Billy Young's Blog - Posts Tagged "computer"

I’ve had a week of computer woes. It began on Sunday, there was a lightning storm which it a house over the back door from me. It also hit a car across the road scorching its paint work. Anyways my computer was on at the time, silly me. Luckily it was a corrupted file but since then my system has been very sluggish. I know what’s causing it, only thing is I have to reformat by drive to sort it. This is something I don’t want to do though I might be forced. At the time though I was in a right panic because there is always something we know we should have backed up. And it is always then that these things happen. Worst thing was I was thinking about that a couple of days before. I should get some imaging software really for that would be the easy way to keep myself from the painful way of dragging everything to another drive before formatting and reinstalling Windows XP. I would have done that if I had been a good boy. Instead I was forced to just install over the old copy which is what is causing the slow down. At least I was luckier than the folks that’s house was hit. There was a huge hole left in the chimney with a wide crack running down under the roof. The families had to be re-housed because of the structural damage. I was just glad to hear no-one was hurt. The car is still running though it will cost to get it re-sprayed, glad I don’t have to worry about that bill.

There was a lightning storm as I left work today. The sky just opened up and the roads were awash to the point it looked like we were driving in a river. Of course my worry was for my computer after the last time though I shouldn’t have as Magz was at home. The storm though continued for over an hour which I think is the longest I’ve ever seen it last. Usually it’s all over in less than half an hour.
Well tomorrow is the big day to wipe my drive to reinstall Windows. Hopefully that will then let my system get back to the way it was before. It would be good to get back to a stable, running system. Rather than the graphical glitches, sudden slowdowns and system freezes that I have suffer of late. I’ve even experienced these on start-up, which would suggest something isn’t right. As I have said in the past I don’t think it is hardware but rather problems caused by the way I fixed my problem the last time there was a lightning strike over the back door. Well I’ll find out if I’m right or if there is something worse that needs tracking down on the hardware side. That could be expensive and would probably be cheaper just going for a complete rebuild. Unfortunately it isn’t something that I could afford at the moment as the money I have saved so far has Christmas written on it.
Yes I’m already thinking of that time. Magz has wanted a PS3 for sometime so I’m getting her one. Mind not to tell her though. Anyway because of that I’ll not have the money to put to the computer for a bit. I’m hoping that the over time I did to day will give me some extra cash towards it. Of course I will have to get her something else as she’ll be playing the console as soon as I get it. Well how else would we know it was working, hehehe.

Well no sooner than I posted last weeks post and I was hit by computer problems. Dust had built up in the graphics card causing it to overheat which meant I had to strip it out to give it a good clean. It’s amazing how much of a dust haven the inside of a computer can be. Luckily no damage was done and my system was up and running in no time. It does go to show that Friday the thirteenth still got me even if it was in such a minor way, hehehe.
The troubles with my fence post continue. I sorted it again on Saturday but yesterday as I came home from work I noticed it was again leaning out of place. I might mean I need to tighten up the bolts and put an extra nut on each of the bolts to act as a lock to hold them secure so they don’t loosen up again. Though I’ll also have to make sure I secure the existing ones more than I seem to have managed so far. I’m sure now though that I will need to replace the post in the summer as I can’t see it surviving another year, especially when the storms hit again.
Another thing to do this weekend is to try and come up with a poem for the latest competition at Absolute Write poetry forum. This one has the theme of visions, dreams or nightmares. So far I have had only half glimmers of ideas for it nothing solid so I have my work cut out. Maybe one of those little embers might find a bit of brush to burst into life, we’ll see. I have until February the fourteenth to come up with something and make it as good as I can so not loads of time when you throw work into the mix but enough. Add some gaming to the weekend and I have a busy time over the next couple of days.

