The longest thread ever

[sue71, esq]

I'm home.

I have a lot of thinking to do.

[Lavabe]

I'm home.

I have a lot of thinking to do.

Yes, but isn't it sock-and-sneaker weather in LA?

At the very least, it is not coat, glove, and snowshovel weather, right?

[YmoBeThere]

Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges.

[Fish80]

Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges.

Be ready to attack Rock Ridge at noon tomorrow . . .

[ArkieDukie]

I'd like to offer troubleshooting suggestions, but I'm not quite clear on the problem.

Were you able to use the external monitor with your laptop? (Sounds like yes.)

Are you now unable to put the external monitor back with your desktop and have it work?

Are all the cables connected securely? Can your desktop connect to a different monitor and work with that one? (May have to ask a friend or neighbor for help here.)

Yes, the external monitor works with the laptop (that's what I'm using now). The desktop only gives the black screen of death with the blinking cursor. I double- and triple-checked all the connections and got the same result. I really do think the computer is kaput; it just doesn't sound right. It's much quieter than normal.

All in all, it's not too surprising that the desktop went bye-bye, assuming that's what happened. It's at least 5 years old and is actually not as good as my laptop. Between two half-working computers I have a functional computer. All in all, I guess it could be worse.

[Lavabe]

So, on the one hand, LA weather.

On the other hand, watching an Australian Shepherd puppy play and slide in the 1" of snow out there.

I think I'll stick with our weather... for today, at least.

[sue71, esq]

Yes, but isn't it sock-and-sneaker weather in LA?

At the very least, it is not coat, glove, and snowshovel weather, right?

I landed at 10:17pm. (30 min early, btw)

The pilot said it was 70 degrees. I believe him.

Out here that's called flip-flop weather.

[DevilAlumna]

Yes, the external monitor works with the laptop (that's what I'm using now). The desktop only gives the black screen of death with the blinking cursor. I double- and triple-checked all the connections and got the same result. I really do think the computer is kaput; it just doesn't sound right. It's much quieter than normal.

All in all, it's not too surprising that the desktop went bye-bye, assuming that's what happened. It's at least 5 years old and is actually not as good as my laptop. Between two half-working computers I have a functional computer. All in all, I guess it could be worse.

Blinking cursor and quietness suggests to me a hard drive failure, sorry... Hope it was backed up? As for replacing the drive, it's a very easy thing to do - $50-100 for a new drive, about 10 min. of work to swap out old for new, then the fun of reinstalling an OS.

While you (or your favorite computer handy-man) has the case open, also suggest checking the fan and giving it a good cleaning as well.

Fixing a laptop screen (depending on what part is kaput) is also possible - can usually find the part on eBay. I know Mr. DA has replaced a Dell screen before.

[Bostondevil]

All right, I'll be honest, I've kinda been waiting for Ymo to mention what he thought of Saturday night. Sorry I couldn't sit with ya!

[TillyGalore]

All right, I'll be honest, I've kinda been waiting for Ymo to mention what he thought of Saturday night. Sorry I couldn't sit with ya!

Me too, me too. C'mon Ymo, please post your review.

[YmoBeThere]

Hmmm...interesting. People want to hear what I have to say?

[DukieInKansas]

Hmmm...interesting. People want to hear what I have to say?

Always.

[YmoBeThere]

Okay...thought it was pretty good. The general story was someone late in the Boston Marathon questioning why they are running it. I liked the device of using different voices in someone's head trying to tell them what to do. It did a good job of leading you down the path of hitting the runner's "wall". The one area I saw for improvement was the part where "The Runner's" thoughts were naming the names of children. I thought it might be more effective if they were more vocal with the names. This would have shown a little earlier that the decision was definitely to continue on. My two cents...

[CameronBornAndBred]

Blinking cursor and quietness suggests to me a hard drive failure, sorry... Hope it was backed up? As for replacing the drive, it's a very easy thing to do - $50-100 for a new drive, about 10 min. of work to swap out old for new, then the fun of reinstalling an OS.

While you (or your favorite computer handy-man) has the case open, also suggest checking the fan and giving it a good cleaning as well.

Fixing a laptop screen (depending on what part is kaput) is also possible - can usually find the part on eBay. I know Mr. DA has replaced a Dell screen before.

Just out of curiosity do you see the POST screen before it attempts to load Windows? If so, do you have any USB drives attached? If your PC is able to boot from a USB drive, it will try, and you will see only a blinking cursor.

[DevilAlumna]

Bleah.

Today just isn't going the way I'd hoped.

Mainly, I'd hoped to have more motivation for all the work I'm supposed to be doing at, well, work.

Bleah.

That is all.

[Bostondevil]

Okay...thought it was pretty good. The general story was someone late in the Boston Marathon questioning why they are running it. I liked the device of using different voices in someone's head trying to tell them what to do. It did a good job of leading you down the path of hitting the runner's "wall". The one area I saw for improvement was the part where "The Runner's" thoughts were naming the names of children. I thought it might be more effective if they were more vocal with the names. This would have shown a little earlier that the decision was definitely to continue on. My two cents...

I think what they really want to know is how'd I do as the waitress. More coffee?

[YmoBeThere]

I think what they really want to know is how'd I do as the waitress. More coffee?

I was never a fan of coffee, but do prefer that people keep their shoes on in restaurants...

[ArkieDukie]

Just out of curiosity do you see the POST screen before it attempts to load Windows? If so, do you have any USB drives attached? If your PC is able to boot from a USB drive, it will try, and you will see only a blinking cursor.

I have this wonderful Epson printer/scanner/copier (Stylus Photo RX500) that has slots for memory cards in it. If it happens to be on before I turn the computer on, I get the "black screen of death." As soon as I saw your post, I remembered that the printer was on when I rebooted my desktop. I've actually had the very same problem before, but it's been a few years. I checked again (with the printer turned off this time), and the computer is working fine now. The false alarm has prompted me to back up the contents of my hard drive, though.

[ArkieDukie]

Bleah.

Today just isn't going the way I'd hoped.

Mainly, I'd hoped to have more motivation for all the work I'm supposed to be doing at, well, work.

Bleah.

That is all.

Sorry the day isn't going well. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

[ArkieDukie]

Fixing a laptop screen (depending on what part is kaput) is also possible - can usually find the part on eBay. I know Mr. DA has replaced a Dell screen before.

That's interesting. I've heard from several people that it's more expensive to replace the screen than to just buy a whole new computer. I'd prefer to replace the monitor, if it can be done. It was one of those strange situations where you restart the computer and suddenly the monitor wasn't working any more.