My computer is officially dead.
Over the last year, and especially the last six months, my computer has experienced an increasing number of spontaneous restarts, lockups, and blue screens (known as the Evil Trifecta). Tech support from eMachines insisted that my computer must be infected with spyware, while I have been fairly certain that it was a hardware problem.
Finally I got around to doing a full system restore. Although that process has had its own problems and is not yet complete, my hard drive has been reformatted, and I’m still experiencing the Trifecta. If the issue truly was spyware, then I wouldn’t still be experiencing the problems. This morning’s tech narrowed it down to my motherboard, so I have bowed to the inevitable. I need a new computer.
There’s never a good time to buy a new computer, because next month’s prices will always be cheaper and the models will be better and faster. Fortunately, my wants are simple. I want a gig of memory, and I’m leaning toward a dual-core processor (more Nice-to-Have than Need-to-Have). I don’t have to have a new monitor, and I’m perfectly happy with a 40GB hard drive.
I don’t have to decide today. I’m waiting for the INGDirect transfer to hit my checking account, which probably won’t happen until Monday. In the meantime, most of the files I regularly use are on my U3-enabled flash drive, from which I do all my web browsing. (What I can’t use is Quicken, and I do miss my Outlook). There are usually two other computers in the house to borrow, and if that fails, I can always go over to the library for an hour.
Everything else is backed up off-site (via SyncBackSE), and I have not an iota of fear that I’ve lost anything important. Undoubtedly during the restore process I will find some minor flaws in my backup system, and I’ll shore it up then.
Thus continues the tech curse I am currently under. A couple of weeks ago, I had a new car stereo installed so that I could play my MP3 player in the car (the FM transmitter route didn’t work for me). The same day, my MP3 player died. I’m still looking for the receipt so that I can send it in for replacement (unusually, the receipt didn’t end up in the receipt holding file). And earlier this year, my flash drive died, and I had to send it in for a replacement.
All the same, I’ll be glad to have a new computer. The old one had become increasingly unusable, and a number of projects had been delayed. It was hard enough just to get routine things done without one of the Trifecta popping up. A new system will also increase family harmony. The old system tended to act up the longer it was left on, so if a user didn’t send it into hibernation upon completion of his tasks, it would be unusable for the next person (usually me) for at least an hour and sometimes more. No amount of explaining or threats altered behavior, and for a while I considered setting a BIOS password to keep them out.
Posted by on Thursday, September 7, 2006 at 3:28 PM
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