"Okay, is the computer definately on?"
I’m beginning to think I may have mildly perturbed a gypsy. I appear to be at the mercy of some minor, rather modern curse.
Logged in on day one - there were some minor issues there, but nothing that can’t be explained away by my having a stupid name and my being stupid. Then the first thing I had to do was connect to the shared L drive. I got the address from a co-worker, mapped the network drive...nope, couldn’t find it. Tried again. Nope. Tried variants on the theme. Again no. So I called IT help in India. They tried the ‘turn it off and on again’ approach with me, the ‘unplug the network cable and plug it in again approach’ with me, they reset various things, tried the above again, and again, and variants on the theme. They could see me on the system, but they weren’t able to take control of my PC. They took my PC ID number. Still no. They took my IP address. Still no.
“This has never happened before” The call handler said in an increasingly nervous voice.
“It has to me” I wanted to respond, but decided to steer clear of muddying the waters.
Turns out that, if I’m really not on the network, I can’t connect to the internet. I explained that I was on the internet. He told me that I couldn’t me. And so on for a while.
They then sent me through to IT in London, who I’ve been dealing with over e-mail.
“Can you receive and send e-mails?” Asked the first e-mail I received, in answer to the one I had just sent...
“If you’re not on the network you can’t be using e-mail” Said the e-mail I had received in response to the e-mail I had just sent.
He tried the ‘turn it off and on again’ approach with me, the ‘unplug the network cable and plug it in again approach’ with me, they reset various things, tried the above again, and again, and variants on the theme.
Then he said he’d reset my password, and that if I shut down the computer and logged in again with this new password, it should work.
I logged out. My new password didn’t work. My old password didn’t work. I called IT in India again. They told me to e-mail the guy in London. I told them I couldn’t e-mail anyone if I couldn’t log in. They told me to e-mail my line manager. I explained again.
They tried the ‘turn it off and on again’ approach with me, the ‘unplug the network cable and plug it in again approach’ with me, they reset various things, tried the above again, and again, and variants on the theme.
Eventually I went over to Lisa in HR and explained. She e-mailed IT London for me. 5 minutes later she walked over to my PC, typed in what she said was the new password I was issued, logged me in right away. I felt somewhat stupid, thanked her, and off she went. I then got a dialogue box up saying that I had to change my password because it was my first log in attempt. I tried this, only to be told I couldn’t because the network couldn’t be found.
I rather sheepishly went over to Lisa, who told me to call IT.
IT reset my password again.
I still can’t get access to the L drive.
Logged in on day one - there were some minor issues there, but nothing that can’t be explained away by my having a stupid name and my being stupid. Then the first thing I had to do was connect to the shared L drive. I got the address from a co-worker, mapped the network drive...nope, couldn’t find it. Tried again. Nope. Tried variants on the theme. Again no. So I called IT help in India. They tried the ‘turn it off and on again’ approach with me, the ‘unplug the network cable and plug it in again approach’ with me, they reset various things, tried the above again, and again, and variants on the theme. They could see me on the system, but they weren’t able to take control of my PC. They took my PC ID number. Still no. They took my IP address. Still no.
“This has never happened before” The call handler said in an increasingly nervous voice.
“It has to me” I wanted to respond, but decided to steer clear of muddying the waters.
Turns out that, if I’m really not on the network, I can’t connect to the internet. I explained that I was on the internet. He told me that I couldn’t me. And so on for a while.
They then sent me through to IT in London, who I’ve been dealing with over e-mail.
“Can you receive and send e-mails?” Asked the first e-mail I received, in answer to the one I had just sent...
“If you’re not on the network you can’t be using e-mail” Said the e-mail I had received in response to the e-mail I had just sent.
He tried the ‘turn it off and on again’ approach with me, the ‘unplug the network cable and plug it in again approach’ with me, they reset various things, tried the above again, and again, and variants on the theme.
Then he said he’d reset my password, and that if I shut down the computer and logged in again with this new password, it should work.
I logged out. My new password didn’t work. My old password didn’t work. I called IT in India again. They told me to e-mail the guy in London. I told them I couldn’t e-mail anyone if I couldn’t log in. They told me to e-mail my line manager. I explained again.
They tried the ‘turn it off and on again’ approach with me, the ‘unplug the network cable and plug it in again approach’ with me, they reset various things, tried the above again, and again, and variants on the theme.
Eventually I went over to Lisa in HR and explained. She e-mailed IT London for me. 5 minutes later she walked over to my PC, typed in what she said was the new password I was issued, logged me in right away. I felt somewhat stupid, thanked her, and off she went. I then got a dialogue box up saying that I had to change my password because it was my first log in attempt. I tried this, only to be told I couldn’t because the network couldn’t be found.
I rather sheepishly went over to Lisa, who told me to call IT.
IT reset my password again.
I still can’t get access to the L drive.