Wesley: Hey. Hey, Gunn. Is something weird going on? … Charles, you just peed on my shoes. Gunn: I'll be damned. That's weird.

'Life of the Party'


Buffistechnology 3: "Press Some Buttons, See What Happens."

Got a question about technology? Ask it here. Discussion of hardware, software, TiVos, multi-region DVDs, Windows, Macs, LINUX, hand-helds, iPods, anything tech related. Better than any helpdesk!


Becky - Apr 09, 2009 1:34:35 pm PDT #9687 of 25501

It may be the motherboard battery going out. Cheap and easy to install.


Dana - Apr 09, 2009 1:37:44 pm PDT #9688 of 25501
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.

Is there any way to check besides getting a replacement battery and testing it? Would the system clock be having problems if it's the battery, for example?


Becky - Apr 09, 2009 4:57:04 pm PDT #9689 of 25501

I'm not sure if there is a way to check except replacement, sorry. I was having some similar issues (random shut-downs, gibberish on the screen) and after ruling out overheating, memory, and malware I changed the battery and it worked. Not sure if it will work for you, just wanted to share my experience. Hopefully yours will be an easy and quick fix!

(I was a bit sad it wasn't the motherboard, since I already had my dream computer picked out)


Dana - Apr 09, 2009 5:54:15 pm PDT #9690 of 25501
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.

Thanks for the advice! We'll definitely check it out.


evil jimi - Apr 10, 2009 5:54:57 am PDT #9691 of 25501
Lurching from one disaster to the next.

The battery should only cost a couple of bucks, so no great loss if it didn't need replacing.


Dana - Apr 10, 2009 10:36:47 am PDT #9692 of 25501
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.

Resetting the BIOS (by pulling the battery) didn't fix the problem. From googling, it definitely sounds like 5 years isn't an unreasonable life expectancy for the mobo battery.

I still kind of suspect that it's a hardware failure, but going out to buy a battery will give me an excuse to get out of the house.


Dana - Apr 10, 2009 11:02:53 am PDT #9693 of 25501
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.

And just for fun, I pulled the memory and made sure the computer would boot with only two sticks in the various slots. I'm pretty darn sure it's not the memory.

God, I hate pulling and putting in memory.


Dana - Apr 10, 2009 4:37:47 pm PDT #9694 of 25501
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.

And now the system won't even POST. We're getting the beeps that mean memory error. So either it was failing and has failed, or by messing with the memory, we fucked something up.

Sigh.


DCJensen - Apr 11, 2009 5:02:58 am PDT #9695 of 25501
All is well that ends in pizza.

Possible 3G iPhone features found in beta software:

[link]


Hil R. - Apr 11, 2009 2:27:46 pm PDT #9696 of 25501
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l

Anyone know why gmail thinks that I'm in Germany? When I try to access it, I get a page with this message:

We can't provide service under the Gmail name in Germany; we're called Google Mail here instead.

If you're travelling in Germany, you can access your mail at >[link]

Oh, and we'd like to link the URL above, but we're not allowed to do that either. Drat.

For general information about Google, please visit www.google.com or www.google.de.

I started getting that message when I was staying in a hotel in Boston, and I thought there was just something weird with their network. But now I'm back home and still getting it. I can get my mail by going to mail.google.com, but I'm trying to figure out what's making me get this message, and if it's affecting anything else.