MAD 2: MADDEN'S MADDENING.

Aishia

ok it's "Aishia" not very hard to remember >_>

Hadrak

Satoru Iwata has passed away.



RIP you beautiful man. I'm still unable to process that you're gone.

Demarcus

I know there are some computer savvy people on here. My laptop is ~3 years old now. I'm amazed it still functions as it does with the complete and total abuse I put it through.

In the last day or so the display has started to freak out, sometimes for no reason but most recently while playing a video game it did it constantly for several seconds, a brief pause, more freaking out, etc. It's a bunch of white lines going up and down that flash, and the main picture can sort of be seen through it though it is pretty dim. If I had to guess, my video card is becoming a piece of toast. Just curious if anyone has any insight, whether I should start budgeting for a new computer, if there is something I can do, etc. I did try updating drivers and that appears to have had no effect.

So that's my rage. My computer display that is freaking out bad enough to cause an epileptic to die. Good thing I've taken my anti-seizure meds...

Toz

When was the last time you turned it off, is your fan clogged, was it running hot? Sounds like your graphics card is having some serious hardware issues - or maybe the display cable's going wonky. Does it flicker if you move it more/less, or is it just sort of insane for a few seconds then back to normal?

...Definitely start looking, though. That's not usually bueno, when they start to flicker.

Demarcus

Toz said:

When was the last time you turned it off, is your fan clogged, was it running hot? Sounds like your graphics card is having some serious hardware issues - or maybe the display cable's going wonky. Does it flicker if you move it more/less, or is it just sort of insane for a few seconds then back to normal?

...Definitely start looking, though. That's not usually bueno, when they start to flicker.

It's a laptop, so there isn't a display cable. It did fall off the couch the other day. Not the first fall.

Airways are probably clogged. It is 3 years old and I have no way to clean a laptop. So it's always running hot. When I'm not doing graphically or processerorally intense stuff, it seems to not do it so bad. Or even when it cools down a bit. So it could be related to overheating. Also, at work I hook it up to a dual monitor and I haven't had problems there with it. I also don't play games at work.

I've actually turned it off a lot more recently. Usually I made it go to sleep or hibernate. I've started doing full shutdowns more and more so my son doesn't open it up and start watching Netflix.

The good news is my whiff said my laptop was 3 years old the other day and that a new computer might be in my future! Oh how true those words ring out. Might look for some employment at the State Fair to create excess income to do so, of course...

EDIT: Definitely related to overheating. Was playing a game again tonight, and as it started to blow hot air and the fans revved up, freak out. When it cooled off, like now, no flickering. So if I never do anything that creates heat.... or just play outside in the winter only?

Ishin

@Demarcus My old laptop is like that. Small screwdriver and a can of compressed air might go a long way meng. I strongly recommend not setting it on your lap or on the couch or anything like that while you're gaming. That stifles the airflow hard and makes the fan work even harder to pull air through, so it can really help overheat the machine. They sell air bench things at like wal-mart or whatever that you can get for like $20 that can also help with that.

Demarcus

Ishin said:

@Demarcus My old laptop is like that. Small screwdriver and a can of compressed air might go a long way meng. I strongly recommend not setting it on your lap or on the couch or anything like that while you're gaming. That stifles the airflow hard and makes the fan work even harder to pull air through, so it can really help overheat the machine. They sell air bench things at like wal-mart or whatever that you can get for like $20 that can also help with that.

I'll see what I can open up on it, I know we have a can of compressed air in the basement. I also have a small screwdriver. I'll see what I can do.

Toz

@Demarcus laptops have a cable that goes into the screen from the board, too. That cable can break/get damaged - though yeah dropping it is probably not a great idea.

Personally, maybe just superstition and potentially moronic, I vacuum my computer instead. Compressed air just blows it into your computer and away from the vent - so now that crap's floating around the important stuff, not just the airflow.

EDIT: If you vacuum, make sure it's off first and don't hose it out with anything nuts - don't break your fan, etc.

