Faster, easier but more expensive… or slower, a hassle but cheaper… ?! 17 October 2008
Posted by kaitharshayr in Computer.Tags: Motherboard, pc specialist, warranties
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So.. which would you pick?
Over emails with PC Specialist we’ve pretty much determined that my motherboard has more than likely packed in. (The BIOS wasn’t starting, I’d have to turn the power on and off at the mains to get it started. Did I blog about that? I can’t remember now, I must have.) Anyway because I only (and annoyingly) had a 1 year Warranty on it, I am now out of warranty by about 2 months. As such they obviously can’t just replace my motherboard. I rang them up and was told I could buy one of the motherboards they had left that’s the same one as mine for £99 + shipping, so a total of £105. I said I’d have to call them back the next day just to think on it a bit. But seriously, I need this motherboard and I don’t think it’s really available anywhere else because Asus has a newer one out.
It did occur to me though to ask what would happen if this newer motherboard also died. Would it be covered under any sort of warranty. To which I was told (by a different guy on the Tuesday) that it should be covered under the manufacturers warranty, which is about 2 years. This made me ask, ‘Oh, well then would my current drive still be covered by that? Is there anyway I can replace that one by that?’ The answer I got was yes, I could send my motherboard back to them, they could test it to make sure it was broke, before getting it replaced with the manufacturer. I asked how long this would take from when they received my motherboard, about 3 weeks was the reply. I said Ok, I’ll do that then, thanks so much.
But thinking about it now, I’ve realised I don’t quite know enough about the innards of my computers to know exactly what to send back. I mean obviously the board, but whether there is any extra gubbins on it that also need to be sent back. I also need to find an anti-static bag from somewhere to send it back in, and figure out what the hell I’m going to keep all the other bits in for approximately a month while I wait for a new Motherboard. So.. if I’m going to send an email to them today just to ask what exactly I need to send back, but if I don’t get a reply till say… Monday, then I don’t know when I’ll be able to get the motherboard out and post it. As I’ll want my dad’s help, and I’m away next weekend so I won’t really be able to do anything till Halloween weekend. Which means that I won’t be able to get my PC fixed till near to Dec.
Hence my current dilemma. Fork out the money and get my motherboard next week, OR try and get it exchanged via warranty and just spend ages waiting… :/ 
I must say it is stressing me out a little, cause I have to balance this with trying to sort out job applications and write goddamn cover letters. What. Fun.
8,800 12 September 2008
Posted by kaitharshayr in Computer, University.Tags: computers, laptops, MSc, thesis, University
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Dum de dum dum, yup that’s right I’m now up to 8,800 words (word limit is 15,000) can you tell I’m in a better mood to my post the other day? Ok so I’ve still got a fair bit to write, and a LOT to do for little tiding up bits (I think that’s always the worst really tiding up references, figures, contents all that boring stuff) but I’m feeling ok on it all again. I wonder how long it will last. *rolls eyes*
There was a power cut yesterday at about 2pm, just as I was going to get back down to work (or attempt to get to work) needless to say I was not impressed when my pc just died on me. Nor was I impressed when I realised that my laptop was out of battery. Luckily my mum’s was fully charged so I sat down with that and found that I’d written around about a 800 words before the power came back on, about an hour later. So it would seem that a power cut is the perfect thing to get my writing skills flowing..? Or maybe it was the lack of other distractions like the internet. 
Anyway I’ve also decided that I adore my mum’s laptop. Mine is a big heavy 15″ laptop, to overpowered for its own good really so the batteries aren’t great. I’m not really sure what the spec’s are on my mum’s one but its 12″ and I just love the size of it! Its great for sitting down with it on your lap to type. I do have to try and make sure my hand doens’t hit the track pad constantly otherwise I get very broken up sentences but aside from that its fab. Its made me realise that I’d quite like a smallish laptop and then my friend pointed out that there are now laptops like this around. Is it not cute? I may have to save up some money once I get a job to get one, and then figure out what to do with my old laptop.. need to figure out what to do with my old pc too. The motherboard (or at least from what I can remember, it was a year ago) was starting to die and everything else in there is pretty damn old. I may take the HD out and keep that, and then figure out what to do with the rest of the bits.
