It drives me crazy



  • k.. I'm really about to loose it here, one of my cd-rom drives has begun to act "strange" lately. Nope, it's not that it doesn't read cds, it works just fine on that aspect, but the the thing is.. IT FRIGGIN OPENS UP BY ITS OWN WILL!!

    I'm a step away of trashing the damn thing -even spite of doing it's job just fine-. I've checked all wires, bios config, everything, and it just keeps on popping up. I can assure you it's not a software problem, cause it sometimes open just when you give power to the pc and it hasn't really started to boot. Sometimes it won't do anything, sometimes it'll open a while after I close it, some other times it'll keep on popping up as soon as it gets closed, and some others, it'll just start flashing the reading led for no apparent reason.

    At first this seems stupid and harmless, maybe even funny, but trust me, when you are doing something and your cd drive opens up constantly it gets really annoying. 



  •  Just put a brick in front of it.



  • Just build an ITAPPMONROBOT and set it up so it ejects its CD tray anytime your computer's CD drive opens.



  •  Haha, my plan is working...

     

    mciSendString("Set CDAudio Door Open Wait", 0&, 0, 0) // FTW!
     
     


  • @MasterPlanSoftware said:

     Haha, my plan is working...

    mciSendString("Set CDAudio Door Open Wait", 0&, 0, 0) // FTW!

     

    mciSendStr....OP isn't running SSDS by any chance?  Everybody knows Swamp Search is chock-full o' surprises!



  • @CodeSimian said:

    mciSendStr....OP isn't running SSDS by any chance?  Everybody knows Swamp Search is chock-full o' surprises!
     

    You didn't know about the SSDS backdoor?



  • @MasterPlanSoftware said:

    You didn't know about the SSDS backdoor?

     

    So SS caught me on this one, dumb dumb zippolag.- 



  • My IBM notebook's CD-Drive does the same thing, anytime it's jostled it will roll a d30 and on a natural 30 (this is my rough guess on the chance) it will pop-open. Mind you, yours actually still reads CD's, and probably isn't a 5 year-old refurbished brick model. Note: this isn't my laptop from the Vista thread.



  • Gets his flaming hand ready...

     @Lingerance said:

    Note: this isn't my laptop from the Vista thread.

     DOH!



  • @Lingerance said:

    ...anytime it's jostled it will roll a d30 and on a natural 30...

    Somehow you managed to state the probability in a way even more geekier than normal math.  Good show, sir! 



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    even more geekier
    You're grammar be even more gooder!



  • @bstorer said:

    @morbiuswilters said:

    even more geekier
    You're grammar be even more gooder!

     

    Hahah. That so much betterer!



  • @bstorer said:

    You're grammar be even more gooder!

    Ha ha, you bastard!  It was so incredibly geeky I had to violate the rules of space-time to express it.  I apologize if your inferior, four dimensional language cannot handle the immense awesomeisity of my statements.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    It was so incredibly geeky I had to violate the rules of space-time to express it.

    Out of curiousness is there anything super wrong when one fits the mold of the stereotypical geek, to the point that strangers can identify me as such from a simple conversation, other than the fact that the chance of me losing my virginity is the same as rolling a natural 21 on an attack roll?



  • @Lingerance said:

    @morbiuswilters said:
    It was so incredibly geeky I had to violate the rules of space-time to express it.
    Out of curiousness is there anything super wrong when one fits the mold of the stereotypical geek, to the point that strangers can identify me as such from a simple conversation, other than the fact that the chance of me losing my virginity is the same as rolling a natural 21 on an attack roll?
    How geeky are we talking here?  Have you ever Rick Rolled someone outside the internet?  Did you not even know there's an "outside the internet"?



  • @bstorer said:

    How geeky are we talking here?  Have you ever Rick Rolled someone outside the internet?  Did you not even know there's an "outside the internet"?

    motionbox will convert any 15 second video clip into a flipbook.  I created a RickRoll flipbook and have used it against many IRL people.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @bstorer said:

    How geeky are we talking here?  Have you ever Rick Rolled someone outside the internet?  Did you not even know there's an "outside the internet"?

    motionbox will convert any 15 second video clip into a flipbook.  I created a RickRoll flipbook and have used it against many IRL people.

