A Picture of a Tree... Impressed Yet?

Computer Repair cont.

Well it hasn't been a good few days. As you are already aware, I've been updating the hardware in my computer for the past few days with some bad results. I was attempting to replace my motherboard with a newer and "better" and more up-to-date model of what I was already using. So, I bought an MSI G33M, and frankly, it stinks. Nothing but problems from day one. Windows updates were littered with failures and errors. Even SP1 was not willing to make the trip into the hellhole that is my computer. I'm not sure if it was a compatability issue, or a defect in the board, but every thing I did produced nothing but errors. Now, I know what you're thinking; "But you're installing Vista! No wonder you have errors!"

Well, sorry, but try again. I took out the G33M and went back to my old MSI 945P Neo3 and, guess what? No problems. Vista went in smooth and flawlessly. Programs are getting installed with no errors. Everything is fine. But the question still remains; What the hell was wrong with that G33M?

Whatever the case, that is now two separate devices I purchased, both not working properly. The other was a new Seagate hard drive. Yeah, you guessed it. It did not work. I found it peculiar, almost impossible, that two different components, from two different manufacturers, both failed.

In case you are curious, the Seagate simply didn't want to spin up.

Well, at least I have a machine that runs now... still need a new hard drive though... damnit.

Subject: A Motherboard, A Hard Drive, and World of Warcraft: A journey through the world of reinstallation and the woes associated with it

Well, after getting Windows reinstalled on my hard drive, and a series of updates later, I started the process of reinstalling my commonly used applications. However, one thing I did notice was the number of times a downloaded executable, upon running, was being marked as corrupted by their own installer, even when freshly downloaded from the web. After wrestling with those for a few hours, I decided it was time to reinstall World of Warcraft. Although I planned on keeping the old installation intact, for some reason it was dead.

When I attempted to run the installation, I kept receiving an error from the Blizzard Installer telling me that my common.mpq file was faulty and that there might be a problem with my C: Drive. When I googled this error, I found that a lot of people seem to have this problem, even though this is the first time I've ever seen it in the many installations I've done. So... I ended up installing it to my external drive and then planned on moving it to C: manually. However, I'm beginning to believe the issue I had with that new SATA drive not working had nothing to do with my motherboard (seeing as how I got the same issues) but more to do with the old SATA drive itself as it is now causing Vista and all installed programs to act oddly. So, when I get home, I think I am going to do another reinstall of windows, but this time to my other SATA drive and remove the old one. I'm running out of options and I should hit on the cause of this anomoly soon.

Office Talking

Sometimes I think businesses spend more time talking about how to do a job, or how to talk about how to do a job, rather than just doing the job.

A Word From The Great Mr. Carlin

No Point, Just Cool

This is a picture I took last winter just outside my job at the time. I say at the time because this was one of many jobs I worked at where after finishing a huge project, I was told I was being let go. As bad as being fired is, the worst of it is I didn't even get paid.

When I was working here, I was employed through a consulting company on a temp-to-perm position. The deal was that I was to work for three months, and then at the end of those three months I would then be offered a chance to renegotiate for a full-time wage and position. Well, after eight business days, my time there came to an end and the consulting company I was employed through refused to pay me for my time.

This is too long a story to tell now... some other time.

A Picture

Yeah. A picture.