el rinconcito

My computer locked up again with hard drive errors (some prior posts). In the process of working out a solution, I ran into so many roadblocks it was crazy. Here's part of the sad tale.

My main hard drive is a 320GB IDE drive. I want to install a 750GB SATA drive, install Ubuntu to that, then just copy my home directory over to the larger drive. Even though the 320GB IDE drive is giving errors, I can read it from a CD boot of Linux, so the files seem safe.

Soooo, I install the SATA drive and discover that the BIOS hangs. Reading the Asus webpages about this old motherboard, I discover that a BIOS update will fix that, but this update must take place using a 3.5 inch floppy, but the floppy drive is in the non-booting computer, so I can't get online with the floppy-capable machine to write a file to a floppy. *sigh* Booting the ailing machine with a Linux CD results in all kinds of crazy problems trying to mount and write a msdos floppy. I'm starting to get madly frustrated at this point.

Now, let's select another machine that has a floppy drive and try to move on. More hell follows.

My attic is full of old computers that people have given me over the years, and they all have floppy drives, but I discover that only one machine also has an ethernet card. All the others just have dialup modems. I take the machine into another room where I have an ethernet connection, but my house is old, and the power outlet in there is the 2-prong type, and the computer power cords are all 3-prong. I can't find an adapter. This is crazy. I finally stretch the cords to a 3-prong outlet behind a heavy dresser and I boot the one ethernet capable machine and discover that it has WindowsME on it. Oh, that's nasty.

I then find out the WindowsME machine blue screens every time I try to unzip the needed update file, so I try to download the file again to Brian's Linux laptop, but then the Asus file server falls over dead. *DAMN!* After finally getting the file on the laptop (which has no floppy drive), I get it unzipped and e-mail the frigging .bin file over to the WindowsME machine so I can fetch it in with just a web browser and write it to the floppy before ME bluescreens again. Meanwhile, I am searching the house from top to bottom trying to find a damned 3.5 inch diskette. I finally found one in the bottom of a closet. This is getting to be WAAAYYY too much trouble.

I finally get the file written to the floppy and walk it over to the original ailing computer so I can start it up while holding down ALT+F2 to start the AWARDFLASH update utility. I then get an error message that I am using a file for the version 1 motherboard, and I have the version 2. I then have to repeat the steps above, AGAIN, while fighting the WindowsME blue screens.

I finally get the mo-phuck BIOS updated so I can now choose to boot from a SATA drive. Now I just have to hook the SATA drive back up and see what other weirdness awaits me.

Suddenly the original IDE drive is no longer giving errors.

Thinking of all the stuff above, the roadblock of a 2-prong versus 3-prong power outlet brought me the closest to bursting into tears.

Now I'm still not sure that the 320GB IDE drive is really bad. Is it memory? Before I plunk down $50 on more memory, I want to exhaust all the hard drive options.

It's tempting to just buy a new machine, but the 850 dollars for the one I want would screw my budget through probably February, and it would take may favorite computer store 4 days to get it ready anyway. I'd hate to retire an old machine just because of some silly error. I might as well work with this one some more and learn some stuff.

I better just take a break and go outside.

Did anyone else feel the pain? It's like waking up and finding that the net connection has gone bad over night.

As a plus, I got so much done today. I read tons of news, paid bills, cleaned the house some, and chatted on IM like a maniac.

Tonight, the disco. We're hoping top see some of the totally weird and strange out there. The Coronas will taste so good.

Usually my "card carrying" memberships are for organizations that are considered to be at least mildly subversive, but here's one that is mostly just unusual. It's for the Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield, North Carolina.

Ava Gardner was a leading Hollywood actress and made a lot of movies for MGM. I frequently travel through Smithfield, NC, and kept noticing the museum carrying her name. I finally went in there one day and discovered it to be much nicer than I ever expected.

Once each year, the museum hosts a weekend celebration called "Ava Fest." During the fest, you can see many of her movies in the same movie house in which she saw movies as a child and young lady. There are tours of nearby places she lived as well as her grave site. The museum has on display lots of things from her life and career. It's all rather fun.

I most remember Ava for her leading role in the film The Night of the Iguana. In this riveting file, she played alongside such heavies as: Richard Burton, Deborah Kerr, and Sue Lyon. I've seen this film many many times. I swear it has saved my life more then once over the years. It's like good mental therapy to me.

The museum just sent me some swag for 2010. Here it is!