I am king of the numpties!

Angilion

Angilion

Angilion

Man of Honour
Joined
5 Dec 2003
Posts
21,063
Location
Just to the left of my PC
I recently bought another new graphics card because shiny new toy.

No cable, as expected. No problem - I'd use the same cable I was already using for my previous card.

It didn't fit. My eyesight is a bit subpar, especially in low light (at the back of my PC) and I couldn't see at all clearly, but it definitely didn't fit.

Had the cabling for DisplayPort changed and I hadn't known? That would be a bother as it was the middle of the night.

It took me a good 30 seconds to notice that I'd picked up the wrong cable from the back of my PC and was trying to connect the mouse to the graphics card.
 
Angilion said:
I recently bought another new graphics card because shiny new toy.

No cable, as expected. No problem - I'd use the same cable I was already using for my previous card.

It didn't fit. My eyesight is a bit subpar, especially in low light (at the back of my PC) and I couldn't see at all clearly, but it definitely didn't fit.

Had the cabling for DisplayPort changed and I hadn't known? That would be a bother as it was the middle of the night.

It took me a good 30 seconds to notice that I'd picked up the wrong cable from the back of my PC and was trying to connect the mouse to the graphics card.
Click to expand...

LOL you are not alone with that one, same eyeslight problem, especially in low light, I was trying to plug a USB type C cable into the port on the back of the motherboard on my Mrs brand new built machine thats stuck up in some dark corner of the living room, when I say brand new I mean brand spanking new, I had just that moment finished install all software, I missed and put it into a USB type A port, the whole machine instantly switched off, to say I was laying big brown smelly eggs would be an understatement, the power button wouldnt switch it back on, instantly I thought ive shorted a USB port and fried the motherboard, pulled the mains paower cable, cleared the cmos, and switched back on, thank god it came back on and all USB ports are working fine..........add to shopping list........torch !!!!
 
Angilion said:
I recently bought another new graphics card because shiny new toy.

No cable, as expected. No problem - I'd use the same cable I was already using for my previous card.

It didn't fit. My eyesight is a bit subpar, especially in low light (at the back of my PC) and I couldn't see at all clearly, but it definitely didn't fit.

Had the cabling for DisplayPort changed and I hadn't known? That would be a bother as it was the middle of the night.

It took me a good 30 seconds to notice that I'd picked up the wrong cable from the back of my PC and was trying to connect the mouse to the graphics card.
Click to expand...
I know how that feels. My eyesight is dog plop now
 
My partner's daughter works in ecology and often works outside and I recently discovered an old head torch she discarded it's usb powered for charge and is a game changer for working with a pc. I'm like you blind as a bat so I recommend something like this. :)
 
Jamin280672 said:
LOL you are not alone with that one, same eyeslight problem, especially in low light, I was trying to plug a USB type C cable into the port on the back of the motherboard on my Mrs brand new built machine thats stuck up in some dark corner of the living room, when I say brand new I mean brand spanking new, I had just that moment finished install all software, I missed and put it into a USB type A port, the whole machine instantly switched off, to say I was laying big brown smelly eggs would be an understatement, the power button wouldnt switch it back on, instantly I thought ive shorted a USB port and fried the motherboard, pulled the mains paower cable, cleared the cmos, and switched back on, thank god it came back on and all USB ports are working fine..........add to shopping list........torch !!!!
Click to expand...
I did that too, didn’t need to reset cmos but it did instantly shut down then show a huge power surge warning when it started back up. Was a bit of a shock when my nearly new PC instantly shutdown, I don't plug USB-C in blind anymore :p
 
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Jimbo said:
My partner's daughter works in ecology and often works outside and I recently discovered an old head torch she discarded it's usb powered for charge and is a game changer for working with a pc. I'm like you blind as a bat so I recommend something like this. :)
Click to expand...

I saw something in one of those stands in a shop, the ones with massively hyped products portrayed as being the bestest things ever made, blah blah. Often with constant (and constantly annoying) advertising. Maybe JML. That sort of thing.

Anyway...it was a pair of glasses with magnifying lenses and forward-facing lights in the arms. USB for charge, one charge last for ages as it's only powering a couple of little LED lights. Can be worn in addition to normal glasses if your nose sticks out enough (the magnifying glasses perch near the end of your nose) I assumed it would be crap but it was cheap so I thought I'd buy it and give it a try. To my surprise, it's genuinely useful. Does a decent job of lighting what you're looking at and the magnification is useful too. The only drawback is that moving with them on is a bad idea. Even just turning your head with them on is disorientating.
 
Angilion said:
I saw something in one of those stands in a shop, the ones with massively hyped products portrayed as being the bestest things ever made, blah blah. Often with constant (and constantly annoying) advertising. Maybe JML. That sort of thing.

Anyway...it was a pair of glasses with magnifying lenses and forward-facing lights in the arms. USB for charge, one charge last for ages as it's only powering a couple of little LED lights. Can be worn in addition to normal glasses if your nose sticks out enough (the magnifying glasses perch near the end of your nose) I assumed it would be crap but it was cheap so I thought I'd buy it and give it a try. To my surprise, it's genuinely useful. Does a decent job of lighting what you're looking at and the magnification is useful too. The only drawback is that moving with them on is a bad idea. Even just turning your head with them on is disorientating.
Click to expand...
I had those! Yes they were alright I think though eventually one of the arms fell off or something but I suppose it's a good idea. If you ever get a strap on head lamp make sure it's rechargeable usb thing as opposed to batteries as I had one of those too and was rubbish as they drained very quickly. Another top tip if plugging blindly into back of PC is use a mirror, another winner. :D
 
This is why I hate black cases, because they seem to suck up any light, making it harder to work in them as a result. Give me back beige cases with unpainted interiors any day. :D
 
First thing I thought was your mouse must have a very thick cable! I'll second the head torch, game changer for fiddling around with PCs.
 
Jimbo said:
My partner's daughter works in ecology and often works outside and I recently discovered an old head torch she discarded it's usb powered for charge and is a game changer for working with a pc. I'm like you blind as a bat so I recommend something like this. :)
Click to expand...
I've found several strategic places to balance my old phone with the torch on around the case, the PSU seems to be particularly good as a temporary ledge :)
 
5abr3 said:
I've found several strategic places to balance my old phone with the torch on around the case, the PSU seems to be particularly good as a temporary ledge :)
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Haha I do this with my MITX when trying to get behind it where it's against a wall bar the right angle DP/PSU cables coming out the back, I just balance it on the case or on my speaker to the left of it, oh and the MITX case is under my monitor on a vesa mount foot so the monitor is in the way too :cry::rolleyes::p
 
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Troezar said:
First thing I thought was your mouse must have a very thick cable! [..]
Click to expand...

That's a good point - there's a very large difference in cable thickness.

I think what happened was that I'd picked it up by the connector. USB A and DisplayPort connectors are a much more similar size than the cables are. With my eyesight and without extra lighting, I wouldn't have been able to see the cable well enough for the thickness to be noticeable to me.
 
Angilion said:
That's a good point - there's a very large difference in cable thickness.

I think what happened was that I'd picked it up by the connector. USB A and DisplayPort connectors are a much more similar size than the cables are. With my eyesight and without extra lighting, I wouldn't have been able to see the cable well enough for the thickness to be noticeable to me.
Click to expand...
If you find yourself in that circumstance a bit too often (not wanting to drag out loads of stuff to get to see the connectors) post installation then I recommend you use a wrap of coloured tape just behind one of the connectors.

I'd probably use it on the DisplayPort cable(s) as there's probably less of those than USB in any given space.
 
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