Computers: Built one; One missing

Heady feeling, isn’t it, to complete something good!

A few months ago we bought a “starter kit” to build our next desktop computer from. We bought our first in the store, then had a friend piece together a better one in Oct. 1998. I got a laptop for me in Dec. 2001 — and that was nice — until it decided to need major servicing on October 7, 2002. I miss that computer! It was my right hand, so to speak.

Well, so we had this shell of a computer, waiting for the parts to make it a real computer. Yesterday my husband sought out what we needed from the shops out there, and I began the task of putting it all together last evening.

Shouldn’t have taken very long. Right? Right! I put it together fine. Ah, but then it’s the OS. That is a challenge. Why isn’t it installing properly? Is the question to be answered by so many people.

Turns out that it was something to do with the video card first. The card that the “people” who put the kit together wasn’t the best one, and we were going to upgrade it eventually. Well, we had to take the card out of our old system. It was a better one than the brand new one, and best of all, it works! The other one made our monitor just sit there tapping it’s fingers, “I’m waiting for a signal!” it seemed to be saying. And the hard drive beeped, beeped, beeped, every time, the few times I tried different things with the original card, I re-started the computer.

So I broke down and got the old card from the derelict. A ha! It works! So, in System Bios, changing what needs changing — great. Ready for the OS. Win XP was our choice, it’s what the laptop has, and it’s what we decided would be good for our family. So out with Win 98 and Win ME! In with XP all the way!

Formatting was a breeze, then the OS began installing … and then “glick” the screen would begin to flick hard, then stabalize. Then “GliCK!” it’d get worse, but then the system was asking me to click something, so it seemed connected with that, getting ready for me to click excited it. I had a few rounds of the same old same old, repeating parts of the installation cause something was messing up bad.

IN THE END, ALL I did was take the mouse provided with the “kit” a PS/2 optical mouse, and unplug it. I replaced it wit my precious, but little used, Microsoft Optical mouse – USB version, a mouse to use with my laptop if I wanted to ever — which was rare. So it’s practically brand new. And guess what? Restart and get to the place to actually do something with getting the OS installed, and it worked! Like a charm. Dumb PS/2 mouse was the major problem all along. [hair pulling occured].

Hey, that’s fine though. It was a first class education, and my troubleshooting database [the one in my head] just filled up with lots more data. Everything has to do with a mouse or a video card — connected somehow, well, not always but very often!

I’m thrilled now to be typing on this fast moving Athlon 2100+ machine. Far cry from the AMD K6 300 3-D NOW that the old system runs on. I made it work. Yes, something that many people can do now days, with easier stuff out there. But I can say that many, many people wouldn’t even WANT to do this. And I can hardly wait to build another machine, from the ground up. Piece by piece.

So, since I don’t have my laptop to work with, it’s been a chore to go online. Get knocked off, freezing computer. Losing what I’m typing. Ugh. Slow, watch it download mail. I can see each piece of mail and what it is before the filter puts it where it should. On my laptop it’s lightening quick, well, it was. When I had it. But now I have this beautiful machine to use, the family machine, and the emails come in too quick to even tell where they went to! Hurray!

That’s just for starters. Every task on the computer is pleasant, if the machine is responsive and fast and efficient. If it’s dull and dying, it’s such drugery. I’ve not posted much here because of that. I’m motivated once again!

Now, if only my laptop would come home to me, whole.