I Despair 26 August 2008
Posted by kaitharshayr in Computer.Tags: banks, data loss, data protection, HMRC
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What the hell is wrong with people?!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7581540.stm
A few weeks ago it was a USB stick containing information on pretty much every registered criminal and now computers are getting sold on ebay with bank customers details still present in the hard drives?! *Sigh*
I already wrote a long ranty post about this subject just last year, what with HMRC losing lots of personal data and having what were just rather incompetent data protection mechanisms. I know a year in someways isn’t that long to expect miracles but at the same time… What the hell?! Businesses & the government need to get their act together.
The war continues… 11 July 2008
Posted by kaitharshayr in Computer.Tags: annoyed, instillation errors, service pack one, vista
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So far the score is Vista Service Pack One 2, Me 0. Hell I say 2, but it depends what your counting here, if 2 is the number of big attempts I’ve made to install this thing (searching Google for help, running various error scans and changing settings) then its correct. But if its the number of times I have actually physically tried to install SP1, then.. its what.. 6..? 7? Each individual install and then reverting changes taking.. hmm an hour at least?
I have pretty much tried almost every resolution listed on this website: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947366 to no avail.
The error code I get from the Windows Update history is 8004100A, which.. even after a google search I cannot find much out about it.
I’ve even tried downloading SP1 (luckily it didn’t take too long, considering its well over 400MB), installed that.. and.. what do you know that didn’t work either. And what helpful error message did I get? 800F0826, which is the error code telling you that an update has failed. Gee. Thanks. Like I hadn’t already noticed.
Can you tell that I’m just a little bit fed up??
I’m going to have to call Microsoft’s helpline next week I think. *sigh* I hate phones, and I really do not want to faff about on this machine too much, I have project work to do.
Moving & other things 23 May 2008
Posted by kaitharshayr in Computer, University.Tags: exams, Gaming, keyboards, logitech G15, moving, oxford street, ruby on rails, shopping
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I’d forgotten how exhausting moving, even just a small move, can be. Wednesday I helped C move what small amount of stuff out of the place he was renting to my house. It was no where near an epic move, hell I did that EVERY time I went back to uni, that was epic, I had so much stuff that I filled my dad’s Peugeot Estate! I mean everything I had was kind of ‘necessary’ I had my PC, base unit, monitor, speakers, printer, then my tv, game cube, and of course a bag of dvd’s/game cube games. A suitcase with clothes, another with sheets, pillows etc. A bag with text books and folders of notes, a bag of living essentials, washing up liquid, washing machine powder, extension cords, a mirror.. etc. And of course my 2 potted plants and bags of food… Gods that was a lot, somehow my friend, who had almost as much stuff as me, managed to fit everything in his mum’s car, which was a fair bit smaller than mine, it was most impressive.
But anyway I digress. C was renting somewhere which was only about a 5 min walk from where I live, its amazing how long that can feel when your weighed down with bags, it didn’t take that many trips though. A part of me thinks it would have been so much easier and quicker if my mum had brought her car around, it would have taken one trip, and she did offer. But then.. its ONLY 5 mins, and I’m hardly helping the environment if I use the car for such a short trip. Ah well.
As of today I have now completed 4 of my 5 exams, and last exam is next Thursday. It can’t come soon enough, I have decided to treat myself to a rather large shopping trip afterwards. (The benefit (or is a a curse?) of having a university near Oxford street.) There are some things I want to get from Marks and Spencers, and I need to get a book to teach me about Ruby on Rails. Its basically an open source frame work that allows you to develop database backed web applications. And from what I’ve seen of the tutorials and such it is supposed to be really easy to do as there is minimal coding involved, and is supposed to be easy to learn. So I’ve decided to learn. I just hope that one of the book shops on Oxford street has the book I want.
I have also finally decided on what keyboard I want. I think I mentioned ages ago in another blog post that I would invest in a new keyboard in the summer, well I am going to get one soon. I have to say it was a tough choice. Originally I was torn between the Logitech LX 710 Laser and the Logitech Cordless Desktop Wave. Both are cordless, and both came with mice, the former has more buttons functionality than the other, but the latter has that curvy look which is supposed to be better for people who get RSI, which I do occasionally.
