Dying computers

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Yesterday eve my computer started having problems. First, the keyboard started to not work (no biggie, we had another in the garage). I opened it up, and some of the circuitry was shorted out (certain letters wouldnt work). But, that was the least of my problems. Now, i cant set the display properties back to true color, so i’m stuck using a 16 color palate, cause that’s all that works. I feel so…ghetto!

So now buying a computer went from a somewhat necessary possibility in the near future to a necessity ASAP. There’s no way i could continue with it as it is, especially for school work. So, i ordered a Dell online. It’s nothing too spectacular, but it has a 40 GB memory compared to my current one’s 1.86 (yes, i’ve been running on that much for the past 4 years). As an additional feature, i ordered a CD-RW for the second bay (so i can save all those illegal music files ;)). The small amount of useable space was also another reason for me to get this new one. My computer is so slow, and it pisses me off frequently. It’s so painful to come home and use this one after the ultra fast ones at schoo. I cant store a lot on it, and i worry it may crash. Good thing I finally have a job!

So, i just thought i’d share this with you all. Feel free to tell about computers you owned who were basically like the walking dead.

2

Yay for new computers!

Now, about the old one… you should bring it down here, and we’ll go to the roof of The Biltmore in Downtown (if we’re going to do this, we should do it in style), and heave it onto the street. Just completely put it out of its misery.

Unless someone else has a better idea of how to completely destroy a computer…

3

up until just a couple of months ago I was surfing on a Pentium 100mHz with a 1 gig hard drive and 33.6 modem. Untill my roommate bought a new one.

I just ordered one for MYSELF finally, after so long without my own. 700mHz Duron with 128 meg ram and 30 gig hard drive… complete with cdrw and dvd, I feel almost modern. I will never give up my cable modem now either. (I hate using her computer… have to obey HER rules with it assinine as they may be)

4

Sigh.

My hard drive bit it a couple of months ago. It was a 4 gig. My friend Xploder replaced it for me, with a 2 gig (free hard drive, free installation, you’ll never hear me complain!)

I do want a new one, though. A great BIG one, like grown-ups have. And a cable modem. My connection speed…well, let’s just say I could run to your house and spray paint what I have to say on your siding before this damn computer connects. Oy.

5

Doobious said

Does anyone else think it’s odd he named his 'puter “EVE”?
Maybe that’s why she’e acting up.:rolleyes:

MY computer is only a year old and it already needs upgraded. It has a 10 gig HD and only 64 of RAM.

I bought a CD-RW and a DVD that I need to have installed. I’m going to have another 64 (at least) of RAM added and another 10 or 20 hard drive added while I’m at it. I’ve had a rough estimate of $200 to get it done. I think that sounds about right.

Now if I could do something about getting DSL, cable satellite or something better out here in the sticks. I really don’t live that far out of town, but it is across the river and that seems to make a big difference to the providers. :sigh:

6

good evening friends,

my first was an apple 2c. i am fairly certaing that apple stopped making software for this machine as i was loading it into the car. no hard drive, no modem, ran on 5 1/4" floppy disks. 128k of total memory (not 128 megs, 128k) after loading appleworks, i had a grand total of 54k left to use as i pleased.

as any computer wiz about packard bell, and the grimace will tell it all. however, i have a six year old packard bell that still runs just fine (admittedly, very slow) the pentium 133 is all it could handle, so i relegated it to the basement where my daughter uses it as a word processor and bought the one i now use.

i bypassed all of the name brands at best buy and comp usa and went to a small place that will build computers for you with off the shelf components. i started with a basic package, and have added things as i could. it has a 500 mhtz pentiumIII processor, 256 mgs of RAM, 8 mgs of video memory, a 64 bit soundcard, a 13g hard drive, a CDRW, and a cable modem. i will never go back to dial up again!

i am anticipating my next machine in september or so. i plan to buy the components and build it myself. this will save me a few bucks and be pretty fun too.

