There and back again...

[David Kastrup]

Hi,

two weeks ago or so I reported intermittent problems with my (builtin)
graphics card.  Two days ago, the card decided to make the problems
permanent, rendering the computer screen black and, naturally, the
external CRT connector equally so.

My stack of old laptops did not offer anything working (particularly not
with SATA hard disks), so since I previously weren't able to remove the
fan assembly on the Thinkpad successfully myself, I had to engage a
repair service for transferring the fan assembly from my current laptop
(donated by one LilyPond developer) to that of the previous one (donated
by another LilyPond developer).  So my CPU speed is somewhat down from
previously (as I did not know whether the CPU might have been involved
with the blackout, I did not let it get transplanted back into the older
laptop).  So is my graphics resolution, and I know have back my Intel
GPU instead of the previous Nvidia one, which for development work under
GNU/Linux is a real huge breath of relief: only free (non-binary!)
driver support which means better future-safety, better hibernate,
better mixed-platform support (64bit kernel with 32bit system mostly)
and so on.  So all in all, could be worse, and downtime was just a bit
over one day.

However, of the originally two Thinkpad T61, I now have only one
remaining fan, one remaining working keyboard (and the right shift-key
is getting out of whack, too) and so on.  This was just a €40 repair job
now but next time I won't get away that easy.

And, uh, the fan right now sounds like a Lear Jet when it really
engages.  Which is rarely does now while idling (probably better heat
contact than previously).  But maybe I still need to get back for a
check.  Sigh.  They probably couldn't easily test this as I did not
leave them the hard disk.

-- 
David Kastrup