Computers fail! Rant enclosed. Add your own.

[StarSeekerVDS]

So. Before I moved I had a computer. It was a nice little rig, a bit old but certainly adequate for my needs for the foreseeable future. And then my roommate turned on a vacuum cleaner that was plugged in the same circuit. In a flash of blue death, my computer's foreseeable future came to an abrupt smoking end reminiscent of the "WTF? FML! JS?" that results when falling from warp at the wrong nav point and seeing your trashed ship surrounded by flashing yellow diamonds.

Needless to say, the timing sucked. But I was lucky. I still had my laptop--surely a device that I wrote two books on would be sufficient to get me by until I could get a new machine together. And I was careful with my money and my moving didn't totally annihilate my savings so once I was situated and employed here I started putting together a gaming rig, hoping my laptop would continue functioning. Then I made the mistake of upgrading from Ubuntu 9.04 to Ubuntu 9.10--which I did because the LAMP server program broke itself. Why was this unfortunate? Well, it might have had something to do with the fact that the Linux developers had the bright idea that the Linux kernel should handle the processor fan and power management. I suppose many people had no problem with this. Unfortunately my laptop is an Acer and Acer doesn't seem to program their BIOS all that well--Linux failed with loading the fan and my laptop would quickly overheat to 98C and shut down.

This was a known issue, but there were no real fixes. I attempted a patch to the kernel that would supposedly fix it. It didn't. I installed the new version of GRUB, the Linux boot-loader. No. Then some folks told me to install the lm-sensors package, not that it would have helped. Nice try--but the laptop hit 98C during configuration and broke the package. Terminally. It could not be reinstalled, removed, or repaired by any of the various package managers that infest Ubuntu. And it seemed that any of the other packages that had any chance of helping were dependent on lm-sensors.

Okay. This wasn't going to work. How about a reinstall of 9.04? Well, Linux doesn't have a downgrade option. So I tried to burn a CD for it. Repeatedly, the installer locked up on the first screen except once when I accidentally set it to Greek, at which point it locked up on the second screen. (Hey, I know the Greek alphabet and Greek is similar enough to English, right?) Fail. So I tried Unetbootin, which alleges to install Ubuntu by placing the ISO on your hard drive. Fail. Then I set Unetbootin to install via FTP--a new idea... amazingly it worked.

So then I set things up. I installed my music player of choice: Exaile. Only problem was the version that came with Ubuntu 9.10 was too new--yes, that makes sense in Linux, as I was finding... not to mention my experiences previously with Amarok 2.0 which was the most horrible butchery of a good program I'd ever seen, and enough people agreed with me that 1.4 ended up being distributed through third parties--and so I uninstalled it and acquired the old version through their site. This allowed me to use the plugins I had got used to that no longer existed in the new version. And then I tried to install Pidgin's (messenger) Facebook protocol. It installed, but the new version is broken and has never worked.

Anyway, my laptop thus repaired, I turned to the new system. I had installed practically nothing on this fresh installation of XP and still I was having all kinds of issues. I can't even remember them all, it was truly ridiculous. I had to install not only .NET Framework 1.1 but also 2.0 and 3.0 and 3.5. I was later able to remove 2.0 and 3.0... but 1.1 is required for LOTRO and 3.5 or something is required for the E&B server tools. That's nice--I thought software dependency was a Linux thing? Oh, and DirectX 9.0c. But to get those I had to install a new Windows installer. WTF? Isn't an installer something that says "unzip here"? How many versions do you have to make of that? Okay whatever. Installed it, got all the Windows buggery set up. Then to install my drivers for my video card. What? ATI's installer broke itself? And the video card control center crashes on launch? Well eff you, I didn't need that anyway.

E&B? Okay. Only problem is my old copy on my external hard drive failed. So I downloaded it--several of the downloads came back broken. Finally got one working. Started playing... yippee!

Time to get LOTRO working right? Repeated install attempts because the download manager kept shutting down. Eventually I got it. I figured I'd try it on the onboard--hey, it worked for E&B right?--utter fail. Black screen behind a broken GUI. No surprise really, so I ordered a video card (Radeon HD 4550). But before I got that... my old video card (Geforce 8600) came back from Iowa. Video card was dead as a doornail. No surprise there either, but I hadn't been able to test it until I got my old monitor back too; I was working with a borrowed VGA and both slots on the Geforce were DVI. No surprise it was toast, but what? Now my DVI monitor won't work on the onboard mobo? WTF? Reinstalled the drivers--and this time ATI's installer didn't break itself. But it still didn't work. It was detected, but it just wouldn't pick up signal. Reinstalled all the drivers for the motherboard. Then flashed the BIOS. No go. I ended up reinstalling Windows. That didn't work either. Eventually I fixed it--by realizing that the pins weren't making contact. There was nothing wrong with the software after all.

