You'll be surprised how much dirt and grime can stick to computers in the course of a semester. Check out the before and after mouse ball pics. :D

PC Repair, Upgrade, Cleaning and Maintenance
1st Sem, AY 2007-08
UP SLIS, Diliman, QC

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I recently bought a new computer.
 
The old PC was too slow for me, especially for graphics work at the home office (which doubles as my room, or is it the other way around, O_o;;).
 
So I bought some parts and put together this: Core2duo PC (Intel Core2 CPU, 4400 @2.00Ghz, 2Gb RAM, Nvidia GeForce 7300 SE/7200 GS, 512Mb, LG 18x DVD-RW). I also bought a KVM switch, 160GB hard disk, CD / DVD spindles, blank CDRs and DVDs, and cpu side fan for the new casing.
 
 

Here is my old PC (Celeron, 2.13Ghz, 512Mb RAM, VIA S3G Unichrome IGP 32 Mb onboard, HP 12x CDRW, Samsung DVD-combo, Wacom Graphire 4 graphics tablet) at the old home office where I usually do graphics stuff. Disorganized, huh? Reminds me of bullpens I used to inhabit.
 
 
 
Here's my room / home office while I was redecorating and setting up the new pc and home network. I decided to take out the bed for more breathing and walking space. The computer table had to go too since it eats up a lot of space, I used a good ole trusty wooden bench instead.
 
 
 
After transferring my old external 40Gb and 80Gb hard disks and new 160Gb hard disk to the old pc, I installed the old dual monitors, a 80Gb hard disk and the graphic tablet on the new pc. The Nvidia GeForce 7300 SE/7200 GS, 512Mb has support for dual / multiple monitors so I made use of it (others use it for gaming, but I use it for work).
 
I set up an Aten KVM switch so I could use 1 set of keyboard-mouse-speakers for the two pcs (no need for individual keyboard-mouse-speakers). I set it up so the primary monitor is the one that can switch between the old and new pc. I knew about KVM switches but never did try nor had any use for them before. The only time I saw one up close was Qiqo's setup for Ate Shelly's 2 PCs at the UPSLIS. It's cool, I can now surf on the old pc, tap scroll lock twice to switch, and be transported to my work on the new PC. I also set up a home network to so I could transfer files between hard disks on different PCs. The old PC now serves as a file dump.
 
Core2duo 4400  @2.00Ghz on 2Gb RAM very fast... Me like... Here's the new cozy home office. Gorilla too tired? I just lie down and snooze.
 
 

Got some new stuff yesterday. Sigh... It was a good day.
First I got three spin tops from a local tiangge in RFC. I got two plastic tops and one wood top. ^_^ Nice...
I also got some laser finger beams. I'll use them for modding. Maybe I'll fasten them to my tops, yoyos or pois. Very nice...
Then I got this... A Sony VAIO PCG-505SX (Japanese version release). it's old and slow but it will do for me. PIII 300 Mhz, 64Mb ram. Some scratches from wear and viruses but the screen is so clear. Got it cheap from Ebay. Needs a battery, an external CD drive and external floppy drive. So if anyone know where I could get a Sony laptop batteries either PCGA-BP51 or PCGA-BP51A, Sony floppy drive PCGA-FD5 and Sony port replicator PCGA-PR5, please email or message me. Awesome! ^_^
And lastly... I never believed the news that bees were dying until this one flew near my monitor, spiraled down and died between the application and ctrl keys of my keyboard.

Found my way to SM South Mall last Sunday, November 12. I was there for kitchen utensils and retro PC purposes but I just couldn't resist passing by the UFO Catchers again after my rounds.

There were two little girls and one little boy there with their yaya and they were trying their hand at the Hello Kitty-filled UFO Catcher which I frequent but with no luck at all. What drew my attention was they were talking to each other in English. Not colegiala English, they spoke in halting (but correct) English. I don't know, but I was so amused that I got these three kitten while they were making the rounds of the other UFO Catchers. They were exclaiming. "Look! He got one!" And then "He got another! And another!"

After I was finished with the machine they were already lined up behind me to try their luck. I just grabbed the three kittens from the top of the machine (that's where I put them when I'm on a roll) and handed it to the three of them saying "Merry Christmas." I think they were too shocked to reply because I just turned around and headed for the car. Sigh. I just felt so good after that, I always do... Putting smiles on other people's faces...

I made the trip to SM because we had this old, heavy, broken-down Compaq Presario 1070 (Series 900D) lying around the house. Its specs: Intel 266Mhz, 16Mb RAM, 1GB HDD, CD-ROM, FDD, 12-inch screen and touchpad. It's obsolete, no more spare parts anywhere except for other broken models which I can't seem to find.

My mother and sister used it for for their school papers when it was working. About two years ago it started to deteriorate. I've opened it up, had to have the floppy disk drive replaced as well as reformat a couple of times. Then the "102 - System Board Failure" error appeared. That meant the main board was dead, no bios tweaks, no Linux and rescue live-cd booting possible, only board replacement could save it.

All the shops I went to exhausted all their contacts (even Compaq and HP calls but no dice). Even asked my brother-in-law George to ask his brother-in-law Erwin who owns a computer business to look at it. No dice. Bye-bye Compaq Presario 1070.

There are some PhP12,000+ replacement boards out there, but I personally think it would be better to just buy a new laptop. So now we're left with a very big "brick" (useless piece of hardware). But it's salvageable for parts. Only thing I knew which could be salvaged was the Toshiba 1Gb hard disk. So after loosening a few screws I was able to open up the wrist rest to expose the hard disk at the lower left side of the bottom portion of the laptop.

A few more loosened screws later and I was able to remove the hard disk. All that was needed was to detach the ribbon connector. Done.

My "brilliant" plan was to encase the hard disk in a cheap 2.5-inch laptop hard disk enclosure, they cost only PhP500+. The HD enclosure connects via USB 2.0 to any computer, which means I could have a 1Gb portable HD (okay, so it's big and clunky and only 1GB, but PhP500 is way cheaper than a PhP1,000+ 1Gb or PhP2,000+ 2Gb USB flash disk).

To my dismay, after making the rounds of all the PC shops, the 2.5-inch Toshiba 1Gb laptop hard disk was so thick and obsolete that it won't fit into the newer 2.5-inch laptop hard disk enclosures. Sigh. I trodded home but not before buying kitchen spoons and forks my mom asked for and doing the UFO Catcher routine.

I think all I could do now is probably buy one of those enclosures and "mod" / modify it to fit (read that as wreck the casing or just use the connector and make a new casing). That would probably be my project for next week.