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choco_froshWhy does the hardware on my laptops keep breaking?
On my last laptop, the pins on the phone jack were broken and the CD drive had mostly stopped working, and that was BEFORE I fell off my bike on it. On my current machine (a powerbook, used), as you know, I´ve had to replace the screen. And now it´s occasionally refusing to shut down properly unless I restart it. (Since this mostly happens after I´ve played Civ 3, I think this may be some sort of plot with my superego to make me more productive, but still). But this would only be a minor problem, were it not for the fact that...
my power cord is burning through.
The plastic casing around the cable turned brown, then disappeared altogether; then the metal cable beneath started to fray. Now when I plug my computer in, it not only refuses to transmit electricity to the computer unless I´ve turned it over twice and unplugged it a couple of times, but now there are occasional curls of smoke. And of course (this being the area of the greatest bending and stress on the cord) this is happening about 1 mm from the AC/DC adaptor. So there´s no chance of just stripping off the casing, twisting it together, covering it with duct tape, and praying, if it goes altogether at some point. (Not that this would necessarily be a good idea, but it might have been worth a try).
Anyone have any suggestions?
Meantime, I went to Überlingen today, to look at something in the archive there. When I called them last week, the woman I got on the phone said the archivar was on vacation and they were closed, but that they would be open "starting on Monday". Now, had I been smart, I would have verified this, or asked her to make me an appointment. But no, it wasn´t until I got to Überlingen that I discovered that she had been mistaken: the archive is not OPEN on Mondays.
The trip to Überlingen is very pretty. You take the ferry across to Meersburg, and then ride a bus through vineyards with views over the lake to the Alps, before the bus drops you off by a medieval wwall so you can walk through the picturesque streets of Überlingen to the Münsterplatz.
But it´s not worth wasting 5 E. and an entire morning on when you´ve got work you´re supposed to be doing.
On my last laptop, the pins on the phone jack were broken and the CD drive had mostly stopped working, and that was BEFORE I fell off my bike on it. On my current machine (a powerbook, used), as you know, I´ve had to replace the screen. And now it´s occasionally refusing to shut down properly unless I restart it. (Since this mostly happens after I´ve played Civ 3, I think this may be some sort of plot with my superego to make me more productive, but still). But this would only be a minor problem, were it not for the fact that...
my power cord is burning through.
The plastic casing around the cable turned brown, then disappeared altogether; then the metal cable beneath started to fray. Now when I plug my computer in, it not only refuses to transmit electricity to the computer unless I´ve turned it over twice and unplugged it a couple of times, but now there are occasional curls of smoke. And of course (this being the area of the greatest bending and stress on the cord) this is happening about 1 mm from the AC/DC adaptor. So there´s no chance of just stripping off the casing, twisting it together, covering it with duct tape, and praying, if it goes altogether at some point. (Not that this would necessarily be a good idea, but it might have been worth a try).
Anyone have any suggestions?
Meantime, I went to Überlingen today, to look at something in the archive there. When I called them last week, the woman I got on the phone said the archivar was on vacation and they were closed, but that they would be open "starting on Monday". Now, had I been smart, I would have verified this, or asked her to make me an appointment. But no, it wasn´t until I got to Überlingen that I discovered that she had been mistaken: the archive is not OPEN on Mondays.
The trip to Überlingen is very pretty. You take the ferry across to Meersburg, and then ride a bus through vineyards with views over the lake to the Alps, before the bus drops you off by a medieval wwall so you can walk through the picturesque streets of Überlingen to the Münsterplatz.
But it´s not worth wasting 5 E. and an entire morning on when you´ve got work you´re supposed to be doing.