    Well, I think we just established "extremely geeky".


  • @bstorer said:

    How geeky are we talking here?  Have you ever Rick Rolled someone outside the internet?  Did you not even know there's an "outside the internet"?

    Not into pranks, Rick Rolling isn't the great of a prank either. I wear glasses (that get mistaken for bottle lenses, they're just curved for peripheral vision), my interest in computers is practically an obsession, I have a vast array of technical knowledge (jack of all electronic trades, master of none if you will) including but not limited to electronics (got a kit for building science fair projects when I was 9 for Christmas, at my request), computers, I was bored once and started doing A(4,3) [Ackermann] on paper. I also watch Anime but not TV (as in americanized programming), I regularly partake in DnD sessions, I attend Magic the gathering tournaments, own a GP2X (I think that counts for more credit than a PSP or DS would). I'll wear clothes until they give out, I didn't wear shoes until grade 7, nor socks until grade 10. I have three of my larger clothes drawers reserved for various wires, a few more for other miscellaneous electronics, I have about 30 programming books, 15 Security/OS/Program guide books, plus a physics reference guide and 4 electronic manufacturing guides, I've read every one of them front to back at least 3 times each (some so many times I've lost count). One could say I have mild OCD and Ausperger's. Also I just derailed a thread for the near-sole purpose of proclaiming how geeky I am. To touch it up I run a personal gopher, irc, and MUD server.



  • @Lingerance said:

    I wear glasses (that get mistaken for bottle lenses, they're just curved for peripheral vision), my interest in computers is practically an obsession, I have a vast array of technical knowledge (jack of all electronic trades, master of none if you will) including but not limited to electronics (got a kit for building science fair projects when I was 9 for Christmas, at my request), computers, I was bored once and started doing A(4,3) [Ackermann] on paper. I also watch Anime but not TV (as in americanized programming), I regularly partake in DnD sessions, I attend Magic the gathering tournaments, own a GP2X (I think that counts for more credit than a PSP or DS would). I'll wear clothes until they give out, I didn't wear shoes until grade 7, nor socks until grade 10. I have three of my larger clothes drawers reserved for various wires, a few more for other miscellaneous electronics, I have about 30 programming books, 15 Security/OS/Program guide books, plus a physics reference guide and 4 electronic manufacturing guides, I've read every one of them front to back at least 3 times each (some so many times I've lost count). One could say I have mild OCD and Ausperger's. Also I just derailed a thread for the near-sole purpose of proclaiming how geeky I am. To touch it up I run a personal gopher, irc, and MUD server.

    Meh, that's not so bad.  There are plenty of men/women out there who are into geeky guys so I wouldn't worry about it.  The fact is, the further you get from college the less that stuff matters.  Honestly, right now being "nerdy" is pretty cool amongst people my age, which I find quite surprising.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

     

    Meh, that's not so bad.  There are plenty of men/women out there who are into geeky guys so I wouldn't worry about it.  The fact is, the further you get from college the less that stuff matters.  Honestly, right now being "nerdy" is pretty cool amongst people my age, which I find quite surprising.

    Nerd chic is the best!  I was kind of a paradox in high school, in that I both played football and acted as a ringer for the math team.  And the math team thing earned me more popularity.  Go figure.


  • @morbiuswilters said:

    Meh, that's not so bad.  There are plenty of men/women out there who are into geeky guys so I wouldn't worry about it.  The fact is, the further you get from college the less that stuff matters.  Honestly, right now being "nerdy" is pretty cool amongst people my age, which I find quite surprising.

    Might have something to do with the fact that the nerdy people have domain knowledge in all aspects of new and upcoming technology, including the social networking sites, and therefore actually having knowledge of such systems should provide positive modifiers to diplomacy checks (sorry about the DnD references, it's just easier to explain what I mean that way). Which would probably be to my benefit if I wasn't super shy and actually knew about conversation flow/small talk (which I will routinely fuck up in IMs).



