Confessions of a Computer Moron
Aug. 6th, 2002 02:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miko2[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<j-user="miertam">') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]
<j-user="miertam"> and I went computer shopping today. I immediately displayed my typical tech stupidity... I had called ahead to inquire about the motherboard/chip set I wanted, but when we arrived I A) Did not bring in the ad, B) Did not name the motherboard I wanted, and C) Did not even look at the name of the motherboard I was shown. I just said that I'd called about the motherboard with the Duron 1ghz chip, and I was shown a motherboard that they sold with that chip, and I guess I just assumed he knew exactly what I'd said on the phone earlier or something. The board he showed me was an Asus with only a couple of card slots (it had video, networking, sound, and modem all onboard) and it also did not have 3 memory slots. This is the one thing that I actually noticed... it had four slots, but it was one of those boards where you can have two PC memory chips or two DDR chips... but you only get two slots for whichever you choose.
Bleah, and all that onboard stuff... bleah. Plus it was twenty bucks more than the Chaintech MB I'd planned to get. Lucky me, Mike was with me and we realized I was trying to buy the wrong MB.
So... picked up a nice MB and 1gig processor for $79.00, added on some cables, had them put the processor fan on, then I decided to pick up a case with a side fan and window... only $59.00, which is $30.00 more than the cheap ones (which were also pretty nice, they had front usb ports and a 350mhz power supply). But I decided to make a fancy cool-looking computer. Like anyone spends time looking at their computer case, I know, I know. It's not an aluminum case either... there was one in the same price range, but I didn't like the little door that hid the usb ports. Doors if any sort on the front are mostly a bad idea.
Then we drove to another store and bought more stuff... I got a fan that blinks, a neon light that blinks, a net card that doesn't blink, speakers that don't blink or anything, air, and a nice Microsoft Optical Mouse w/Wheel that was only $15.00. Although later I wasn't sure why I got it... I want to attach my tablet to this machine. But I guess I can use it on my game machine. ^_^
So I bought nearly a full computer for $300.00. This seemed less than I was expecting to spend... more on that in a moment.
I don't necessarily need another computer, mind you. I'm doing this largely because it's only a few hundred bucks, and I want to have fun and learn more about computers along the way. It will be a backup gaming computer... I'll have a couple of game-capable computers networked in case anyone wants to play games here. (My 500mhz every day computer is iffy for gaming at the moment).
So... my dual projects are A) Assemble a computer from its various parts and drives from BEAST 1, and then B) disassemble BEAST 2 and reassemble in the Full Tower case that BEAST 1 came in.
And throw the horrible BEAST 2 mini tower as far away as I possibly can.
<b>FIRST DAY, PROJECT ONE. Experiment... failed.</b>
I started off by wondering if I wanted to put washers on the top or bottom of the motherboard when I screwed it in. Mike suggested doing both if I had enough washers. I did, but getting them lined up on the bottom of the board as I set it into the case was next to impossible... I managed to get four of six holes with washers on both sides, and the other two with washers just on top, and I hope that's good enough. ^_^
Next... drives. I managed to pull the ancient drives from BEAST 1 and install the cd-r drive into my new computer... I really should have pulled the ones from BEAST 2 I think... anyway, the floppy drive didn't want to fit into my new case, and since it looked ancient and I had a brand new floppy still in the box, I pulled that and installed it instead. The hard drive also refused to fit into the case... hmmm. I don't really know how big this drive is, but I notice that it was manufactured in 1993... we can assume it's stupidly small and under no circumstances should be used as my main drive. Maybe as my boot drive for BEAST 2, which also has a 10 gig secondary drive to play with.
So I need to buy a new drive. No problem.
Next... Hmmm, well I'm definitely not going to get this done tonight. How about installing the cards?
At this point a thought occurs to me... where's that Geforce 4 mx card I bought?
I can't find it anywhere. But eventually I find the reciept from PC Club. Not only did they not give me my GeForce 4 video card, they also didn't charge me for it. This would explain why I spent less money there than I had anticipated. I remember SAYING I wanted to buy it, but I guess I didn't say "pull that card down from the shelf and ring it up RIGHT NOW!" so it never happened at all.
SO... I need a video card still, as well.
Okay, I guess I can install the fan and then wait until tomorrow to do more. Which should be lots of fun, since I still don't really know what I'm doing. I haven't a clue how I'm supposed to secure the neon light thing, for example... cases just don't come ready to bolt such things in, so I guess I'd need to drill my own holes or something. Hmmm...
