Apparently the MS has made me stupid.
 

Three years ago I could have done this without directions. Now I have no clue how to do this.

My less than a year old tv died today...well, I can still get sound, so technically now it's a radio. (It's still under manufacturers warranty, and I have a 4yr warranty with Best Buy, but the manufacturer is Westinghouse and they only have 2 repair service places in the U.S. and from what I've read about them, the repair centers suck and take forever to fix anything...never buying another Westinghouse tv ever again)


I borrowed a tv from my dad while I wait till tuesday for Best Buy to come and declare the tv dead and haul it away (and hopefully give me a new tv because I have the warranty).

I cant get the stupid borrowed tv connected to my cable box and Tivo.

First, the crappy a/v wires that the cable company gave me are too short. So, I switched to brand new wires that are longer, except that the plugs are blue, green and red, instead of the white, red and yellow the old cables were. So, that's a problem. I dont even know if these things will work now. I have no idea which input to plug them into now

I've tried several different configurations of the wires and I cant get anything to work...the borrowed tv wont even turn on. (I'm guessing it knows it doesnt have a signal and that's why...maybe?)

All I want to do now is sit here and cry because apparently the MS trolls have eaten the part of my brain that used to know how to connect a stupid cable box.

I called the cable company, and they REFUSE to help me because I want to connect a Tivo and "they dont do that", so they hung up on me before I could even ask if they'll just help me connect the cable box. (I just want to be able to watch tv)

I called Best Buy for help and "that department is closed".

I looked on the internet, but my brain doesnt understand this crap anymore apparently and I cant figure out the stupid schematics.

Anyone else here ever notice that something that used to be easy for you is now the hardest thing in the world to understand?

I think my brain quit working, at least the part that used to be able to put things together without ever having to read the instructions (oh yeah, the cable company didnt give me any instructions for the installation...which I probably wouldnt understand anyways now)

I'm going to go sit on the floor and cry and stare at the blank tv.

Wow! At least you COULD do it once. That's way beyond anything I would ever attempt!

Try not to let it get you down. I'm thinking you're up waaay past your bedtime. Things should be brighter in the morning. :hug:

My bedtime is like at 4am...(insomnia issues)

I almost had it awhile ago. I had the tivo menu showing up, but no sound and no channels.

Then I had the cable connected, and had tv and could watch stargate, but there was no tivo.

now I'm back to no tivo, no cable, nothing...dead air.

Why is my brain so fubar that I cant get this working?

I wish my boyfriend were here, or that he'd call me, because he'd be able to help me figure this out. I just wish I knew when I turned stupid...I never noticed it happening.

Erin did you hook up a cable feed to the tivo box? (IN----out) you need to take the incoming signal wire and hook to the in feed then the out feed to the tv.

as for the MS it does do that to us sometimes, happend to me at sandy and Jim's place Christmas eve, been racking pool balls since i was knee high to a grasshopper, I just stood there, after i had racked 4 games or so, stood there totally lost on what to do, it does get a bit annoying

hope you can get it up and running

I got a blue ray for Christmas, and I told my son he'd have to get it hooked up for me, because that would be too tough for brain to handle.

Well, with only an HD compatible tv, the only way he could get it to work is if we switch cables from the DVD player to the TV and back and forth. I figured I could handle that. Couldn't get it to work. Spent an hour messing aorund with settings and such.

Finally realized I'd put the blue cable in the green and vice ersa. It makes me so mad when I do something stupid like that!

Just know you're not alone - and yes there are many in the people in the world that don't have MS that don't even know where to start hooking something like that up.

Ask a teenage neighbor boy. Pay him five bucks and he'll probably have it done in a few seconds :p!

Oh yeah, Erin. I have MS stupidity too. Some days I can do things just like I used to pre-MS, other days: forget it. We are having all kinds of TV, DVR, receiver problems too. My husband can't even fix it so I know it's not from the MS this time :).

Too bad that I live in a neighborhood where I'm probably one of the youngest people living here. (I'm almost 40) I'm the one the next door neighbors call when their printer tells them that they're running out of ink.

I'm hoping that my boyfriend will be online tonight, or that he'll call me sometime during the day, because he is a genius when it comes to putting stuff together like this. He'd be able to tell me how to do this.

At least I'm getting to play with the new iPod compatible radio (with remote control) that I got myself yesterday as a late xmas present for myself. The remote even controls the radio settings and not just the iPod. Yay!

I just wish I didnt have an infection in my toe that I had the nail removed from last week. I think that might be what's causing the bad case of MS stupids.

I just picked up antibiotics, new gauze and some fancy Rx burn cream (I've used this stuff before for an actual burn. It's great!) to use to get rid of whatever ickyness that's in my toe.

I dont think it's a serious infection yet, just enough to make me feel icky...altho the icky feeling could be whatever pestilence (chest cold) that my mother has brought into the house. I dont have a chest cold yet, but there is a weird tickle in my chest that seems a bit ominous.

