“Now run along to my housekeeper, ‘LADY Julia’, and ask her nicely if she wouldn’t mind you helping wash the dishes - then you can go scrub the scullery floor…”
Yep! Just had my 600th follower on Tumblr! Why not help me make it 1000 for this new year of 2016? Sign up now!
So – I decided to fix my non-working monitor (one of two I use) before the computer, which I left running so as I could look up circuit diagrams and so on. The faulty component was obvious once I’d got the thing apart (no easy task for a fumble-fingers like me!) – a blackened, charred capacitor in the backlight circuitry, which crumbled to carbonised dust at a touch – but its role in the scheme of things, and more importantly its value and spec, was more difficult to discern and needed the aforementioned diagrams and service manual. The value and specification in particular seemed closely guarded secrets. But finally it became clear what was required was a capacitor of 22pf, 5%, low ESR, high working temperature and 3KV working voltage…So, I’ve now ordered the part for the princely sum of £1.20 including VAT and delivery (actually I’ve ordered 4 at 25P each + VAT), it has been dispatched, and it should be here tomorrow or Friday. But whether I can actually get the bloody screen back together again is another matter entirely!!!
So, that having been done, and having updated Pinterest, Tumblr, Deviant Art and knocked out this little offering (just to cheer myself up). I’m signing off until such a time this machine I’m presently using is back on its feet (which might not be until the middle of next week if I’m unlucky! It all depends on how easy it turns out to be to restore Windows off my external drive setup once I’ve installed the new hard drives – and there’s a LOT more to THAT than meets the eye, since Windows cannot boot directly via USB (well Windows XP can’t anyway – coz it tests the USB ports as it boots up and thereby cuts itself of from its own source. It also can’t copy itself either – but that’s a separate issue; and one somewhat easier to overcome).
I’ll still be contactable via email, using my smart phone (since both my laptops have ‘issues of their own) and will be regularly tweeting (a New Year’s resolution).
Bye bye for now. Fingers crossed – and wish me luck… I’m turning off...right...now…
Best Wishes.
Garth....