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Computer troubles
Apr. 7th, 2006 03:57 pmNo link list today, as I tried for days and failed to get my latest discoveries sorted.
Also, my computer is acting weird on me. Some days ago I installed an USB1.1 driver on my 6 year old Dell notebook, and all was well. Then I noticed that the charge indicator did strange things. (Claiming that the battery was empty when the notebook had been charging for hours, getting stuck at 20%, that sort of thing). Next, the computer just froze. Task manager (i.e. the crutch Windows 98 uses in lieu of one) told me that msgsrv32 was stuck. I killed it, computer worked. For about five minutes. Froze again. Task manager said all was shiny. Computer unfroze. For about one minute. Since then it has been stop-and-go: one minute active, ten seconds frozen. It makes reading hard and writing nearly impossible.
I tried some not-too-fancy stuff with the energy management, ran a system diagnostics, and deinstalled the driver, all to no avail. So, this weekend I'll do a throughout virus scan, and if that doesn't help, the big guns will come out: re-install operating system. Oh, fun. Last resort would be calling the hotline, though I wonder if the Dell hotline will even take calls for a notebook that old, or whether I should start eyeing newer machines...
And because I can't do without links, here's one:
The solar eclipse of March 29, 2006, as seen from the ISS
Also, my computer is acting weird on me. Some days ago I installed an USB1.1 driver on my 6 year old Dell notebook, and all was well. Then I noticed that the charge indicator did strange things. (Claiming that the battery was empty when the notebook had been charging for hours, getting stuck at 20%, that sort of thing). Next, the computer just froze. Task manager (i.e. the crutch Windows 98 uses in lieu of one) told me that msgsrv32 was stuck. I killed it, computer worked. For about five minutes. Froze again. Task manager said all was shiny. Computer unfroze. For about one minute. Since then it has been stop-and-go: one minute active, ten seconds frozen. It makes reading hard and writing nearly impossible.
I tried some not-too-fancy stuff with the energy management, ran a system diagnostics, and deinstalled the driver, all to no avail. So, this weekend I'll do a throughout virus scan, and if that doesn't help, the big guns will come out: re-install operating system. Oh, fun. Last resort would be calling the hotline, though I wonder if the Dell hotline will even take calls for a notebook that old, or whether I should start eyeing newer machines...
And because I can't do without links, here's one:
The solar eclipse of March 29, 2006, as seen from the ISS
