Taking Christina's advice (see comments below), I went out and picked up an Ethernet card ($14). I forgot to pick up a can of compressed air, though, so I stopped at a different store to get one on the way back from another errand. I decided to forego the purchase when I saw that the only ones available were 10-oz cans from a company which shall rename nameless (you'd know it if you heard it, though: "Is it live, or...") It wasn't the volume that I thought was over-the-top, it was the price. $9.95 for a can of air? You gotta be kidding me! I'll get the house brand from Office Depot, thanks.
I'm feeling put-upon. As if these other issues weren't enough, my sound card seems to have lost its drivers somewhere, too. I found a site called Driver Guide which seems to offer compatible drivers, but it helps to know the model and serial number of your card. Pfui.
Update: I've found the drivers on the hard drive, so why would they not work? Is the card dead, I wonder? I noticed that a comparable sound card sells for $19 at the neighborhood Office Depot; I suppose if I'm digging around inside the machine anyway, I could spring for a new audio card too. Damn. You'd think I'd stolen rocks from Kilauea or something.
Posted by Linkmeister at June 24, 2004 03:57 PM