Well the workmen came and now we have no heating or hot water. We have no idea when we might get things fixed as the problem is with our boiler which needs a special part ordered. This all leaves us in limbo as they council have no clue how long this part might take to arrive. Yes we got nice new units but our kitchen has also be none existent plus we still have to wait till Monday before we can start getting things to normal. Why? I hear you ask. Well the plasterer and tiler are still to do their thing to finish everything off.
As you can imagine this has been a pretty stressful week. Coming home to workmen stomping through your house after a long day at work, well I don’t have to tell you. Next week doesn’t look any better even though it is the week before the holidays from work. I’m only glad all this work is being done in the summer as if it had been the winter it would be a mighty cold time we would be having.
All the stress of the last week has meant that I have been losing myself in gaming. I’ve been playing Oblivion part the The Elder Scrolls series rather than coming home to write a poem. That has been my usual routine over the past few months. Not that many of them have been that good but it does keep me writing. I have liked some of them though they need editing. Finding the extra time to do that seems beyond my reach as work takes up so much of the day. Of course without work there isn’t the money to survive is there or to get the luxuries that we save for. Like the new computer that I have been saving for which I have finally reach my target. That will mean that I can have some retail therapy tonight. Calum is looking forward to getting my old one.

Yes I lost track of the week with me being on holiday. Saying that I have also been ill this week with a nasty cold though my daughter got it worse. Add to that that I was building my new computer, which is running like dream now and then setting up my daughters from the parts her brother had. He as you know got my old system, well everything other than the hard drive as I needed that for the storage space for my new system. The sixty gig SSD is great for running windows from but not really practical for keeping everything else on these days. Though getting my system up and running was easy enough it wasn’t so simple for Tammy’s. No for some reason it decided not to power up at first. It took Magz to fix that problem yet it still left us unsure what was wrong. After that it wouldn’t connect to the web. Yes again the wife sorted it out. Over two days of coughing over Tammy’s machine and Magz got it running within a few hours. What can I say?
Over the past two days I have been out picking strawberries. As expected it is a bumper crop this year. Already I must have picked over two pounds in weight from my garden with still more to ripen over the coming weeks. The ladies are baking individual tarts today with those already gathered. I imagine they with eat one or two of the fruits as the cut them into halves as they do love strawberries.
My troubles with the neighbourhood moggies continue. I have taken to sticking canes and bits of wood between the plants to put the cats off. Still they seem to think that my tubs are just some large cat litter trays put out for their convenience. It is driving me to distraction with no remedy as yet in sight.
The council, you will be glad to hear, finally got our central heating working again. It took the engineer three days to get it working again. He thought it was fixed at the end of the second day but no sooner was he away and, you guessed, it stopped functioning. I don’t know why they council just doesn’t replace it after all with all the new part that went into it this week it must have cost them more to fix it. Mind it was good to finally get to soak in a bath so I shouldn’t complain.

Still haven't managed to get the game working. Though I have registered at the Undead Labs website as suggested by Steam support. After asking there I got asked to send a dxdiag by email to one of the admins. I will do that this weekend and hopefully they will be able to help. Of course that will mean letting the game crash again to show it isn't my system at fault.
I also got my ASIC miner from Butterfly Labs this week. Calum was surprised that I got him one. I have yet to figure out how to get mine to work though for some reason my sons work on my computer. I read that the drivers are fussy so after Calum gets his set up tomorrow he said he would give me a hand to get mine up and running. Before that though I need another adapter for the power cable. The one that was in the box has an American plug. The adapters are pretty cheap luckily. We have one but Calum has that now. Yes I'm soft, I let him have it as I know his unit is working. Mine is visible in devices and printers window so I'm sure it is working as well. I just need to get the mining software to see it and use it. That has so far been the problem. A mate at work suggest reinstalling Windows. I think I will keep that as a last resort though. Who likes reinstalling the operating system on a computer? Not me that is for sure. And to think that is what I did once upon a time. Mind all I really did was link the computers to the server wires and let them do their thing. That was unless something went wrong then the problems began. I think that is why I dread that side of computing so much.
Well it looks like I have a very busy weekend ahead. To add to this I have the rugby on as well. So time will be squeezed but tonight I'm going to laze back and do nothing other than watch TV.

