It's been a little while, I know, but I'm still fighting the good fight. I bought a new power supply for the desktop only to discover that it didn't fix the problem. Since the only other likely candidate was a bad motherboard, I decided to just go ahead and upgrade the whole machine. Honestly, I might not have had a choice since I doubt they still make the old part, but it feels better to think this is was my choice. Either way I will enjoy the consequences.
I decided on a fairly cheap ASUS motherboard with an Intel dual core (i3) as they were both in my price range and brands I've come to trust. After hooking everything up and finding that it worked perfectly (probably a first for any machine I've built myself), I was devastated to find that after I plugged in my old hard drives and video card that it suddenly stopped working.. well sort of.
Sometimes it would boot, sometimes it wouldn't. This is the same symptom my old computer was exhibiting before it stopped booting at all. The worst part is that once I unhooked all my old hardware, it continued to do this. You can't imagine the mixture of horror and frustration that I felt.
To skip to the end of the story I've decided it was a bad SATA cable. It turns out they can reek all kinds of havoc, although I can't explain why the computer continued to not work even after the cables were unplugged. I've decided that one of them was haunted. Unable to determine which one, I threw out all three (3) of the old cables and have stuck with the two new ones that the motherboard came with. They're cheap, and I'm down a drive until I can pick up another one, but I'm up and running for right now.
I should also mention that I previously had 3 SATA drives and 1 IDE drive, and didn't know until I started shopping for new motherboards that apparently IDE headers are extinct.This means I'm actually down two drives now, and a DVD burner. All this will be rectified at the end of the month when I get paid.
Moving on, I've heard back from my first reader, who still pledges unconvincingly that he loved my manuscript, ending and all now, and can't wait for the second one. He also asked to keep his copy so he can read it again. I obliged, since I can now print off more copies. Right now I am printing one for the person who will become Reader 3. I will be able to give it to him tomorrow.
Reader 2 continues to elude me. He should have come back from vacation on Thursday, but I was off and now it's his weekend. I should be able to meet up with him tomorrow to find out if he fulfilled his promise and read my book on the plane ride. I am torn, but anxious.
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