Month: December 2006

bookmark_borderTest of my strength

Posted on by PaulaO

After fighting with my laptop’s monitor, but finding a solution, the dogs took care of that stress for me today. So freakin’ nice of them.

The puppy, the 11mos old 80+/- lb puppy, chewed through my power cord this morning. I’m trying to send this before the battery runs dry.

I won’t be back on-line for several weeks (I feel withdrawals already). The desktop and the router haven’t spoken to each other in over a year.

I may get the chance to drop in, if Lorna gets home in time for me to go to the library. We are down to one vehicle still.

So, like, take it easy folks and I hope everyone has a safe and sane-ish holiday.

PaulaO

bookmark_borderChristmas Spirits

Posted on by PaulaO

A Visit From Saint Nicholas (aka Night Before Christmas) :

Yes, Virginia:

Father Christmas:

Santa Claus:

Christmas:

A Christmas Carol:

From me and the ultimate resource, Wikimedia, I wish y’all a safe and happy holiday.

(This was put together on 12/22 and post-dated. I will return with “live” posts on Tuesday; sooner if something is worthy enough 😉 )

bookmark_borderBird Photos

Posted on by PaulaO

Oh, and speaking of birds, I was out on the front porch yesterday, taking pictures of the birds at the feeder. I had pulled out my old tripod and was using it to get some great shots. While I was unscrewing the camera from the tripod to go back inside, I was watching the birds through the little LCD screen. Then there it was. A Red-bellied Woodpecker. Wow! I got two shots of it before it flew off. Click the image for the better, larger version. (the third image is a crop of the second image)

I have a bunch of other photos I need to upload, perhaps in a gallery type place. Don’t know if I will do Flickr or my own.

bookmark_borderWriting Despite It All

Posted on by PaulaO

I’m still writing some on Simple Sarah a little bit each day. One day, it was just under 400 words. Yesterday it was just under 2000. Lorna and I were running errands and while we were lunching at Wendy’s, we discussed the plot and some scenes. That always helps since it gets it out of my head where I can “see” it.

I am still using the laptop, although now it is connected to the desktop’s monitor, this huge honkin’ old CRT. Every once in a while, it will spazz a little–shrink in or out a few millimeters–and will make me feel like I am stoned. It is also smaller than my monitor and further away so I had to adjust the settings so everything was big enough to read. Ugh. Scrolling is for the birds.

Since the monitor is so far away, I am not able to write as much at once. My eyes get so tired they ache. It seems as though every time I get on a roll, something goes wrong. Like my hands break down or the keyboard goes on strike.

I will be home with Lorna until Tuesday so perhaps not much writing until then.

bookmark_borderLaptop Problems Part, er, Three

Posted on by PaulaO

Ooookay. My brother–the geek/nerd/tech–and I went through a series of “tests”. I called him when I discovered a bizarre twist to the plot.

When the monitor turned off, I closed the lid. The Power Savings Setup is configured to then “hibernate” the laptop. When that was done, I re-opened the lid and hit the power button, which then turned the laptop back on and there would be the screen again.

Since I was having to do this from once an hour to every four minutes, I quickly learned to cheat. I closed the lid but opened it right back up again. The monitor would be on, I’d watch it hibernate, then I’d turn it back on.

Then I started noticing that the monitor was on just as soon as I lifted the lid and I’d see the screen as it was prior to it going off. So today, I did yet another set of experiments:

  • I held the latch open, shut the lid, and lifted it back up again. The monitor was on.
  • I opened the power settings and told it to not do anything when the lid closed. I closed the lid and opened it. The monitor was on.

That’s when I called Kev. He was as confused as I was. He decided to run me through all the previous tests again, just to make sure I did it “right” and that he understood what I was saying.

  1. did a hard reboot, restarted, waited, monitor went off
  2. did a boot up in safe mode, waited, monitor went off.
  3. did a boot in safe mood with command prompt, waited, monitor went off.
  4. hooked up an external monitor, waited, laptop monitor went off but external monitor stayed on.

We’d just proven it wasn’t a software issue. Had it been a software thing, the external monitor would have gone off too.

Then we tried lowering the monitor a few degrees, raising it back up, then going lower each time to see where the monitor would turn back on. It won’t until it is all the way down but the latch is not in the holes.

Hardware problem. There are two possible things. There’s a switch somewhere that tells the computer that the laptop is closed. That switch could be bad. There could be a bad wire somewhere between the card and the monitor. A bad monitor is not exactly the problem since it has no other problems.

Now that I know a little more about it, I will be able to know if the laptop fix-it folk know what they are doing.

bookmark_borderLaptop Troubles Part 2

Posted on by PaulaO

The laptop is still misbehaving. I spanked it and sent it to bed without any supper last night, but alas, it is at it again. Perhaps I should try psychology on it.

At any rate, I called Charlotte Street Computers today and they said they would look at it. I could actually take it in today and it would get looked at in the morning. But I’ve decided to wait until after the holiday. It is a little crazy around her lately, with just one car and all that.

Anyway, I am hitting save on my documents every few minutes or so. I did a big backup the other day and I’ll do one each afternoon at least of the WIP folder.

The rest of this post has images so to give folks the option of viewing them or not, I’m cutting this post. If you want to view them, do this:
Continue reading “Laptop Troubles Part 2”

bookmark_borderLaptop Troubles

Posted on by PaulaO

My laptop, a Dell Inspiron 1100 purchased 6/03, has a problem.

The monitor turns off. The computer keeps going, but no screen.

I can shut the lid (sends it into hibernation) and turn it back on and there’s the screen. A while later, blink, it’s gone again.

It seems to be heat related. As in, for most of the day, it stayed on. Then it started going off with closer and closer intervals.

This is what I have tried thus far:

  • updated the driver for video card
  • cleaned off the fan from the outside
  • took off the keyboard and removed the heat sink. cleaned it and everything else I could reach. Put a fan on the outside blowing in to help the fan suck air through (it blows out the bottom). Made sure the laptop cooling doohickey I got was working and cleaned it too.
  • took off the keyboard again and unplugged/replugged the monitor

Nothing has worked. And I did them one at a time to narrow down the problem, IF it got fixed.

The only thing I didn’t do was clean stuff by shooting air. I have a little vacuum cleaner I use for ‘puters.

I called a friend’s BF who is a geek. He doesn’t work on laptops but recommended a company that did. I’ll call them tomorrow. If nothing else, I want them to clean the thing out. It was nasty in there! 3 years of dust and critter fuzz can add up!

I did backup all my writing files and other stuff while I was at it, in case the computer took a nose dive. I do have Lorna’s desktop but it doesn’t talk to the internet for some damn reason. And its CD drive doesn’t work. Both are possibly related to the fact the computer is older than dirt. (Lorna’s getting a computer built for her, in January, by the above mentioned BF.)

I had a genuine panic attack earlier, when I considered that the laptop could be dying. I hadn’t realized how dependent I am on it. Not just internet and games, but all my writing. I can’t really write without it. I could use Lorna’s desktop, but blech. Did I mention it was old?

I am better about it now. I have a plan and support. I am ready to face it.