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KERNEL_APC_PENDING_DURING_EXIT
message whenever I exit a large program (OpenOffice, Thunderbird, Firefox, World of Warcraft, whatever), and the BIOS has ceased to recognize the existence of my DVD drives, which means I won't even be able to restore my system when Windows craps out.
Looks like I'm going to be learning how to do my writing with a pen and paper again, real soon now, unless a miracle happens and I manage to find money to buy a refurb or used computer somewhere.
Yay. Hurray. Whatever.
5 comments:
Bill,
Can you update the BIOS? I think most newer BIOSes can be "upgraded."
Beyond that, if you have a working CD/DVD -- or can boot from USB -- then you can at least run Knoppix, Damn Small Linux or Knoppix.
I don't know how much computer you need, but I occasionally see some only nominally obsolete models (1GHz+ CPU, 256Mb+ RAM) models in thrift stores, sometimes in the $100 price range.
Another thing: Ask around!
I don't have any unused working boxes lying around at the moment (I tend to use them until they start acting like yours is), but I bet someone you know has one they'd be willing to send you for the cost of shipping.
If it's an older box, treat it like a "netbook" -- install a non-demanding OS (like one of those mentioned in my previous comment) that can get you online and into a modern web browser but otherwise doesn't suck a bunch of resources. OpenOffice is great, but why not let Google Docs or Zoho carry the processing/memory weight?
Sad thing is, this is a new mobo. Just bought it last summer, and it's already doing this. And, unfortunately, it's one of those where the BIOS gets flashed from a CD.
If I could get it to boot from one of the DVD drives, I could use my copy of Ubuntu to at least milk a few more months of life from it. As it is, I'm just kind of holding my breath and hoping it doesn't fry out completely before I can replace it.
I suspect the primary problem is that, while the mobo is less than a year old:
1) the CPU is 5 (going on 6) years old, and has never run at less than 60C in that entire time, due to defective case design by Compaq, and
2) the PSU is 280 watts, and that's the largest PSU that is compatible with the mobo, due to the design of the mobo's cable connections. So, when I replaced the CD-ROM and DVD+R/W with a DVD+R/W and a DVD+-R/W(D/L), while at the same time adding a second HD and upgraded from onboard video to a REAL video card, I'm fairly sure I overloaded the PSU, and when you do that, they tend to do Bad Things (TM) to the rest of the components of the system. At least, that's my guess.
Bill,
Yeah, that sounds like a bad situation!
Right now, I have my eye on a refurbished Dell, and if I can scratch together the money to get it, I'll have a working computer again. Wish me luck!
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