Computer problems and cats
May. 13th, 2001 01:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sharanA few minutes ago my power fan cut out on me and the temperature on my computer started rising fast, so I had to shut things down and do an emergency cleanup with a can of compressed air. It's working now, but who knows how soon this could happen again? As those who know me know, I've had serious problems with my computer lately (a less than 6 month old amd athlon 1.1ghtz machine a friend of mine put together for me). A few of the problems seem to be software related (Norton Systemworks and/or Memturbo) but my biggest problem is a serious heat problem (which is why I now have Asus PC Probe open at all times and found out about the power fan problem). A lot of it is a super fast cpu that obviously needs a better heatsink than the one it's got, and probably an extra fan or two to boot. But a large portion of the problem comes from my WAY too hairy cat:(.
Here is my big problem right now. Kitty (as I call him. Although I named him Butanekochan, or Piggy Kitty in Japanese, that name seems to be too long to really stick well) is a cat that kind of took over my apartment and life several months ago. He was outside getting fed by just about everyone in the apartment complex (and boy was he fat;).). He's the sweetest, friendliest little cat (well, big for a cat), and really cute: white with a black and grey tiger-striped tail, 2 black and grey striped patches in the middle of his back, and a black and grey striped patch over one ear. It was painfully obvious he'd been abandoned by someone. I wanted to get a cat but not quite so fast, but one day his ear was all scratched up and bloody and I took him to the vet and basically bought myself a cat.
From then on he lived inside my tiny little apartment (a glorified closet). A month and a half after I took him in I found out he was diabetic and needs insulin shots every day:(. That itself turned out to not be as bad as I would have thought (considering my serious phobia of needles) but when I found out he needed glucose curves at $240 each time I decided I couldn't afford to keep him and started calling rescue groups. But finding anyone to take an adult diabetic cat is next to impossible:(. Eventually a combination of that and not wanting the kitty to be deserted by yet another owner got me to talk to the vet about my options, and she said if I couldn't afford it I can avoid the glucose curves and only bring him in when there was a problem. So far that's worked.
Meanwhile, my friend told me once when I brought my computer back to him to work on he told me there was so much cat hair in there he was amazed it worked. I tried blocking the back of the computer with cardboard, but a couple of weeks ago my computer problems/crashing got so bad I reformatted my hd, only to have it crash yet again and give me the same error that ntoskrnl.exe was missing or corrupt. After I let the computer sit for a while I tried again and then it worked, which was when I realized the problem was heat. I opened up the computer and cleaned out cat hair like you wouldn't believe, and it seemed to have cleared up the problem (until today at least).
I think a better heatsink and maybe another fan might help, but for how long? And I know Kitty can't help it if he sheds a lot (and loves to jump in my lap while I sit at the computer which can't help). And it's gotten to the point where it would be really difficult to give him up. When I move to L.A. I hope to get a 2 bedroom apartment where I can have a computer room he's NOT allowed in. I just hope that helps. In a couple of weeks my friend will be here for Baycon and can install a new improved heatsink for me, and hopefully that will help even more. Meanwhile, I guess I just have to keep watching PC Probe, and hoping for the best.
Here is my big problem right now. Kitty (as I call him. Although I named him Butanekochan, or Piggy Kitty in Japanese, that name seems to be too long to really stick well) is a cat that kind of took over my apartment and life several months ago. He was outside getting fed by just about everyone in the apartment complex (and boy was he fat;).). He's the sweetest, friendliest little cat (well, big for a cat), and really cute: white with a black and grey tiger-striped tail, 2 black and grey striped patches in the middle of his back, and a black and grey striped patch over one ear. It was painfully obvious he'd been abandoned by someone. I wanted to get a cat but not quite so fast, but one day his ear was all scratched up and bloody and I took him to the vet and basically bought myself a cat.
From then on he lived inside my tiny little apartment (a glorified closet). A month and a half after I took him in I found out he was diabetic and needs insulin shots every day:(. That itself turned out to not be as bad as I would have thought (considering my serious phobia of needles) but when I found out he needed glucose curves at $240 each time I decided I couldn't afford to keep him and started calling rescue groups. But finding anyone to take an adult diabetic cat is next to impossible:(. Eventually a combination of that and not wanting the kitty to be deserted by yet another owner got me to talk to the vet about my options, and she said if I couldn't afford it I can avoid the glucose curves and only bring him in when there was a problem. So far that's worked.
Meanwhile, my friend told me once when I brought my computer back to him to work on he told me there was so much cat hair in there he was amazed it worked. I tried blocking the back of the computer with cardboard, but a couple of weeks ago my computer problems/crashing got so bad I reformatted my hd, only to have it crash yet again and give me the same error that ntoskrnl.exe was missing or corrupt. After I let the computer sit for a while I tried again and then it worked, which was when I realized the problem was heat. I opened up the computer and cleaned out cat hair like you wouldn't believe, and it seemed to have cleared up the problem (until today at least).
I think a better heatsink and maybe another fan might help, but for how long? And I know Kitty can't help it if he sheds a lot (and loves to jump in my lap while I sit at the computer which can't help). And it's gotten to the point where it would be really difficult to give him up. When I move to L.A. I hope to get a 2 bedroom apartment where I can have a computer room he's NOT allowed in. I just hope that helps. In a couple of weeks my friend will be here for Baycon and can install a new improved heatsink for me, and hopefully that will help even more. Meanwhile, I guess I just have to keep watching PC Probe, and hoping for the best.
