BS: today I fixed my computer

Subject: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 10 Nov 04 - 12:14 AM

It's funny how an idea can be in the air all of sudden. Yesterday I was talking to the DH (dear husband) about magnetic reversals, a process whereby the earth's north magnetic pole becomes a south magnetic pole, and vice versa. This occurs at intervals of hundreds of thousands or millions of years. The trouble is, reversals are not instantaneous, and during the thousands of years that the magnetic field weakens, cosmic rays bombard the earth. Cosmic rays can break DNA, and so periods of magnetic reversal may accelerate genetic change, leading to evolution.

I told the DH that effecting evolution with cosmic rays was like fixing your car with a sledge hammer.

Anyway, today my computer started to act funny -- it wasn't typing nearly fast enough. So I shut it down and let it cool off. But when I flipped the big red switch to turn it back on, it wouldn't start! No fan, nothing on the screen, no Windows! So I repeated the procedure, and then I got out the Windows start-up disk. Still, no sign of life.

I tottered away, thinking of all the data stored on the dead computer. Then, while mixing up some chocolate chip cookies, I remembered the sledge hammer idea. When the cookies were safely in the oven, I went back to the computer, hit the big red switch, then bashed the computer near the on/off button with the heel of my hand. It started up and has been working perfectly since.

Neophytes, please note that I bashed it near the switch, not actually on the switch. There's an art to these things.

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: Peace
Date: 10 Nov 04 - 12:18 AM

That explains the problem I had with mine. I bashed it on the switch WITH the hammer. The thing hasn't caused me a single headache since. Would anyone who can still e-mail please let Mr Gates know taht Microsoft Works is false advertizing? Thank you.

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: chris nightbird childs
Date: 10 Nov 04 - 12:19 AM

Have I ever mentioned that I hate technology? Too damn complicated...

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Nov 04 - 12:33 AM

Stick with us, Chris. You might learn some new coping techniques.

Brucie, what exactly do you mean by "hasn't given me a headache since?" Works well, or is defunct?

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 10 Nov 04 - 02:31 AM

Sounds like he fixed it "real proper"!

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: mack/misophist
Date: 10 Nov 04 - 10:53 AM

I fixed mine with a gelding knife. It's much more placid now.

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: Nick
Date: 10 Nov 04 - 11:19 AM

Don't wish to be a wet blanket but I would suggest it's a great time to take a back up as it probably has a fair chance of failing again soon

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: Bill D
Date: 10 Nov 04 - 11:48 AM

many years ago I had a cheap old TV set ...we kept a nice, heavy book on top, as it needed a good bash to make it work. It worked this way for about two years, then....ummmm.....

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 10 Nov 04 - 11:52 AM

Where did you think the expression "booting it" came from?

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 10 Nov 04 - 02:35 PM

Where did you think the expression "booting it" came from?

From bootstrapping - from Karl Friedrich Hieronymus, Baron von Münchhausen. See Wikepida article

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: Bill D
Date: 10 Nov 04 - 02:38 PM

awww..Jon! I like McGrath's explanation!

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: Cluin
Date: 10 Nov 04 - 02:43 PM

Back up your data, leeneia, before you shut it down again. Then start pricing a new hard drive, if not a new `puter.

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Nov 04 - 04:27 PM

Most of the data is backed up, I'm glad to say.

However, does anybody know a way to make a copy of my e-mail address book onto a CD or floppy?

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: Cluin
Date: 10 Nov 04 - 05:49 PM

What program do you use for e-mail?

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 10 Nov 04 - 07:02 PM

The hardware is the bits you can kick - the software is the bits you can only swear at.

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: HuwG
Date: 11 Nov 04 - 09:56 AM

I hate to quibble but "cosmic rays" are high-frequency radiation, in the X-ray band, gamma ray band, or even higher. Being photons, they are not affected by the earth's magnetic field. They are generally stopped by the "ozone layer" in the atmosphere, which is one good reason why we ought to worry about that layer disappearing.

The earth's magnetic field does indeed deflect charged particles (alpha particles, beta particles and other shredded atomic nuclei) emanating mainly from the sun. The loss of the earth's magnetic field will allow these to hit the earth's surface, which will not be good news for delicate electronic equipment.

