T H E P E R I L S O F P A M E L A

Friday, September 07, 2001

I got my computer back from the shop yesterday with a brand new motherboard, processor, and modem. Hopefully this will end my quirky computer shutdowns.

I was pleased that even though they wiped my harddrive clean, the data is intact.  She moved all my data to another harddrive, put all my data into a folder, reinstalled Windows98 on the other harddrive, and then transferred everything back to my harddrive.  It's a simple matter for me to move my folders back into the main C directory.

However, I am puzzled about a few things.  There is a WINDOWS folder in the data folder (my original WINDOWS) and all the programs are there, too.  I wonder what would happen if I would just move the programs from one folder to the new one?  Or should I reinstall them?  I checked my e-mail on Eudora while it is still in the data folder, and it worked fine.  I tried out the paint program in the data folder and it started acitng a bit quirky, but I attribute that to the fact that the system resources sank below 70%.

At any rate, I am much relieved that I don't have to set up my folder structure again from scratch.

I had discussed putting in a 1400 MHz processor, but apparently I didn't make myself clear because they installed an 800 Mhz one.  That's really more than I need to run Paint Shop Pro 7 which recommends a 500 Mhz processor.  Previously I had a 350 Mhz.  There was nothing wrong with it.  I just wanted to upgrade while they had my computer in pieces.

Thursday, September 06, 2001

I called the repair place last night just before closing time.  The bad news is that the motherboard didn't pass the test.  The worse news is that they are going to wipe my harddrive clean.  I was going to bring them my Windows 98 CD down there this morning, but I can't find it.  I am very upset about this.  I never use this CD so it should be in with the other ones that are stored away.  Where could I have put it?

I have a bad feeling in my gut that wiping my harddrive clean is going to be a disaster for me.  sigh

Wednesday, September 05, 2001

I thought the repair place opened at 8 a.m.  Instead they opened at 10 a.m. so I had a couple of hours to kill.  I checked the mail and did some shopping.  The problem is that hardly any other stores are open before 10 a.m.

When I finally got the tower into the shop, we had a long discussion about what it might be.  All the quirky things that are happening indicate a damaged motherboard, and that very well could have happened when the power supply burned out.  However, the two previous diagnostics didn't show anything wrong with the motherboard.

If I do have to replace it, then I'd like to upgrade the CPU to at least 500 Mhz.  The smallest one they have in stock is the 800 Mhz and they have one that is 600 Mhz more than that.  If the motherboard is bad then I will have to replace the modem because it won't plug into the newer boards.  If that is what happens, the only original part of the computer will be the hard drive, well... besides the case, that is.

Today's the day, gasp.

My computer tower is loaded in the car, on the floor of the back seat.  After I'd shut down I realized that I hadn't checked the two drives for disks.  So I started up the computer again.  I figured that while it was booting, I'd go ahead and disconnect the cables.  Well, duh, Pamela, when it booted up, I got the message, "there is no mouse connected to this computer," so I couldn't log off.  Yeah, you guessed it!  I turned off the power button.  :(   I don't need a lecture about powering down properly.  On the other hand, this is what happens all the time when the computer decides to shut itself off.

The CD drives were empty, by the way.

Tuesday, September 04, 2001

I spoke to the repair person at the computer shop this morning.  I explained how the modem quit working and how the computer keeps turning itself off unexpectedly.  He asked me several questions.  He speculated that perhaps the motherboard was damaged when the power supply burned out.  He said that we'd discuss what to do next after he had a chance to look at it.

I made arrangements to take it to him tomorrow morning.  I'm very nervous about sending my computer off to be fixed again.