Computer Mended!

Thanks big time to my mate Andy who found a DIMM (memory chip) had come loose from its mountings!

 

He's re-seated it and also given the machine a good owd tidy up, removing 3 years accumulation of dust. My only defence is I couldn't figure how to get the casing off the PC so couldn't clean it! Not only DIY I'm scared of!

 

(And the thought just occurred - why does "DIMM" seem somehow strangely appropriate?!)

 

Anyway - The Duchess bought him a big tin of Roses toffees as a "Thank You" because as I said - PC World wanted £50 just to have a look!

 

Sorting out back ups, restoring some settings and generally getting back into the swing of things so I'll try to update this nonsense more regularly in future.

 

More follows when I can think of summat else to say.

 

A Dead Computer Is A Right Pain In The Bum!

My PC has totally died - this comes to you from an old laptop (running Windows XP) which I set up so I could at least try to catch up with my Sheffield Junior Football League duties!

Fortunately, I had backed up my photo files  (all 59,000 of 'em!) to an external, portable hard drive last weekend, before the machine gave up the ghost. I am to take the box to work tomorrow and a colleague who is a bit handy with computers is going to have a look to see if he can revive it.

There's lots to tell you about as far as  footy goes - particularly in the last week! Having lost 2 games in a row to late penalty kicks, Belper hammered Romulus 9 - 0 on Tuesday and beat Kings Lynn 2-1 at their ground yesterday.

The Tuesday win was Belper's biggest victory in the Northern Premier League and the win yesterday probably had even more significance. Kings Lynn hadn't lost at home in 2 years until the mighty Nailers came a-calling!

We watched the 9 - 0 and I took some nice photos but with a dead PC, editing and uploading options have been limited so I think the best plan is to link you to Snapper Harrison's Flickr page and you can see all of the action, not just from the last week, but from the season and before. Have a look - he's not only consistent but bloody good an all! (And explore the site - there's more than excellent footy pics there.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/timharrisonphotography/

Other matters? Nothing to report really. My pretty ordinary life continues to pass with seemingly increasing rapidity as I hurtle toward retirement. The kitchen is now plastered and ready for installation of the cooker hood. Then paint, tiles and flooring to complete - as is the case with the bathroom. (By the way - the tasks listed are mostly outside my scope - I just need to agree with the Duchess in which order they need doing so I can telephone the people I need to do them! Certainly no DIY-er me!)

It's a short blog entry tonight (for which I guess you're grateful!) but if/when the PC is fixed, there'll be no stopping me - promise!

OK - So I Lied.....

.... an update didn't follow last weekend.

 

But it ain't my fault!

 

Having finally got the landline and broadband restored - we even got our old phone number back - my PC at home has died!

 

Refuses to start, various blue screens reporting all sorts of errors if it does manage to look as if it's OK and if we're lucky enough to get a desktop and start running a programme - it randomly "freezes", the blue screen appears again and a "Your computer has been stopped to prevent damage - try restarting." message appears.

Error codes suggest it's either a new piece of software or a new piece of hardware or the NVidia graphics card causing the problem.

 

Nipped in to PC World last night and asked about repairs. Basically - it's a minimum £50 inspection fee and if they diagnose a new graphics card, or hard drive, or whatever - they add that to the £50 already spent. And it's not done "in-store" any more - they's send it away with a14 to 28 day return estimate

 

I was considering moving to Windows 7 from Vista (don't fancy Windows 8 just yet) and PC World could do that at the same time as the repair but that would add £83 for the software plus (guess what - yes you're right!) £50 to install it.

 

I just need to get the machine through the next 18 months or so because on retirement - I am investing in a new iMac - paid for from the "Lump Sum" part of my pension!

 

Just SO glad I backed up the 59,000 odd photos and video clips on the machine to my external had drive last weekend!

 

I'll keep you advised of progress......

This should link to a Set of Photos..

..taken last Friday (2nd November) at Ladybower & Howden Dams.

(I've been playing with the new Flickr account and created a set of 6 pics - just wanna see if it links OK!)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62126085@N04/sets/72157631969422691/

Coming Soon - to A Blog Near You!

An update is being prepared.

 

Now that the USA trip is done and we have a broadband connection and telephone line at home, I'm working on an update to this blog.

 

It's been a hectic couple of weeks and I've just not had the time (or the facility with no internet connection at home) to write anything at all.

 

Footy progresses - the games come thick and fast and I'll brief you on results later although it hasn't been that bad a couple of weeks for Belper Town. With a couple of wins under their belt, the team climbed to 9th a week or so ago (although we've slipped to 10th now!)

 

Another frustration has been a problem with Jalbum (where I post albums of pics for your delectation!). Turns out I have 2 accounts with them and one, containing all the previous albums I've done, has expired. I renewed it but they somehow renewed the other one and so all my albums would need re-uploading and re-linking.

 

As I ain't prepared to upload and relink 2 years worth of albums, I've been given a refund of the upgrade fee and switched my allegiance to Flickr "pro"!

 

Right - brief note done (just to let you know I'm still here basically!) and I'll do a proper entry this weekend but I'll leave you with a pic.....

Sunrise from  Nortoner Towers on Tuesday this week. (And I submitted this to "Yorkshire Calendar Weather Photos" and they used it Tuesday evening! Although it was credited to Keith and not Ken Allsebrook!)

For now - Ah'll sithee