7

Java: Good idea! If I go to an LA dopefest, maybe we all can go up there together and drop the bitch! Or, maybe someone has access to explosives can help :). I dont think anyone would want this dinosaur. Even the CD ROM tray wont open anymore (not for the past two years). Which explains why i look for free softwear on the net.
And i can finally buy the sims, and sim city 3000!

8

Until about 2 months ago, I did my computing on a Packard Bell 486 SX-25. It ran at a big 25 Mz with a whopping 540K of memory.

The only thing that could have been worse would have been surfing the Net on a Commodore 64.

9

My first computer ahh what a lovely piece of shit. My parents bought it for me in 1997 (I think). It was a lovely Pentium 166 2.1 gig hard drive 16 megs Ram 33.6 modem. You all can laugh but I swear by this computer. I still runs to this day (even though I had the hard drive, ram, and modem replaced. very bad incident don’t ask).

Now to the computer I have now. It’s a Pentium Celeron 566 mghz 15 gig hard drive 64 megs ram and a T1 connection :D. I splurged for myself and bought this computer from Gateway.

Now in January when I get a $2600 check from my college (I just love living off campus and having them give me my loans and grants to me to use as I see fit) I’m going to buy a VERY nice top of the line computer and not worry about another one for a good amount of time.

10

Does anyone else think it’s odd he named his 'puter “EVE”? Maybe that’s why she’e acting up.

I think the OP meant to say, “evening”.

11

Hm… you really want to hear depressing news? About a dead computer? Until about 3 months ago, I was surfing the net on a 486, running Windows 95, with 6 MB of RAM, and a 14.4K modem.

If this wasn’t dead, it should have been. I have proof! Running Windows on a terrible system WILL affect your mental state. Seriously, this thing was a dinosaur. A wonderful “gift” from my loving parents. I was majorly embarassed with it, especially since I was training in the computer field.

When I could get on at a friend’s house, I did so, simply so I could get my stuff done. :stuck_out_tongue:

However, with things the way they are, and my great consulting job, (I’m 20 years old and working as a consultant? Is that strange?) I managed to the get funds to get a new computer. But, 4 years of Vocational/College computer classes shouldn’t go to waste. So… I built my own system. After all, why pay extra for the name, and a computer that looks like some Star Trek type deal, or a box that looks like a cow?

It is a Pentium 3 660 mhz. processor, with 256 MB of RAM, an Iomega ZipDisk, a CD-RW drive, and a 30 GB hard drive. I use an T1 hookup, and DSL access. Not bad, considering a similar model with everything else I wanted would have cost me about $2000. I only paid $1000 for my stuff. Having contacts in the field is great, and I would be happy to assist others.

(I don’t know if I can get in trouble for advertising my services, but hey, it can’t hurt! If I am in error, please let me know.)

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If you need somebody who can do computer work, for a reasonable rate, feel free to contact me. If there is a Maxim Group location near you, call them and tell them to get in contact with Katie Militello at the Indianapolis office, or just call the number below.

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Well, if you have computer questions, I will try to answer them. Probably won’t do as well as Cecil, but hey, we each have to try, right? :smiley:

Just to specify, I am on the following:
ICQ: 100328518
Y! Messenger: tuxedokamen1999
AOL Messenger: sweetheart alan
MSN Messenger: moonavenger@hotmail.com

I hope to talk to many of you. I do enjoy intelligent or at least interesting conversations. I hope I came to the right place. Later!

12

There are many satisfying ways of doing so. I have always thought the steamroller method was nice. Especially when you hear that “crunch”
Of course, so is having it hit by trains, anything like that.

If you are stupid enough to attempt it, you could just get explosives, or make your own, and blow the damn thing up. But, if you do, and the HD and memory is still good, at least salvage that before you kill it. (I’m a computer tech here. I can’t just watch good parts being thrown away!)

