Day: August 10, 2011

My New Video Card Arrived

On By Michel McDonaldIn Computer2 Comments

Last month the video card in my computer went bad.  I started getting the blue screen of death (BSOD) saying the issue was video hardware.  I had no money to buy a new video card so I had to wait until August when I got some money to buy a new one.

I finally got the money and bought a new video card and HDMI cable (pictured above).  It has taken 7 days from the day that I bought it until the day it arrived.  It was supposed to come this Friday but luckily it came today.

I immediately install the darn thing and plug everything back in and turn it on.  Nothing.  I don’t understand why it’s not turning on so my instinct is that I must have installed it improperly so I unplugged everything, opened it up and looked to see that it was properly seated into the motherboard, which it was.  I plugged everything back in, turn it on and still nothing.

I stood there with my hands on my head thinking “oh crap, this card is incompatible with my motherboard and I have to return it.  I’m going to have to bring it to the computer store and pay $60 to have them diagnose the problem and buy another video card.  But I don’t have any more money to do that, what am I going to do?”  Then suddenly it turned on.  At this point I’m very happy but confused at the same time.  I don’t understand what happened, why it won’t turn on.

Since I bought an HDMI cable for it, which by the way wasn’t long enough.  I mean it’s just long enough but it is more visible behind the tv than I thought it would be.  I thought it would be long enough that it would be laying down on the floor but it’s not.  But I had it plugged in and cloned on the tv.  I loaded Lord of the Rings Online and the resolution on my desktop shrunk down for some odd reason.  I didn’t turn the tv to HDMI 1 to find out what it looked like there but that doesn’t matter as much as it matters how it is on my monitor.

I shut the computer down because I really didn’t have anything else to do on it for the night and I figured since it is starting up normal now it’d be ok.  I rebooted a couple of times and it started up right away.  No problem.

Problem!  I went to the store and came back with a receipt which has to be entered into the Microsoft Money program.  I turned the computer back on and it won’t turn on.  It wasn’t like before where it was only a minute or 2.  It was 5 minutes before it even turned on.  Again, I’m thinking “CRAP!  What am I going to do now?”.  Then it turned on…

So I’m not sure what I have to do now.  Should I leave it on 24/7 with the occasional reboots to refresh everything?  Should I try sleep mode then in 20 minutes try to turn it back on to see if it works?  Should I throw the tower out the window?  At this point I have no more money to spend and I have already cut the proof of purchase off the box because I have to send that in to receive my $15 rebate gift card.  So, I can’t return it at all.  I screwed that up for myself.  All I can do is just deal with it I guess.

Just when you think it’s all good it turns out to be crap.  I guess I have to live with a slow booting computer.  It really sucks that I couldn’t just afford to buy a brand new computer instead.  Oh well, not much I can do about it now, I have to live with it.

Cool New App for Sprint Customers

On By Michel McDonaldIn AdLeave a comment

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Sprint for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

If you are a Sprint customer, boy are you in luck because there is a cool new app for your android, blackberry and other select Sprint phones.

web_screen-shots_location-history.jpg (5 documents)

Have you ever lost your phone, had it stolen or accidentally dropped it in the tub, kitchen sink or since it’s summer pool or lake?  If any of these scenarios sound familiar, you are in luck because Sprint has this awesome new app called the Sprint Total Equipment Protection App TEP for short.

 

With this new app you can locate your phone from any computer, say you lost it in the house or left it at work, at least you know the exact location.  But say someone stole it, you can give the police the GPS coordinates so they can find your burglar.  You can also lock your phone so the thief cannot use it.  You can sound an alarm in either case if it was lost in the house or stolen.  Then the thief will be found easier from the alarm going off in his or her pants.

You can also remotely wipe your phone of it’s contact information in case it was lost or stolen and you cannot recover it so the person who now has it cannot use that information.  At least YOU have control of the situation.  And since it has a syncing capability, you won’t lose any of the contact information you had in there if it were lost, stolen or drown in the kitchen sink.

You only have 30 days to activate this from the day you got your Sprint phone but TEP is opening a very short window so you better act on this quickly because open enrollment is going on now from August 1st until August 30th 2011.  TEP will offer Sprint customers a quick and convenient way to replace their phone if it is ever lost, stolen or damaged.

It’s only $8 and if you have to file a claim you could be charged a deductible of $50-$100.  Yeah I know it’s a bummer but if you have a phone that was $300-$450 then you won’t think it’s that much of a bummer especially when that LG Optimus was free, if that’s the phone you have.

So hurry, you have until August 30th to add this feature to your phone.  Here are some quick screen shots of the TEP on the HTC Evo:

HTCEVOSHIFT_GCVS_settings menu.jpg (5 documents)HTCEVOSHIFT_GCVS_splash screen.jpg (5 documents)splash.jpg (5 documents)

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