dont feel too bad.

i have not one, but 2 hp800ct's, but onely *one* of them works :-)

it was mentioned on numerous web pages devoted to said laptop that a bios
upgrade was in order, and i was having serious trouble getting freebsd to
boot on it. i was having to use the plip interface to do any communication
with it, the pcic stuff wasnt working

so i rebooted my desktop to win98 to make the floppy

so i made a dos floppy and put the upgrade program on it - this was like
1am on a week night, hours after i should have gone to bed.

i boot the floppy and run the program and read the dire warnings about NOT
TOUCHING ANYTHING while it writes the bios.

so, i checked to see if i had anything in the way that might cause me to
push the button by accident.

nope? good. hit the enter key.

so the write starts and i recall that i am still in win98 on my desktop
box and that i need to get back to freebsd so that i can have access to
the install directory.

reboot the desktop.....reflash is still going on the 800ct

freebsd boots on the desktop, probes and initializes the
devices..including the parallel port and the reflash FREEZES!

recall that whenever you boot an x86 box with a printer attached, it
toggles the printer. so, i had toggled the parport on the 800ct whilst
flashing it and had violated the edict to NOT TOUCH ANYTHING!

oops!

anyway, your not the only person who let their enthususasm get the best of
them. i was out 100bucks for a new laptop
On Tue, 15 Jan 2002, billy ball wrote:

>
> What follows is a sad tale of stupidity, but told in the hopes of saving
> others grief...
>
> boy, do i feel stupid... it appears i've ended up with a
> mini-paperweight after an attempt to 'upgrade' a new Proxim rangelan-ds
> pcmcia wireless net card...
>
> i couldn't get the card to work with NetBSD or Linux... however, upon
> browsing, i ran across a web page with a link to a firmware updater app
> that *supposedly* would enable access point features of the card and help
> compatibility issues...
>
> i should have known better, but in a fit of exuberant hopefulness i
> followed the posted and included directions, which said to get the card
> working under [shudder] Win98se, and then to run the flash utility...
>
> inserted the card, configured and used it - it worked perfectly...
>
> ran the firmware update, which reported the card, its MAC address and
> firmware version...
>
> clicked the Update button...
>
> the update started and ...
>
> promptly hung and locked the system... upon reboot, the card was reported
> as "not working correctly," and of course, the firmware update program
> couldn't find the card...
>
> it felt like the quickest $40+(US) i've ever spent... the funny thing is,
> i remember thinking, "Am i really sure i want to do this?"....
>
> and now i know...
>
> :-(
>
> i guess if there were a point to this it would be "look before you leap"
> and "research before you press buttons"... i should have verified with
> other users on the upgrade and model, and not have used a upgrade utility
> unless it was from the manufacturer...
>
> or perhaps stick with known, working hardware?
>
> oh well...
>
> billy 'the idiot' ball
>
> On Mon, 14 Jan 2002, billy ball wrote:
>
> > - i wish i could have reported SUCCESS with this card, as it is relatively
> > inexpensive...
> >
>

-- 

John L. Utz III
john@utzweb.net

Idiocy is the Impulse Function in the Convolution of Life