Oh, modern "conveniences"!
Oct. 8th, 2008 09:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
philenaSo my 5-year old college computer has decided that its "system voltage battery is low," and it tells me this whenever I turn it on. A call to Dell reveals that this is a problem with the motherboard battery, which was only supposed to last two years. It makes me fell pretty good to know that, because I made it last five years! But it's dying now. So I ordered a new motherboard battery from them (actually, I ordered two--at a whopping price of $1.99 each, plus s&h) and have dropped it and the batteries off at the computer shop to be replaced. Fair enough. They'll even check into other things for me, like why the CD and DVD drives don't work and why the system is running slow (Diagnosis: it is really, really old), but my priority is getting that battery replaced. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
suddenleap, don't worry about bugging Yitz. It's much easier bringing the computer ten minutes to the store in Berkeley than to schlep over to SF.)
So I am stuck with my new computer, which I have up and running pretty nicely. I've made my system restore disks and dissolved the factory partition that was eating up my hard drive memory. I've installed all the programs I want (like LaTeX) and am learning how to use them. I even have a separate 160-GB memory unit so I can back up all my files and not have to worry about losing my term paper. What's the problem, then? The o-key fell off my keyboard! It looks like it lost a tooth, the poor thing. I can still type pretty comfortably, becauase the little blue tab that the key connected to still recognizes that it needs to make an 'o' when I push it, but it's only a temporary fix. So I called Lenovo and they sent me a new keyboard to install myself. "It's easy!" they said. "Here--there are movies on our website about how to do it!" they said. I am not so sure, but I have looked at the movies and read the instructions and the computing guy for the ling department is going to help me replace it today. This might be the last time I have a working computer, you know! Commemorate this moment on livejournal. My next entry might be how I messed everything up trying to install the keyboard and had to send the computer in for them to fix and it will be months until I get it back. Oh, well. At least I backed up all my files from the last two weeks.
Oh, yes. And the DMV is stupid. But that's nothing new.
EditI think it worked! It feels strange to type with a good 'o' key now, and all the instructions I had looked at were curiously silent as to the important of making sure the little black thing on the top of the keyboard was positioned under the frame when putting in the new keyboard, but the tech guy figured it out, and now I'm typing! How glorious it feels to have an 'o' again!
suddenleap, don't worry about bugging Yitz. It's much easier bringing the computer ten minutes to the store in Berkeley than to schlep over to SF.)So I am stuck with my new computer, which I have up and running pretty nicely. I've made my system restore disks and dissolved the factory partition that was eating up my hard drive memory. I've installed all the programs I want (like LaTeX) and am learning how to use them. I even have a separate 160-GB memory unit so I can back up all my files and not have to worry about losing my term paper. What's the problem, then? The o-key fell off my keyboard! It looks like it lost a tooth, the poor thing. I can still type pretty comfortably, becauase the little blue tab that the key connected to still recognizes that it needs to make an 'o' when I push it, but it's only a temporary fix. So I called Lenovo and they sent me a new keyboard to install myself. "It's easy!" they said. "Here--there are movies on our website about how to do it!" they said. I am not so sure, but I have looked at the movies and read the instructions and the computing guy for the ling department is going to help me replace it today. This might be the last time I have a working computer, you know! Commemorate this moment on livejournal. My next entry might be how I messed everything up trying to install the keyboard and had to send the computer in for them to fix and it will be months until I get it back. Oh, well. At least I backed up all my files from the last two weeks.
Oh, yes. And the DMV is stupid. But that's nothing new.
EditI think it worked! It feels strange to type with a good 'o' key now, and all the instructions I had looked at were curiously silent as to the important of making sure the little black thing on the top of the keyboard was positioned under the frame when putting in the new keyboard, but the tech guy figured it out, and now I'm typing! How glorious it feels to have an 'o' again!