So I thought it was a tough choice, and both were about the same price on Amazon so there wasn’t much in it.. until I stumbled on Logitech’s Gaming keyboards. Well that did it.. I wasn’t aiming to spend more than £40 maybe £50 on a keyboard. But then I saw these two. Logitech G11 Keyboard and the Logitech G15 Keyboard. Now.. granted the G11 is JUST below £50, but it’s the G15 that is the neat one, and after reading a review that compared the new G15 with the old G15, it just sounds really neat, plus my friend has the old G15, and he says its pretty damn good. However unfortunately neither of these are wireless, nor do they come with mice, now to be far I wasn’t really looking for a new mouse, my basic Microsoft Optical one serves me fine. Plus my current basic keyboard is also wired, so it’s not going to make a huge difference to me, although the size might. For some silly reason the Logitech site doesn’t give you the dimensions of the keyboards, the G15 is 19.5″ long and 10.5″ wide, my current keyboard is 18″ by 7″ so its pretty big! At the moment I can push my keyboard up next to the monitor if I want to write note on to paper and such. I don’t think I’m quite going to have that luxury with this new keyboard, I’m also going to have fun when I want to break out my graphics tablet. I really wont’ have much room at all! But, I’m a gamer geek and well, it’s a gaming keyboard. I’ll figure something out!
Technology is just annoying 19 May 2008
Posted by kaitharshayr in Computer, Technology.Tags: Computer, exams, grapihcs driver, install issues, portal, service pack 1, vista
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I think technology took a dislike to me this weekend. I tried to install Vista Service Pack 1 on Saturday morning, it would get all the way through, do the last restart, when its supposed to configure the install and then just say “Install failed, reverting back”.. Well.. how nice. As per several troubleshooting suggestions I ran a couple of system scans, turned all extra programmes off and … it still didn’t’ install. I have yet to try the suggestion to try and install it with things like the virus checker turned off, I think I may wait till after my exams to sort this out.
Vista however has also started to do other really crazy/annoying things.. The compute window.. it groups things by drive type, and with the computer drives it very helpfully had a little green bar that showed you how much space you’d used/had free. Or at least that’s what its SUPPOSED to look like (see example here). I really appreciated it too. But now… now mine looks like this:
Can you see that?? Its grouped them alphabetically!! I mean WHAT?! And don’t any of you dare tell me that I can change it back to sorting by Type by right clicking and selecting the sort by. I will have you know I’ve done that TWICE, and yet after a restart or two it REVERTS BACK to this alphabetical sorting….. Not to mention that I have no idea how to get those nice computer icons back with the green bars to tell me how much damned hard drive space I’ve used. I really appreciated those!
I also ran out of black printer ink on Saturday, I had to use my dads printer.. which was almost out of black ink too, so it should be fun getting the rest of my lecture notes printed off from which to revise from.
Oh well.. at least I’ve actually managed to fix one issue! Dany wasn’t going into standby mode after having the screen saver on for 10 mins, but I updated the graphics driver on Sunday and that seems to have fixed it. I also discovered that because I have a NVIDIA card I was entitled to a couple of free stuff chapters so a demo Peggle, the first few levels of Portal, and some HL2 chapter things. Neat! I may have to invest in Portal now… it was fun. 
I also have a few suspicions that it MAY have been this graphics driver issue that was preventing SP1 from installing.. but like I said I’ll try to install it again after my exams. In fact I need to go revise, I have another one at 6pm today. The fun never ends(!)
What a time waster 21 April 2008
Posted by kaitharshayr in Computer, Technology.Tags: audacity, troubleshooting, vista
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Unlike some people I am not a complete Microsoft hater, I mean yes at times the software can be really annoying, but I have found there are some fantastic features in Office 2007, and actually I do kind of like Vista, but there are some things about it that really annoy the hell out of me.. and I have just run up against one of them.
I want to edit some Librivox files in Audacity, using version 1.3.4 which is in Beta, and the software has suddenly decided that it will open in full screen mode, or just sit in my start bar, I cannot get it into windowed mode. I have never liked working with software in full screen mode, unless 1) it is a computer game that does NOT make me queasy, or 2) I am trying to focus specifically on writing up a piece of coursework. Editing Audacity files doesn’t fall into either of these to categories. So a quick trip to the Audacity help forum suggests that I need to reset audacity by deleting a few files. Here is where I start banging heads with Vista.
