Haunted House

                A man brings his brand new laptop to me and tells me it won’t connect to the Internet.  I test it and it connects to the Internet with no problem. He calls me soon after I sent it home with him to tell me that it won’t connect to the Internet. Clearly this is a problem with his Internet provider or with his router. 

        I take my laptop to his home. I connect with no problem, so there went that theory. I try his computer and sure enough, it will not connect. I make sure of all the settings and they are exactly like the settings on my laptop, but still, it won’t connect. I take his laptop back to my shop. There has to be something wrong with his laptop that I missed the first time. I turn it on and it connects immediately and we can surf like a pro. Hmmm. 

       Perhaps there is something odd about his router that his computer doesn't like. I take a different router to his home and set it up. My laptop connects immediately to the Internet through it. I try his with great hope, but it is a no-go. Not only will his not connect, but it tends to crash the computer when I try. One more time I take his computer back to my shop. It connects to the Internet and runs like a charm. So we have the situation where every computer (probably) but his will connect to his Internet through his router at his home, and his computer will connect to the Internet anywhere but in his home (it worked at his brothers house too). The problem seems to be a combination of his computer and his house. Go figure.   

       I suggest he send this computer back to the manufacturer telling them that it will not work properly (I suggest he leave off the part about it being only in his home it doesn’t work). Quite surprisingly they send him a new computer without question (same model).  Did the new one work in his home? You bet (whew). I have to put another mark on the wall for the ghost in the machine.