... and got up early, as there were a few more things I wanted to take a look at before we went to the
Great Western Maze...
Hit the on-button, got the HP screen - then a black screen that read
CPU fan speed too low. Auto shut down in 5 seconds
Which it did. And kept on doing.
[cue minor panic attack...] So we switched it off and opened it up to look, gave it a good clean, took off the loose heat sink (you might remember that - it fell off about 2 years ago and my stack has been lying on its side ever since) and re-gunged it with the thermal conductor stuff, then tried again.
No joy. Dead computer.
But the CPU fan seemed to be working just fine, so we had another look - same thing.
Rang Maplins, who sell replacement fans/fans with heatsinks. Drove up there, explained the situation, rang Ken for the computer specs for the very helpful assistant, was sold a fan+heatsink and advised how to replace it, assuring us it would work. Carol wasn't convinced as a bracket was mentioned and she didn't remember seeing one in my machine, although it's not easy to see what's happening in the guts of the thing. But she was right: there was no bracket on the CPU heatsink. More than that, we couldn't get the heatsink out.
Back to Maplins, with the stack this time. Assistant took a look and said no, Carol was quite right, there was no bracket, and furthermore the CPU heatsink is
bolted onto the motherboard and there's no way to get the bloody thing off without dismantling the entire machine. Don't you just love computer companies that try to screw more money out of you by trying to force you to use them for repairs by using non-standard components? I don't.
So we did what I usually do in these circumstances, and Carol drove us up to
Special Reserve...
I really cannot properly express how great these guys are. I mean, it's
Sunday, they only had a couple of staff on, and were closing at 5 pm. We got there at about 2 (I think, correct me if I'm wrong Carol!), explained what had happened, and also that it was pretty urgent - I can't work without it and I have another spread to do for the Dreams book by Wednesday, plus of course we have no transport once Carol goes home. The assistants there are amazingly laid back and laconic: he waved his hand in a kind of dismissive way and said he couldn't be sure they could fix it today, it might have to wait 'til tomorrow...
[blink] I thought I'd misheard, but no, he said to ring them at 4 and they'd be able to say when I could collect it. In fact, they rang me at 3.30 and said it was ready...
[happy grin] So not only do I now have a computer with a wonderful red fan - in the power-unit, not the CPU, so much for M$N self-diagnostics - but it's also sitting upright again as they fixed the loose heatsink for me as well (it's wired in, not stuck on, so fingers crossed it'll be fine). The whole lot took an hour and a half and cost the princely sum of £37.98.
As I said, I love these guys...
And while we were over that side of the city we took a look in
Staples. Yes, I know I said I'd never use them again after the fiasco with my chair, but they are, alas, the most convenient place for CD-R and CD-RW and business envelopes, which was what I was after.
Heh. They also have a special offer on at the moment, a very nice Acer laptop, 2.51Kgs in weight and very comfortable to use, for £399. We were planning to get one anyway with part of the advance for Dreams: Ken needs it for Dartmouth and I'd
love to be able to work in the garden (especially once I've got the new pond sunk and working) - so I've reserved one for when they get their next delivery (which could be Wednesday this week).
Synchronicity is a wonderful thing: had we not had to go to Special Reserve I wouldn't have got to Staples until after the special offer ends.
Dinner was pizza and chips -
far too frazzled to cook after all that stress and panic! - and we watched the other DVD. Which is fun, another 'park brain at door' production, in the vein of Steven Seagal films (though The Rock is much prettier than Seagal, and is actually not that bad in this, certainly more emotive than Seagal). Another one I'd be happy to pick up cheap.
Then Carol had to leave. It's never long enough!
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Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor
pontificated this at 11:03 pm
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