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wherein Liz gives up on her computer
May. 13th, 2011 01:14 pmI had a car for four months and a bit. During that time, my computer behaved itself.
The minute I gave the car back to my parents (well, okay, the next day, but still!), my computer went back to its old tricks. More than half the time, it refuses to start at all, just whirrs and makes distressed beeping noises at me. When it does start, it often crashes within five minutes. Even when it seems to be working just fine, it will occasionally freeze or just flick to black and beep at me. And when I wake it from sleep, it's as if I've just started it, and it plays out the same crash-within-five-minutes game.
This is a hardware problem. I am 99% sure of that, because the only way to fix it is percussive maintenance -- literally, I hit the computer tower, or pick it up and drop it, and whatever part of the hard drive is ever-so-slightly misaligned will slip back into place and start working... until it slips out again and cuts to black.
Also, it's getting on to summer and my computer deals very badly with heat. I do not have air conditioning, and fans only do so much.
The last straw, though, was my complete and utter failure to make my computer function so I could talk to Vicky via Skype this morning. I spent 9:30 to 10:30am trying to get the damn machine to turn on and stay on, and got less than nowhere.
So I am admitting defeat. It's time to buy a new computer. Something that is much more physically robust and can function regularly in temperatures over 85% (and stifling humidity), or in utter bone-dry winter, and also will not pitch fits if and when I move to a new apartment, because moving is what really did in my current computer -- it was only mildly temperamental in my old place, as compared to its utterly infuriating prima donna diva fits these days.
Vicky thinks I should get a laptop this time, and says she will email me with lots of thoughts, but second opinions are also good. Any advice would be appreciated.
Bear in mind that I all I can do with a computer is use it for word processing, accessing the internet, listening to music, and watching DVDs. Maybe once every two years, I scan a picture or make a journal icon. That is also all I care about doing with a computer. Any bells and whistles will be useless waste, and I cannot and will not build anything myself, no matter how much money it would save.
ETA: I get kicked off the library computer in half an hour, and there is no telling when my computer will deign to start this evening, but I really am interested in advice even if I won't get to read it for a good while!
The minute I gave the car back to my parents (well, okay, the next day, but still!), my computer went back to its old tricks. More than half the time, it refuses to start at all, just whirrs and makes distressed beeping noises at me. When it does start, it often crashes within five minutes. Even when it seems to be working just fine, it will occasionally freeze or just flick to black and beep at me. And when I wake it from sleep, it's as if I've just started it, and it plays out the same crash-within-five-minutes game.
This is a hardware problem. I am 99% sure of that, because the only way to fix it is percussive maintenance -- literally, I hit the computer tower, or pick it up and drop it, and whatever part of the hard drive is ever-so-slightly misaligned will slip back into place and start working... until it slips out again and cuts to black.
Also, it's getting on to summer and my computer deals very badly with heat. I do not have air conditioning, and fans only do so much.
The last straw, though, was my complete and utter failure to make my computer function so I could talk to Vicky via Skype this morning. I spent 9:30 to 10:30am trying to get the damn machine to turn on and stay on, and got less than nowhere.
So I am admitting defeat. It's time to buy a new computer. Something that is much more physically robust and can function regularly in temperatures over 85% (and stifling humidity), or in utter bone-dry winter, and also will not pitch fits if and when I move to a new apartment, because moving is what really did in my current computer -- it was only mildly temperamental in my old place, as compared to its utterly infuriating prima donna diva fits these days.
Vicky thinks I should get a laptop this time, and says she will email me with lots of thoughts, but second opinions are also good. Any advice would be appreciated.
Bear in mind that I all I can do with a computer is use it for word processing, accessing the internet, listening to music, and watching DVDs. Maybe once every two years, I scan a picture or make a journal icon. That is also all I care about doing with a computer. Any bells and whistles will be useless waste, and I cannot and will not build anything myself, no matter how much money it would save.
ETA: I get kicked off the library computer in half an hour, and there is no telling when my computer will deign to start this evening, but I really am interested in advice even if I won't get to read it for a good while!
