work OK, too..
But I do like fiddling with 'bits' to see if I can make them do 'stuff'...sort of a 'challenge'...
I'm a self-taught computer 'wrangler'....my current PC is home-grown....and seems to work OK, too..
But I do like fiddling with 'bits' to see if I can make them do 'stuff'...sort of a 'challenge'...
joetheblow
Reply #18 Tuesday, December 10, 2002 3:47 PM
Reply #18 Tuesday, December 10, 2002 3:47 PM
I guess that is why your the LiteStep man huh?
When I grow up I want to be just like you.... as far as computers are concerned.
When I grow up I want to be just like you.... as far as computers are concerned.
Jafo
Reply #19 Tuesday, December 10, 2002 4:38 PM
Reply #19 Tuesday, December 10, 2002 4:38 PM
Good grief...I'm a role model...
Joe...best way to learn about computer hardware is 'hands-on'.
It all started with my first P100...back when a 1 gig drive was about the biggest thing available...and my Western Digital Caviar 1gig decided to self-destruct, 'bad blocks' all over the place....and only a few weeks old..so I took the comp back, demanding a new drive..which I got...after a bit of a wait...[a week or so]...and this one...another WD 1gig popped bad blocks even faster.
Now once upon a time, it was common for drives to suffer the odd block damage/failure...some might even have 1% of their 'surface' damaged over time. In my case, I 'figured' something might be wrong when I got to 250 meg and counting....everytime there was a write to the drive I got more baddies popping up.
Finally a 'moderately' critical block went gaga...the 'boot sector', and the drive was as dead as the proverbial.
This time I told 'them' to courier a drive over to me and I'd put it in myself, as I needed to get up and running again quickly...and they did...a 1.2 gig...[they'd run out of the others...doh].
This was the first time I'd been inside the comp myself...and while changeing the drive I heard a faint crackle from the PC speaker...
Strange, I thought....the comp wasn't 'on'.
I twiddled the wires and lo, more crackle.
Closer inspection and I found the soldered wire contact shorting to the comp chassis.
'Hmmm', I thought. This was probably 'not good', considering that static discharge was supposedly sufficient to frag a comp, and here was 5 volts live to the entire box itself.
No wonder I was crashing heads, etc, destroying harddrives.
Out with the soldering iron and all was fixed.
The 1.2 gig never dropped one block in all its subsequent life.
Since then, I've preferred to make my own mistakes...I'm sure I can do them better...
Joe...best way to learn about computer hardware is 'hands-on'.
It all started with my first P100...back when a 1 gig drive was about the biggest thing available...and my Western Digital Caviar 1gig decided to self-destruct, 'bad blocks' all over the place....and only a few weeks old..so I took the comp back, demanding a new drive..which I got...after a bit of a wait...[a week or so]...and this one...another WD 1gig popped bad blocks even faster.
Now once upon a time, it was common for drives to suffer the odd block damage/failure...some might even have 1% of their 'surface' damaged over time. In my case, I 'figured' something might be wrong when I got to 250 meg and counting....everytime there was a write to the drive I got more baddies popping up.
Finally a 'moderately' critical block went gaga...the 'boot sector', and the drive was as dead as the proverbial.
This time I told 'them' to courier a drive over to me and I'd put it in myself, as I needed to get up and running again quickly...and they did...a 1.2 gig...[they'd run out of the others...doh].
This was the first time I'd been inside the comp myself...and while changeing the drive I heard a faint crackle from the PC speaker...
Strange, I thought....the comp wasn't 'on'.
I twiddled the wires and lo, more crackle.
Closer inspection and I found the soldered wire contact shorting to the comp chassis.
'Hmmm', I thought. This was probably 'not good', considering that static discharge was supposedly sufficient to frag a comp, and here was 5 volts live to the entire box itself.
No wonder I was crashing heads, etc, destroying harddrives.
Out with the soldering iron and all was fixed.
The 1.2 gig never dropped one block in all its subsequent life.
Since then, I've preferred to make my own mistakes...I'm sure I can do them better...
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Reply #1 Sunday, December 8, 2002 11:06 PM
I worked a help desk at a chat server until the bust took out the server. You might try inquiring at different chat servers.
Be aware that you will have to answer questions like, my mouse is at the edge of the pad and the cursor is on the edge of the screen. What do I do?
Or.. I live next to radio towers, How do I stop the music coming out of my sink?