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aaargh, and other noises appropriate to computers
Wednesday, 5 April 2006 10:56 amIt was an innocent mistake, she says, wildly. All I wanted was to be able to remove the umpteen gig of Doctor Who from my hard drive, so that the wretched thing would stop telling me I was out of disk space. Since my Doctor Who obsession shows no sign of abatement, mere deletage was unacceptable: a CD writer was clearly indicated. Innocently, I ordered it. Innocently, I was impressed by the speed with which Take2 delivered it. Innocently, I rejoiced when the Evil Landlord came home on Monday night and offered to instal it.
Except that the bloody installation process caused the motherboard, which has always been a bit iffy in the RAM-slot region, to have a major and terminal hissy fit, and stop working. Booting said computer results in strange clicking noises and long, doom-laden beeps. It is, as far as I can tell, an ex motherboard. Since airy sanguinity about drive installations had precluded my actually backing up anything, I was now faced with an inaccessible hard drive on which was locked all my recent work on various encyclopedia entries.
Undaunted, the Evil Landlord leaped self-sacrificingly into the fray. He has, coincidentally, just ordered a new computer (on which to play Oblivion, natch), which should arrive in the next day or so. Professing a lack of need for actual computer use in the next day or so, he hauled his hard drive out of his current, now obseolete computer and installed mine. Joy! Academic disgrace averted!
Except for two things.
1. My modem is an antiquated affair which uses a connector which is apparently practically Paleolithic. Evil Landlord's computer lacks any port capable of interfacing with such, and Evil Landlord lacks the necessary adaptor. Thus, while I can use the computer, I can't connect to the internet. Confucius say, after two days without internet, Extemporanea very twitchy. (I'm writing this from campus, after an orgy of e-mail catch-up. The Evil Landlord, in a spirit of self-preservation, is hunting down the necessary adaptor posthaste).
2. Evil Landlord's computer rejoices in the possession of a CD drive, a CD writer and a DVD drive, thus neatly covering all bases represented by my new acquisition, and rendering its purchase - and thus the whole recent round of computer frustration - completely redundant. Circular Futility Rules.
Except that the bloody installation process caused the motherboard, which has always been a bit iffy in the RAM-slot region, to have a major and terminal hissy fit, and stop working. Booting said computer results in strange clicking noises and long, doom-laden beeps. It is, as far as I can tell, an ex motherboard. Since airy sanguinity about drive installations had precluded my actually backing up anything, I was now faced with an inaccessible hard drive on which was locked all my recent work on various encyclopedia entries.
Undaunted, the Evil Landlord leaped self-sacrificingly into the fray. He has, coincidentally, just ordered a new computer (on which to play Oblivion, natch), which should arrive in the next day or so. Professing a lack of need for actual computer use in the next day or so, he hauled his hard drive out of his current, now obseolete computer and installed mine. Joy! Academic disgrace averted!
Except for two things.
1. My modem is an antiquated affair which uses a connector which is apparently practically Paleolithic. Evil Landlord's computer lacks any port capable of interfacing with such, and Evil Landlord lacks the necessary adaptor. Thus, while I can use the computer, I can't connect to the internet. Confucius say, after two days without internet, Extemporanea very twitchy. (I'm writing this from campus, after an orgy of e-mail catch-up. The Evil Landlord, in a spirit of self-preservation, is hunting down the necessary adaptor posthaste).
2. Evil Landlord's computer rejoices in the possession of a CD drive, a CD writer and a DVD drive, thus neatly covering all bases represented by my new acquisition, and rendering its purchase - and thus the whole recent round of computer frustration - completely redundant. Circular Futility Rules.
