My no good very bad weekend

Ara Davies · Post by **Ara Davies** » 18 years ago

A beautiful Saturday morning dawns and Ara excitedly installs her new game, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Game installs but won't start.
Ara:

Ara realizes that this is because her graphics card is a piece of crap and goes to Cheap Guys Computers :wub: to buy a new one.
Ara: I need a graphics card. I want a GeForce 6600.
Cheap Guys: Here. B)
Ara: Thank you (pays and leaves).

Inventory: You just lost $175!

Ara gets home and installs the graphics card. Ten minutes later, while she is installing the drivers:
Computer: *BEEP* *BEEP* *LOUD WHIRR* *SHUTS OFF* *HORRIBLE BURNING SMELL EMITS*
Ara:

:blink:

Piece of crap. Ara tries everything to figure out what exactly burned and only manages to figure out it was NOT the graphics card which is fine. Upon consultation with her daddy, they determine that the motherboard, which is old and a piece of crap, blew three capacitors. As motherboards from 3 or 4 years ago are wont to do as apparently there were a lot of really shoddily made motherboards from all companies at that time. I wasn't aware of this but apparently LOTS of people are having this problem. Ara realizes that she needs a new motherboard and excitedly decides to get a new processor as well.

Ara: Hi I'm back. My motherboard fried. I want a new one and a processor. An Athlon.
Cheap Guys: Here is an Athlon 64 3000+ processor and a board to match. Also we have 512 meg RAM sticks for $39.99 apiece. B)
Ara: I'll take two.

Inventory: You just lost $303!

Ara goes home and installs the motherboard amongst much swearing as she has to take EVERY SINGLE THING out of the case to get the extra-wide board to fit. She plugs it in and of course the computer does the same thing it did before she put the new board in. Some things come on, most don't, and she gets no picture on the monitor.

Ara:

She spends the next several hours running every test she knows, including setting up the board outside of the case and starting it by touching two connectors with a screwdriver, which was a darn scary thing. She was convinced she would electrocute herself but she had to make sure the board wasn't shorting out on the case and this was the only way to do it. Finally she and daddy determined that the power supply was also fried. Upon removing it from the computer she noticed a noxious burnt odor coming from the power supply. She decides to get a nice power supply not a crappy one.

Ara: I'm back again. My power supply is fried too. I need a good one.
Cheap Guys: Here this is good it has two fans and it even lights up! B)
Ara: Yes and I want more memory too.
Inventory: You just lost $100!

Ara gets home, installs everything, and MIRACLE OF MIRACLES the computer starts up! And has been running for a couple of hours! She is now in the process of reinstalling Windows since the old install was not happy with the new motherboard, processor, etc. If all goes well she will be playing Oblivion by midnight. Or perhaps tomorrow.

So the point of the story is that less than $600 later I have basically a whole new computer: an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ processor (unfortunately not dual core, but them's the breaks), two gigs of RAM, and a GeForce 6600 256MB graphics card. PLUS this was finally the first time I've installed a motherboard and processor. I've installed everything else before but I've always let my dad install the main board.

Ara:

Daryl Dennis · Post by **Daryl Dennis** » 18 years ago

The game is worth it.

Though, for all of that expense, you coulda just bought an XBox 360 and several games for the same price.

Daryl

Ara Davies · Post by **Ara Davies** » 18 years ago

I don't like those kind of games for the most part. I fully intend to play this with god mode on, just as I play Knights of the Old Republic.

Steph Wilder · Post by **Steph Wilder** » 18 years ago

That's such an Ara thing to do....play with the God mode on.

Ara Davies · Post by **Ara Davies** » 18 years ago

God Mode is fun...there's nothing like rushing into a crowd of Sith with your lightsaber swinging and knowing you'll come out victorious.

Plus if I have to play the same battle over and over because I keep losing I get bored and quit playing.

Eric Nalbone · Post by **Eric Nalbone** » 18 years ago

StephWilder wrote: That's such an Ara thing to do....play with the God mode on.

An Ara thing to do? Its an Eric thing to do! I wish I could live life with God mode on, just moving everyone around like a horde of chess pieces fulfilling my every whim and desire.

