Tech blog!!!
Computer was running like poop today, even after closing all my programs and restarting Explorer a few times. So I restarted.
When the computer was POSTing, it froze. It wouldn’t go beyond my primary IDE devices – it stopped on my DVD-RW drive. So I smacked myself in the head, said “what the hell is this shit,” and decided that it was finally time to open it up and futz around (something I hadn’t done all year – some sort of record).
Since I was sure the problem was with either the IDE cords or power to the devices, I disconnected both the cords and took the power supply out. I sliced my finger trying to disconnect the old molex connectors – there is definitely a rule somewhere that states you must cut yourself at least once every time you futz around inside a PC. Also the entire thing was filled with dust. I think I emptied my compressed air can trying to get all that shit out. It was crazy. Not such a great thing to get dust in your newly opened wound, either – I didn’t have any Band-Aids so I used Scotch tape instead. 😛
I had this 500W power supply sitting around that I got free due to a rebate flood on RadioShack’s site a few months ago, so I decided that while the computer was open, I might as well swap out my ol’ trusty 300W with the new, glowy, 500W one.
Upon reconnection – just the power cord and VGA/DVI cords – phenomenally, everything worked fine! The fans in the case didn’t even choke on any wires (probably cuz the new ones are self-contained wires (instead of two black, two red) and they’re huge). But when I reconnected all the other things – keyboard, mouse, USB, ethernet – it STILL froze on POST.
So it turns out that it was something else stopping the computer from starting up, and then I realized – what was causing Explorer to freeze up in the first place? It was my iPod – it was stuck on Disk Mode and was halting the computer whenever it tried accessing it. So the moment I disconnected the iPod, the POST succeeded and Windows booted up.
…and then it proceeded to have two kernel panics in a row for no good reason whatsoever. But now it seems fine!
The only problem now is that my iPod won’t go out of Disk Mode or restart, because the Menu button’s been acting up, so I can’t do the Menu+Action combo. When I send it back to Apple for replacement (warranties rock!), it’ll probably still be on, in Disk Mode, wasting batteries.
The best part was that I got all this done in just a little over an hour, and I wasn’t late for class. I was planning on spending this morning working on my Semantics midterm, but I’m glad my time was filled up doing something I not only seemed to need to do, but something a lot dorkier!