Asta la Vista baby!

Quite literally I can say! A few months ago I got a new PC with Windows Vista.
It occasionally crashed with a blue screen of death, but not too often. Just bugs as with all new products.
Until at some point I started getting the message "graphics driver stopped responding and recovered successfully". The message appeared more and more frequent, until I got to the point I had to start up my PC in safe mode, otherwise it wouldn't start. After some searching on the internet, it turns out this is a major problem that affects both NVIDIA users and ATI users alike! Not only that, it is a problem since the beginning of VIsta!! Some people claim it's a hardware problem, some it's a software issue. Some people said they fixed the problem by returning their graphics card, which was found to be faulty. New driver versions don't seem to solve the issue so far. Other people seemed to find a solution in removing on eof their 2 RAM chips. Yet others found solutions in UNDERclocking their hardware...
Recently my graphics card died I think, because I did a complete reinstall, with Vista, and the problem still occured. Then I installed XP, but it could no longer finish teh installation, and my PC kept restarting.
To ensure it wasn't my motherboard, I tried it on my old PC, and sure enough, it was dead!
So basically Vista killed a perfectly good graphics card!
What I think happens, is that Vista tries to drive graphics cards beyond their specifications, resulting in some sort of overload.
Some people will think that's bollucks, but lets face it: those same people use SOFTWARE to overclock their PC. The fact that some people need to UNDER clock their hardware to get a stable system, seem sto indicate that indeed Vista drives it beyond specs (underclock plus overdrive=normal operating levels roughly...)
So, I'm gonna sell my Vista disk. Interestingly Microsoft plans to stop support for XP soon as well (because of Vista). Well, I think they will see a massive migration of people switching from Microsoft, to Apple and Linux etc...

Good luck Microsoft, lawsuits are forming and you are in for the ride of your life!

As a follow up, I bought a new graphics card from Novatech. I bought a Sapphire 2600XT. The guys at Novatech suggested me to upgrade my PSU to something "branded" so they sold me a Jeantech PSU of 450Watt. Turns out the PSU is only 425 Watt, which is a massive 5 Watts more than my current PSU (420 Watts)! Not only that, I installed it, and after letting my PC run nominally for a while (no gaming, jut switched on...), it decided to overheat and turn off my PC. I doubl checked by reinstalling my own PSU, and it started just fine.
So I'll be returning that PSU to tehm tomorrow, and ask them for a generic "unbranded" 600Watt PSU for half the price of this "branded" PSU...

This reminds me I need to return my LCD as well (aria.co.uk) because it is sometimes starting up with a foggy white screen. I need to turn it off and on again for it to display properly. So it goes back and I want a different one. Maybe I'll try to get a slightly bigger one for slightly more money...

It's worse...

Yeah, very disappointing... Had my birthday thursday last week... Well, you could have fooled me!
In total there were about 5 people that actually congratulated me on that day, none of which are family!!!!!!!!
Some people had a fair excuse though: My brother was on holiday in Norway and didn't have reception with his phone, and Chris next door had to go to the hospital as his father was taken in (luckily nothing too serious).
Then again, maybe the others also have a good excuse: they don't care...!
Even my dad forgot!!! He called me the next day, and started talking liek it was a normal day. Of course I was grumpy like hell, and he noticed this. I didn't say anything though. Later in teh evening he called again, as he finally realised he forgot something!

Well, I say bullocks to all! Guess there IS only me myself and I on this planet...

planning

Some good things: The electrician came by, and approved my handywork in the bath room. He was quite impressed he said.
Not so fortunate on the other hand, is that I have bene struck by a light flu. That's teh result of 10-12 hours a day's work, and then DIY when I get home. So unlike my plans, I was unable to do anything significant today, and most likely I won't be able to do anything tomorrow either. That sucks doggy dick!
I hope I can at least prepare the bathroom, so I can start plastering during the week. Then paint by the end of the week, and in the weekend start tiling. Having said that, I do need to order a bath first, and place it, together with the plumbing!
I'm not planning to tile underneith the bath tub!


Well, better get some sleep, so I can actually do something useful tomorrow... Maybe I can sell some more stuff on eBay.

It's time...

I need a change... Lots is happening and my future is a little uncertain at the moment. I'm praying to absolutely every deity I can think of, and I'm even sacrificing small goats to obtain some positive results.
I'm trying to get to China through the company.
I dearly hope my application will be successful. Lately I have been feeling tired, very tired. Stress at work is eating away at me, the one week holiday was definitely not enough! I need a change
I'm feel stretched thin, like too little butter over too much bread. I need a change.

I discovered "hyves", a dutch community web thingy, that allows you to find old friends long gone, and new ones. Its mostly dutch (although the interface is english ofcourse). I found friends I tried to stay in touch with, but due to lack of recent email addresses have not been able to. That has changed now.
The world around my friends is changing. They are all getting married or already married. SOem are having children. Yet here I am...
I need a change...

revamped face

Well, I decided to revamp my blog a bit.
I started looking around for templates to use with blogger. I found loads of them, but they weren't all that brilliant. I found one that looked good, so I grabbed it, and hereby thanks to the guys that made it. I tweaked it a lot and it doesn't look that much like the original.
I also will need to adjust the header still. Although I like the pic etc, I don't like the frame around it that much and I need to figure out how I can create my own frame around a box or column or whatever.
Actually I'd like to work more with flash, as I really like what you can do with it. Unfortunately I have two left hands when it comes to programming and related stuff, so not sure if I will able to pull anything off...
Some links in this template I still need to address as they point to things from the original designer. Well, I guess he won't mind for the moment as the site he uses to explain how to use blogs, plus he gets some credits as well, etc.
Another thing is I would like to add some pics to the side of the text, or mix them decently with text. Not sure how to do that yet.

Someone I know uses MS word to edit his website. The guy is into art. He made a few semi abstract paintings, some better than others, and he has made "paintings" using tin cans and bottle caps as well. Very creative! But honestly, his website leaves much to desire. I don't want to tell him what to do though. It's his web site and he should do with it what he wants. Interestingly he says he doesn't like painting or any of that art stuff he is doing. He just does it to obtain the result. Kind of a necessary evil he says...
That reminds me, I still haven't told Donny on what to do with his website. He has a good basic design, but for a pro photographer he really needs to be more selective as to what he puts on his portfolio.

I may post more later. I think today I'll do some photo editing and putting up those pics on flickr.