Oct

What a disaster….

So as per my previous post I was away at a LAN over the weekend. Good fun for all involved with a chance to chill, chat, drink and play games. Only not for me this time

All the problems began when I got to the venue and realised I’d forgotten my booze Yeah I could buy some more but no one seems to carry my current favourite drink (Bacardi Berry fact fans ). Then came the worst bit ever.

A LAN is primarliy my chance to play games, lots of games completely uninterrupted on any format I can get my hands on. However after sitting around on the floor neatly wiring up my PC (no idea why :p) I pushed the power button and got…..nothing. Well actually that’s not true – the on-board speaker let out a single long beep.

No problem I thought! I’m in a room full of computers and computer enthusiats, surely someone will be able to help diagnose this. Answers came back thick and fast that it was GFX adapter or memory. Not a real problem then as I had changed the GFX card before heading out to the LAN (7800GT -> 9800GT). Quick reseat later and turn the power back on.

*BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*

****!

In the end I gave up and played on the 360 instead. Then a little shopping picking up Fable 2 (£30 @ Sainsburys ) and Farcry 2. However with both games having a single player story I proceeded to play Rock Band with anyone who I could convice into playing.

Come Saturday I had another go at fixing the PC. Even went as far as removing the CPU and rebuilding everything. Still no joy. Then a fellow LAN attendee (Ultra_Extreme) tried dropping his GFX card in which was a less powerful nVidia 6250. BAM! It boots. The celebration ends when windows decides to install updates, determines a hardware change and then undoes everything.

After that debacle I just decided to leave it till I got home and keep playing the 360. Luckily that worked ok all weekend

Sunday saw me travelling home and dropping Nokkon off on the way. 3.5 hours to his place and 4 back to mine. Heck of a drive but the weekend was worth it. That is until I get approximaely 100 miles from where Nokkon lives and notice my phone is lit up. That’s odd I thought and took a closer look. Nokkon had called me 3 times.

Bluetooth headset on and I called him back. Then the 3rd bit of bad news struck. Whilst I had dropped him off at home OK (and probably in slightly better health than when he left ) I still had his monitor in the back of my car. Over 100 miles away….

Never good. A quick chat and we decided we’d both cocked up and we’d sort out shipping it back to him ASAP. Only problem being that every man and his dog will happily pick up a package and deliver it elsewhere for under a tenner with one small snag. They refuse to offer compensation on computer monitors. That meant the cheapest insured way to send it was via Parcelforce at some £31!!!

Luckily a cheaper option prevailed. Although not next day I have found an alternative carrier that still offers no insurance but only charges in pints of beer Turns out my parents are heading to roughly the right area for a weekend away (Peace at last! ) and have offered to take the monitor back with them!