Sunday, September 24, 2017

Phone Line

What I thought would be a quick, 30 minute set-up for the new printer turned into about a 4-hour ordeal.  Proof that nothing is EVER easy.  I got the printer out, plugged in, and all the assorted tapes and holders from the box removed so that I can start using it, and then hit the point where I needed to install the “software” to run it.  You would think that in 2017, installing software drivers for the operation of a printer would be something that took 30 seconds, but no.  It was a 25 minute install cycle.  Oh, and the fact that I put the CD into the drive, and the drive would not read it.  I’m not quite sure why, but it is a DVD RW drive and it appears that no software/data CDs work in it.  I don’t know if that is the reason, or if it is just because the computer is that old and the drive is just worn out.

Anyway, after nearly half an hour I go to check and I get a pop up window that says, “Installation failed. Try Again?”  Sure, I have to get this stupid thing working.  But in order to do so, I have to start all over from the beginning.  Another 25 minutes.  Then when I finally got the software installed, it was time to plug in the phone cord.  That was a whole ordeal in itself.

I had installed a phone jack in the den years ago, but since it was never used, I disconnected it.  No big deal, right?  Wrong.  I had to get a length of phone wire to hook up to the jack, and then splice into the existing line.  I go to my bin of electronics supplies (speaker wire, stereo patch cords, plugs, extra coax cables, Cat 5 and Cat 6 network cables, HDMI cables, but no phone wire.  I had about 75 ft. of phone cord about 6 months ago, and when I was cleaning things up, I figured, when am I ever going to need to wire in a new phone jack anymore?  So I tossed it out.  No big deal, I’ll just run to Home Depot or Menards and get about 25 ft worth of phone cord and I’ll be good to go.  Again, easier said than done.  NO ONE carries phone cord anymore.  After weighing my options, I ended up just buying longer phone extension cord and cutting off the spring loaded plug.  Then I just separated the wires, stripped them, and connected it to the existing wire with wire nuts.  Total time of playing around, about an hour and a half, maybe two.  The good news is that I FINALLY got the jack working.

Once it was ready to plug in, I discovered that I needed to have my existing phone plugged into the printer.  I tried to get around it when setting it up, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to get the fax part working unless I had the actual phone base plugged into it.  As a result, I ended up having to move the phone in by the computer.  I suppose that is a small price to pay.  

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