The '09 Rebuild Part B: Finding a Purpose

If some people could find their purpose in life as fast as I found a use for this secondary machine, the world would be a much better place! Originally, I was going to mess around with Linux on the machine and then J said he wanted it to play Richard Burns Rally. Although I don't think he understands my point, I would feel ashamed to let him play RBR on the second-best machine when I put all that money and effort into building a great machine to play The Sims. So RBR goes on this machine right along with The Sims 3 when it comes out in June.

I was fiddling around with a picture frame by the TV earlier, when it struck me: The TV has a gazillion connections at the back... one of which happens to be an RGB connector with another connector for audio. So... why not build the secondary machine as a media center and slap it onto the TV? J's always watching all sorts of car vids on YouTube and other Web sites, as well as... well, other videos, so why not watch them on 37" instead of on the laptop hunched up at the dining table? As I stated my case earlier: No, it's not something I'd wake up and decide to blow money on, but since we have all the parts... why not? He likes car projects. I like computer projects.

So in short, I slapped the machine together this evening, went out to Wal-Mart after dinner and caught a great deal on a wireless Linksys PCI adapter and now I'm getting set to download XP Sp3 when we go to bed. Hopefully, tomorrow I can hook her up to the TV while J's writing his paper for school and we can see how my idea pans out... anyway, here are the pictures:


I swore my old mobo wasn't going to work because it's been on the dining table collecting dust since early last month LOL



Hand-me-down case with some handy cables (thanks guys!)



Case from the back... that plate had to go. J' had to help me get it clipped in properly because I couldn't get the mobo to fit flush up against the sucker. Tore my nail too. Beast.



My old power supply, Nvidia Geforce 7-series card, IDE DVD writer, IDE 60GB Seagate HD and miscellaneous screws and tools. You can see the IDE 80GB Western Digital that's going into my external HD case up on the counter to the right. I'll use that to transfer stuff from upstairs to downstairs.

Yes, I could setup a network. No, I don't have the patience to figure that out right now :-)



Power supply in. I'd never had to take the top of a case off before, but I guess that's what happens with a mini-case.



Things got really crowded inside the case afterward. Here's J trying to attach the reset button jumper with his teeth ;p



Me wondering if I killed the mobo when I screwed the board down to the spacer and then managed to screw everything out the base of the case... don't ask, J' figured it out.



No space for much else. She didn't power up on the first try like the primary machine, turns out I connected the power LED and not the power switch itself. But I can say that the software side has been a damn sight easier than the last time around!



Ran out and got this baby later in the evening. I was going to get a Dynex adapter originally, but this Linksys baby was on sale for only $8 more and now all our wireless adapters match out router.

• Mood: Happy... because I'm a nerd and computers bring me peace.
  
• Music: The hum of not one, but TWO sets of CPU and PSU fans spinning and whirring away.
  

The '09 Rebuild Part B

You know things are bad when your rebuild has so many parts left over that you can build a secondary desktop computer. Well, that's what's happened with this year's rebuild. I've had the motherboard sitting on the dining table for more than a month now, with a spare case (thanks guys!) and other assorted parts stashed upstairs in the computer room. I didn't build the secondary machine right away because I didn't want to format my old harddrives until I was sure I had everything I needed off them. Turns out that was a good move because I hadn't backed up my Firefox favorites. However, that excuse is now stale, so while the Miss is upstairs taking a nap and the husband is engrossed with Call of Duty 4, I'm going to put this baby together in the kitchen. Pictures coming soon.

Happy Easter!

• Mood: Happy, but also sad (Mommy's funeral was six years ago today)
  
• Music: Donkeys being worked on COD4

The '09 Rebuild Pt. VI - Software Side

(This post is actually from 2:01 p.m. on March 18, but I just realized that I had it saved as a draft and it hadn't been posted to the blog yet.)

My hope was to be able to turn on the machine and have Windows and everything load without a hitch. I'm sure some people reading this are snorting in disbelief or rolling with laughter. Apparently, so much change meant Windows XP was going to lay down the law.

The neat thing is that everything powered up on the first go. Thanks to a good, detailed mobo manual, I got all the cables for the power, HDD, etc. on the front of the case right. Like I explained to J, that's as fantastic as when we did the SR20DET swap in my old 240SX coupe and wired it up and had her fire up and go the first time. The BIOS loaded everything looked all sexy and then wham blue dump screen error message.

