My Missing Parcel

[pgk pgkParticipant @pgkpgk17461]

It all started when I unplugged my phone from the PC – the phone died.
No sign of life with the double button reset option, no sign of life with plugging it into a charger and no sign of life leaving it be for a few hours and doing it all again.
So I ordered a new phone via Amazon for next day delivery. That is the parcel that went missing in another thread.
It didn't turn up, indeed I didn't even get the usual emails about delivery times and assumed it was just late since out here in the sticks it isn't always economic for couriers to make a special journey.
When it still hadn't turned up the next day I started trying to track it down. The delivery pic showed it on a green bin next to some vertical planking I didn't recognise. It’s pointless trying to guess where it might be with dwellings as spread out as here, so I spent time messing about with on-line robots to finally get to a person and was promised a call back am by the courier manager.
I had another play with my old phone – No. no sign of life.
Meanwhile, I contacted the seller – another robot that insisted the parcel had been delivered. If one causes enough confusion with the robots then eventually a human interface might answer – this one basically insisted that since they sold through Amazon it was Amazon's problem.
The next morning just before 8.00am the courier manager does call me and claims the parcel has been delivered to the first house East of me according to GPS.
I get dressed and go see around 8.15am. I'm not hopeful since I know that neighbour and all their planking is horizontal and pale green.
I wake his wife up and apologise profusely for the time. She's fine about that but states that no parcel has arrived but is happy to help me look around her yard and garden – nothing found.
I get in touch with Amazon due to the seller's attitude and they just happily arrange a refund. I order a new phone direct from Amazon – actually a slightly cheaper one for Monday delivery.
Early evening, my wife checks our post box and the missing parcel is there – presumably someone local got it and dropped it round?
A couple of hour later my neighbour calls. He wants to know if I found the parcel. Apparently he left early for work, found the thing and dropped it into our post box because it was 8.10am and he didn't want to disturb us (or his own wife to tell her).
Yes. If I checked our box before going round to his or if I’d been 5 minutes earlier…
So now I'm looking at 2 new phones and obviously one has to go back.

Just then my old phone spontaneously starts working again.

pgk

[pgk pgkParticipant @pgkpgk17461]

A Comedy of Errors

[DutchDanParticipant @dutchdan]

Haha brilliant story. Glad it worked out.
I'd be inclined to keep the refund too. I bet mr. Bezos won't feel it in his pockets! Different story if it's a small seller selling through Amazon.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by pgk pgk on 14/02/2022 11:12:38:

It all started when I unplugged my phone from the PC – the phone died.
No sign of life with the double button reset option, no sign of life with plugging it into a charger and no sign of life leaving it be for a few hours and doing it all again.
…

Just then my old phone spontaneously starts working again.

pgk

I've had similar bother with an MP3 player and two different makes of ebook.

What happens when devices connect with USB is far from simple. There's a handshake to identify what sort of device is attached (GPS, Microscope, MP3 Player, Camera etc etc) and what's supposed to happen next. Plugging a Smart Phone into a USB charger shouldn't attempt anything clever, but plugging into a PC should cause both devices to activate a raft of sensible functionality. It can go wrong!

Catalepsy can be due to the USB comms link being confused by unplugging the cable or powering down before the two machines finish cleaning up after a session. Cleaning up isn't simple either! Failing to eject devices before unplugging is a common cause, but rushing to unplug during an eject is also risky.

Either or both machines may be left confused until an event or timeout forces a reset. The classic 'turn it off and on again' may not be enough to restore order because most modern computers reduce reboot times by remembering previous states, which is great until something goes wrong and a full reset is needed to restore sanity. If the user doesn't know how to force a full reset (it's rarely obvious), waiting patiently may be the answer because computers often watch for stalled processes, which they eventually kill or restart. As operating systems are reluctant to do anything drastic until absolutely sure something is wrong, it may take a few days before before it acts.

I think this is what happened here: the phone went into a coma until a watchdog timer triggered a reset, cutting the knot by forcing a fresh 'don't assume anything' start.

Dave

[Author]

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