The whispers have driven my computer mad
Jun. 2nd, 2023 11:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brin_bellway[fairly mild cw: fire]
Well, okay, the computer *per se* is fine. But it turns out all this data-crunching and subsequent heat has given me a rather spicy pillow.
I noticed when I found yesterday morning that my battery life was literally zero: it would crash the moment the power cord was unplugged. This combined badly with my power cord's tendency to fall out when jostled.
I went in to remove the battery thinking that turning the battery connections off and on again might shift something back into place, and when I saw it...well, there's your problem.
The laptop battery is now safely at the local household-hazardous-waste depot. A new battery (CAD$46, mediocre reviews but I don't super care if the six-hour brand-new battery life fades quickly: the important thing is to have enough battery life to react when a plug falls out, and being able to take a 90-minute video meeting at the dining table without bringing my cord over would be a nice bonus) is on its way. The laptop is, it turns out, capable of running with no battery installed as long as the cord is in at all times (though the big empty space inside the laptop changes the acoustics to make the sound of the fan a bit annoying); furthermore, it turns out that my spare cord is far less prone to falling out. (I guess I should swap which one is primary and which is spare.)
(Oh, by the way, it turns out the adapter from behind the couch doesn't actually work. The one I'm using now is the other half of the pair I bought during that saga.)
Clearly it's not safe to do extended crunching projects on this computer or indeed any computer with a lithium-ion battery in it. Even if you ignore the fire hazard (and you shouldn't), $46 after less than a year is not an insignificant sum. And the recent efficiency improvements to the software, while quite large, are probably not enough to make it a non-issue.
Dad and I have vaguely been thinking about a communal desktop for use as a media server and whatnot. Maybe we should adjust its priority level.
Well, okay, the computer *per se* is fine. But it turns out all this data-crunching and subsequent heat has given me a rather spicy pillow.
I noticed when I found yesterday morning that my battery life was literally zero: it would crash the moment the power cord was unplugged. This combined badly with my power cord's tendency to fall out when jostled.
I went in to remove the battery thinking that turning the battery connections off and on again might shift something back into place, and when I saw it...well, there's your problem.
The laptop battery is now safely at the local household-hazardous-waste depot. A new battery (CAD$46, mediocre reviews but I don't super care if the six-hour brand-new battery life fades quickly: the important thing is to have enough battery life to react when a plug falls out, and being able to take a 90-minute video meeting at the dining table without bringing my cord over would be a nice bonus) is on its way. The laptop is, it turns out, capable of running with no battery installed as long as the cord is in at all times (though the big empty space inside the laptop changes the acoustics to make the sound of the fan a bit annoying); furthermore, it turns out that my spare cord is far less prone to falling out. (I guess I should swap which one is primary and which is spare.)
(Oh, by the way, it turns out the adapter from behind the couch doesn't actually work. The one I'm using now is the other half of the pair I bought during that saga.)
Clearly it's not safe to do extended crunching projects on this computer or indeed any computer with a lithium-ion battery in it. Even if you ignore the fire hazard (and you shouldn't), $46 after less than a year is not an insignificant sum. And the recent efficiency improvements to the software, while quite large, are probably not enough to make it a non-issue.
Dad and I have vaguely been thinking about a communal desktop for use as a media server and whatnot. Maybe we should adjust its priority level.
no subject
Date: 2023-06-02 03:49 pm (UTC)Modern mini desktops are really great.
I have a Mac Mini (yes yes, macs are expensive, but so are other mini desktops), because it has server guts in a cute miniature shell, and I already had a monitor. Highly recommended, honestly.