• We were given a total of 9 computers. After much deliberation we named them after characters in the film Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Our first task was to power up each of the computers and in this both Sneezy and Snow White failed.  We couldn’t get Sneezy to power up when it had the zip drive installed, so we removed the zip drive and tried to replace it, and it still didn’t work. Then we tried concentrating our efforts on Snow White where we re-seating the memory, re-seating the CPU, and finally, swapping out the power supply. It was the power supply swap that finally did the trick and we managed to get Snow White to work.
• Another issue arose with installing the Windows updates and security. We had to update the video driver so that the screen resolution would be sufficient for the Windows update and security. Ruth downloaded the video driver update onto a CD-rom and then we loaded the updated video driver onto all of our computers. The computers accepted the Windows update and security package.
• The sound cards and their drivers on all of the computers were not automatically installed so we had to download the driver from the internet and then make it a point to install the drivers for the sound cards on each computer.
• On 11/16 Grumpy’s CD Rom temporarily stopped working and it was fixed by unplugging the zip drive.
• After unloading our computers and setting up the lab when we started to plug things in… well, the new electrical system in the lab started sparking and blowing out. After ruining two or three power strips we put out an emergency call to Martin and waited for him to come to the rescue. Not being electricians, or even electrical engineers we really didn’t know where to start. Lucky for us, Martin and Sarah’s husband Ethan did. Here is what Martin wrote about our situation.

Hi Ruth,

With electrical, there are three wires that are now standardly used for household installations. One wire, sometimes referred to as the hot, carries the electrical current, while a second wire, often referred to as the neutral, is the return path that completes the circuit. A third wire, the ground, should connect to earth in some way or another and provides a grounding path to reduce the chance of severe electrical shock. For the auxiliary panel in the computer lab, the three leads came in properly from the main panel downstairs. But for each of the four circuits connected to the panel, both the neutral and ground wires were tied together inside the panel. For half, this meant that both were connected to the ground wire leading to the main, while for the other two circuits both were connected to the neutral wire leading to the main. The vacuum cleaner, which only connects to the hot and neutral, works fine regardless of whether it’s “neutral” was connected to neutral or ground. The computers connected directly to the circuit were able to manage OK as well, since they’re circuitry wasn’t too picky, although I suspect they would likely have suffered damage after a short bit of use on the circuit. But the power strips have additional circuitry built in so that they can protect the in wall wiring if someone tries to overload them. They detected the miswired circuit and acted as if they were overloaded, blowing their fuses. The more expensive strips have replaceable fuses, but the cheaper strips were just out of commission once that happened.

Does that make sense?

– Martin