Just So You Guys Know...

...we've established that my computer is having two simultaneous problems.



First, it's overheating wildly, and I'm not sure why; I replaced the CPU fan and checked the fan on the graphics card - fine - the case fans - fine - and the hard disk coolers - fine - so I'm not sure WTF.



Second, the primary HD is getting ready to die.





Soooooo, Tara and I are currently sharing her PC.



Bear with us.



I do, of course, have a Master Planâ„¢ which is to replace the HD with a similar one, and the current HSF with a water kit that will also let me take the aging reference fan off the graphics card and put a water block on the CPU and the graphics card.



I am, of course, being a cheap bastard about this, but then, we're poor, so I have to.



Anyway, this is the water kit I'm planning on getting, and this is the HD. I know, it's small, but then, I have a much bigger drive for data / games / "other activities," which is perfectly fine; the drive I'm using as HD0 right now is a 40GB drive, and I actually have a good bit of space on it. You'd be amazed how little space you use up if all you have is Windows, bookmarks, and OpenOffice.



For those who are curious, the primary reason I use a dual-HD approach is speed (Windows and games not fighting for HD access= Love,) but the second (a very CLOSE second) is the fact that if one drive goes down, the contents of the second are safe. If the games drive dies, my computer is still up, I just have to wait a week or so to play Homeworld 2; if the system drive dies, at least I didn't lose my data. Add in redundancy in terms of a save game folder on C: and a bookmarks folder on D: and resolving a problem like this becomes almost an issue only of $$. Still have to reinstall WinXP, but I imaged my XP CD with nLite and slipstreamed Service Pack 2, as well as adding all my device drivers and my media player / office software / codecs on the one disc, and set it up for an unattended installation.



What all that means is that basically I can pop the CD in, reboot, and go get a snack, and when I get back, my system is good. Gotta love nLite. If you haven't used it, you should. Far better to simply NOT INSTALL all the extra garbage that comes with XP than to have to manually turn all that crap off in Services Manager.



The upshot of all this is that my computer will be back up in a few weeks, hopefully; in the meantime, it's just a waiting game until I get the money to order the stuff I need. No biggie. When Tara wants the intarwebs, I have my PS2 right here in the bedroom. Heh.