As luck would have it, tonight the graphics card on my laptop decided it was a good day to stop working. I’ve managed to grab an older laptop I have laying around and am trying my best to get it up to speed. Getting up to speed is requiring a lot of updating given this laptop has seen little use the last 2+ years. I’m doing my best, but I may not be online as much as usual the next couple of days.
It’s amazing how many things you take for granted. Browser bookmarks, lapsed anti-virus, spyware protection, firewall, email accounts that need to be set up. It really has been a few years since this computer has seen use. So many tools I use daily that will need to be installed.
The good news is the laptop with the failed graphics card is still under warranty and I have a new motherboard on it its way. Hopefully sometime late Tuesday the new motherboard will be installed and all will be working again, but if I seem a little scarce for a couple of days you’ll know why.
Feel free to comment with your sympathy and share your own stories of computer failures.
Update: It looks like I’ll be without my primary laptop a few more days than I thought. The option that made the most sense was to send it back to Dell and have them fix and send back. I think the earliest I’ll have it back is Thursday and the latest Monday. I’ll be happy if it gets here before the weekend. I can’t even describe how much I’m not enjoying using the old laptop I’m using at the moment.
Popularity: 10%
Subscribe to 
TheVanBlog | 
Email This Post
Loading ...
First, sympathy for the graphic card and the broken computer. Since I’m computer addicted, and haven’t a spare computer at the moment, losing my computer would be awful. I’d probably get the shakes almost immediately.
I do, however, think I can top the broken computer story. The well where I live died on Friday. We’ve had no water for the entire weekend. They’re supposed to fix the well today. Cross your fingers for me that they do, because I want water that I don’t have to rent a hotel room to have. It’s a major pain!
I know you probably weren’t looking for I’ll take your sad story and do you one better, but I did express my sympathy about your problem first, so that’s got to count right?
This has happened to me before and it sucks, but for me I think it would be much less sucky than previously. Most of what I do is on the web now - email, bookmarks, business - all on the Internet. If I have a connection and a word processor I’m pretty much good to go.
Thanks for the sympathy.
Kristine don’t worry about topping my computer woes. In the grand scheme of things this isn’t the worst thing in the world. It looks like I’m just without my primary machine for a few days, but I’m managing. No water would be much harder to deal with. Is it working yet?
David I have a lot more stored online than I used to though some things I still prefer to store locally. I have a couple of external drives for backup so I still have access to most of my data. The hard part for me is working on an older machine that was needing replacement 3 years ago. I also haven’t done well to keep things updated on it over the years which is something I’ll make sure to do in the future.
I had customized the OS on the newer machine a lot, which is just too much to try and duplicate on this one for a few days use. I also find I’m used to the keyboard on the newer laptop. This one is a little smaller so I keep reaching for one key and hitting another.
The water came back last night. I can’t tell you how relieved and happy I was.
It’s funny the things you take for granted until they don’t work.
What others are saying about this post
Link Love for the week 10/20/2007 | The Invesp Blog[...] Are you suffering from computer issues like Steven has recently? Well don’t fret, the folks at freelance folder have ...