gateway hard drive started talking to me when i fired it up tonite. ok - it was more like a chatter / clattering noise. [i love my gateway even though technically it's not a gateway anymore and it talks to me.] i opened it up and had to step back from all the dust that came flying out at me. sigh. i don't want to do this .. maybe if i throw a temper tantrum some computer cowboy will magically appear and take it apart with me. no such luck. dab - nab - it. i can see this is going to be serious as the dust has gotten rather sticky from being in there for so long. going to have to pretend i know what i'm doing and just dive in.
first thing i have to attack is the fan cause if i don't figure out how to clean it better than i usually do, it means a new one. i take a closer look at the box and finally see a way to take the grid off so i can get in and clean the blades and housing better.
now off to hunt down all my stuff the kids borrowed. i look around the entire house and not one bottle of alcohol left. i see my trusty bottle of 'sea breeze' on the dresser. hmm i wonder. well heck ya it's great. cuts right through this mess.
heck ya, between the 'sea breeze', my best q-tips and only one can of air this time, it looks damn clean to me. had to go shake the towel i had the tower laying on out twice there was so much dust and black gunk. /shutter. two hours later and i get it all put back together, (no extra parts) fire it up and get the message .. video cable connected? .. after jiggling the cord and not getting a response from that - i take it apart again. sidenote* oh - so it was this machine i stuck the 'pny' vid card into and well lookie there - it has a fan on it that i didn't notice before when i installed it .. jeez .. that sure could use a good air blast. no wonder i get some lock up - lord!! * reseated the 'pny' and sure enough that took care of it.
put the machine back together again, hit the on button and shoot - a:/ drive won't stop trying to access something. [i dreaded this. i knew it just couldn't be a swift in and out.] back apart it comes and i take out the drive and reconnect it all up again and lo and behold !!! still chattering. /blink i got an idea. insert a diskette and yup that does it. it stops talking to me. i'm so smart /grin how'd i get so smart :) so not to bad .. doesn't run any faster like i did as a kid when i got new sneakers but at least it sounds better.