  • @Lingerance said:

    Might have something to do with the fact that the nerdy people have domain knowledge in all aspects of new and upcoming technology, including the social networking sites, and therefore actually having knowledge of such systems should provide positive modifiers to diplomacy checks (sorry about the DnD references, it's just easier to explain what I mean that way). Which would probably be to my benefit if I wasn't super shy and actually knew about conversation flow/small talk (which I will routinely fuck up in IMs).

    One of my best friends routinely refers to everything in terms of video game RPGs.  She talks about how working an 8 hour shift is like "leveling up".  She's also a year younger than me and married to an equally nerdy guy.  Believe me, you can't be any worse at small talk than she is.  If I even try to engage in chit-chat she just looks baffled and says "Are you just trying to make conversation or are you seriously that retarded?"  My best advice is to spin anything you perceive as negative into a positive attribute.  Self-deprecation works wonders as well.  If you act completely serious and stuck-up, it doesn't matter what you are talking about, people will dislike you.  But you can talk about the nerdiest topics with people who are completely unfamiliar with them by just prefacing your comments with "This is so nerdy, but.."  Really, most people just like the act of talking and as long as you don't make them feel stupid or inferior and you let them ramble on about their interests, they will be comfortable.  Also, alcohol helps immensely.  Not bombed-out-of-your-mind drunk, but most people are nervous when they are talking with unfamiliar people and alcohol sort of reduces that awkwardness and lets the conversation proceed.  The only people I know who nobody can stand are guys who are so convinced of their nerdiness they feel the need to point out their superiority at every chance that presents itself.  You can't let yourself think "I'm just too nerdy to deal with normal people" because that leads to an ever-increasing cycle of isolation, alienation and anger at others.



  • @Lingerance said:

    Which would probably be to my benefit if I wasn't super shy and actually knew about conversation flow/small talk (which I will routinely fuck up in IMs).
    I've always felt that the most important thing is to be comfortable in your own skin.  If you can accomplish that, conversation becomes easy because you're not over-thinking it.



  • @bstorer said:

    I've always felt that the most important thing is to be comfortable in your own skin.  If you can accomplish that, conversation becomes easy because you're not over-thinking it.

    Also, remember that most people have a very weak constitution.  I have won many DnD games by only focusing on improving my diplomacy.  If you bump it high enough, you can convince NPC castle guards to kill their own king by only rolling a freakin' 8. 



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @bstorer said:

    I've always felt that the most important thing is to be comfortable in your own skin.  If you can accomplish that, conversation becomes easy because you're not over-thinking it.

    Also, remember that most people have a very weak constitution.  I have won many DnD games by only focusing on improving my diplomacy.  If you bump it high enough, you can convince NPC castle guards to kill their own king by only rolling a freakin' 8. 

    At least in 3e, it's all about Bluff.  If you can max out your Bluff, you can make anything happen.


  • non-sequitur update:

    the situation has now become kind of "abbot&costelloish", i.e. if I try to open the drive, it will now randomly start blinking like if it was reading something -tho it's empty- and refuse to open until I frggin click the open button several times. Of course, once I've finished using the thing and I wan't to leave it closed it will randomly pop open again.

    I'm going to try and leave some cd inside, just to see if that cures the bitch. 



  • @bstorer said:

    At least in 3e, it's all about Bluff.  If you can max out your Bluff, you can make anything happen.

    Yeah, I'm not the most informed DnD player.  I always play chaotic neutral and I max out my charisma, diplomacy, etc.. anything that will make me a convincing liar.  Then no matter what situation my party finds itself in, I always try to deceive our way out of it.  If that fails, everyone else handles the actual battle, but my luck is usually good and I acquire experience quickly.  However, as chaotic neutral, I feel an obligation to "balance the scales" so to speak, so if I feel my own party is doing too well I will intentionally use my charisma and diplomacy to provoke NPCs into battle with my own party members.  I am also ill-informed of the actual rules, so I spend a lot of time asking the DM stupid questions.  Example:

    DM:  You enter the hallway and are confronted by a guard who demands to know your business.

    Me:  I offer him a bribe.

    DM:  You hae no money, only lawn trimmings.

    Me:  I offer him my lawn trimmings and use my charisma and diplomacy to convince him they are actually money.

