Pardon The Interruption

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while, loyal readers. I've been without a computer for the past week or so. Here's the story:

As long-time readers will know, I've been having problems with my computer for something like six months. First it was the video card, then it started to look like the motherboard itself was becoming twitchy. So I finally decided to replace the computer. And I found quite a deal.

The University of Utah Surplus and Salvage Department sells computers and all sorts of other things that the university has replaced or otherwise has no use for. So I checked out their selection and found a Tangent machine that looked pretty good: 1.25 GHz processor, 256 Mb RAM, and a DVD-ROM drive already installed. Price: $80. Too good to pass up.

Now when the Surplus and Salvage Department takes in a computer for resale, the department they get it from is supposed to wipe the had drive clean. This is intended to protect any sensitive data the previous user(s) may have had on the machine, among other things. I took it for granted that this had been done on the machine I bought. My mistake. Caveat emptor.

So I got the machine home, hooked up all the peripherals, and started it up. I was greeted by a Windoze XP login screen, asking me for a password there was absolutely no way I'd ever be able to provide. Problematic, to say the least.

I tried to get the machine to boot from my Windows 98 CD, with no success. I also tried to get it to boot from a floppy, also with no success. So I figured I'd go in and change the BIOS to get it to boot from one of the two. Good idea, but one problem: the BIOS was also password protected.

So I called Surplus and asked them for assistance. They recommended that I pull off the jumpers and restart it. Tried and failed. I called back, and they told me to call the university Help Desk. I did so, and they told me they had no information on the computer in question and that I'd need to call Surplus to get it resolved. Arrgh. So I called Surplus again, and was then told, in not so many words, that once it's out the building, it's no longer their problem.

So at this point, I essentially had an $80 paperweight.

Fortunately, Nancy's brother and brother(s)-in-law are computer geeks—professional computer geeks, at that. After a conversation with Nancy, I took my machine over to her house to have her brother look at it. I was anticipating that he'd know what to do, and if he didn't, he'd be able to find out quickly. Once again, I was reminded of the old saying that assumption is the mother of all screw-ups. He gave it a great effort, but I finally gave in to the fact that it was going to take him a few days to get it fixed. I guess if I'd been paying attention, I would have come to this conclusion before 1:30 a.m.

That all took place last Tuesday. So I was without a computer of my own for just over a week. But last night, thank the maker, I got the computer back. I've spent most of the day today getting it set up the way I like it: installing programs, downloading appropriate updates and drivers, that sort of thing. And things are looking good. The only difficulty I'm currently facing is that I have no sound. The computer runs great, and a whole lot faster than the other one ever did—but it's as silent as the grave. Nancy's brother said he hadn't checked the sound card, but he was pretty sure he'd download the correct drivers for it. I'll have to go looking for a solution to this little difficulty later.

But for now, I'm back in touch with the rest of the world. I feel so much better now.