Houston, we may have bad memory!
No, not me. Well, actually, me too, but I'm really referring to my computer. This explains the random re-boots I've been having and why in the middle of shutdown it will re-boot before shutting down. I've disabled the automatic re-starts so I get the actual Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) and the appropriate error codes. I now know that the issue is
Here's hoping it was just a software conflict....
Of course, what I really need to do is retire this machine and switch over to the Mac for desktop computer operations. I'm dragging my feet because I like my old gaming box and it's pretty comfy for long-term gaming, for the games that still run on it. Of course, my primary game, Asheron's Call, won't actually run on this machine, but Grim Fandango and StarCraft run just fine.
I also have a sentimental attachment to this machine. This is the box that my gaming buddies pitched in and bought/built for me when I needed a gaming box and a PC machine to finish my PhD with (needed to crunch some maps in GIS applications and some stats, but couldn't get time on the "good" computer at school, despite setting a schedule for it). It's been a good machine for me and I've spent a lot of time with it gaming, e-mailing and generally keeping my sanity.
But it's now 5-7 years old and will need a new graphics card if I want to play some of hte new games. That's when the upgrade cascade starts. The current motherboard has AGP slots, which aren't really supported anymore. If I want a top end graphics card, I'll need a new motherboard. If I get a new mobo, then I might as well get a new chipset and move to a duo-core or quad-core processor. That will probably require a new case for better ventillation. The hard drives can stay, but I could use a USB 2.0 card. If I get a new graphics card, why not get a flat screen monitor too? Suddenly I have a new $1200 machine when all I really needed was a graphics card. And then I'd have to figure out what to do with SIX computers in my house, instead of five, when I only really use three of them. *sigh*
Maintenance Day
I decided against working out today. I need to stick around the house and catch up on the housework. The detritus is building up and starting to bother me. I have a bad habit of making piles of "things to handle later". These piles are now bigger than the initial mess was, so that's my sign that it's time to start throwing stuff out and getting the rest of it put away. For a break, I'm going to wax my car and weed the front flower bed, which is now more weeds than flowers. (I also need to re-think the plants in there, since it's not bloomed since July and looks a bit ragged.)
Update:
Turns out the problem isn't memory. It's an overzealous and demented firewall program that now won't let me uninstall the silly thing. Grrrrrr. But it's refused to go away before and I was able to kill it, so I know I'm not completely stuck yet. I have, at least, managed to get the BSOD to go away, so that's a start.
I didn't actually get much tidying up done. I did clean the excess papers off my computer desk and got a bunch of website work done, so that's a start. I only set foot outside to feed the birds.
Next weekend I'll have to do some cooking as both the pear and apple trees are ready to be picked over. I'll make at least one pie and a bunch of pear and apple butter. I might even try a combined pear-apple butter attempt. This reminds me that I need to find a pair of canning tongs somewhere so I can fish the jars out of the water bath.
Now I'm back in my comfy chair, ready to watch either a Harry Potter movie on ABC Family or to watch The Two Towers again while knitting.
"DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL".This could be due to a hardware or software compatibility issue, a bad paging file or bad memory. I've re-built the paging file and deleted the recently added software apps (which I wasn't using on this machine anyway). We'll see if that helps. Next step will be to run memtest. Oddly enough, I found 512 MB RAM module a few weeks ago when I was cleaning out the computer parts closet. I was tempted to just throw the extra RAM into the machine anyway since I'm running only 512 MB RAM as it is, but I didn't quite get to that. Now I may need to just replace the existing RAM with the found module.
Here's hoping it was just a software conflict....
Of course, what I really need to do is retire this machine and switch over to the Mac for desktop computer operations. I'm dragging my feet because I like my old gaming box and it's pretty comfy for long-term gaming, for the games that still run on it. Of course, my primary game, Asheron's Call, won't actually run on this machine, but Grim Fandango and StarCraft run just fine.
I also have a sentimental attachment to this machine. This is the box that my gaming buddies pitched in and bought/built for me when I needed a gaming box and a PC machine to finish my PhD with (needed to crunch some maps in GIS applications and some stats, but couldn't get time on the "good" computer at school, despite setting a schedule for it). It's been a good machine for me and I've spent a lot of time with it gaming, e-mailing and generally keeping my sanity.
But it's now 5-7 years old and will need a new graphics card if I want to play some of hte new games. That's when the upgrade cascade starts. The current motherboard has AGP slots, which aren't really supported anymore. If I want a top end graphics card, I'll need a new motherboard. If I get a new mobo, then I might as well get a new chipset and move to a duo-core or quad-core processor. That will probably require a new case for better ventillation. The hard drives can stay, but I could use a USB 2.0 card. If I get a new graphics card, why not get a flat screen monitor too? Suddenly I have a new $1200 machine when all I really needed was a graphics card. And then I'd have to figure out what to do with SIX computers in my house, instead of five, when I only really use three of them. *sigh*
Maintenance Day
I decided against working out today. I need to stick around the house and catch up on the housework. The detritus is building up and starting to bother me. I have a bad habit of making piles of "things to handle later". These piles are now bigger than the initial mess was, so that's my sign that it's time to start throwing stuff out and getting the rest of it put away. For a break, I'm going to wax my car and weed the front flower bed, which is now more weeds than flowers. (I also need to re-think the plants in there, since it's not bloomed since July and looks a bit ragged.)
Update:
Turns out the problem isn't memory. It's an overzealous and demented firewall program that now won't let me uninstall the silly thing. Grrrrrr. But it's refused to go away before and I was able to kill it, so I know I'm not completely stuck yet. I have, at least, managed to get the BSOD to go away, so that's a start.
I didn't actually get much tidying up done. I did clean the excess papers off my computer desk and got a bunch of website work done, so that's a start. I only set foot outside to feed the birds.
Next weekend I'll have to do some cooking as both the pear and apple trees are ready to be picked over. I'll make at least one pie and a bunch of pear and apple butter. I might even try a combined pear-apple butter attempt. This reminds me that I need to find a pair of canning tongs somewhere so I can fish the jars out of the water bath.
Now I'm back in my comfy chair, ready to watch either a Harry Potter movie on ABC Family or to watch The Two Towers again while knitting.
Comments
Although I'm not sure what it would be like to have yardwork be a break.