    DM:  *sigh*  You will have to roll a *checks sheet* 12 to make that happen.

    Me:  *rolls*  Damn, eleven!  I use my charisma to convince him that I actually rolled a 12.

    DM:  You can't do that.

    Me:  Why not?

    DM:  The guard draws his sword.

    Me:  I use my charisma and diplomacy to convince him his sword is actually a terrifying serpent.

    DM:  *sigh*  You will have to roll a *checks sheet* 15 to make that happen.

    Me:  *rolls*  Damn, thirteen!  I use my charisma and diplomacy to convince him we are long-lost lovers.

    DM:  Stop that.  Seriously.  He swings his sword at you and cuts off your arm.

    Me:  What do I have to roll to use my charisma and diplomacy to convince you that didn't actually happen? 



  • @bstorer said:

    If you can max out your Bluff, you can make anything happen.

    In 3.5 it's Diplomacy.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    I always play chaotic neutral and I max out my charisma, diplomacy, etc.. anything that will make me a convincing liar.  Then no matter what situation my party finds itself in, I always try to deceive our way out of it.

    I play similarly.  The way I figure it, I can either kill the dragon, or convince him I'm dead so he'll go away.  After repeated encounters resulted in me convincing the angry things that I was dead and therefore not worth paying attention to, he finally had a dragon roast me when I played dead.  When I objected that the dragon had no reason for doing so, he explained that this was an especially cautious dragon.


  • @bstorer said:

    The way I figure it, I can either kill the dragon, or convince him I'm dead so he'll go away

    I wish my GM was that liberal, mine attempts to force us upon a certain path, deviation is often fatal (he'll roll back if we die because of straying), an example of this is a chaotic good character (attempting to become a blackguard for some reason), raped a female prisoner during interrogation (she committed suicide before I could finish interrogation), and tried to kill a friendly NPC party member, resulting in the ghost killing them hard (ghost gets a +3 level adjustment, with a shit-load of damage reduction). Mind you he did allow the rape, which is odd, but he declined my request for a small furry animal obsessed gnome-beguiler though, which I made to help him for making 14 NPC hirelings. Also he gave us two puzzles which he wanted us to figgure out a solution for (which wouldn't be that bad if it weren't for the fact that he couldn't think of one for himself).



    @OP: is it a desktop CD-Drive, or a laptop/notebook?



  • it's a desktop, I wouldn't dare to open up and mess with the cables of a notebook ::S 



  • Try opening the case of the drive then, there might be something loose that can be tightened. I'm of course assuming that the warranty is well past.



  • I have checked everything, there is no apparent reason for it to malfunction other than being possesed. tho I have to say, it stopped bothering when I started watching bleach's last episode 20 mins ago.- 



  • @Lingerance said:

    I was bored once and started doing A(4,3) [Ackermann] on paper.

    plz mail me the results its urgnet



  • I have been having a similar (yet opposite) problem with my drive.  When I hit the eject button I have to insert or remove the disc quickly, because as soon as the tray is fully extended, it immediately begins to close.



  • Brand new DVD burner:  $30-40. 

    Course, if you're in college, that's a lot of money 



  • @bstorer said:

    Have you ever Rick Rolled someone outside the internet?
    Not outside the internet, but I've been RickRolled in LOTRO (Lord of the Rings Online).

    So you get to play instruments in LOTRO, and one of the instruments you can play is a lute.  You use the number keys for the pitches, then other combinations of keys to go up or down an octave.  Anyways, people will sit in populated areas and start playing, but then when they get a good crowd, they start playing rick roll.

    Also, in probably the most geeky thing that has ever been done, my wife (playing an NPC with her NPC crew) rick rolled some PCs in a LARP.



  • @ZippoLag said:

    At first this seems stupid and harmless, maybe even funny, but trust me, when you are doing something and your cd drive opens up constantly it gets really annoying. 
     

    There is a quote:

    "If you can't solve a problem with gaffa tape*, you obviously haven't used enough."

     * if you're in America, substitute "Duck Tape"



  • @PhillS said:

     * if you're in America, substitute "Duck Tape"
    It's Duct Tape, used for sealing ducts (and making wallets), not ducks.