Set up Windows again. How many days has this computer been worthless? At least I'd got E&B to run... LOTRO, as I mentioned, was not going to work on my onboard. But guess what? It doesn't work on my new card either! I know very well that my new card is adequate, it pwns my previous card and I ran it on ultra detail on that. (In fact my new computer pwns my previous one... so...?) Whatever. Turbine has no phone tech support so I just sent them a ticket and maybe will get a response someday. If not, the horse they rode in on. Turbine has something of a reputation for being too busy enjoying the horses to actually respond in a timely fashion to tech support requests.

I tried to set up Ubuntu for my second hard drive. CD fail, similarly to when I tried putting it on my laptop even though it's a completely different version. Unetbootin? Fail from hard drive again. Fail from both hard drives in fact. Install through FTP? Okay... only the package manager was broken so that failed too. I formatted my second drive repeatedly through these attempts, and now it sits there empty when it should have a second OS on it.

So now what? Time to play some E&B! Yes! No! I tried to move my mouse to the front USB slots because the cord was short and it was bugging me. I then ended up with a dead mouse, probably hardware. But wait! I can always go get a new mouse right? Absolutely. But this was Sunday and buses suck on Sunday... I went to Walmart--where I never shop--since going anywhere else would be a pain in the ass to get to on the bus on Sunday. I ended up walking an appalling distance anyway due to bus mismatches, but I got my nice new little laser mouse. (And yoga blocks and yoga tie since I was there anyway and my store only sells girly colors.) I get home, plug it in... dead mouse. Maybe I could feed it to the cat? No, that doesn't work and neither does installing the drivers. Doesn't work on my laptop either. I call up Logitech and they say yeah, it's broken, take it back or send it in. No mouse for you! So tomorrow I'm taking it back and getting my refund and buying it from NewEgg.

The sad thing is I've forgotten a few of the stupidities my computers have thrown at me recently... this is all I can remember offhand.

I hate computers.

So, tell me your horror stories...

[bondct]

prozac 60 mg tid

[StarSeekerVDS]

Tch. I meditate. That's why I'm always calm, and my window doesn't have a computer-shaped hole in it.

[bondct]

Tch. I meditate. That's why I'm always calm, and my window doesn't have a computer-shaped hole in it.

spoken like a true JE... but can u imagine a computer shaped hole in a window... omfg... that would be great...

[Numiah2]

That's a whole slab of text there sir

Ooh, my computer had me by the ballz too last weeks. Hard...

Played for over 2 years on a mediocore system without a hinge.

4 months ago troubles started.

One of the 8800 GTX's failed. Lucky I was able to get it replaced with a similar one. It was still in warranty, so no troubles there. Just shame to loose a card (at time of buying quite expensive!) Now worth a nickel and a dime. bah.

Two weeks ago I try to start the thing. ZAP, fans spin up and die.

wtf?, *presses again*

Bleep, no POST.

It could be anything from PSU to mobo, mem or CPU. Now what to do ?

I decided to drive to my office, rip a PSU from one of the workstations and try it at home.

Turned out these were lacking the extra ATX powercords. 3 hours later, all computers at work opened up and closed again to no avail. bah.

Next step buy a PSU ? Nehh, to expensive only to see that perhaps the mobo is failing.

Okay, smart decision coming up ! Buying a PSU tester (30 bucks) to exclude PSU from failure.

Drive to shop, back home, test, AHA ! PSU missing one 12v rail ! WOOT.

Back to shop, buy PSU, hurry home and start connecting it.

Smart choice not to completely build it in, because you never know right?

Uh oh, wtf? Still the same ? Puter = no go

ZOMG

Then there must be something wrong with either the mobo, mem, or CPU.

But we all know that if you want a new CPU, you need a new mobo. And a new mobo equals new memory. New memory equals new CPU. New CPU equals new watercooling block. *sigh*

Alright... Enough driving to the shop.

New mobo please with new CPU and heck, gimmeh some memory too.

Coming home I decided to go to the office where we have the proper tools and accomodations to do such a fresh build. (high- low tables, toos, compressed air etc)

*drives some more*

Problem is, it's a fully transparent case, so you want your buid being done proper and neat.

Wow, the thing is assembled. Now rush home and fire things up.

*presses PWR*

zooooommmmm. purring like a kitten.

Quickly enter the bios to set things up.

uhhmm, RAID... where did they put that. Aha ! *enables RAID*

reboot...

"press ctrl-I to enter raid setup." So I press.... nothing...

Hmm.. again.... nothing...

poop ! My USB keyboard not worky.

Ah, just enable USB legacy in BIOS, has to be that.

Okayyyy, it's already on.... crap.

Ah well, back to shop, get me an old style PS2 keyboard. Why on earth does this motherboard (Gigabyte) need a old PS2 keyboard to function? Assh%&7S !

Back home, plug it in, and yes, RAID menu ! Teehee.

