Month: August 2008

I Give Up

Yesterday, the new motherboard I ordered arrived.  I spent the majority of last night replacing what I believe is a bad motherboard.

The new one is significantly different than the old one, as the connections are in different places and it has different ports, i.e. PCI Express.

After connecting and tightening everything I plugged the power in to test, nothing.

I’ve gave up.  I’m tired of spending countless hours upon hours to try to fix it.  I’m taking it to an expert in a few hours.  I hope that the new motherboard is fine, or my old one is okay.

I’ve also given up on something else.  I’m not going to build any PC’s anymore.  In this date and age, and since we get educational discounts through Dell and Apple, we have decided to now purchase computers instead of build.

I hope the costs to fix this problem aren’t huge.  If that is going to be the case, we are probably going to just buy a new computer.

Almost a Decade

Almost a decade ago, I became a father, a father to a beautiful baby girl.  How can I raise a child when I’m just a kid myself?

Many things change in almost a decade.  Your mother and I have since went our seperate ways, but the seperation has added two families who love you even more.  Instead of having 1 mommy and 1 daddy, you have 2 of them.

3rd grade was a tough year for me, I hope it’s a good year for you.  I got a burr haircut, I hope we don’t have to go through anymore hair dramas with you.

We discovered a shared interest recently, golf.  We had such fun at the driving range, hitting golf balls.  I hope this is something we can do for years to come, and I’m on the hunt for a golf club set made just for you.

I hope you know that daddy and Rachel will always be here for you, and you will always have a place to call your own with us.

I hope you enjoy your birthday present this year, a complete room makeover.  We are painting your room pink, giving you a new door and closet door.  New trim painted white with pictures on your walls make it complete.  Your room will be the first room complete in our home.

It’s amazing what almost a decade can do, and now I’m starting to feel old.

Final Diagnosis

While diagnosing my computer last night, the real problem revealed itself.  My motherboard is cracked, or broken in some way.

I was testing my 4 RAM chips individually, to ensure my RAM was the problem when something happened.  The computer just quit.  It wouldn’t turn on, nothing.

Since I’ve had many power supply failures, I thought it was worth a shot to test it.  I found a thread on how to test a power supply by running a jumper between the green and a black wire on a power supply.  If it is good, the power supply will turn on, if it is bad, it won’t.  My power supply came on.

Since I know my processor is good, and I have tested most of my RAM, it’s just a matter of deduction from there.

Finding parts for a computer built 3 years ago is surprisingly hard.  Newegg only has 2 motherboards available, but both seem very cheap.  Looking around the internet, I found many suppliers but most of them were out of stock.  So I went to the “last resort,” eBay.

We found a OEM model that includes 8x AGP.  The auction ended in 10 hours, but I decided to “buy it now.”  Hopefully this thing will be as good as the reviews I’ve seen for it.

I also purchased a new IEEE 1394/Firewire card and 3 new 80mm cooling fans.

Now it’s just a matter of delivery and assembly.  I wanted to dis-assemble everything to prepare, but Rachel wants me to relax tonight as we have a early start tomorrow.

We are now discussing purchasing, dare I say it, a Dell for our normal “personal” computer.  This way we can separate everything physically.  I’ve wanted to do this for a long time, but finances have dictated otherwise.

This wouldn’t be possible without the help of Editor B.  I want you to know that I will always feel in your debt for the things you have done for me.

I hope to keep on track for Holiday season availability for ROX season one.

Preliminary Diagnosis

After doing some research about what could be wrong with my computer, I have come up with 2 possible problems.  Either my motherboard is bad in some way, or my RAM is bad in some way.

I found some software to test the RAM, and sure enough it found some “problems.”

But it can’t tell me for sure which chip is bad, so I have to do further testing to discover which one it is or if it is the port and not a chip.

I hope there aren’t any problems with my motherboard, if that is the case I will need a new PC.  My processor’s chipset has been obsoleted and I cannot find many parts to fit it.

The Computer is Alive

My computer has a problem.  It has gotten better over the past couple of weeks, but it is still there.