    </pedant>



  • @PhillS said:

     * if you're in America, substitute "Duck Tape"
     

    Duct Tape.

     

    EDIT: Blast  you belgarion. You beat me to it.



  • @MasterPlanSoftware said:

    @PhillS said:

     * if you're in America, substitute "Duck Tape"
     

    Duct Tape.

     

    EDIT: Blast  you belgarion. You beat me to it.

     

    Sorry, I got confused with the brand!



  • @PhillS said:

    Sorry, I got confused with the brand!
    It's ok.  I just couldn't help being a pedant.

    Anyways, does anyone else have the Fine Young Cannibals song running through their head because of the title of this thread?


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @belgariontheking said:

    It's Duct Tape, used for sealing ducts (and making wallets), not ducks.

     

    http://www.ducttapeguys.com/duckvsduct.html is wrong then? (Wikipedia seems ambivalent about that particular explanation)


  • @PhillS said:

    [quote user="MasterPlanSoftware"]

    [quote user="PhillS"] * if you're in America, substitute "Duck Tape"

     

    Duct Tape.

     

    EDIT: Blast  you belgarion. You beat me to it.

    [/quote] 

    Sorry, I got confused with the brand!

    [/quote]

    There's a reason I don't call it duct tape.



  • @Zemyla said:

    @PhillS said:

    @MasterPlanSoftware said:

    @PhillS said:

     * if you're in America, substitute "Duck Tape"
     

    Duct Tape.

     

    EDIT: Blast  you belgarion. You beat me to it.

     

    Sorry, I got confused with the brand!

    There's a reason I don't call it duct tape.

    I don't think it seals a duck any better.



  • @Lingerance said:

    @morbiuswilters said:
    Meh, that's not so bad.  There are plenty of men/women out there who are into geeky guys so I wouldn't worry about it.  The fact is, the further you get from college the less that stuff matters.  Honestly, right now being "nerdy" is pretty cool amongst people my age, which I find quite surprising.
    Might have something to do with the fact that the nerdy people have domain knowledge in all aspects of new and upcoming technology, including the social networking sites, and therefore actually having knowledge of such systems should provide positive modifiers to diplomacy checks (sorry about the DnD references, it's just easier to explain what I mean that way). Which would probably be to my benefit if I wasn't super shy and actually knew about conversation flow/small talk (which I will routinely fuck up in IMs).
     

    My friends play DnD and me and my wife joined in once... We got kicked out caz we were "having too much fun" and "not taking it seriously enough"... My friend who was DM had fun with it... O well thats my DnD rant.

    I may be a Geek, but everyone seems to need my skills :) So only kids think Geek=Bad, adults think Geek=Solution to all my technology problems, therefore I will make him some tasty food to lure him into my dungeon of work!



  • @Lingerance said:

    I wear glasses (that get mistaken for bottle lenses, they're just curved for peripheral vision), my interest in computers is practically an obsession, I have a vast array of technical knowledge...

    <SNIP>

    OH WHY DON'T YOU LIVE IN GEORGIA?! I can't find anyone around here who comes close to my mild geekiness. Conversations always get awkward after about 15 minutes because I weird the others out. I need a local geek to converse with and pick up some more geek knowledge from.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    The fact is, the further you get from college the less that stuff matters.  Honestly, right now being "nerdy" is pretty cool amongst people my age, which I find quite surprising.

    Agreed. My wife loves my geekiness, as well as my bizarre sense of humor.



  • @belgariontheking said:

    Brand new DVD burner:  $30-40. 

    Course, if you're in college, that's a lot of money 

     

    plus that's 90-120 pesos over here, but not that money is the issue, plus I do have an old cd burner AND a dvd recorder on this comp, but I refuse to get rid of my dvd drive since it should be just working fine!

    update: keeping a disc inside seems to have calmed the bitch down, I guess she was just yelling for attention cause lately I haven't used her at all. 



  • @ZippoLag said:

    update: keeping a disc inside seems to have calmed the bitch down
     

    Yeah, sorry my SSDS backdoor got slow for a minute, I will get back to it soon.


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