C-Day

Today, I try to fix my computer. Again. This involves first going to try and buy an external hard disk for backup purposes. After all, DVDs just aren't very practical when I have one directory which won't fit onto one. Then, I take a picture of the current motherboard layout as a reference. That motherboard will be removed, and the new one inserted. Then I have to transfer the CPU, and re-attach the fan which is the size of a Rolls-Royce jet turbine, hoping I don't disturb enough of the thermal paste to cause problems. Then I reattach everything else, being careful not to break anything this time. Switch it on, check BIOS settings, boot into Windows XP, hope for the best. (And then inevitably curse, and boot into Linux instead.)

Any words of encouragement, or indeed warnings or advice, are appreciated at this stage.

Who knows, maybe I'll be able to play Oblivion or Thief 3 tonight, after a break of a third of a year.

(no subject)

Step 1 of 3: The new motherboard's plugged in, after about 2 hours of carpentry, and I booted into Kubuntu first time. Yay for Linux. For some reason it didn't pick up my USB keyboard, but USB keyboards and mice always seem a bit temperamental. Next, to see what Windows XP does, and then, to try one of my games and see if I managed to break this setup too.

Step 2 of 3: Just before I rebooted, I found out that Linux appears to be able to support multiple keyboards simultaneously. I'm sure there's an idea for a game there somewhere. Anyway, XP booted up first time, no errors, messages, or prompts to reactivate Windows, anything like that. Good so far. Now to try one of those games and see what happens.

Step 3 of 3: It's still broken. I've replaced the graphics card, the drivers, and the motherboard. It's not my DirectX drivers as I get the same problems in OpenGL. Is my CPU broken? Is this type of motherboard just no use? Is Windows fucked in some way? I have no idea what to try next.