But tossing it off the Biltmore? That has style, and class, and would be
a) very pretty
b) a helluva shock for anybody below
c) a good idea. why don’t we all meet and toss the bitch? I’ll bring 3 that no longer work. (I scrap computers.)

I’m kidding about the meeting, but I know the feeling.

In closing, today, I still think about that duck, with a sledgehammer, about to hit the computer when the screen says “Press any key to continue…”. It still stands as one of the greatest icons to a computer geek. (Like myself. I mean, who hasn’t dreamed of just destroying the damn thing when it acts up? Of course, if you act upon this desire, then you often end up costing major $$$ when you realize, “Damn! This was my job!!! How do I work now?”

13

No no my dear maiden of the sea, if it was named eve, i would have said:

“Yesterday, Eve my computer, started…”

:wink:
Anyway Alan, i guess i should go in and take the processor out and all that, but not being a tech person i wouldnt know what it all looks like ;). It might actually just get stored in our garage, waiting until it gets given away or whatever. I dont know how illegal dropping the bitch off the Biltmore would be, but it IS LA afterall…hell i’m sure with all the studios, they’re used to stuff like that.

By the way, how does one go about transferring the old files from this one to the next, and how do I completely clear the thing’s memory after I do that (i’d rather not have someone find my gay porn on the memory if I do give it away :D)?

14

How am I supposed to know you don’t have an e e cummings thing going on? :smiley:

I just can’t resist a play on words no matter how lame it is on my part. Anyway congrats on your impending new PC. Are you gonna get any pics weh you put the old one out of your misery?

BTW how’s the ear doing?

15

Hah. I have you all beat. I still have a ten year old mac that I still occasionally use and can get on the 'net with. I also have an apple iic that’s still functional (I assume). I used the apple iic from '87 to '96 (quite extensively–wrote most my major college papers on it), then switched to the mac in '96, used that until '97 when I got an Acer–p200, 32mb ram, used that until a year or two ago when I built my own damn system.

Those apples are definitely terminator type machines. They just keep going and going and going…

16

I need to inject a little serious (and self-righteous) note here: before you drop your old computers off hotel roofs or run them over with steamrollers or even toss them in a landfill, please check around your community to see if there’s a group that can use them.

In Albuquerque, we have a volunteer organization that guts old computers and reassembles the components into workable machines for schoolchildren who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford them. Even the most pathetic computer often has some salvageable part, and it’s worth checking to see if someone can use it before you toss it. You can also, if it’s an issue for you, take a tax deduction for donating equipment to a charity.

That said, the idea of seeing my old 386 hit the ground from 20 stories up is a truly compelling one, and I’m not sure which way I’d have gone if I’d thought of it before I donated the piece of crap.

17

Not if was an Apple.

18

http://www.tigerdirect.com/ has some nice new computers, very low prices, nice service.

I wanted to point them out cause they have the most sexy PC looking computer there is:

Qrium Celeron 566MHz
64MB SDRAM, 15GB HD,
24X CD-ROM / 56K / NIC
$349.73

You can find a picture of it on the front page.

19

I was forced to upgrade this weekend when my motherboard went POOF! 1200 MHZ AMD Thunderbird under the hood now. Extremely sweet.

Nonetheless, I still have my old computer – an AMD 200MHz K5 (overclocked to a zippy 233 MHz), and use it as m “farting around” machine. For most of the basics, it’s still a quite servicable machine, every bit as useful as it was when I bought it. I run alternative operating systems with it – BeOS, Linus, FreeBSD – along with Windows 98, and it still chugs along.

Before trashing an old computer, they should either consider intalling Linux on it and giving it to a computerless friend, using it as an experimental box, or giving it to a non-prfit group. Office 97 and the basic 'Net apps, like MSIE 4.0 and Netscape 3.0, still work quite well on older machines.

20

Heh. Oddly enough, I called my Mac “Bertha” and made a custom hard drive icon of an old lady with a “bun” hair-do and coke-bottle glasses. She was definitely a trooper, my Bertha. :slight_smile: