BAD RAM U!

Isn’t that the secret phrase they used in Babe to control the sheep? Or maybe it was Bah Ram Ewe. In my life it seems to be Bad RAM though.

It kind of perplexes me, that in all the years of working from home, from the beginning of the home computer/internet era (yes, really!) I had poor clunkers of computers with no real support except what I could devise myself… I managed. (Sure, the IT guys would say, bring it on in and we’ll fix it, but that was a two-hour drive, a half-hour subway ride, and then a hike from subway station, and we’re not talking a laptop here!) So, I learned to deal with it myself, as best as possible. Only the major ‘toast events’ got me to take it in.

But I managed. And hardly ever had things that couldn’t be dealt with. And yet, in the last year… My old computer went distinctly freaky and it got worse. It was a toss up whether it was the hard drive or the motherboard, and when I had the chance to get a deal on a used, but slightly more current PC, I took it. Woo woo! USB and PS/2! And they saved my data. And life was grand.

But only a few months later, things started getting weird again. And I went through the fall assuming every time I turned it off at night might be my final farewell. But at Christmas it suddenly smoothed out and got quiet and happy again. Not that I assumed it was cured…. I still kept my eyes open for a replacement hard drive, and finally got one in early February, though I didn’t have time to do anything with it till the show opened in mid-Feb.

And then, just about the time I was thinking I’d sit down and take things apart, Disk Failed! Ooops. So, after a week of what was supposed to be a quick swap, and using up all my favours with a geekish friend, as well as discombobulating HIS machine in the process, we got this puppy back on the road. But with attitude.

And now we’re thinking it was bad memory. (Not a bad memory, but actually faulty RAM.) Because having removed the extra John had added, the intense problems have gone away. But maybe there’s a flaw in the RAM I already had, and that would explain some of the other oddities…

But heavens above! Has my life ever ended up being ruled by this ostensible labour-saving device.

Argh!


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