Bit of Ivory

Well, I contacted Dell via their customer chat option. It took a while, but was preferable to speaking over the phone with someone whose English is limited, which I’m sure is just as frustrating for them as it is for me. In any case, I was finally able to convince them that the cords were okay, that the green LED on the adapter didn’t light up either when it was connected to the computer or when it was connected to the wall alone, that using my brother’s adapter worked just fine, etc. In other words, that I knew what I was talking about. In any case, it’s covered under my warranty (IMO, computer and car warranties are SO worth it, while other ones not so much), and I should get a new one in 2 business days. Last time, when they sent me a new keyboard, it only took one, so I have high hopes that I’ll be back on Ginevra again tomorrow.

In the meantime, I’m using Harry. Harry runs on Windows 2000, which is pretty stable but which takes forever to boot. He also has a bit of bad memory installed, which causes programs like Firefox to close at inopportune moments (in the middle of chats with Dell Customer Care, for instance). His sound card is whacked.

But he’s got a flat-screen monitor, good keyboard and mouse, and the case is actually in good enough shape and convenience that we can probably reuse it in building a new computer. That way I can keep my floppy drive, which is nice, I can keep my CD-RW (although I’d like to get a CD-RW/DVD combo drive, if it’s not too expensive), and we won’t need a new chassis or power supply, which is also nice. I’ll need a new motherboard (probably one with sound card and video card built-in), hard drive, some more USB ports (Harry’s only got 2 and they’re both often full), and a new OS. But my sister just got a new copy of XP Pro for her laptop, which means her copy of XP Home is now unused. And that would help. I’ll need a new Norton Anti-Virus as well, as mine hasn’t had virus updates since 2004. Eek.

My head hurts thinking about backing up all the stuff that’s accumulated on this thing in the past 6 years, but having a squeaky clean new computer is also a very nice feeling. I’ll keep you updated (especially wolf550e and all the other assorted geeks on my flist) as to exactly what we end up with.