I need to get here Documents and Settings\<user name>\Local Settings\Temp\, but when I get to Local Settings, Vista tells me that my Access is Denied. Why does it do this? It’s Vista’s crazy way of telling me this because these files are located elsewhere. There’s some useful information about it here, and as the guy says, if Vista can tell applications where the actual path to these files is… WTH can’t it just take me there? Now I’m going to have to waste time trying to find the file locations. *Grumble*
Edit: Blah I think I’m still tired, if I read the webpage I linked to more carefully it actually tells me where such things are.. now to see if I can fix Audacity.
Rescue mission status: Success! 8 March 2008
Posted by kaitharshayr in Computer, Knitting.Tags: Computer, dust, Knitting
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So as I just posted about an hour ago (here) my sock needle feel into the almost dark yet very dusty depths of my PC, and I’m sure Dany (my PC) is not very happy about it either. Look you can see it here:
And here is a larger shot, here are my two WIP’s piled next to Dany. Probably not the best place to keep them, but I’m not sure where else to put them for now. Incidently they are also sitting on top of my graphics tablet (I covered that with a piece of fabric long before I started keeping my knitting there. I didn’t want it getting scratched/damaged.)
And so I unplugged Dany and took the side panel off, I’m sure she won’t appreciate me showing photo’s of her naked inside’s but luckily the fan vent thing hides most of it. And look there is my needle + a fair bit of dust!
Although the amount of dust there isn’t as bad as when I opened my old PC up (it was making a lot more noise that usual) and discovered great masses of dust & hair balls. Poor thing. No hair in Dany, but I suspect this is because she is not sitting on the floor like the old one was but is up high.
So I rescued my needle, dusted Dany out a bit, hid her insides from the world again and plugged everything together. My knitting needle seems to have come out of this no worse for ware, and I have reunited it with the sock and sock yarn as you can see. I shall be careful not to get these separated again.
As you can also see I have made a bit of progress on the sock. I am getting close to doing the heel, and from reading up a bit it’s like doing the toe, so shouldn’t be too hard I hope.
Also why do I keep wanting to write neelde and not needle?? *sigh*
Perhaps my PC will take up knitting… 8 March 2008
Posted by kaitharshayr in Computer, Knitting.Tags: Computer, Knitting
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*sigh* Ok so there is an obvious reason why you should stick your knitting needles into your ball of wool. Especially when they are small sock needles, more especially when your so cramped for space that your knitting sits right next to your PC unit. I have just knocked my sock needle through one of the air holes on the side of my machine, I may have to perform a rescue mission shortly… (although I do have 6 sock needles in total.. but.. so not the point here)
I am well impressed with my own cleverness at the moment.
Technology VS Knitting!! 14 January 2008
Posted by kaitharshayr in Computer, Knitting.Tags: 360, keyboards, Knitting
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So the other week my family took a trip to PC World to get a laptop for my brother, I wondered off to look at keyboards, because I would really like a new keyboard for Dany. (Dany being short for Daenerys (A Song of Ice and Fire) which is the name of my PC) (And why yes, yes I have named my PC, I have also named my 3 hard drives in my PC after Dany’s 3 dragons, and if you think that’s sad then that’s totally not my problem 
cause there’s nothing you can do about it!) Anyway back to the topic at hand. I would quite like a new wireless keyboard with fancy buttons on to press for DVD playage and the like. As right now I have a really old cheap logitech basic wired keyboard, and I feel my new PC (well ok i got her in August so not quite new) could do with a new keyboard.
So I was looking at keyboards and going ‘Ohh £40 for one of the cheaper wireless keyboards, ooh dear.’ and my mum, who also wants a new keyboard commented that she could get it for me if I really wanted. To which my reply was. ‘Oh, no I’d much rather you got me yarn instead.’ …. What?! What?!!! Heh what am I becoming?
I had a sort of similar conversation before Christmas, I did have some vauge plan to get my friends to chip in with my parents to get me a 360 for Christmas, instead I decided that I’d much rather have knitting supplies!
And yet I really do want a 360 and a new keyboard! Oh the agonies of currently being an unemployed student! As such I have decided that when I get my first paycheck, for this currently mythical part time job that I will get over the summer, (part time so that I can also focus on my project work and finish it), it will be spent on a new keyboard! How exciting eh?
