My computer has died.

[M54]

Not that anyone would've missed me:P, but I won't be around much for a while till we figure out what we are going to do, probably get a second hand one.
I'm sending this from the local shopping centre and I'll check in from time to time from the same place.
Clear skies to everyone in the meantime.:D
Molly.

[mozzie]

there an evil necessary know i have a laptop the old towre died i took a hammer to it and smashed it to pieces and put it in the garbage bin with great pleasure
mozzie

[TheDecepticon]

Tra-la old chap!! Bad luck!! Catch you on the flip side!:thumbsup:

[Robh]

Sorry to hear of your loss. Another techno casualty!
I hope you didn't lose anything vital.
My digital box carked it recently, the 3rd one in 5 years.

All the best, Rob

[jjjnettie]

Ah yes, we had 3 die in as many weeks. Spent a lot of time at the library using their computer.
RIP.

[starlooker]

In what manner did your computer die? Can a part be replaced, or software be reinstalled?

Very nice of you to take time out from your busy shopping schedule to drop in on us. :D

[mithrandir]

Mine didn't die, but when I got home on Thursday it was hung and now won't boot Linux from the USB stick I use so as not to have to fiddle with the Windows boot config. (I know all about Window's boot manager, LILO and Grub. I choose to do it this way.)

It boots perfectly from the Slackware DVD if I specify the root partition.

The head scratching will continue - probably until I install 64 bit versions everything.

[stephenb]

Actually I wondered where you went ;)

Do you know what is wrong with it, Molly? Does it not power up? How old is it or do you know what the specs are?

I've always thought that there must be a market for refurbished computers to help out people who just want a computer to check emails and a bit of internet.

Our local computer shop is incredibly trustworthy and they have an outstanding reputation in our area. These days computer parts are so inexpensive. The cost of a new basic home desktop PC these days $700-800 and even less for a refurbished one.

Good luck Molly with getting the PC fixed/replaced.

Did you want to give us your approximate location in Melbourne? North/South/East or West, some members here might know of a reputable computer shop in your neck of the woods.

[dpastern]

Like others, I'm curious to see what the actual problem with the PC was/is. Good luck with getting it all up and running again.

Dave

[garyp]

Computers are good when they are going and a pain any other time. I have recently had to upgrade mine. My old one is still alive, although it's on life support system. It's days are numbered now alas.:(

I hope you get back online soon.

Cheers

Gary:)

[rider]

I'll make you feel better, I poured a glass of good wine into my 6 month old laptop on Friday night.

I'm typing this on a new tea-totalling laptop, - there goes my new Eyepiece.

[stephenb]

Yep, I guess well here from Molly when she can get to a computer next.

I have just put together my own system, which I do every 3-5 years and I am surprised at how cheap parts are getting:

4Gb RAM - $90
500Gb hard drive $120
DVD drive $42
Case and power supply $66
Athlon 2.8Ghz processor $110
Asus Motherboard $90

That's just over $500 for a decent all-round system. Admittedly, I could have shopped around for better prices but I only shop at my local computer shop and support local businesses.

Add an LCD monitor, el-cheapo mouse and keyboard and you've got a system for around $700. I remember 5-10 years ago paying a lot more than that for an all-round home PC.

I am now slowly building up a collection of used hard drives, cases, "slower" motherboards that most people wouldn't touch today, but they are good to build into refurbished PC's for the kids, or family and friends.

[dpastern]

I wouldn't usually recommend skimping on the PSU. Better to pay top dollar for one imho. Even on a basic system.

Dave

[hulloleeds]

Hi Stephen,

Despite the fact you want to support your local businesses, you really shouldn't have been charged 120 for a 500 gig drive - the median price is approximately 65 right now. Everything else you cite is only as expensive as I'd expect from a little computer shop marking up (ie, I paid 78, i think for 4 gigs of ram yesterday - so 90 from a local computer shop sounds about right).

[stephenb]

Hi hulloleeds,

Yes I do admit I that I could shop around and get some items cheaper, in particular the hard drive, for approx $80 instead $120, but it's not just about supporting local business. I am a fair drive to any large computer store, which translates to time out of town, petrol, I work shift work etc. If I purchased online I am looking at approx $15 delivery. Okay that's still cheaper than $120 but...

I have the same philosophy as I do with telescope dealers in this country. When I every have had a problem with a computer part, or my system in general my local computer shop will look at it free of charge 50% of the time. And the rest of the time, they just charge a "token" fee. Their service and support is second to none. You can go in there for a chinwag, and just talk computers, get advice, they offer service and support to the local schools and businesses.

Two years ago I accidently lost over 700 photos of my daughter's first 4 years, including her birth. I had no back up's and by the time I had realised my mistake, I had partitioned and formatted the 250Gb hard drive something like four times over. I gave the hard drive to them, and over a 3 month period they recovered every image. In fact they recovered almost every document and image that had been on the hard drive. All that after 4 complete formats and re-partitioning. The only charged me around $100. An expensive mistake but they save me and that is why I shop exclusively with my local computer store.

[Liz]

Hey Molly ... yeah, computor problems are VERY ANNOYING!! Mine has been behaving for awhile now ........ touching wood ......
Hope ya back online soon!!

[AstralTraveller]

Ouch!! That is a waste of good wine.

[M54]

Thanks everyone for your commiserations.
Double ouch about the wine on the laptop!
Thanks Stephen for that info, I'm in the Dandenong Ranges and I'd be interested to know where that shop was.
The computer boots up but is totally frozen after that. No response at all. We had it looked at 6 months ago and they said get a new computer. They said the motherboard was had it.
We kept using it till it died a couple of weeks ago.
Have to go, running out of time.
Thanks again, Molly.

[Baron von Richthofen]

My Laptop is about to die, its an Compaq with an A&D chip, when it stops that it for the internet

[PCH]

Jeepers Stephen,

that is soooome kind of service :eyepop: I'd be sticking with them too - at any cost :lol:

[g__day]

Walking through Harvey Norman on Epping Road (North Ryde) on Sunday I noted they were selling alot of old Dell Desktop, complete with 17" LCD monitors and Windows XP for $287 - that's a pretty good bargin for a 2nd hand unit.

[dpastern]

standard formatting doesn't get rid of the data. Try a free tool call "testdisk". You'll be amazed at what it can find.

Dave

[Glenhuon]

I did an upgrade on this machine a few weeks ago. New Mboard, 2.5G Intel dual core processor, and 2g DDR2, $240 the lot including postage from Ebay. Used my existing drives etc. and didn't have to reinstall XP, just reactivated over the net. There are cheaper upgrades using the AMD processor, around $175 +post if memory serves.

Bill