Old PC Up & Running

I got my 'reserve' monitor back yesterday afternoon and quickly reconnected the old PC to see how it was running. Scott had said it had an unexplainable lag of about 10 seconds before starting up and I was keen to see what was happening.

I plugged it all in and turned the PC on ...... nothing! It seemed to start and run OK but there was nothing on the screen. I swapped leads, I swapped connections, I connected the reserve screen to the new PC and it worked fine. The problem wasn't the leads, the problem wasn't the screen, the problem was in the old PC and most likely something to do with the graphics card! The side came off the computer and I gave the graphics card a good wobble and shove to ensure it was securely seated into the graphics card slot on the mother board.

I reconnected the power, turned it on and it worked perfectly. While Scott was replacing the battery he may have removed the graphics card to get better access. Re seating the graphics card had it working all again.

And there is no startup delay. The cause of the delay may have been the computer checking to see if there was a graphics card. By re seating it may have improved the connection.

It is running fine. I start it up and let it sit for an hour or so then shut it down. 10 minutes later I start it up again. It is powering off at shutdown and starting well.

You just wonder what it would have cost to have it repaired at a computer shop? All we have done is remove an old dial up modem card from it and replaced a $2 battery! All up about 30 minutes work and $2 for parts!

My head cold is better but I still have some way to go. The sore throat is the worst thing, though it is better today. At least I don't have a runny nose!

I won't go in to Computer Club tomorrow either, I don't want to breathe cold germs over everyone. I possibly have some bottling to do anyway.

Also I now have 2 computers to play with!

My faulty replacement WD Media Player was picked up yesterday by FedEx and I see on the WD Status Website that my replacement replacement media player is ready for shipping from Singapore.

I received a mysterious email this morning allegedly from FedEx saying my new replacement item would be delivered in '5 buisiness days'. (The spelling error is deliberate because that is what it said). My Anti-Virus went off and automatically put the 'FedEx' email into an "infected email" folder. It was a scam email loaded up with a virus! I was saved by my AV program!

I found this on the internet this morning, and this is basically the text of the email I received:


A currently ongoing spamvertised campaign is brand-jacking FedEx for malware-serving purposes.

Dear customer. The parcel was sent your home address. And it will arrive within 7 business day. More information and the tracking number are attached in document below. Thank you. © FedEx 1995-2011

Upon downloading the executing the attachment, the malware attempts to download two additional binaries, next to sniffing for FTP credentials off infected hosts.