Damn these bloody computers.

I have now got Win98 installed again on the K6/2-400 (for Shell and Rhiannon to use). But it doesnt know what gfx card, network card or sound card it has! Its a 3Com network card and the drivers come with Win98 and the other drivers are on another machine on the network. Aarrgh! I'll get it sorted tonight though.

I have decided to buy a brand new, confirmed working motherboard. That way, I can test all of my CPUs (Celeron 533 (PPGA), Celeron 600 (FCPGA) and Pentium III 733 (FC-PGA)) and at least get the PIII machine working, plus confirm which CPUs are dead etc. Then start on getting the other motherboards working. Or I might just dump them - they only cost a few quid anyway as I got them from a liquidation auction.

However, have you tried to buy an S/370 motherboard recently? You cant. Dont want to try Ebay in case its a duffer, so might have to pay a few quid more and get one from a little company instead. Ho-hum!

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[link]   Posted @ 14:18

Did some more digging around in the garage last night. I found an AT keyboard, which can replace the borked one from a couple of days ago. I also found my old ATX case but was surprised to find a motherboard and CPU in it! No PSU though.

So now I have:
1x PSU
1x Case
1x PIII-750 (S370)
1x Celeron 533 (S370)
1x Celeron 433 (S370)
3x ATX Motherboards (various makes)

Can I get any of the bastards to actually work? Can I fuck! Need to get one working so that I can get the other bits tested to see where its buggered up.

And can I get XP to install on the K6/2-400? Can I fuck! Gonna be going back to Win98 and all the updates I think. Stupid damn thing...

Shell finished off a whole shed load of NVQ and college work recently. I mean hours and hours and pages of it. And then she got even more! WTF! Gonna get it sorted out though - she has 3 weeks of college and 1 NVQ module to complete before she is sorted.

Also picked up the car. My god - what a dream to drive again. No dodgy tickover, no fan belt squealing, etc. I'll take a picture this evening/tomorrow morning and post it asap. Its shiny even :)

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[link]   Posted @ 16:32

Today, Shell and I have been together 3 months. Well, as of sometime this evening anyway. Never would have thought it possible that we would make a good couple, but there you go. She's changed parts of my life and made me a heck of a lot happier. Here's to another 3 months (and another 3 months after that, etc, etc) clink

On the other hand, I'm a little annoyed today. Visited the sorting office this morning to collect a package that had tried to be delivered yesterday. When I got it, I opened it up and it was a joystick. I had ordered a joystick last week from Amiga Utils. What I ordered was a Cruiser Turbo.


What I received was a Cruiser Multi



Admittedly they are the same price and very nearly the same product, but they are different and thats why I wanted the Cruiser Turbo. Apart from being black (much better), it also has a turbo/autofire switch on the base. I've tried calling them, but no reply. A stern email will be sent this evening I think, if they dont answer their phone during today.

The Cavalier passed its MOT yesterday. Gonna be driving it home this evening and parking it on my drive so its nice and safe (under a light, overlooked, parked next to about 8 other cars, etc). Then when my V5/V10 and insurance paperwork comes through, I'll be getting it taxed and woohoo I'm back on the road with a reasonable car.

This morning, after dropping Shell off at her house, I almost crashed due to laughing. At the bottom of Furland Road, a delivery man was walking along with a stack of boxes up to his chin and he had placed the delivery note on the top box. There was a little gust of wind and the sheet blew up, covering his face entirely. He couldnt move it with his hands due to the stack of boxes, so he tried wiggling his head around. This process, totally failed to work, as he was so concentrating on the getting paper from in front his face, that he failed to see where he was going...

After laughing my socks off for a good few minutes, I felt a bit bad in case he had hurt himself and then cursed for not having a camera on me when it happened. Not that I go around videoing my entire life just in case something worthy of You've been framed happens...

I turned up at Ian and Shellys last night - and his PC was working. It hasnt been for a couple of days. it was electrically deader then a dead thing that was really quite dead. But now it isnt. This morning I ordered him some more bits and bobs (new case, 80gb drive) and we will slowly getting him upgraded. Maybe a CPU next (if I can work out what will still work in an Abit KT-7)...

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[link]   Posted @ 11:14

What a great weekend. I went home early on Friday to see if Rhiannon and Chandler were back from their holiday, but they werent. But Rhiannon called me on Saturday, and I went round to see them both on Sunday morning. Rhiannon then wanted to come round to my house and play (more art and craft), so she did - from 12 til 3! Chandler didnt come as Rhiannon wanted some solo time with me. I miss him. He was so pleased to see me and so upset when he didnt leave with us. I almost cried in the car, seeing his little face looking all upset. Getting teared up now just thinking about it - what if he thinks I don't want him? Christ! I have to have him next time, he really is overjoyed to see me and it breaks my heart to leave him.

The Cavalier is going in for the MOT re-test this morning, after Dave sorted out the failures from Friday over the weekend. He's been a star and rates the car quite highly, which is cool. Should serve me well for the next year or so - more cheap reliable motoring!

The rest of the weekend was action packed - did loads of clearing up, tidying up and running about. Picking up Ians PC tonight to sort out what is wrong with it.