I'm apparently not in for a good week or three healthwise. I can just tell. It's time for the after-Christmas creeping crud. I think I'm going to go schmear burn cream on my toe now.

You know what's great to fix a television problem?

A book.

And by that I mean, read a book instead of flipping out over a television that won't work.

Oh, I've access to several televisions here. I just want one of those access places to be in my room. (I spend a lot of time in my room)

I did get an Amazon Kindle (electronic book that I can download e-books to)

I think I'm going to go buy the first five Tarzan books in e-book format and re-read them...and listen to The Monkees on my new radio.

I just played doctor on my sore toe. I'm going to go pop an antibiotic and sit and wait for the toe infection to go away and for the yeast infection to form.

Call the cable company tech support and let one of their little geniuses walk you through it. That's what I do in those situations...

Nope...my cable company is being a big putz because I own a Tivo and they refuse to help me hook the cable up to it.

Oooo! I wonder if Tivo's customer service is open? I think I'll go try them.

Tell the cable company you're thinking of canceling service, they might help then.

You have component cables instead of composite cables, that's why they are different colors. If your dad's tv does not have the correct colored plugs than you will need to use the composite cables instead which are the red, white and yellow. No matter what more than likely you'll need to use the red and white for audio anyway. They do sell these component cables in a group of five which includes the red and white audio.

My advice is to take them back and exchange them for the correct cable that matches your dad's tv or maybe you can trade off on another tv in the house. Good luck and let us know if you get it working.

You guys come up with some good ideas when ms brain hits you. I usually ask my 19 year old for help and after a sign and a mumble under his breath "didn't I just tell you how to do this" and my sigh and telling him how much I appreciate all his past help, but sometimes I still don't remember, he'll do it.

I'm still not sure I want a kindle-my son has been trying to sell me on one since he knows I love to read. I keep telling him that I can always go to the library. Thank goodness some of my doctors are near one and if I can't return them on time, I can renew online.

Hope everyone is having a good new year so far. My son's band is practicing here so it's hard to get much done that requires much concentration.

Group Hugs for everyone here and doxie kisses-I now have two.

Another wrinkle in that plan...we're in a big ice storm right now. Went out with my dad to the grocery store, and I nearly killed myself walking back out to the car. (it wasnt icy when we got there)

On the way home, we nearly hit a neighbor's house.

I'm not going back out again today unless the house is on fire.

I'm listening to the hold music at Tivo right now. (Estimated wait time, is Eternity!)

I have composite and component cables. The red, white, yellows are just really short. And I noticed that the Tivo and my dad's tv both have the green and blue connector spots on them, it's the cable box that has the red, yellow and whites for their connectors.

I just need to know which combination of cables I need and where to put them. I also need a nap. (didnt sleep much last night/this morning)

I also need a cure to the common cold, because my mom is upstairs just miserable, which is making my dad and I miserable (she's not nice when she's sick, but who wouldnt be?)

If I dont get my tv and Tivo to cooperate tonight, I'm taking advantage of iTunes downloads. (never done that before) I think with the weather being crappy like this, I might go see what the newfangled technology Apple comes up with is like. I probably cant afford to download anything, but it might be interesting to try.

Whoohoo!!! It works now!!!
 

and just in time too. My cordless phone battery died on me just as we were finishing up. (that poor girl, probably thought I was retarded)

At least the phone had the decency to wait till things got fixed before it died.

Whew! Yay! I can watch Fox News again!

I cant close the cabinet door because the cables are too short to allow me to put the Tivo in the cabinet and the cable box is sideways, but I at least have my Tivo and cable working again. (there's a spaghetti tangle of wires in the cabinet, and I'm not unhooking anything now...it can stay like it is till tuesday)

Now, hopefully the Best Buy guy will be able to either fix the tv, or he'll take it away and bring me a new one. Not sure how that warranty thing works. I'm betting if it's manufacturer warranty, I'll be stuck with another Westinghouse piece of junk. I have the extended warranty too with Best Buy, so I dont know if their warranty allows them to give you a comperable tv from another tv company when they do a warranty replacement.

I need to go email Tivo and tell them to thank that girl and that it was working when the phone battery died.

Don't feel bad, Erin . . . I didn't even know what "Tivo" was till I looked it up tonight. :p

Cherie

Erin -

I have a kindle, too. I LOVE IT! Got it in July when I had the HiCy treatment. It makes it easier to read since I can make the font bigger.

As for the TV, I got a new big flat screen for myself over T-day weekend... LOVE it...but had a friend hook up the tv, cable (cable box has DVR built into it - Like it much better than tivo), and blu-ray.

Glad you got it all hooked up...I hate when my stuff doesn't work.

~Keri

ps/my brain isn't working so well either...

Cherie, I know the name "tivo" and know it's related to television, so I'm about there with you.

I have basic cable so I can check the weather. :rolleyes:

Isnt the Kindle the coolest thing? Only thing that I think is cooler right now is the ability to download movies from iTunes to my iPod and then plugging the iPod into the tv to watch them. Gotta love technology!