"Gee Brain, what do you want to do tonight?"
"The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world!"

Steph Wilder · Post by **Steph Wilder** » 18 years ago

AH! I dream of living in a world where Pinky and the Brain are really alive. Such good stuff.

Ara Davies · Post by **Ara Davies** » 18 years ago

Update on my Oblivion playing:

I finally got the game working. I started out as mostly a combat character but once I tried stealing WOOT! I promptly started over with a thief character and spent the next couple of hours breaking into shops and stealing everything I could get. I decided to use my ill-gotten funds to buy a horse.

At first I was going to buy the black horse because of Conduit but when I got close to him he had demonic red eyes and was really scary. I don't care for chestnuts and the bays weren't my favorite shade of bay either. But the pinto...OOOOH. The game says he's a paint but he isn't because he doesn't have a big ol' western butt. He's a gorgeous bay pinto warmblood of some sort. He is cute and I named him Birdstone.

So then I started riding Birdstone around. I tried to do various quests but it was hard because I had to keep running back to Birdstone to make sure he was okay. Every time I was riding him and found bad guys I had to hop off and kill them so they wouldn't hurt Birdstone.

Eventually I had two companions I had to escort somewhere or other. All three of us had horses. During our ride, we were attacked by bandits or something but I was afraid they'd kill Birdstone so I ran away instead of fighting them. Some time later I noticed that my companions were not behind me anymore so I stopped for the night. By the morning they'd finally caught up with me, sans horses. They'd stopped to fight the bad guys who had killed their horses. What terrible horse owners they are! Where are their priorities? I rode off on Birdstone and figured they could catch up later since they were too stupid to protect their horses.

I added the horse armor mod onto the game so now I need to pimp my ride. I wonder if they make shiny gold horse armor with spikes. And spinnaz. That would be awesome to have a blinged out horse.

So yeah now the game has turned from "go on quests" to "break into buildings and steal stuff" to "ride my horse around the countryside". Now all they need is a horse racing mod for the game and I'll be all set.

Ali Weasley · Post by **Ali Weasley** » 18 years ago

That reminds me of some issues I was having with my Microsoft Office a few weeks ago. I already had the student addition, but needed Access, so I bought Pro from the bookstore on campus. So, I'm out doing foal watch at the U of A farm, trying to get homework done while I'm stuck without internet and the like. I go to install the new version and get an "Error: Program Source has been corrupted." So I go back to the bookstore and try to return it. Which they won't do cuz I've opened it. Go to hades, people, I paid how much for this and it doesn't work!? I don't THINK SO! So, I finally argue them into a exchange.

Back to the farm I go. "Error: Program Source has been corrupted." MEH! So, I leave the comforts of the classroom and sit in the middle of the breezeway, freezing my patoots off in the cold (Eh.. hehe... it was like, 50) searching for a wireless signal! I call my dad (a state away). I'm now sitting in the breezeway, in the pitch black with only my computer as a light, crying. This would not be the last time this semester I cried, btw.

I finally find a signal which is about as weak as it can be and still work, and access Microsoft's help page. It gives me about a MILLION options to solve the issue. Hey... My battery is dying. I go get my cord and stretch it to its absolute length where I can plug in and still have internet. I try option one. "Error: Program Source has been corrupted." I try option two. "Error: Program Source has been corrupted." I try option three. "Error: Program Source has been corrupted."

I'm now in open hysterics. I need @!#$! Access for this @!#$! Independent Study I never should have signed up for! I'm pretty sure I'm being infested with !#@!$! mosquitos. I'm pretty sure the mare can hear me and this is why she kept us out for FOUR nights! I try option four. "Error: Program Source has been corrupted."

I give up and do other, less pressing homework.

The next day, I'm at home. I open up my laptop, try option five. Option five is the process of typing a VERY simple code into my "Run..." guy.

It works. ARE YOU !@$%#@ KIDDING ME!?

So, I begin the process of entering nearly 700 surveys into a database.

MAAAHHH! :blink:

I didn't mean for this to be so long. The point was, though, that I feel your pain, Ara!

Computers: Can't live with 'em. Can't live without 'em.