Upgrading My Life
After my haircut yesterday, I took a bit of a detour to make sure I got plenty of walking in because I knew I'd be sitting on my bum for the majority of the day...and I was until 2:00 am, but now I'm sitting in my home office using a totally new computer system.
About a month ago I found a used Compaq for a really reasonable price. At the same time I finally upgraded the home monitor for a 15" CRT to a 19" LCD (holy smokes! It's beautiful). That, too, I got for a deal. So yesterday I finally cracked the case on the Compaq and put in my older computer's 80 GB HDD, a CD-RW, an 4x AGP video card, and 516 of SDRAM. Besides doing all of that and testing, I wiped the HDD and reinstalled XP from SP1 to SP3, reinstalled all my programs, restored my email and file archive, installed an external sound controller I haven't been able to use (sweeeeet), swapped my PS/2 wireless keyboard for a new USB one that the BIOS doesn't like as much (but I do), and finally fixed the issue with my wireless router, which made it keep restarting itself. So, now, even though my BIOS doesn't recognize my new keyboard until Windows loads, everything is working and looks beautiful. It also matches...everything is black and silver. Love that!
What to do about the BIOS issue, though. I went to Compaq's website and found that there is a newer image, but not only is trying to flash the BIOS on this model ridiculously difficult (you have to use SSM, which I'm not comfortable with), but from the description the new image doesn't address USB keyboard support. So, right now I've got a standard PS/2 keyboard plugged into the back of the computer for emergency troubleshooting. I have it stashed behind the desk so that you can see it, but it's kind of annoying me...like an constant tapping on my brain. I hate not being able to figure out computer issues--it's a rare day that I can't fix something on my own system since I do all my own upgrading and support. Any ideas out there on how to create a Flash BIOS utility diskette for a Compaq?
But despite the brain tapping, I'm having an enjoyable Sunday morning. Despite going to bed so late, I was up at 9:00. I've cleaned up the office, which I had left a disaster area, done the dishes, made my breakfast and coffee, emailed friends, and now I've written this boring blog (unless you're a computer princess like me). I don't know what I should do today, though. It's freezing outside even if the sun is out, but I don't feel like spending the day in front of the computer again, either, even if it is a beautiful and much faster computer. Mel's going to her mother's for the afternoon, so I'll be car-less.
Perhaps today would be a good day to pretty up my bedroom now that it's all mine again...hmm...
Yea, that sounds good. Later.
About a month ago I found a used Compaq for a really reasonable price. At the same time I finally upgraded the home monitor for a 15" CRT to a 19" LCD (holy smokes! It's beautiful). That, too, I got for a deal. So yesterday I finally cracked the case on the Compaq and put in my older computer's 80 GB HDD, a CD-RW, an 4x AGP video card, and 516 of SDRAM. Besides doing all of that and testing, I wiped the HDD and reinstalled XP from SP1 to SP3, reinstalled all my programs, restored my email and file archive, installed an external sound controller I haven't been able to use (sweeeeet), swapped my PS/2 wireless keyboard for a new USB one that the BIOS doesn't like as much (but I do), and finally fixed the issue with my wireless router, which made it keep restarting itself. So, now, even though my BIOS doesn't recognize my new keyboard until Windows loads, everything is working and looks beautiful. It also matches...everything is black and silver. Love that!
What to do about the BIOS issue, though. I went to Compaq's website and found that there is a newer image, but not only is trying to flash the BIOS on this model ridiculously difficult (you have to use SSM, which I'm not comfortable with), but from the description the new image doesn't address USB keyboard support. So, right now I've got a standard PS/2 keyboard plugged into the back of the computer for emergency troubleshooting. I have it stashed behind the desk so that you can see it, but it's kind of annoying me...like an constant tapping on my brain. I hate not being able to figure out computer issues--it's a rare day that I can't fix something on my own system since I do all my own upgrading and support. Any ideas out there on how to create a Flash BIOS utility diskette for a Compaq?
But despite the brain tapping, I'm having an enjoyable Sunday morning. Despite going to bed so late, I was up at 9:00. I've cleaned up the office, which I had left a disaster area, done the dishes, made my breakfast and coffee, emailed friends, and now I've written this boring blog (unless you're a computer princess like me). I don't know what I should do today, though. It's freezing outside even if the sun is out, but I don't feel like spending the day in front of the computer again, either, even if it is a beautiful and much faster computer. Mel's going to her mother's for the afternoon, so I'll be car-less.
Perhaps today would be a good day to pretty up my bedroom now that it's all mine again...hmm...
Yea, that sounds good. Later.
posted by trace at 11:27 AM
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