Thoughts and Ramblings

Well, it seems things came in pairs yesterday. Two broken computers, and two christmas party invitations. Oh well, at least one of those items was nice.

Got the sever up and running nearly back to where it should be. I took the old HD out, and used it in a FW enclosure and got all the data off of it. I have 5G to take with me tomorrow. That should be fun :) At least the server is back in operation, and it seems to be running just fine for now.

One way or another, I am going to replace this laptop. I have decided that $400 is not worth it to fix such an old computer. The question remains, should I replace it with an iBook, or go with the more expensive powerbook. The only reason to go with the powerbook is the bigger screen (got used to a 15" screen), but the iBook has nearly the same resolution as my current laptop (1024x768 vs. 1152x768). The other minor issues of note is the iBook can only video mirror (without a hack), and it doesn’t have gigabit ethernet. Is that worth $600 difference to me? I am holding out hope that I can get one of my dad’s old laptops working and then not have to replace it until the intel ones are out.

Well, more work went into the laptop yesterday. I have gotten it to the point where it seems to be working. I further localized the problem to the graphics card on the logic board, which means if I really want to fix it, it will cost me $400, not worth it. Basically, if I push on the graphics card, it goes.

When I took it apart, I kept trying things such as disconnecting the internal screen and other stuff. I also oiled one of the hinges. Then I started putting it together, piece by piece, testing it at every stage. I eventually got it completely back together and could not get it to fail. This could be a good sign. I only need to to last at most 8 more months. Here is to hoping it will.

Well, my time recently has been consumed by trying to fix my laptop. Here is the issue:

If I move the screen while the computer is on, the video card goes nuts. I thought it was the cable, but now I am not so sure. I have a small workaround. Put the computer to sleep, and do whatever, but once I wake it up, do not touch the screen under any circumstances. At least when the video card freaks out, I can still sleep the computer. At least I learned how to open the computer, remove the logic board, and generally put the thing into as many pieces as possible. I forgot to take pictures. Oh well, maybe next time.