At first I blamed it on that damn Crunch3r optimized client. Yes, it made my Dell i600m 1.6GHz notebook run like crazy and return wu's as fast as Madonna turns tricks (ok, all me some exaggeration). But then the damn computer started to go to speed step mode, reducing the voltage to 1V and the speed to 600MHz. When docked, my mouse would choke so I had to use the scratch pad. I found that if I suspended seti or removed the boinc service altogether, the system would come back to life. I also found that removing the docking station at least let me use the mouse, even if the cpu speed went up and down randomly while seti ran. So of course that meant the docking station was loading the system. I spent a very long day or two with the imbeciles at Dell.Support and their nearly worthless support web page, before I gave up and figured/hoped the problem was elsewhere.

So I decided that if Crunch3r was going to give me fits, I would just suspend the beast and work on Einstein or Predictor until the moon and the stars were back in alignment. That worked great and I got some more work done on those projects.

However, when Einstein started to choke I got worried again and when Predictor started to stall the system, I had to return to Mr. Fixit mode.

So, I got out all the strange little items in my desk drawer and began taking screws out of the notebook. Yes, going where no man had been before because I sure as hell will not pay for Dell.Support incompetence. I've already decided that if I have to, I'm going to buy a duo Lenovo or Apple when this notebook crunches its last wu. It is absolutely amazing how the mechanical engineers can put something together like this. (Yes, I know it is actually put together, if not engineered, in some country that would give me diarrhea if I could ever afford to visit.) And of course, it wasn't until I had taken the beast almost completely apart while perspiring an anxious sweat for the better part of an hour that I found out how to do it again in about 30s. Nevertheless, what I found was a testament to the value of personal hygiene. The input to the cpu fan and the heat channel were completely (like you can't see through it) sealed with dog hair, floating dust, and probably a few ticks and prions. Yikes! All that stress was worth it. I had a cause for the slow downs. With glee, I scrapped the crap out, put the beast back together, noted that I had no screws left over, and went back on the air. It's been a while now and no signs of overheating or slow downs. Life is good.

And now I just have to figure out why my wireless no longer works...

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May this Farce be with You

<snickering> been there, done that.

my laptop has a "function + other key" I have to press to turn on/off the wireless network. could this be it? ( for me it's "function + F2")

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On my Inspiron 9200, the 802.11 wireless network is provided by a daughter mini-PCI card ubder one of the removable pannels underneath.

If you've had the machine apart, maybe this has been disturbed and needs re-seating.

If you are referring to Bluetooth wireless though, that is a also a tiny add-on card, accessible via a smalll pannel underneath.

I don't remember exactly where I found it, but I was able to download a proper Service Manual from Dell - which is more than the Tech Support people at Dell seem to have available ;)

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I'm sorry. I was just kidding about the wireless. I did note the wires attaching to the Intel wireless card use a rather fragile connection, but everything works fine.

Ever note that even an innocuous post from me such as this gets an automatic negative one (or less) rating? I guess I should be proud I have at least one stalker. Nobody is anybody in the US anymore without having his/her own personal stalker.

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May this Farce be with You

Well done PhonAcq...people tend to forget that where air is circulated through heat sinks the heat sink will filter out everything that is in the air. I tend to "reverse" blow through my laptop heat sink at least once per week and monitor the temps on my main pc's regularly to see when their heatsinks need cleaning. It is amazing the stuff you find on them, even with air filters on the case inlets.

Live long and crunch.

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Paul
(S@H1 8888)
And proud of it!

I don't have any pets (unless you count two teenage boys)
and yet I too can find random animal hairs in the system inards...

BOINCsquatch anyone?

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It is a sad sad day when someone takes your spoon away from you...

I don't have any pets (unless you count two teenage boys)
and yet I too can find random animal hairs in the system inards...

BOINCsquatch anyone?

might wanna worry about who's in your house when you're gone. LOL

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Its someting that most people take for granted.

They buy a PC and then forget to service it.

All PC's regardless of type should be serviced at least every six months. It does not take long, is not hard as PhonAcq found out, and it extends the life of the machine drasticly.

I usually service my PC's the same weekend that I service my car's. Helps me to remember.

So remember everyone the cooler your CPU, the quicker it runs. :)

P.S At least that is what they told me during my Software Engineering Degree.

(...) So remember everyone the cooler your CPU, the quicker it runs. :) (...)

It's more like the cooler your cpu runs, the more you can overclock ;)
Or you cool down your cpu until it reaches supercondunctance :D

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Aloha, Uli

I don't have any pets (unless you count two teenage boys)
and yet I too can find random animal hairs in the system inards...

BOINCsquatch anyone?

It's probably fur from your mouse..

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I don't have any pets (unless you count two teenage boys)
and yet I too can find random animal hairs in the system inards...

BOINCsquatch anyone?

It's probably fur from your mouse..

Good first post and welcome to seti project.

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98SE XP2500+ @ 2.1 GHz Boinc v5.8.8

And God said"Let there be light."But then the program crashed because he was trying to access the 'light' property of a NULL universe pointer.