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Wednesday, 20 June 2007
Not So Fan-tastic
An irritating PC problem has occured. (But then PC problems always have a habit of being irritating.)
Once upon a time - a couple of weeks or so ago - my laptop was quiet, so quiet as to be almost totally silent, apart from the occaisional gentle whirr of the cooling fan which lasted but a few brief seconds.
And now it's all changed! Why?? l have absolutely no idea.
The first five minutes after the dial-up process has finished all is peaceful, then the fan turns itself on and stays on, and on, forever, until l switch the entire power supply off again.
Or alteratively it's quiet for five minutes, the fan turns on for around a minute, then turns off, then turns back on, forever .... etc.
l've had some conflicting advice over this strange behaviour. The tech,support team who l contacted and who should have complete and utter knowledge of everything to do with my particular make of computer, asked alot of questions, ie, Have l downloaded any new software or hardware? Does opening a particular programme cause the problem? ls the computer near a radiator? Have you dropped it in the bath recently?
Well, not the last one, but anyway. There was alot of questions but no reassuring, 'Yes, we know exactly why your fan is behaving this way and if you try this particular thing ... all will be well.'
No. lnstead l was warned against taking the back off, given the name and number of a repair centre and told 'there will be a charge.' l'll bet.
Conversely, a famous user friendly manual 'Troubleshooting Your PC For Dummies' is much more hopeful and their solution costs nothing. Their advice: Clean lt! Take the back off, take a vacuum and suck out all the dirt'.
Now that's the kind of thing l had in mind.
Although l must admit l have a worrying mental image of all those expensive little components disappearing up the vacuum nozzle along with the dirt!
17:05 Posted in Blog | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Pc's, computer problems
Sunday, 03 June 2007
Birds And Bees
This is more like it. The sunshine has returned - for now - and Pussem's happy too, having sneaked onto my chair the minute my back was turned.
My wall pots are full of little greenish-white strawberries and even the blackcurrant bush has nine tiny currants. l wasn't expecting anything from it the first season so l'm pleasantly surprised how healthy it is.
Three of my tomato plants are now in a grow-bag and appreciate the extra root space as they've put on alot of growth. Two more plants are in the border. No sign of any flowers yet though. One of the disadvantages of grow-bags is the shallow depth of soil and the tendancy of the bamboo canes to tilt over and need supporting themselves. l think l've got round the problem by inserting a piece of branch in front of each plant and tieing it back against the cane to improve stablity. The purple fringe of campanula around them looks great and is very popular with bees.
l like to encourage them as much as possible to help pollinate the fruit and vegetables. Pyracantha blossom is another favourite of theirs.
Last year l bought a number of small plug plants of some herbs and these are doing well, apart from the French tarragon which didn't survive the winter. The biggest success has got to be the lemon balm (below) and it's grown so much l've already been able to take some cuttings of it. The leaves, especially the younger ones, have a fabulous zingy lemon scent when you rub them between your fingers.
The bird-life has been going through some changes in recent years. Blackbirds for instance, were once readily seen hopping across the lawn and pulling worms out of the soil. Their lovely flute-y song was heard during the day and the familiar 'chink-chink' at dusk. And families of sparrows would take vigorous dust baths in the borders and then sit and preen their feathers on the forsythia nearby. Now they have all but disappeared. Perhaps this is in part due to the cats who have claimed the garden as their domain. A couple of species which are thriving are wood pidgeons and collared doves. They just weren't around when l was younger, now they're everywhere!
13:30 Posted in Gardening | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Pussem, gardening, strawberries, blackcurrants, tomatoes, grow-bags, herbs