Fried Computer

I still haven't worked out quite what died on my main computer. So far it looks like it wasn't the ram or the video card that I killed (although I've yet to go as far as installing them in another machine to see what happens). It looks like its trying to go through POST when it starts, even if it doesn't get far, so I don't think the CPU is bad.

Frankly, I'm rather puzzled. I'm beginning to think something went on the motherboard, but I'm not really sure what the best way is to try and determine something like that. In the end, it may be simplest and fastest to take it into the computer shop and have them look at it.

However it all adds up, its more money that I can't afford to spend. Bleah!

(no subject)

Here's a pointer to a post that undinesprite made about a set of funky "broken" bookshelves she saw: http://www.livejournal.com/users/undinesprite/308899.html

Gah!

Its the first day of NaNoWriMo and I don't have a working computer! So, I'm at zero words for today. Last night I managed to determine that It was NOT going to be simple to fix my machine, so today I'll try to come up with some sort of stopgap alternative. I'm not feeling too confident about that.

Bye Bye Motherboard.

I *suspected* that the problem with Binky was the motherboard but it took the guy at the shop only a minute or two to confirm it. Capictors with the goo leaking out tends to be a major giveaway. So, he'll be phoning me in a day or two with repair options, once he finds out if I fried anything else as well, like the ram, video card, etc.

In any case it looks like I need a new motherboard. I'm actually not as upset about that as I might be. A new motherboard (depending on what I have to buy to support a pre-MX athlon chip) should only cost around $100. It also means that my choice to take it to the shop and pay a hardware guy to look at it was the right move. I can't fix a motherboard, and so my machine may as well be at the shop. Hopefully before the week is out I will have my machine back and I will be able to write in my preferred environment.

In other new, my ISP is shipping me a new modem to try, since they say they've pretty much eliminated all other possibilites. If it does work then Bell will send a line technician to sort things out. Either way I'm also hoping to have high speed back in place before the end of the week.

While we were out dealing with the dead computer, we also went to Reno Depot and pestered the paint guy there about what sorts of paint/primer/thinner/drop cloths/spackling/etc/etc/ we would need for the bathroom, and we hopefully now have everything we need to do the painting part of getting the downstairs bathroom functional.

We also heard from our insurance guys who tell us that diningroom ceiling is most likely covered by our condo's insurance, not our supplemental insurance, but the person taxlady spoke to said he would be happy to speak to our condo association if they didn't know what the condo insurance did or did not cover.

So, it seems that on a number of fronts we are moving forward, and it is making me feel much more positive about managing to put my life back in order.