Links for today:
Rule of Lighter Thievery - this is directed at certain people who read this site. You know who you are!
An item for my mate Paul - he will be mortified!
The Mary Whitehouse Experience - sheer class. Visit and giggle for a day.

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[link]   Posted @ 10:51

Did very very little last night. Made some tea, had a bath, played Dr Robotniks Mean Bean Machine on the Gamecube until late with Shell.

This afternoon, on the way home (should be back in Weston for about 5ish), I'm gonna pop in and see the kids. Hopefully Rhiannon will be back from her holiday (she spent the week in CentreParcs with Petes mum and dad). She might even want to come round for a bit - I hope. It'll be good to see them, even if it is only for 10mins or so. I'll ask them if they want to come round at the weekend as well - but wont put any pressure on Rhiannon if she doesnt want to. Still not convinced it is her and not Bimbo causing the problems, but hey-ho.

Need to do some more work moving things into the garage this weekend, freeing up space for more stuff in the office - such as my new desk for a machine for Shell.

I also need to go round and see Ian and Shellie, as Ian called me this morning to let me know his PC had beeped and then died at him this morning. It plain refuses to power on anymore - which is damn odd. Earlier I spent a while pricing up a new machine for him - XP2500, 512mb, 80gb, etc, etc - much better than my machine :(

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[link]   Posted @ 16:13

Jethro Tull were truly fantastic. They concert started with Martin Barre (and eventually the rest of JT) jamming on the stage, but mostly Martin and a guy called Willy Porter. I didnt like his singing too much, but his acoustic guitar was breathtaking. One song he played - Breathe - sounds like there was a percussionist and at least 2 guitars. Truly amazing.

After 40 mins of that, JT burst onto the stage with "Living In The Past" and then treated us to several medleys, some new stuff, some of Ians solo tracks and a whole load of comedy/chat routines. An excellent evening and I would love to go and see them again next time they are touring. They played a couple of my favourite tracks, but with 36 years of making music, they just cant play the number of tracks that everyone would want.

Shell was stunned. The first 1/2hr she sat there unable to beleive she was watching JT - music she was brought up with. Then she almost looked lost as she was really caught up in the music. Excellent.

The problem with our RAS solution finally got fixed last night, and I then put the proper config back on this morning. Hard work, infuriating at time, but at least it is all working again. Our planning dept. are thinking of alternatives now, so I will probably get involved in that pretty soon.

Link of the day - Lemmings. Fantasic.

And also this. Truly excellent

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[link]   Posted @ 13:25

The damn RAS box at work still isnt working. I was there until 6pm last night and then someone took over and was there until midnight. I'm back in again until sometime this afternoon, but I cant stay late for 2 reasons:

1/ I have my managers car and she will want to go home at a reasonable time
2/ I have to be home early as I am going to a Jethro Tull concert this evening. YAY!

Got up this morning (later than usual), went downstairs to sort out the cats, etc and noticed that there were some parcels outside the back door! They must have been there overnight as the cardboard was quite soggy! It was a delivery from Bargain Crazy - a computer workstation/desk thingy and a Peter Pan pirate ship playset for the kids.

Tomorrow night will see me sorting more out from the office room, moving stuff into the garage and assembling the desk thingy. Next up will be getting Shell to build a PC from scratch, so that she has one to use :)

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[link]   Posted @ 12:02

Still a nightmare at work. Our dial-in solution still isnt working, but at least I am being relieved at 6pm by another person from the network dept. The engineer Steve has been brilliant and he will be staying here until its sorted.

Shell texted me earlier to see if it was alright to use my PC to check her bank balance. She then texted me that something had gone wrong with my PC while she was using it. Apparently, there are no icons on the screen anymore! Eeek!

Provided it hasnt caught fire (like it did last time) I'm pretty sure that I can sort it all out. Just cant wait to get home and relax now, after all this fuss and bother at work.

Oh - and hello to Jess and her friends from their school library. Your library time must have been sooo boring if you had to come here to spend your time. And thanks for the comments about how I need Shell - very very true :)

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[link]   Posted @ 17:00

What a nightmare day it was yesterday. Just after lunch our dial-in solution failed - big time. I spent from 6pm til midnight working with the engineer trying to get the problem sorted out, but with no joy. Even when we managed to get the box up (ie - it stopped rebooting itself), it wouldnt answer any calls! Then the ISDN line kept getting disabled at the switch, because of the box rebooting itself. Complete nightmare.
I finally sent emails around midnight to all parties at work, the engineer ordered spares for this morning and I went to bed.

In the office later than normal this morning (due to working last night) with another engineer. We are now waiting the spare kit to arrive so that we can get that plumbed in and working. I think I even have a spare one we might be able to use. I've just remembered that as I have been typing.

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[link]   Posted @ 11:26

Woohoo! You know I posted that link to a horrendous picture of me from a couple of years back. I said at the time that I hoped they would track me back from their referrers - and he did!

Hey Diederik! Its damn good to hear from you again. I'll reply to your email today/tomorrow so we can update each other on life, the universe and everything.

And I have just realised that he has taken down that picture as well. One of the first things will be to get a copy of it :)

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[link]   Posted @ 16:26