One Beep... Two Beeps.

The sound of fans whirring, something you don't really want to hear from a computer. The local shop that built her had set up Windows for me, so I didn't have to go through the usual array of dialog boxes and screens like an "Off the rack" PC.

All I needed to do was decide on a new password, and go on to seeing what this new operating system had to offer. I'm not going to go into my particular setup for Windows. I'll just say that I'm a fullscreen kinda user, and I don't like programs in my taskbar by default.

If I want to run a program I'll start it myself.

Now that's one advantage to buying from a local shop. You only get what you want, not whatever Compaq, or Dell, or whoever wants you to have. My shop did add one little icon into a dialog box somewhere, but it went away after about a month.

I had Windows XP Home Edition, and McAfee Viruscan... version 6. Period!

Of course I wanted to do something cool so I put in a CD and started checking out the visualizations in Media Player! Wow! How cool is that...

The coolness didn't last very long.

After kicking the tires a little I noticed a problem with the Monitor, or video card... something wasn't right. The monitor was flickering ever so slightly. I spent several days surfing the net looking for help. I got the familiar "Check the drivers" and advice like it's the software.

Now I would say that this is where the "Off the rack" computers offer an advantage over a local shop, but I've experienced those tech support services and quite frankly. They might mean well, but they generally suck. I have had the occasional satisfying experience of helpful advice that lead to a solution. But I'll never buy a PC because they have a "Good Warranty".

I didn't get any useful help from the local shop on the phone either, and wound up carting everything back so they could have a look at it. Now if I'd bought a major brand from an electronics store I would have had to pay to ship it in for service.

First they couldn't see what I was trying to describe, and said they didn't see a problem. They gave me a new monitor to see if that was it. Unfortunately it wasn't and it may be my imagination, but I don't think the first monitor hummed as much as the replacement?

I had to take everything back a second time, this time the problem was solved.

A younger guy took a look at it, and even he didn't notice anything at first. Then after about thirty minutes he came back and told me it was fixed. All he did was swap the video card with another one from the shelf.

Now here's what bothered me. I had already asked them to swap it out and they went and tried everything but that. It was just a bad card. I was happy to finally have the problem solved, carted everything back to the car and headed home.

The video card was working well enough, no more flicker. It was a problem card though. It turned out that S3 had gone out of business and sold everything to another company. Via I think, and the drivers were full of glitches. And updated drivers were not available because Via didn't write any. I was stuck.

My only issues were with a flight sim I had bought, Fly2, and that was a few years later. So I didn't even know there was a problem yet. The other video issue turned out to be related to DVD's, and I hadn't bought the DVD drive yet. Again I had no clue.

I was up and running and didn't have any trouble for a while.

I was already planning future updates. I knew I wanted a sound card instead of using the onboard sound, which wasn't bad. I didn't like the case at all but it would do.

I had time for new stuff later. My PC was brand new after all...

I might see what I can do about those noisy fans though?

Home From The Nursery.

Er... Home from the local PC Shop, no diapers required.

The very first thing I did after removing my baby from the box was make sure everything was in place, with no loose parts. Then I opened up the case, a standard ATX case with four external bays, well six counting the two little 2.5" bays.

There is enough room for about three HD's if you really cram em' in there. I wouldn't suggest that in this case because it's not very well designed as far as airflow is concerned.

No thumbscrews on this case, you need a screwdriver to open it up. In fact you need one to do anything in this no frills case. I couldn't even find out who made it. I don't think it was listed on the box. So we'll just call it a "Generic" case. I'm still using it, but I made a custom side panel and added several fans, and accessories over the years.

I had a lot of fans laying around, but not one that would fit my S3 Video Card... which only had a heatsink on it. I used it that way for about two years without any problems. Not related to heat anyway.

There's a spot in the front of the case for an 80mm fan, and a similar spot in the rear. So I automatically installed those. I didn't do that right away though. I wanted to boot her up!

