Computer woes

[gemfyre]

Looks like the motherboard is gone.
This is bad. No WAY can I afford to replace that at the moment. Weird, because I don't think the water got anywhere near there.

jassa is letting me borrow FirstEvil for now, which is better than a kick in the face. It's an old slow computer so playing games is probably out of the question but hopefully I can still do all the essentials.

This WILL be a good thing. I will use all the time I'd waste playing games doing constructive stuff and exercise like things. *nods determinedly*

I still sure would like a nice new desk though... IKEA are having a sale, I must have a look.

Comments

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

The hard drive is fine thank GOD. I would have spat it if that had gone but it is okay *hugs hard drive*

Um, I think it's 20 gig or something, running Windows 98SE.

[shirazz.livejournal.com]

So it's not a *total* dinosaur!
Slow old machine = a p3 I think :)
What happened to it? You said something about water? What the!?!

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

Friend spilled (newly hatched) sea monkeys on it.
Those things grow in salty water.

I know it's better than a P3. FirstEvil (computer I am borrowing) is a P3.

[shirazz.livejournal.com]

Oh lawks :(
We had a mouse live in our machine for god knows how long. Eventually it fried :(

her puter

[firvulag.livejournal.com]

It was a bitzer anyway, so you probably couldn't judge its age really well.
i believe it had a P3 650 in it, but not totally sure.
I know FirstEvil is a P3 300ish.

as far as can be told, the motherboard is all thats dead, so may not be a total loss, even though it was bought as a temp anyway.

Re: her puter

[shirazz.livejournal.com]

cheers!

We have an AMD Duron 900 (apparently it's been overclocked) here that would probably do the trick.

Re: her puter

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

What would you want for that?
Or would it be a loan?

Could be worth a shot, at least we could find out if the graphics card is gone or not as well.

I'm on holidays now too so we should meet up and see how scary we both are. :)

Re: her puter

[shirazz.livejournal.com]

Sure - we wouldn't need it back so you buying it is no problem. Umm...make an offer! I tried to have a look on e-bay to see what they're worth but to no avail. My partner reckons more than $100 but less than $200 if that narrows it down!
We also have an old graphics accelerator if your graphics card is fried so you're welcome to that too.
I think we should meet up soon then, holidays are usually a time when a busy person finds out how boring it is to not be busy anymore. I am very scary by the way....
*chuckle*

Re: her puter

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

I AM interested.
I just don't have the money at the moment.

For now I will use this loan computer but that's certainly an option if you still have it around when I get up a bit of money to buy it. :)

Re: her puter

[shirazz.livejournal.com]

It'll be sitting here for you :)
We should still try to meet up while you're on holidays.

Re: her puter

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

What do you reckon?
As in, where and when?

Re: her puter

[shirazz.livejournal.com]

Ummm....
Seeing as it's local & close how about the cafe across from the fruit & veg place at Dog Swamp? It's actually easier for me to get there than the city.
As for when....well, I'm pretty nuch free during the day anytime so I'll leave that bit up to you :)

Re: her puter

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

I'm next free on... Friday.

That motherboard (and graphics card), really how much are you after for it. This loan computer is shitting me already and I'm considering just coughing up a couple hundred to get it back to normal again.

Ooh, I have $60 in my moneybox too...

Re: her puter

[shirazz.livejournal.com]

Umm....
Look - seeing as you're so strapped for cash & we have a few bits & there's no guarantees on the size of the RAM & there's a PCI & an AGP graphics card which you can have too (use whatever one's better & have a standby) & the board with the chip...
call it $100 the lot (as long as you have someone to put it together for you - my partner unfortunately doesn't have time to even fix *my* machine right now!).
I'm free Friday too :)
If that deal's good to you then you may have a computer on Friday!

Re: her puter

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

$100 sounds dandy to me.

And I know plenty of computer geeks to put it all together. My other half often seems busy but also he's a software person and tends to run screaming from hardware, but I know other people who will work for hugs and brownies and oodles of gratitude.

Re: her puter

[shirazz.livejournal.com]

Nice :)
I have set aside your bundle-o-bits.
Mmmmm - brownies!
Hheeh - cool... "how did you meet?" "well, we were on a childfree & cooking list then I sold her some computer bits..."
hehheeh
So meeting up at Dog Swamp sounds ok to you? It's actually easier than me going "just come over here" cos this place is really hard to find. Friday early afternoon? I'll bring the bits with me.

Re: her puter

[jassalol.livejournal.com]

Hey.

I was just wondering whether you could clarify a couple of things, before you guys commit to this...

1) An AMD Duron 900 is a CPU, not a motherboard. You could be getting the two mixed up, but I'm going to assume you mean you're selling gemfyre a motherboard and CPU (the CPU attaches to the motherboard, so it's very easy to think of them as the one bit of hardware).

2) I don't suppose you can tell us what it's been overclocked from/to? The room gemfyre uses gets pretty damn hot in the summer, so ideally she wouldn't want it to be too sensitive to the heat...

Thanks :-)

Re: her puter

[shirazz.livejournal.com]

Couldn't find the make of the mobo (already tried) but whatever the board is it has that chip on it. I think it's only been clocked from a 900 to a 950 or just on a gig. If there's a problem with cooling then we'll sort that out but it's not been overclocked to the gunholes or anything so I can't see it being a biggie.
I'm a computer nerd - I know about them enough to get me by :)
I'd not try to offload something dodgy to someone. These bits have been tested within the past couple of months & they worked ok then so it should all be cool.

Re: her puter

[jassalol.livejournal.com]

Ok, just wanted to make sure. Thanks :-)

Re: her puter

[shirazz.livejournal.com]

That's no worries - you're a good friend to stick up for your mate like that tho. I know it'd seem shonky - buying computer bits from a person online but meh - someone I talk to online has a problem, if I can I try to sort something out. The reason I selected these bits was because a slightly older machine usually equals salvageable parts which is also a big plus. If the mobo has been fried then there's a pretty good chance the chip is cooked also (especially with salt water - UGH!) so having a mobo with a chip on it is probably the easiest & cheapest way of fixing that plus an upgrade is always nice. I thought I'd dig up what I could anyhow, hence the 2 graphics cards (they're old & if one doesn't work then the other one will but if they both work 1 is AGP & 1 is PCI so then you can decide on how many devices you already have & if a PCI card is a good idea) & the RAM is a bit of a wildcard. I'm thinking they'd be 32SDRAM sticks but hey - if the RAM's shot as well then it's a start.
So yeah - I know how it feels to be sans computer & it sucks! MUST FIX PUTER!!

Re: her puter

[jassalol.livejournal.com]

I wasn't worried that you were selling her dodgy parts, I was just clarifying the situation :-)

Re: her puter

[shirazz.livejournal.com]

That's cool :)
There's plenty of people out there who don't know the first thing about computers, or cars or whatever.
My sport is to go into a large electrical retailer (there's one here which is tres dodgy) & say in a dumb voice "I'm looking for a computer to get on the interweb with & maybe type letters" & I've been sold systems which are FAR too much for just that (who really needs an Audigy sound card, a dual processor & a 256 9800 raedon graphics card?).
I'm evil :)