Frell you, Acoustic Solutions!

So I just spend the best part of half an hour trying to get Paul's new MP3 player to work.  He got it from Argos on Monday for about twenty quid because he wanted one with more capacity, and it was 1GB.

So on Monday afternoon he tried to install it, with no success.  Well, half success, at least, in that the PC was detecting the new hardware, etc, etc, but it wasn't appearing in My Computer in the slightest as actually existing as a drive.  And then when he tried to stop it, the bloody thing took nearly 15 minutes so he gave up and pulled the plug instead, and rebooted, after which it wouldn't work at all...

Since I have infinitely more patience with my computer than Paul does I said I'd have a go with it today.  Same problem - it detects it just fine, but then it doesn't appear in My Computer.  Which means, obviously, that's it's essentially useless.  I tried putting in the driver CD and trying to install the drivers that way to see if it would help, but that just resulted in my PC freezing up entirely.

After a reboot, I restored the PC settings to Saturday, before it even knew about the player, and tried again.  Immediate recognition of "USB Mass Storage Device" and then more recognition 10 minutes later of "ARGOS".  Well, hurrah for that.  Still no sign of it as a drive, though.

I tried to stop it three times without success and eventually just unplugged it.  As there's no data on there there's nothing it can lose.

So, that's going back to the shop.  Possibly he should also get a player by another company which actually works.  Preferably with instructions that aren't in Engrish.

*sigh*

So, word to the wise, don't get an MP3 player from Acoustic Solutions.  Their name does not do what it says on the tin.

I suppose I should do something productive.  My stomach ache has gone, but now I have a headache.  I might try and fix the towel rail to the bathroom door, I think... after lunch.

Much better.

Aha, productivity.

I've painted one bookcase.  It's better than nothing.  I also ran into Trevor (who was downstairs mowing the lawn and came up to moan about us not clearing the drain downstairs - oops) and asked if we could, in fact, paint the bannister blue, and he said that was fine and it would "brighten the place up a bit".  Yes, quite. ;)

Every time he's here Trevor says how he used to sleep in the attic, although today he said that he used to climb up the bannisters as a child.  That explains why they're so rickety, then. :P  He's quite eccentric, is Trevor.  At least he's not a horrible landlord.

Tomorrow I will make a concerted effort to paint the other bookcase, unless I do it later, and at least sandpaper the bannisters.  I was meant to sort the books out this week but it'll have to wait until we've screwed the bookcases together and wedged them so they don't fall over.

I can never quite decide whether or not I like the smell of paint drying.  Might go and light a joss stick in the living room to cover it...

Edit, 4.00pm: Towel rail is up. Well, mostly up. I couldn't get the screws entirely into the door on the left hand side so I'll let Paul do that with his manly strength later. It's secure and has towels on it, anyway. And now I have an empty drawer to play with.