Everything had been secured inside and nothing was out of place. I know a lot of people that will not open up a brand new PC for fear of voiding the warranty or messin' something up. Sometimes things come loose during shipping or were never connected properly at the factory.

It's a good idea to open up a new machine and check things before pushing that button for the first time. At least I think so.

A few minutes later I was pushing the start button to bring her to life! I was so excited :)

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The Spark Of Life.

Early October 2001... I'd been using an old 486 hobbled together from a hodgepodge of parts from around the World. A "Frankenstein" PC as it were. That sounds so ancient, and it was... still, it was a world above my earlier machines.

Some of which I still own, others I wish I still had. An original IBM 5150, A Zenith 286 with a backplane motherboard, XT's, A Compaq "Suitcase" XT Computer. That was one of the first "Portable" machines. Ha ha...

I still have that one and it still works. I used to use it to log in to the local library to put holds on books. Before they closed down that system. That was fun.

It was right after 911 and things were shakey. Americans were encouraged to spend money on products to help the economy. A local screwdriver shop was running some pretty good deals and I decided to buy my first "real" PC. Not one I built from thrift store appendages with bolts protruding from the neck.

I love thrift store PC's but I'll save that for later. This Blog is about the life of my current PC after all.

I picked a store special that had an ECS K7S5A Motherboard. It was the first motherboard I'm aware of that had DDR Memory slots, a huge deal at the time. They didn't throw in the DDR Memory without an extra charge, so I went for a measly 256 PC133Mhz of memory.

It was an AMD Motherboard. Of course I didn't want an Intel Chip, not then, not now. AMD all the way! A 1Ghz Athlon "Thunderbird" which was great back then. Unfortunately though just like with the memory, the "Thunderbird" was only a 100Mhz Chip. Running at a clock speed to equal 200Mhz. 100 X2.

Still that was much faster than Intel chips which were topping out at 133Mhz Bus Speeds.

If I had waited one more day the XP chip would have been available which ran at much faster speeds. There were Thunderbirds running at faster clock speeds too but the shop where I bought my PC wasn't selling those in the package I chose.

It had a 40Gb Maxtor HDD running at 5400 rpm, also not the fastest available. But a good size for the technology of the day. They were still putting floppy drives in PC's then too, even though they were just about useless.

There was a 32mb S3 Savage 4 Video card with no TV out or anything like that. Now S3 was a goodproduct at one time, but they were starting to fade away by 2001. 32Mb wasn't too bad for those days, but the card was a lemon. I'll get to that later.

By then on board sound was a regular feature, the days of needing a sound card were long since past.

I had a choice of Windows 98, or I could wait one day and get the new operating system... Windows XP. I chose the Home Edition which was about an $80 charge.

The machine came in an awful little ATX Case with a cheapo keyboard and mouse.

I paid for a 17" AOL Monitor, good for the times... but when I went to pick up my machine several days later they gave me a Hansol Monitor. I asked about it, but didn't push for the AOL which was out of stock.

The people in the shop were very helpful and friendly, but I must say some of them probably shouldn't been allowed to touch a PC. I'm pretty sure you will find those people everywhere?

I was pretty excited when I got it home! Then, the journey began...

What's It All About?

This is a Blog chronicling the History of my personal PC. From day one almost eight years ago, to the present day. Why would any one care about that?

Well, they may not, but I still have a lot of unanswered questions about my PC and maybe this way I'll get the answers I seek?

How many times have you found yourself banging your head against the wall trying to get a straight answer to your problem?

Only to get the same e-mail back, once again, from some tech support person telling you to update your drivers. Or the Software Expert suggesting you contact the hardware vendor. Or the Hardware Support telling you it has to be the Software?

I won't be asking you to join my mailing list, or sign in to see "hidden answers" like so many Bulletin Boards these days.

I'm just another "end user" just like you, and I need some answers...

Hopefully my written history of "The Life Of My PC" will help some one out there see the light? They'll read something and say "That's exactly what happened to me!".

Maybe another "end user" will read my post and know how to solve whatever problem I'm having?

I'm no expert... Thank Goodness :)