It will restart at random times, after reboot i will get a message saying that “the system has recovered from a serious error.”

I have read articles on many websites about what this problem is exactly, and tried some of the fixes.  It has eased the issue, but not helped it disappear.

I think I have a hardware issue, but I can’t pinpoint it just yet.  My first thoughts is that it is my RAM or a possible crack in my motherboard.

With 4 hard drives and a dual core cpu, my computer creates a lot of heat.  I have 4 cooling fans to help, but I think I have overloaded my cases’ ability.

If it gets any worse I think I’m going to take it to a shop to get an outsiders’ opinion.  This is my last option, because removal and re-installation of my computer is a PITA.  I have 2 printers, VCR, 8-track player, Scanner, Monitor, Mouse, Keyboard, Speakers, CAT5 cable, Microphone, and a 7 port USB hub to connect.  Lots of cables, so many that I need 3 power strips just to power everything.

Harvest for All

Over the weekend my in-laws came up for a get together to celebrate my daughters’ upcoming 9th birthday.  They also had fun picking apples from our apple tree.

My mother-in-law took 2 five gallon buckets that were almost halfway full.  My niece Sabrina got a nice amount in a box.  After the festivities were over I wanted to go pick some, not for me but for my ROX family.

This is what I could reach.  It may not look like much, but believe me it’s a grab.  I do not fertilize or spray my tree, so these are completely natural treats the entire family can love.  There is still this many or more near the top of the tree, but they are not ready for harvest yet.  When they are I will be ready.

I couldn’t keep my mouth shut about what I was going to do, so I posted about this earlier.  The only problem is that the apples weren’t ready yet.  They are now.

This is what you will be receiving in the mail (in 2-4 days).  A sheet with greetings and instructions on what we think would be a good use of the apples, a mason jar containing apple crisp mix, nutmeg and apples,  there is also extra apples in each box.

We divided the apples in the big box pictured above into 4 equal parts.

B:  If you want to find out what variety of apple these are, please do!  I’d like to know for myself.

I don’t feel it’s appropriate to let this great natural resource of mine go to waste.  You have all been like a family to me in one way or another.  This is just one of many ways for me to say thanks.

P.S. MF and Kelly:  You’ll be receiving another “surprise” gift once I get a shipment in the mail.

The Old Just Got Older

Today is my dad’s 57th birthday.  Happy birthday dad!

I’ve really lost count of my dad’s age since about 1999.  It just doesn’t really matter to me anymore.

While he won’t be receiving any gifts right now, he does have something coming.

Bill Cosby is performing at the IU Auditorium in September, the first thing I thought of was dad.  When I was a child he spoke constantly of listening to Bill Cosby albums when he was a teenager.

Dad’s health hasn’t been too good recently.  I hope he can feel like a kid again, if just for one night anyway.

The Long & Short of It

Tomorrow is our 4th wedding anniversary.  Much has happened since that wonderful night in Bedford.

We didn’t really do much for our anniversary last year, so this year we are at least going out to eat at a nice place.

Rachel will have a surprise in store for her as well.

Sometimes it seems like we’ve been married forever, but then I look at people like her parents and B & XY and realize we’ve only just begun.

Coming from a broken home, I try as hard as I can to ensure I don’t fall into the same trap my parents fell into.  My father has been married to someone he hates for 21 years.  My mother has been married 3 times, she’s said that she’ll never get married again, and so far has kept up with that statement.

When I see the differences in our upbringings, I realize why I am the way I am, and why Rachel is the way she is.

Sometimes it makes me depressed that I wasn’t as lucky as her, but then I realize that I wouldn’t be who I am without what I had to endure.

Rachel, you are my rock!  Without you, I’m not sure exactly where I’d be right now.  I love you. 

The Bedroom of Her Dreams

The next project Rachel and I have is to actually finish a room in the house.  That room being my daughter Taylors’ room.

We are installing new baseboard trim, a new entry door and a new closet door.  Her room is going to be painted a light pink and the existing trim in her room will be painted a beautiful color named “whipped white.”

On deck after that is the remodeling of the downstairs.