August 2009 Archives

Yup, it certainly was the power supply. I got a new supply with an increase in the power rating (not sure how I’ll spec this in the future), swapped it out in less than a half-hour, and voila — a working computer. Power supply swaps are easy, as long as the computer maker gives enough room to get to some of the connectors.

In my case, it was made a little tough by how HP placed the main 20-pin connector on the motherboard behind the drive bay. My big hands didn’t fit in there so well, so I had to pull the panel off the other side of the box, too, to get at it from behind.

But it works now, so I shouldn’t complain. Now, if the computer would just have the energy of my twins as they chant the mantra I want this computer to keep repeating…

The bouncing came from when they were watching a 70s music retrospective on PBS in our bedroom and decided they liked the phrase and could jump to the music.

Argh, is it this time of year that’s doing something? A year ago, our previous desktop computer’s hard drive gave up the ghost and we replaced it.

This evening? It appears that the power supply just gave up. There was a slight power surge, but no outage, during a storm this afternoon. However, the computer was on a power strip, and everything else on the power strip still works. But the power supplies LED is out, indicating it is likely fried. I only have about 20 things to try (according to HP) before knowing for certain it is out.

So, I’ve got some troubleshooting ahead of me tomorrow. Luckily, if it is a power supply, it’s something I can troubleshoot and fix on my own (with a new unit). And in my research so far, it appears that this unit that HP uses does appear to be a little susceptible to simple power surges.

In the meantime, you will have to wait for some of the other postings I was planning, as it depends on the pictures and video on the desktop hard drive. And yes, I did learn my lesson last year and have those folders fully backed up. (That’s a posting for another day.)

Just a couple of observations from the road recently:

1. Well, for starters, my minivan passed 90,000 miles last week. Woo hoo! Almost 6 years to the day, so that’s a nice round 15,000 miles per year. Ouch.

2. Now, about our road driving culture. I don’t think we’ve learned our lesson from last year’s gas price hikes. Yes, gas prices are down 30%+ from last year. It’s still not cheap (at least, from a US historical standpoint). But we certainly seem to be driving a whole lot more.

   Last year, driving up and down the I-95 corridor between Richmond and NOVA wasn’t too bad, at least at the times we normally drive. You could sense folks weren’t driving as much.

   Well, this year, it’s at least as bad as years before last year. In fact, I could potentially make the case it’s the worst ever. Someone in the family has driven the corridor each of the last 3 weekends, and it has been extremely tough and congested each time, especially compared to last year. Part of me wonders if this is the vacation impact due to the recession, with folks spending fewer dollars on vacations, essentially keeping folks more local and/or driving (versus flying).

   I guess higher fuel prices are going to be the only way that folks will cut back on driving.

3. Lastly, on a slightly humorous note (as long as it doesn’t happen to me), be careful if you park a small car near a body of water. I’m guessing many of you are familiar with the Smart Car, one of the smallest cars on the road today. Well, apparently, folks in the Netherlands are finding their Smart Cars being lifted and dumped into the canals as a not-so-nice prank.

   I guess my 90k-mile minivan probably won’t suffer the same fate.

Yup, she had another birthday today — somewhere between the age of 30 and 40. (I won’t give away any more.) She even willingly put on a birthday hat to celebrate.

OK, for those who were there, she actually put the hat on to celebrate Nicholas’s birthday (two weekends ago), but it’s still a groovy hat that she should make a part of her regular wardrobe.

Hopefully, she got some of the presents she wants. So let’s wish Emily a happy birthday today. May she have many more happy and blessed birthdays in the future.

(And hopefully, I don’t pay for posting a picture of her in this hat in public.)