I'll save the long drawn out details for those who want them, but the summary is that it took me about 3 days to figure out how to get my OS problems sorted out. For the life of me I couldn't get my old master drive to go slave (or primary drive to go secondary for the P.C. amongst us). I couldn't remember my admin password anyway, so there was no repairing the original install. I got XP onto the new SATA drive (at around 1 a.m. on the second night), but then the machine wouldn't boot with both the PATA and SATA drives in. Eventually I realized that the IDE cable also determines whether a drive is primary or secondary. I wanted to kick myself at that point. It's a good thing I didn't give in and wipe the other drive too because I'd forgotten to back up my Firefox favorites!

The only other hiccup was getting the Internet to work. I was so frustrated that I hauled the machine in to work for my techie friends to peak at early one morning. Turns out Ms. Smarty Pants me hadn't installed the chipset drivers so the board, and wouldn't you know, it's the chipset drivers that handle the LAN port, onboard audio/video and other things lol

After that came program installs. I must say normally they are tedious and BORING but with a quad-core processor and 4GB of RAM, things literally FLEW across the screen. I had to slow and down stop clicking "Next" so fast for fear that I was installing a toolbar that I didn't need. Of course, The Sims is my benchmark, and what usually took a whole night to install (the base game, 5 expansions and 3 stuff packs) took less than an hour! I was able to install everything except Seasons before I went to work one morning and that was only because I couldn't find the Seasons disc one quicky!

Now I've loaded The Sims, which involved running the game a few times, but I haven't actually played it yet... that update coming soon!

TSR Challenge: Renovator's Delight

Owen Munny is the target sim of the Renovator's Delight challenge from The Sims Resource website. It's much easier to share photos and blog about the game than it used to be, so I figured I'll try and blog about the challenges here. I spend a lot of time playing them so why not lol

This challenge involves taking a crappy, fixer-upper home and renovating it while earning maximum fishing and gardening skill points, as well as earning a perfect score for the target sim's garden.


When you spray your plants too much, you get a plant sim!



Owen and his wife, Lakia, are expecting... will it be a baby plant sim?


Lakia post-baby... and no, it wasn't a plant sim, but adorable Makinda Munny. Here you see Lakia trying to work off the baby belly.


Bad thing about plant sims is that instead of sleep, they need sunlight... otherwise. they go into failure mode and run outside and collapse. It was either that or Owen was distraught because the maid stole their prize bathroom drapes when they couldn't pay her wages for the day!


"I don't care about your baby belly! I love you!" Owen expresses his gratitude for Lakia sticking by him to help renovate their home.


Owen soaking up some rays so he can get back to fishing and gardening.


Plant sims are great because they can also talk to the trees, which makes the trees happy and boosts your garden score :-)


Owen, little Makinda (off to the left) and plant sim baby Shoh-me (creeping up on the right) all watch Lakia step over the hill into old age.


Shoh-me Munny just sprouted into an adult, while Owen, and Lakia and Makinda (in their private school and work clothes) look on.


Like father, like son... Lakia looks on while the boys play chess.



I found a better way for the boys to get their sunlight rather than by lying on the sidewalk.


Owen and Lakia invited their friends over for Makinda Munny's transition into being a teenager.


Gardening completely wore out Owen and Shoh-me in the middle of the night and the sun doesn't rise until 7 a.m. in Strangetown.


A garden this side definitely needs the aid of a gardener to get top marks!


Even with a $100 tip that doesn't mean said gardener is interested in fraternizing with her employer's son... epic fail!


After Makinda moved out and headed to La Strange University, Lakia, Owen and Shoh-me found they had a lot of time to sit around and well, just talk...


Even with the extensive landscaping, the head of the Strangetown Garden Club still wasn't satisfied with the Munny's efforts... So Owen went back to work, planting lots of vegetables and fruits, such as, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes and strawberries.


After a hard day's gardening, the boys decide to lay out and stargaze... saving their energy until it can be replenished by the sun.


Finally, success! After days of trying, their hard work paid off... the head of the Garden Club was impressed by the new additions and gave the Munnys a perfect score — and a wishing well as a reward.


Sprawling gardens... view from the front.


Sprawling gardens, with 9 fruit trees and a variety of fruits and vegetables, as well as their very own fishing hole.

• Mood: Tired after writing all those captions lol
  
• Music: The much quieter sound of the new computer setup :-)