Computational errors

The main reason I’ve been generally incommunicado for a while is that I’ve been afflicted with major computer woes.

But first, since computer problems are so seldom visually exciting (unless they involve, say, actual flames shooting out, which fortunately mine have not,  so far) a somewhat dark but adorable picture of my cats:

Brother and Sister: TJ and Squeak

For me computer problems, especially with my primary writing computer, are like a loose tooth. I can’t … let them … alone. So of course, that’s what I’ve had.

Within a year of buying my second Toshiba Satellite notebook computer I started having problems with my power input. The major upshot was that I came home with a new AC power adapter. And without just over a hundred bucks I’d had when I set out.

Then the old adapter started working again. Sort of.

But I kept having problems. Sometimes I’d just stop  getting power input into the computer. Then I’d have to wiggle the plug around until the power input light came back on. Which it kept getting harder and harder to persuade it to do.

Then, what’s now several weeks ago, it started becoming all but impossible to charge the battery. I backed up my writing files. Then I started doing research online, which suggested the Toshiba had chronic problems with power input. The most common problem seemed to involve the jack connections loosening. On the inside. On the motherboard.

Solving which, it seemed, would involve soldering.

Now, not only do I know nothing about soldering, I know little about the innards of laptops. I’m fairly handy with desktop hardware – I built my desktop from components – but that’s a breeze. Notebooks are cranky.

My good friend Steve Kubica kindly lent me a soldering iron. Which left the problem of disassembling the computer. Add, well, actually soldering. The Internet did provide me instructions on both those things. Still, I felt trepidation.

Then at the house of John and Gail Miller I ran into a friend of theirs named Steve Wix, who turned out to work at Sandia. He knows a thing or two, or many, about computers. He also had a laptop he needed to disassemble. We agreed to help each other. Since Steve lives way the heck and gone up in the mountains, and I live down by the river (love that song), John kindly offered his house as a meeting point.

So after two Saturday afternoons monopolizing the Millers’ coffee table, and imposing on John’s easy-going nature (though I hope we didn’t sorely test it), the Toshiba was back together without any parts even left over. And, mirabile dictu, it booted right up!

But it still didn’t charge. Curses!

My boon pal Larry (Yes, I’m blessed with many excellent friends. Yes, I made myself a burden to most of them in the course of this fandango) helped me find out that neither adapter plug was in fact supplying power. Even though the Kensington third-party adapter I’d bought had a pilot light showing power was going as far as the socket the interchangeable power tips fit into.

The good news here is that Kensington is sending me a replacement tip free. The bad news is it may take a week yet toget here.

Now, I’ve got a second computer – the Frankenbox desktop referred to before. For various reasons in the last couple years I’ve preferred to do my writing on my notebook. And the desktop’s Win98 (my choice), which means I can’t update my security software or even my Firefox browser on it, making it a little dicey for Internet duties. While I’m fine writing on my desktop I really miss the Toshiba, and basically need a portable.

As it happens, I’ve been hankering for one of these here now newfangled netbook computers. So, needing a portable computer and not knowing whether poor Toshi, Jr. will ever be resurrected, I bought myself one: a nifty black ASUS Eee PC 1000HE 10.1-Inch Netbook, which I got in a package deal with an Asus DVD-ROM external drive at Newegg.com.

Which has brought its own set of hassles, as breaking in a new computer tends to. After some initial problems (a tendency to zoom text in and out at random whenever I used the touchpad) got resolved I’ve gotten to like it more and more. It still has some hitches in its getalong, and frankly I hope Toshi, Jr. comes back when the new power tip arrives.

But for what I got it for – being just absurdly portable – it does a damned fine job. So I’m pleased. Mostly.

Today I also nerved up and tried using a USB adapter that I got to hook up Toshi, Jr.’s hard drive to the EEE. To my near-astonishment, both it and the HDD worked fine. I got various nonessential files transferred. Now if I can figure out how to get Thunderbird to open my old email files I can even answer a couple emails I got just before the notebook crapped out.

We shall see. This has gone on far too long and far too late as it is. Later…

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