As you might have noticed this weeks post is a couple of days late. Part of that is due to computer issues I have been having this weekend. I tracked it down to a failed memory stick. I don't think that is the only thing wrong though as my keyboard connection also failed vie the PS/2 adaptor I was using. Now I have the keyboard attached through the USB port. That might not sound like much but added to the memory failure and the graphics card that was smoking in the wrong way in the summer and it all looks like a new motherboard is needed. I will also need to replace the memory. Luckily my son said he was getting me a new motherboard for Xmas though I will have to pay for new memory.
These woes were the icing on the cake for bad weeks. My load of unpaid overtime has increased as Christmas approaches. Not to surprising you might say but getting up for work at around half five in the morning and not see home until after six at night is very wearying to the soul. It truly makes you wonder how people managed when they worked sixteen hours or more a day. Of course that still happens in some parts of the world. If only those that ruled would find a way to end such hardships for the poor. Of course that may affect their business interest. Which in turn might mean they can't have that third holiday next year and we can't have that now can we? Hehehe.
Anyways I will need to wait to replace the memory till after the festive season I think. And then there is the tumble drier that stopped working. I already replace the washer using credit. Both those also decided they had had their day last weekend. They do say these things come in threes. Well with me it would be fours if you include the ASIC. Maybe that is a sign that things are going to get better. I hope.

My computer troubles have persisted this week. Luckily Calum got me a new motherboard which I shall put into my system tomorrow. I also decide it best to replace my memory. With all the warning signs point towards the motherboard or memory I thought it wise not to take any chances. Calum got it for me when he went to get the new board and it ended up costing me an extra ten pounds as he got some slightly faster ram. I suppose that is a good thing for gaming but I don't think I will really notice any difference. Computers are so fast in processing power we don't really notice any increases in speed when it comes to ram. The only real way to see the increase is with benchmarking software. So why do we love the extra power? Well I think it is just a human need to have more. It doesn't really matter what that might be. We just feel we need it. And that is enough of an excuse.
Magz and Tammy have put the Christmas tree up. It has become a little bit of a tradition in our house. Much the same as many of you will have in your home. It feels good to come home to see the lights. I would say it almost makes me feel the season seeping in. That is if I weren't such an old humbug, hehehe. Of course there was al lot of moaning from both of them and I got the blame for the tree having to go up. But I think that they enjoyed the mother daughter time they get from it. Even if they do groan about it. Well I'll get them back tomorrow when I have to pull the guts from my computer, hehehe.

I was planning on getting this post done yesterday morning as I had to go to my friend Mickey's wedding. Like many plans it went wrong. Computer problems plagued my morning which I in the end had to leave till this morning to finally fix. As you can tell it is finally running but it did throw all of my plans for the weekend out of the window. I was hoping to have another crack at the jally which will now need to wait till next weekend. Luckily I will be on holiday for two weeks after this week, so I'll have plenty of time. My garden is also needing seen to but sadly has been neglected this weekend. I can see from my window that there are strawberries waiting to be picked. Surprisingly Magz hasn't been out to get them yet. Maybe she was just leaving it for me to get the first of the season. I can also see that my war on the weeds is being lost this week though that is just temporary. Yes I will get them back on the retreat over my holiday but for this week I will just have to deal with the sight of them till I get the time.
As for Mickey's wedding. Well what can I say it was a great day out. As well as it being a good night out. Yes we were at the whole ceremony, dinner, and reception. I think you have all been to at least one yourselves so you know what they are like. Full of emotion as you watch the bride come down the aisle. Mickey was almost in tears from the joy he felt. And as they both said their vows to one another again you could hear the feelings they felt for each other. Yeah we had a great day as a family and I had maybe a little much in the alcohol stakes though I wasn't drunk, just very close.

As you have noticed this post is a little on the late side. For the past few days I have been off line due to computer issue which I am happy to say are now solved. I wish I could say the same for ASIC miner. I did finally managed to get it flashed using the Raspberry but I am still finding that it won't mine for me. I have to do more searching the web in the hope that it is something that I might sort. Though it is very much looking as if I shall never get it working.
I am now on holiday for two weeks. Of course the only place I will be going is out the back to my garden. So far the few strawberries I have pick this year have not lasted long. Yes Magz has enjoyed them all. Well there hasn't been enough of a crop for jam this year sadly. My gooseberries a ripening up nicely. They're still on the hard side though they are beginning to feel a little softer. Still I think I should leave them for another week or two yet before picking. One thing that looks good is my apple trees. Both have a lot of fruit developing nicely as is the blueberries.
This year has been a lot of misses in the garden. Yet still I should get some returns for the work. While I'm off I will need to fix my side fence again. It has become a yearly ritual. Winter blows it down and I repair it come the summer. Well at least it keeps me busy.