Demarcus

Toz said:

@Demarcus laptops have a cable that goes into the screen from the board, too. That cable can break/get damaged - though yeah dropping it is probably not a great idea.

Personally, maybe just superstition and potentially moronic, I vacuum my computer instead. Compressed air just blows it into your computer and away from the vent - so now that crap's floating around the important stuff, not just the airflow.

EDIT: If you vacuum, make sure it's off first and don't hose it out with anything nuts - don't break your fan, etc.

Huh. Stupid cable. This was definitely not the first drop. Just one of the more mild ones. One time it fell from about 6'. It has traveled across the country many times over those 3 years with me, gotten x-ray'd to all heck, etc. I'm honestly amazed it even functions.

I got out my precision screwdriver set and could not get much more than the RAM and the hard drive out. Oh, and the battery, but that was easy. Took out a lot of screws, but the case itself did not want to come apart. So I blew some air on it as best I could and put it back together. We'll see how things go. Probably poorly. But hey, new computer for me, right!?

Obyn

What. Vacuum a PC? No no no no no.

A vacuum cleaner functions by generating a vacuum which, as a result, will generate static electricity. Static electricity is the bane of computer components. Never, ever, vacuum your computer unless you're looking to make it into an expensive paperweight. Even if the pc is off and completely disconnected from power, you could still fry your motherboard, graphics card, or cpu. If dust is an issue, you want a can of compressed air or one of those fancy blowers (something like this). I can't stress this enough, never take a vacuum to your computer. Your hardware will thank you.

Edit: It's the same reason you should never have a computer sitting on carpet when running. Even a piece of wood between the carpet and the computer will help shield it from static buildup and discharge.

Toz

Maybe the one we use at work is grounded or something, @Obyn - not sure.

Demarcus

HAH. So, this is just not my week. The beginning of the week heralded a flood in my basement. Then my computer moved itself to hospice care. Then I got into a car accident today. I'm on a freakin' roll.

The good news is nothing valuable was ruined in the flood, my computer is still serviceable and I've backed up my data, and nobody was injured in the car accident and if the damage is a total loss (My 2000 Subaru Forrester vs. a 1998 Buick Century... those astronomical replacement values OP) we can save a couple hundred bucks a year on car insurance since we don't really need a second vehicle these days as we live on a bus route with the bus stops across either street of my house. So there are silver linings.

Regardless, I'm not leaving my house tomorrow. That won't stop flooding, but reduced the risk of being mugged, stabbed, shot, run over, death by lightning strike, and will allow me to stop any attempts to burgle my house. So, you know, there's always that. Then, spend some time on a lake this weekend and go actual fishing instead of text fishing. Maybe text fish while actual fishing, just to get the layer effect going on.

EDIT: AHA! Already on the mend... found out with 98.7% certainty why the basement flooded. The damn dog was chasing something in the bushes and knocked the gutter off the connector. So the water just dumped right next to my house. Reattached the gutters... and it's raining now! No flooding yet, fingers crossed.

Nola

Yesterday morning at 5:30 I got a call from my aunt that my dad was in ICU for a heart attack, but he's stable now. While I was up there visiting my grandfather was going into the ER for his back from a fall. He had stay overnight and went into surgery today for them to inject cement into two areas along his spine where the bone was crushed. My dad was moved out if ICU later yesterday and back again into it this morning because of his heart rate.

I'm asking for some good thoughts and prayers for my family.

Ishin

Nola said:

Yesterday morning at 5:30 I got a call from my aunt that my dad was in ICU for a heart attack, but he's stable now. While I was up there visiting my grandfather was going into the ER for his back from a fall. He had stay overnight and went into surgery today for them to inject cement into two areas along his spine where the bone was crushed. My dad was moved out if ICU later yesterday and back again into it this morning because of his heart rate.

I'm asking for some good thoughts and prayers for my family.

You got plenty of good thoughts from me. Hope he pulls through okay.

