If you've been following my complaints about my computer, here's the latest.
I had to put the whole thing on a back burner during our move, since the computer was just boxed up anyway, and the office was too full of boxes to set much of anything up. (pic)
But this past weekend, I set up our computers. We don't yet have internet connectivity, since cable is not yet available in our area. (we don't even have mail yet) I'm considering looking into dial-up (shudder) for the next month or two until either cable or DSL becomes available. We're planning on getting a new desk or two for the area, since we had to get rid of my beloved old L-desk. The movers had lost a critical support piece, and they gave us $800 for their mistake, which is very nice since the desk is essentially useless without that piece. Even if we had the piece, I'm unsure as to whether Linda would have let me set up the L-desk, which she considers "ugly", but ah... how I loved that desk.
But I digress. Here are the bizarre developments after which I title this entry. Because of temporary space restrictions, I had set up only one of my two monitors. I've now been playing games on the PC for three days without one crash. I can still detect small snitches of that static that indicated an impending crash, but it's far less than it was, and it has yet to crash. I'm willing to bet that were I to hook up the second monitor, things would go back to how they were. You may remember that I mentioned in a previous post that updating my video driver changed the nature of the crashes and caused them to happen much less frequently, so video is not a new aspect of the problem. How odd this is.
And it gets even odder. Tuesday, I called Cyberpower's tech support line and got the beep Beep BEEP! We're sorry... we are unable to complete the call as dialed. Please check your number and dial again. So then I called customer service and the phone just rang and rang. WTF?? Have they gone out of business?
UPDATE: Cyberpower tech support responded to my email today by calling my home phone. Looks like they didn't actually go out of business. Linda happened to be home, taking delivery on some furniture, and she redirected them to my work number, so I just spoke to them. I gave them the two-monitor update, and the guy decided that it was probably the motherboard. I apparently have "on-site service", so they're going to mail me the motherboard, and then schedule a tech to come out and install it for me. Too bad mail is such a bitch - we're now picking it up at the post office twice a week. I can't wait until they build us a mailbox.
Since I still travel occasionally, I maintain a dial-up account I use as a backup for when I find myself in some Luddite-run hotel without broadband, or someplace where they actually expect me to _pay_ for access.
It's through basicisp.net. For $7 a month, you get dial-up from anywhere, no ads and an email account if you need it (Web or POP). I've used it in four or five different states and can recommend it. It's easy to set up and I've never had a problem finding an access number (the number listed for Canon City dials into Pueblo as does the Florence number, but I don't know if that's a local call for you--what is it? Only about 25 miles, right?).
A motherboard, huh? You don't have integrated video, do you? It seems to me that they would want to pack a dual-monitor video controller as well. I'll be looking forward to seeing how all this comes out for you.
BTW-not a single hiccup out of my laptop after installing 1 GB memory number three. I'll still nover buy anything from those clowns again. They had to know those memories had problems--the speed at which they gave mt an RMA after the way they dragged their feet the first time around proves that.
Good luck, and I won't mail you anything for a while. :-)