Thursday, September 18, 2008

PC Notes

I brought our old desktop PC to a shop to have two things done: put in a wireless card, and look at reducing the amount of noise the PC makes, which I thought might be the fan.

They put in the card and said it works, but they didn't attach the antenna, so when I got home I wasted half an hour trying to figure out why the wireless couldn't even see the network, let alone connect. Not to mention, the card has a dippy external antenna, which, okay, might be because the PC's case is metal, but why does it have three antennae?

They said that hard drive made a clicking sound, which wasn't good, and did I want to replace it. When I said no, they said they weren't sure if the hard drive would 'accept' the driver for the wireless card, which I thought wierd.

And they said that they couldn't hear an unusual amount of noise from the PC, though, sitting here now, I sure do.

Don't think I'll be going back there.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Finding a good PC tech is worse than trying to find a good plumber!

If the hard-drive is clicking, it's usually a sign something is about to go wrong with the thing. I'd recommend getting a new HD, and a book about PC maintenance; there are a few. Or print out one of those websites that explains how to do change the drive. (It's easy; it usually involves 4 screws and 2 plugs - the power plug is nearly always a bit stiff though. The plugs are keyed, and you just have to be a bit careful with the big one.

Good luck!
Carolyn Ann

Cerulean Bill said...

I've actually swapped hard drives a couple of times, so it (should) be NBD. But maybe it'd be a Good Idea to back this jewel up to the external HD, just in case....