(It also means that charged particles, which break up ozone, won't be directed towards the magnetic poles, so ozone layer loss will be less severe but more widespread, or so my reasoning goes).

The geological record does not appear to correlate mass extinctions or "species bloom" with magnetic pole reversals.

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: NH Dave
Date: 11 Nov 04 - 12:40 PM

Hard drive or new 'puter? Ask a local computer shop to build you a new computer. It may cost a bit more, but you can usually get them to transfer all of your setup and data to the new drive while they are setting up the new machine.

This has several benefits, including saving you the hassle of transferring the data yourself, assuming that you *did* make a backup of your data on a frequent basis. You will generally get a new operating system - Microsloth has an annoying habit of refusing to support their older versions - anything older than what I have now - of Windows, much sooner than the version actually expires on your system. You will also have a computer free from all the detrius that has accumulated in your present system over the years that you have owned it. (Computers like homes accumulate stuff over the years, and this stuff impedes progress in the same way your collection of widgets keeps you from moving freely about your house.) This and the fact that computers now come with hard drives larger than our wildest dreams, a few years ago, means that your new system will perform a lot better than your old one could ever hope to do. You will probably get an up to date version of effective virus detecting software which can keep lots of nasty programs out of your system for the next year or until the free updates run out.

Buying an inexpensive machine from a TV advertisment or a discount store will save you money, but you will have to work to recover the data, your work of the past few years, from your old and admittedly dodgy current drive, and there will always be something that you fail to transfer over, which you will only discover long after the computer has made its last trip to the land fill.

Dave

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: Ron Davies
Date: 11 Nov 04 - 01:42 PM

I can heartily recommend an I-Mac. No more Macroslop idiocies. It's been night and day. I've never looked back.

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: robomatic
Date: 11 Nov 04 - 02:37 PM

I came into an office where all the old HPs running Windows 3.0 were being swapped out for spankin' sexy new Compaq 'puters. But not for the new guy. So first thing each morning as I sat down I fetched the HP Tower a good one with me left leg.

But it just kept running.

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: GUEST,noddy
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 04:38 AM

years ago there was a good book about learning how to use a computer. The cover depicted a cartoon of a man with a manic look on his face and a computer with an axe imbeded in it and smoke gently rising.

The title... compute this.

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 08:57 AM

I've backed up my data, but I don't think the problem with the on/off switch means I need to buy a new computer yet. It's a mechanical part, not part of the brains.

Thanks, HuwG, for explaining about the cosmic rays. I remember now, it's the ozone, not the magnetic field, that stops them. Explaining that is definitely not quibbling, it's a public service.

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: NH Dave
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 09:09 AM

Leenia - There's a big difference between needing a new On/Off switch and a new power supply although the symptoms are very similar. The one merely requires a simple switch, even a wall/mains switch, although it would be inconvenient to mount in the back of your computer. A defective power supply although easily replaces begs the question of a new computer.

Noddy - One of the greatest questions I've even read about misbehaving computers came up in a questions and answer columns many years ago - Back when Commodore was still a competitor.

Q. How do I know whan my computer has had it?

A. Smoke coming from the computer ventilation slots is a pretty good indication. You see, every computer chip has a small ammount of smoke built into it in order for it to operate, and if this smoke ever gets out the computer will never work again.

Dave

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: HuwG
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 11:43 AM

There's a few choice tales of smoking computers at Rinkworks.com (and one or two tales about smoking users from the same site on this blue clicky.)

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 12 Nov 04 - 01:33 PM

Dave, thanks for the information about power switch vs power supply. It's good to know the terminology.

The puter may just be jealous of the new stove. I am giving it extra attention and telling it it's the "big appliance" and will see if that doesn't help.

Subject: RE: BS: today I fixed my computer
From: Mr Red
Date: 13 Nov 04 - 06:10 AM

I run mine without the cover

It isa amazing how exposed and vulnerable it feels - naked. It still gives a bit of hassle occasionally - particularly when the TV card is being asked to screen a German satellite station after 00:00 (CET),

is this computer empathy?

scuse shaky handwriting.............