Once more with computer issues...
So, yeah, I've basically given up on my desktop at this point. It's staying on for less and less time before shutting down, to the point where -- the majority of the time -- we're talking a matter of seconds rather than minutes or hours. For the time being, I've said "fuck it" and unplugged it. It's currently sitting in the corner of my room, rather than taking up space on my desk, so that I can sit my laptop there when I want to sit somewhere other than my bed.
On the positive side, I have managed to make playing Mass Effect possible on my laptop. I can't play for too long at a time without restarting, because my poor laptop just doesn't have the memory, but I can at least hit close to an hour before it starts running so slowly that I have to shut it down. I'm not quite used to using a touchpad rather than a mouse, but I'm getting there.
It took a bit of work for me to figure out how to use the trainers that I've downloaded for my games, since they require the NumPad (which my laptop doesn't have). I played around for most of the afternoon, though, and I think that I've found a solution. If I bring up the on-screen keyboard, go into settings and turn on NumLock, and then use Alt-Tab to minimize Steam whenever I need to activate something... well, it works. Mostly. And, hey, I'll take what I can get at this point.
This, of course, means that buying a new desktop is now very much at the top of my list once I get a few paychecks from the new part-time job. I mean, it already was at the top of my list, but now I might not even wait until I get my tax refund. The part-time job is going to be starting on Tuesday, so I'm going to be getting paychecks from it earlier than expected. I'm going to do my very best to try and hit at least ten hours a week, and possibly even closer to fifteen, so that I can get the cash together to get a decent computer sooner rather than later.
ETA: Unfortunately, the computer is an all-in-one so there isn't a separate monitor that I can disconnect and reconnect to the laptop. And the wireless keyboard and mouse (which came with the desktop when I bought it back in 2009) apparently won't run with anything other than that specific all-in-one computer. At least, that's how it appears based on the many comments I've found complaining about it while googling the model numbers. That said? I may be stopping somewhere after church to see if I can buy a cheap keyboard/mouse combo to hook up to my laptop. If it will (mostly) run Steam, then the least I can do is try to make it a bit easier on me.
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On the positive side, I have managed to make playing Mass Effect possible on my laptop. I can't play for too long at a time without restarting, because my poor laptop just doesn't have the memory, but I can at least hit close to an hour before it starts running so slowly that I have to shut it down. I'm not quite used to using a touchpad rather than a mouse, but I'm getting there.
It took a bit of work for me to figure out how to use the trainers that I've downloaded for my games, since they require the NumPad (which my laptop doesn't have). I played around for most of the afternoon, though, and I think that I've found a solution. If I bring up the on-screen keyboard, go into settings and turn on NumLock, and then use Alt-Tab to minimize Steam whenever I need to activate something... well, it works. Mostly. And, hey, I'll take what I can get at this point.
This, of course, means that buying a new desktop is now very much at the top of my list once I get a few paychecks from the new part-time job. I mean, it already was at the top of my list, but now I might not even wait until I get my tax refund. The part-time job is going to be starting on Tuesday, so I'm going to be getting paychecks from it earlier than expected. I'm going to do my very best to try and hit at least ten hours a week, and possibly even closer to fifteen, so that I can get the cash together to get a decent computer sooner rather than later.
ETA: Unfortunately, the computer is an all-in-one so there isn't a separate monitor that I can disconnect and reconnect to the laptop. And the wireless keyboard and mouse (which came with the desktop when I bought it back in 2009) apparently won't run with anything other than that specific all-in-one computer. At least, that's how it appears based on the many comments I've found complaining about it while googling the model numbers. That said? I may be stopping somewhere after church to see if I can buy a cheap keyboard/mouse combo to hook up to my laptop. If it will (mostly) run Steam, then the least I can do is try to make it a bit easier on me.
This entry has been crossposted to Dreamwidth, and it currently has
replies there. Comment on whichever site you prefer.