RANDOM IRRITATIONS - When your computer won't do as it's told...

It's been a technically frustrating two or three weeks. I had just managed to get this blog set up and running nicely, when my PC started giving me severe hassle. Freezing up frequently, having a fit if I tried opening more than two browser tabs...

I checked the registry - no improvement.

I reinstalled the operating system - still problems.

I blamed Windows (as you do), and tried a couple of Linux distributions. I got the black-screen-of-death.

I couldn't even get into the BIOS. Then, a suspicious smouldering smell started coming from the base unit. Dead motherboard...

I got hold of another motherboard. The PC booted (yes!), and I ran chkdsk to make sure any corruptions on the hard drive were fixed. It required a re-boot.

I got the black-screen-of-death. Again.

Right, I thought. Enough is enough, let's try Ubuntu again. It installed and started up nicely. That is, for about ten minutes. Then it started freezing up.

I tried again. This time, the damn thing wouldn't recognise that there was a DVD in the drive. It wasn't recognising the drive, even, believing that the other drive on the slave connector was actually the master.

I checked the BIOS. I corrected the settings and saved them. The settings wouldn't save.

Then, another suspicious smouldering smell. The actual BIOS chip was melting the metallic label on it. I started swearing a lot.

The PC is now in an electrical recycling collection bin.

If this saga seems long winded, I should point out that these are just the edited highlights. The full version, if it was a movie, would need a three hour James Cameron snooze-fest.

Anyway, the upshot is I have another PC. It has Windows 8, which has presented a whole load of issues of its own, but the key thing is that I have a working computer, and (fingers firmly crossed) it's now business as usual at The Purple Patch.

Until the next time...