Next thing the turd says = "Are you sure you want this, ALL DATA WILL BE LOST Y/N" For some reason new raid controller means loss off data. (unless there are some tools to recover from this which I don't know the existence off)

Oww... ah well, I should have a backup somewhere.

Format C:

30 mins later, fresh XP SP3.

Now why does my USB wireless not start? New drivers?

Downloaded new drivers... No go. (fault 10, can't start device)

Connect it to laptop, works like a charm.

Mmm, wait, i should have another older one. HUH? Same error?

Bedtime, tomorrow I'll see what I can do.

4 Am.... *plonck* eyes open. What could be causing this error? Wait ! Upgrade BIOS ? Back to sleep.

8 Am, call in sick today? nehhh... I have appointments.. bleh.

6 Pm Download BIOS, upgrade the thing. Actually without any problems. Have read some real horror stories on this topic lol

All went well. Boot XP. YES ! Wireless working. Still stupid, but it works.

First things first. Anti virus software, dump iexplorer etc etc.

Next step : E&B !

Slapped it on without any trouble, try to log on.... poop, server off line.

After 3 hours, try again : server off line.

What if I push play anyways? Login confirmed? huh? it clearly says off line? Ah well, let's play.

And here I am, playing again what I play most. (after the wife of course, but you catch my drift here)

[StarSeekerVDS]

Jesus H. Monkeh.

On top of all that, Windows XP can't handle 4GB of RAM, only 3.25. So I have a bad RAM stick now which may or may not work when I install Windows 7. (Any guesses on that?)

And I have a bad USB port which has fried three mice now, so I have to order a new mouse and can only plug it in the back. *growls*

[Slayerman]

3GB of ram is the limit for ANY 32 Bit operating system, Memory addresses of anything higher that 3gb goes beyond the integer max for a 32bit OS

[Daywolf]

Did you check your MOBO? Some are soldered and some are plugged. If you are on a plug, just pull and replace. Of course if the prob is on the mobo, replacing the connector won't help. Might search for a diagnostic tool to detect/localize any problem after replacing.

Not sure about the RAM, maybe test it with a live Linux disk. I'd recommend Damn Small Linux (DSL(live or embedded)) but there are diagnostic distributions around if you want to test the system more thoroughly, yet are more complicated to use so I'll pass on giving a recommendation at this time.

Oh yeah, if it's a 32 bit, OS won't change the fact, it's limited. Thought you mentioned 64bit.

[Mimir[IS]]

prozac 60 mg tid

Ummm tid? Who outside the profession knows that? Unless you watch a ton-o medical shows. House? Or did you just let it slip? RT? RN? MD?

[Daywolf]

As for rants, don't think I have any. Most of my systems I parted out from natural causes, obsolete. I had a 386SX laptop fail about 15 years ago, but that was common for laptops made of bricks. I tore that puppy into a million pieces long before I had my desktop support training but after I had a few sems of electronics. I remember it had lots o pieces Wasn't as easy to understand as my old C64. Can do it blindfolded now though and back together.

[StarSeekerVDS]

The RAM chips both check out with memtest+, but one of them works in Windows and one of them is buggy (this is with me only running one 2GB stick at a time), so... dunno. I'm gonna run the good one for now and maybe send the other one back. But I'll wait until I get 7 and reinstall everything again to see if things smooth out before I assume the hardware is dead.

The USBs in question are on the case, jumpered. I figure I plugged them in wrong, however, a USB xHDD works fine on the same port that fried my mice. Go figure.

[AresDracofyre]

Ummm tid? Who outside the profession knows that? Unless you watch a ton-o medical shows. House? Or did you just let it slip? RT? RN? MD?

Could also be anyone employed in the pharmacy industry, but then if it was I'd expect them to know that to get 60mg of prozac, you have to take a 40mg dosage and a 20mg dosage, because a 60mg dosage doesn't exist. Also tid dosage on prozac is far too much.

[JoeCool]

3GB of ram is the limit for ANY 32 Bit operating system, Memory addresses of anything higher that 3gb goes beyond the integer max for a 32bit OS

Actually that's not entirely true... Win2003 Datacenter 32bit can access 128GB RAM without problems.

Even under WinXP SP1(!) you could have the full 4 GB with PAE by remapping virtual address space...

But Microsoft decided that consumers don't need that and because of poorly written drivers (mostly network cards and GFX cards) that would bluescreen with PAE turned on they disabled it on SP2+ and on 32bit Vista and 7. (see here: http://www.sharkyforums.com/showpost.php?p=2374654&postcount=5 and here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778(VS.85).aspx )

Almost all versions of Linux also support 64GB of memory in 32bit mode.

The only real limit under Windows is one process can only address 2GB (or 3GB with a tweak) of (virtual) memory if it is a 32bit program. Is explained in the msdn acticle.