http://xkcd.com/627/
I guess my secret is out. LOL.

Labels: computer repair, humor, tech support

In 2005, I bought a Medion Akoya EX laptop. Despite its age, it’s still my favorite laptop. It just has enough processing speed and RAM to do the things I do (web & graphic design), and the glossy widescreen was one of the first it kind at the time.

As time went buy, I started noticing more and more dead pixels popping up on the screen. It wasn’t long that there were so many dead pixels that it looked as if a black hole was growing in the center of my screen. So I decided to retire the laptop in May of 2007 and buy another to take it’s place.

I did consider getting it repaired, but Medion had pulled out of the laptop business in the US. I would have had to ship it to Germany to have it fixed. Reluctantly, I tried taking it back to Best Buy and asking how much it would cost for Geek Squad to replace the LCD. At the time, it had been over a year past the warranty that I bought from them. For the most part, I wasn’t surprised that they asked me for both of my arms and a leg. It was financially unrealistic to have it fixed at the time and buying a new laptop seemed like the best option at the time.

Since then, I have missed my Akoya. I felt like that system had been put offline well before its time.

We are now in the tail end of October of 2008 and since the time I shelved the Akoya, I have had time to learn and improve my PC repair skills. After having done a dozen laptop repair projects, I now had the knowledge and skill, not to mention the money, to fix my precious Akoya.

Finally, I decided to fix the Akoya last week. It cost me twice than it really should have since my supply source originally sent me one with a hot pixel in it and this was apparently not enough to warrant a return or exchange. I ended up having to buy another to get a flawless one.

As of 10:05 AM CST, October 25, 2008, I successfully completed the replacement of the LCD screen. Everything is working. Everything looks good, sharp, and fine. It’s been a long drawn out process that has been weighing on me for a long time. Having this burden lifted is such a relief and having the Akoya back is like seeing a long lost friend. All is good at the moment!

Note: I apologize for my sentimentality with my computers. These machines have become more than tools to me. They are my windows to the world beyond my reach, a way to call home, and a means by which I make my living. They’ve become trusted friends much like a steed is valued by a cowboy. So please pardon this monkey for wanting to mark this moment.

Labels: computer repair

I was looking through my emails and something dawned on me. There are people that I know that only contact me when they have computer problems.

These people refer to themselves as my friends but to be honest, I realize that I don't really know them that well. Honestly, I can't really consider these people friends because I really don't know them that well. I'd say they're more like acquaintances.

They tend to drop off the radar for long periods of time and out-of-the-blue they email me for help with their computer. It usually turns out they've been carelessly surfing the Web without protection and that their lack of discretion has led them to contract some nasty online virus.

Most of the time, I end up helping these poor saps. I try not to be judgemental, but it does make me wonder who are my true friends and which ones are those who just want me to fix their computer. I guess this is the curse of being a techie.

Labels: computer repair, fun with friends, old friends

I have a soft spot for old computers. A while back, I inherited a Sony Vaio PCG-XG29 laptop that had obviously seen its share of travel and abuse. Recently, I've decided to work on the machine a little and try to see if I can bring it back from being a useless, unsecured Win98 block of circuits to something more useful using some flavor of Unix.

Well, I managed to install VectorLinux on it but it was obvious that the 128mb of RAM that it was pushing wasn't going to cut it. After scouring the Web, I found a cheap place to buy some old RAM and I manage to snag another stick of 128mb which would max out the system at 256mb of RAM. It's not a lot compared to today's machines, but it's all that this baby can handle. The

Today, this battle-scarred Vaio lives on. AbiWord and Firefox are now happy with the extra RAM and I am actually posting this entry using those applications.

YouTube is choppy but I think it will always be choppy since the processor is not fast enough to deal with online video. I tried Pandora Radio on it and that seemed to work pretty well.

The DVD drive works will with Xine, so I can also use the bugger as a DVD player.

The only thing left to do to is to make this system portable again. I'm going to need to replace the dead battery but I'll save that project for another day.

All in all, it's a good day to bring back old computers to life!

Labels: computer repair, geriatric tech, linux, tech addiction

Here's another laptop that has been resurected from the trash heap and turned into a light web surfing and wordprocessing machine through the miracle of Elvis and Vector Linux.

A long time ago, I was afraid of Linux because I wasn under the misconception that the installation would be ultra complicated. It turns out that I just need to find the right flavor of Linux that would work for me. Vector Linux from http://vectorlinux.com/ was the one that has worked out for me. So, now I have another computer to add to my personal computer lab. Maybe, I'll use this machine for company events to use as a kiosk for people to surf my company's website. Maybe, I'll use it just for blogging.

Labels: computer repair, linux, mobile computing

Apple markets their Macintosh computers as being stable systems compared to PCs. Well, I just had one of the mac computers die on me at work. It seems as though the all mighty and fancy mac hard drive has died on the machine which was only used for light print design jobs. (It had Photoshop and InDesign on it). There was nothing on the system that was tasking it so much that the drive would die. So, don't believe the marketing hype. Be smart. Be frugal. Buy a PC.

Labels: computer repair, macs, things that piss me off, work