Month: January 2021

Computer Update

Max Misc , ,

Hey readers! Max here with a quick update on things!

So, this is being written from my computer. And it may be that the source of the problem has been found. Perhaps. Two problems, really.

One was that my thermal paste on the CPU, that critical component responsible for transferring heat to the fans, was dry as a bone. Which means part of the problem may have been that the CPU was overheating. Now that it’s been cleaned and new paste applied, a system check of everything swears it’s all okay. Mem-check went fine too.

Save in one place. My D drive. Yes, it would appear that the D drive, about 15 years old, is failing me. To the point that Windows cannot even repair it and advised when I tried that due to the inability to do so, system instability could result.

So yeah … that seems to be the other culprit. As a result, I’ve moved all valued items off of it to another drive (F), including my music collection (and have set my player to find the library there. I’ve cleared programs using the drive, and already ordered a replacement. Now I just need to wait.

Oh, and during my attempt to copy some stuff off of the drive, the computer crashed again. Which seems … telling, if I do say so myself.

I’ll try and do some work tomorrow, and with luck, there won’t be any issues. If there are well … sands, I don’t know. This should be it. I’ll tiptoe around that drive until the replacement arrives, at which point I’ll open the case up and swap them out. In the end it cost me about $116, but the new replacement is the same size and an SSD (the other option was half the price for the same thing, or the price I paid for 2 TB but old-school SSD. I went for a future-proof.

With luck, this will stop the issue, and things will return to normal. I’ll keep you posted. Being a Better Writer Monday if all goes well.

Emergency Status Update

Max Misc ,

This post has nothing to do with politics.

Just heading this appropriately, before anyone panics for the wrong reasons.

So what’s up? Yesterday, as I was working on the print copy of Axtara – Banking and Finance, my computer stuttered, froze, and died. Then powered back on … only to shut off a moment later, without even a BIOS POST beep.

For those not technically minded, this is really bad.

Some work later with a voltmeter concluded that the first suspect, the power supply, was fine and functioning within optional boundaries, delivering the power it was supposed to. Which, assuming it’s not failing under load (unlikely), puts the culprit elsewhere.

As of right now, the next suspect, which I shall test in the morning, is the CPU fan. If it fails to start, that would be one reason the system isn’t even passing POST. If it does start, then the problem is either the CPU … Or the motherboard.

Neither are good, because both are costly to fix.

Unfortunately, I’m writing this on my phone. If Monday sees a Being a Better Writer post, it’ll be either because I was able to get the computer online without much difficulty, or because I wrote a short, quick one on my phone.

Given that all my books are on the computer and it’s currently unaccessible, no writing is being carried out.

I’ll update you readers as I know more, but this is not exactly a great development. I’ve got my smartphone, and that’s it.

I’ll keep you posted. Max out.

2020 in Review: A Look Back

Max Misc , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hello readers, and welcome to 2021! That’s right, the calendar has flipped, the months have passed, and we are in a new year once more. Which means, as I tail out of my vacation, that it’s time to take a look back at the last year and take stock. Also, to apologize for the lateness of this post; my staycation has caught up with me. In fact, I feel as though my leaving my warm bed in the afternoon should have been narrated by Attenborough, saying something like “Forced to leave his warm burrow by a dying battery, the creature finally emerges from his hiding place in search of power.”

Anyway, in lieu of a classic Being a Better Writer post today, I thought I’d use today as the perfect time to take a look back at the site and my writing over this last year and see what 2020 ended up as. What came out of 2020. What did I accomplish? What did I achieve? Did I release anything? How did the site perform? How were sales?

You get the picture. So, today, I deliver to you readers a summary of the year past. Writing done, books published, site stats … all of it. Hit the jump, and we’ll get started. It’s time to look at some good from 2020.

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