Veovis

Nola said:

Yesterday morning at 5:30 I got a call from my aunt that my dad was in ICU for a heart attack, but he's stable now. While I was up there visiting my grandfather was going into the ER for his back from a fall. He had stay overnight and went into surgery today for them to inject cement into two areas along his spine where the bone was crushed. My dad was moved out if ICU later yesterday and back again into it this morning because of his heart rate.

I'm asking for some good thoughts and prayers for my family.

I provide care for heart attack patients pretty frequently. I wish you and your family the best of luck.

Serrice

I haven't been sick in years and I'm feeling sick

Asaraii

Get it together, @Serrice. Get over this pretend sickness so in a few weeks you can camp with us.

(Now that you're using this excuse tonight, if you pull the sick card and don't camp, I will find you. And I will kill you.)

Erzsebet

Moving. I am made of pain from the temples down. And we still have plenty of unpacking that should be done.

I've been informing Reux's player that I really really want to die. I am just made of so much ow it's ridiculous.

But. Upside. We have power, which means air condition. (Moved without it yesterday/today. Moved stuff last night by candlelight.) And internet, which means Aetolia. And a confused but still cuddly cat.

Also upside, the new apartment is really snazzy.

Reux

I dislike how much effort it takes to figure out what the sales promotion is in Aetolia. It gets announced in the beginning of the month, and unless people want to complain about it... it's never mentioned again. BAH.

Am I the only person that sees the name Aishia and thinks:

This is also me not unpacking. NOT. UNPACKING.

Zsadist

Bah. Sitting in my office and feeling like I'm in a sauna. Its almost 85 F in my office and the AC is broken. No fans to use and the windows are open. I'd rather be outside in the sun than in my office baking.

Areka

Costco already has Halloween stuff out. T_T

Aryanne

@Zsadist - Mine too.... Thankfully I was prepared and brought a fan from home.

Erzsebet

Bit into a piece of pizza yesterday at like 6:30 and broke a tooth, and at the time, possibly thanks to my state of inebriation, it didn't hurt. Now I'm sober and it's made of ow and there are no goddamned dentists in this entire city that work sunday. Or at least none that answer the phone on sunday. Urgent Care down the street said all -they- can do is charge me 125 to look at it and prescribe antibiotics if it's infected, which it's not as yet. I work til the weekend and probably don't have the money to get it tended til I get paid again anyway, but it's hard to eat anything.

Grumble.

Trigru

This is the worst day of the Vegas godmeet. All alone in a big city until 7pm

Serrice

hookersandblow hookersandblow hookersandblow hookersandblow hookersandblow

Trager

My adoration for Serrice just skyrocketed.

Erzsebet

Aww. @Trigru, I'd offer to hang out, but the way the bus works here, the next one isn't til 4:07, so I wouldn't get there til you had only an hour and a half til you have to leave.

Reux

I really, really hate that I don't remember how to use Photoshop anymore. I learned back in the second semester of 9th grade and practiced throughout the rest of highschool with The Couch forum-goers and learning HTML on my own. I used to be able to whip up really snazzy GUIs and themes for those silly websites. Now GIMP is completely intimidating.



I need to look into CSN and check if they support a class for GIMP in particular; I'm not forking over ridiculous licensing fees for PS for a hobby.

Then again, last time I had PS was 7, and it was pirated.

Why do I care about all this? MUSHclient's miniwindows can be used to make an efficient GUI, given resources and patience. Since learning how to handle lua scripting with this thing, all my displays stayed in text. I'm doing old fashioned DOS UI planning now, but wouldn't it be nice to use something like this?

http://gamesitetemplates.com/images/source/fantasy-elves-game-ui-template.jpg

Instead of this?

http://hastebin.com/ihafurobuy.vhdl

Asaraii

Coming back from Vegas and surviving the hangover on Sunday, feeling good Monday morning, then not being able to eat anything since lunch yesterday. Fml.

Trigru

Ohhh do I know that pain.