I’ve been complaining that my laptop is broken for some time now, but I never used that opportunity to fix my Power Box. I’ve had stuff to do on it for a couple of years now, but it just wouldn’t boot up properly after I installed a new hard drive. I thought I knew what the problem was, but I never undertook the job of actually looking at it. So today I did.

Yes, the problem was exactly what I thought it was. It was trying to boot from the old disk drive. Unfortunately, this drive no longer had any operating system on it. It was still formated as a bootable drive, but there was nothing to boot to. Quick spin through the bios, and that drive is no longer on the boot list. YEAH.

Now I just have to find all of the stuff I needed to do and finish it up. Yes, there may be a Godspell video in there somewhere. I guess I’ll have to stop blogging after my software updates from more than 1 year of inactivity.

More work for me. I’m glad I took a break from theater for a while… 😉

For a while, my laptop’s screen started working again. I took it in to have it checked out, and they cleaned some contacts in hope that it would solve the problem. It did for a while. Buy now, it stopped working again. I guess I need to fork over some cash now to get a new backlight.

Right now I have it hooked up to my TV, but I have to sit too close so I can see the writing. Just not a comfortable way to do this unless I move the couch to within 2 feet of the TV, or set the screen resolution to a bigger size, so I can see the print from across the room. Oh well, I hope to back up the drive tonight and take the machine in tomorrow.

I also finally hooked up a wireless keyboard to the machine. This actually works very well. I’ve had the keyboard/mouse for a long time, I just never bothered to hook it up. I was hoping to be able to sit across the room looking at the TV screen.

I just set the screen to a different resolution, and can almost make out the print from across the room. I could definitely play computer games this way. I just don’t play that many computer games.

Maybe I could use this to watch baseball soon. If my connection speed is still good, I may have to sign up for the MLB package.

It came quickly, but my laptop screen died. I wasn’t sure exactly what happened but there was a quick blackout of the screen.

I now have my laptop attached to an external screen. After doing a quick search, I think what the problem is. Either the backlight or the inverter are going bad. They might be fixable, but it isn’t an easy fix for me. I have the knowledge but not the ability. Fixing these problems requires fine motor skills. I’m much better at gross motor skills.

This would require soldering small wires, careful handing of a delicate bulb with mercury on the inside. Replacement of another delicate part. My fumble fingers and weak eyes just aren’t up to that. Tomorrow, I will check to see how much it will cost to replace the parts. If too much, I may end up getting a new laptop. This laptop still works, but I will probably use it as another desktop at home. It can replace the older computer my youngest uses at home. Then she will be able to play some of the games that no longer work for her.

Just a bit of bad luck for the New Year.