The stars at night are big and bright...

The stars at night are big and bright...
The stars at night are big and bright...

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

It's Alive!


Sunday night my pc's cpu cooling fan quit. No fan, no computer. It's as simple as that. Monday I did some open heart surgery and removed the dead fan and heat sink, then set out on my quest. First stop was Radio Shack in Decatur.

Remember when Radio Shack had everything electronic imaginable? Well, they don't anymore. They had 3 different fans... 3. All of which were too big and wired wrong. The salesman suggested I try Bridgeport, but I knew if I backtracked to Bridgeport and they didn't have one it would just be a longer drive to Fry's in Arlington where I knew they had what I needed. So off to Arlington I went.

Sure enough they had a fan that would fit, but it was not variable speed. So I spent an extra $4 and bought a complete Cooler Master cpu fan/heat sink combo for $15. It said right on the box it would fit an AMD processor. What it didn't say was it would fit my motherboard because as I would soon find out... it wouldn't. But that's getting ahead of the story.

After I left Fry's I decided to forgo sitting in the afternoon traffic jam on I-35 and headed to China Dragon Super Buffet on 183 in Euless. Or is it Bedford? Hurst? You really have to want to eat there with all the construction going on. Miss the exit and it's about a 3 mile drive thru neighborhood streets to get back there. But it's worth it. Trust me.

I pigged out on crawdads, boiled shrimp, coconut shrimp, spicy shrimp

and I had a fudge brownie sundae for desert. Not bad for around $10.

With my tummy happy, I drove home with visions of slapping my new cooler in and being back in business. Too bad it didn't exactly work that way once I got home. The mounting bracket didn't fit my moboard. Not even close. I decided to try using the bracket off my old cooler and even though it didn't line up exactly like the old heat sink, it was close enough to work.

So now my computer's happy and I'm back on the interwebs for under $30, all you can eat shrimp dinner included. Beats the hell out of buying a new computer.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is some good vittles but your right, it is a ASS WHIP to get there...try that new place on 820 on the service road between the high school and rufe snow..pretty good

an Donalbane said...

You've mentioned that place before - now I realize it's over by my old dentist's office.

Another good place is the Great Wall of China on Saginaw Blvd - good selection, good price, and the owner lady is very friendly.

@Anon - I think the new place on 820 between RHS and Rufe Snow used to be a Bonanza or Sizzler, no?

an Donalbane said...

I totally got sidetracked by the Chinese food thread - did the Radio [You've got questions - we have vacant stares] Shack dude try to get you to follow him?: "Walk this way..."

Daughter and I watched YF last weekend - I had totally forgotten that the old blind monk was Gene Hackman.

RPM said...

By the time somebody walked over from the copy store I had already searched the entire inventory. But he did try to help.

RS just isn't RS anymore.

an Donalbane said...

1:38a RS just isn't RS anymore.

6:26a Dallas News reports Radio Shack CEO has been fired.

OK, admit it, you're really E. F. Hutton, right?