And then there's all the fun of attaching the right wires to the right places... well, I'm doing this to learn, and at least I know better than to make wild guesses. ^_^
As for Project 2... I want to get Project 1 done first. I don't need another disassembled computer cluttering up my work area at the moment, so I'll play with the BEASTS after I have my nifty neon windowed computer up and running.
I need a name for it... maybe Neon Lotus.
Bleah, and all that onboard stuff... bleah. Plus it was twenty bucks more than the Chaintech MB I'd planned to get. Lucky me, Mike was with me and we realized I was trying to buy the wrong MB.
So... picked up a nice MB and 1gig processor for $79.00, added on some cables, had them put the processor fan on, then I decided to pick up a case with a side fan and window... only $59.00, which is $30.00 more than the cheap ones (which were also pretty nice, they had front usb ports and a 350mhz power supply). But I decided to make a fancy cool-looking computer. Like anyone spends time looking at their computer case, I know, I know. It's not an aluminum case either... there was one in the same price range, but I didn't like the little door that hid the usb ports. Doors if any sort on the front are mostly a bad idea.
Then we drove to another store and bought more stuff... I got a fan that blinks, a neon light that blinks, a net card that doesn't blink, speakers that don't blink or anything, air, and a nice Microsoft Optical Mouse w/Wheel that was only $15.00. Although later I wasn't sure why I got it... I want to attach my tablet to this machine. But I guess I can use it on my game machine. ^_^
So I bought nearly a full computer for $300.00. This seemed less than I was expecting to spend... more on that in a moment.
I don't necessarily need another computer, mind you. I'm doing this largely because it's only a few hundred bucks, and I want to have fun and learn more about computers along the way. It will be a backup gaming computer... I'll have a couple of game-capable computers networked in case anyone wants to play games here. (My 500mhz every day computer is iffy for gaming at the moment).
So... my dual projects are A) Assemble a computer from its various parts and drives from BEAST 1, and then B) disassemble BEAST 2 and reassemble in the Full Tower case that BEAST 1 came in.
And throw the horrible BEAST 2 mini tower as far away as I possibly can.
<b>FIRST DAY, PROJECT ONE. Experiment... failed.</b>
I started off by wondering if I wanted to put washers on the top or bottom of the motherboard when I screwed it in. Mike suggested doing both if I had enough washers. I did, but getting them lined up on the bottom of the board as I set it into the case was next to impossible... I managed to get four of six holes with washers on both sides, and the other two with washers just on top, and I hope that's good enough. ^_^
Next... drives. I managed to pull the ancient drives from BEAST 1 and install the cd-r drive into my new computer... I really should have pulled the ones from BEAST 2 I think... anyway, the floppy drive didn't want to fit into my new case, and since it looked ancient and I had a brand new floppy still in the box, I pulled that and installed it instead. The hard drive also refused to fit into the case... hmmm. I don't really know how big this drive is, but I notice that it was manufactured in 1993... we can assume it's stupidly small and under no circumstances should be used as my main drive. Maybe as my boot drive for BEAST 2, which also has a 10 gig secondary drive to play with.
So I need to buy a new drive. No problem.
Next... Hmmm, well I'm definitely not going to get this done tonight. How about installing the cards?
At this point a thought occurs to me... where's that Geforce 4 mx card I bought?
I can't find it anywhere. But eventually I find the reciept from PC Club. Not only did they not give me my GeForce 4 video card, they also didn't charge me for it. This would explain why I spent less money there than I had anticipated. I remember SAYING I wanted to buy it, but I guess I didn't say "pull that card down from the shelf and ring it up RIGHT NOW!" so it never happened at all.
SO... I need a video card still, as well.
Okay, I guess I can install the fan and then wait until tomorrow to do more. Which should be lots of fun, since I still don't really know what I'm doing. I haven't a clue how I'm supposed to secure the neon light thing, for example... cases just don't come ready to bolt such things in, so I guess I'd need to drill my own holes or something. Hmmm...
And then there's all the fun of attaching the right wires to the right places... well, I'm doing this to learn, and at least I know better than to make wild guesses. ^_^
As for Project 2... I want to get Project 1 done first. I don't need another disassembled computer cluttering up my work area at the moment, so I'll play with the BEASTS after I have my nifty neon windowed computer up and running.
I need a name for it... maybe Neon Lotus.
