Mr. Laptop is fucked. This shouldn't be surprising, as I have a tendency to treat them badly by expecting them to do things like perform well over long periods of time. It has a long history of overheating when I play WoW, which I can live with, but lately is has decided to systematically shut down one issue at a time.
The first issue, which has yet to be resolved, is the power cord and the power source simultaneously decided to malfunction in unrelated ways. The cord shorted out and the source came loose from the case. To fix the latter, I had to crack the case and superglue the fucker back into place. Easy fix. I thought the cord would be easy too:it's called type in your make and model # and buy a new one off eBay. I've done it before for my previous models. I will no doubt have to do it at least once more for this one. My standard laptop life is three power cords. Dunno why, but when the third one craps out, it usually takes the rest of the computer with it.
So anyway, I look up my laptop's type (it's a Toshiba Satellite A105, since I know you care so much). I order the laptop cord that corresponds to this type from the same eBay seller all my other cords have come from. It gets here in record time, and there is much rejoicing. At least until I go to plug everything up. The new plug is too wide to fit the laptop's power source. I email the seller, who is as perplexed as I am. He asks me to measure the outer and inner diameter of the old plug and the one he sent me. Turns out, the new one is 2 mm too wide. Not a lot. But enough.
I email him the specs of the original cord and he has nothing – that's right NOTHING – that will fit it. He offers to refund the price of the cord, which is nice, but I am still left without a way to use the damn computer.
A google search for a replacement cord to fit my specs reveals nothing for under 80 bucks. 80 bucks is way too much to pay for a power cord. In frustration, I take the laptop to Radio Shack, thinking that maybe one of their multi-voltage chargers might do the job. The folks are nice enough to break into five separate packages that seem to meet my requirements, but, alas, everything is just a hair too large to actually work.
So I order the replacement cord and am still waiting for it to arrive. In the meantime, I managed to get my old one to talk to the battery long enough to charge it up. I boot the computer, only to discover that it can't find my modem. My once flawless wireless card that could pick up a signal from 4 houses down can not find my own damn modem 4 rooms away. In fact, it can only see my wireless signal if it is within 10-15 feet of the modem. Check the settings, change the settings, recrack the case to make sure I haven't fiddled with anything I shouldn't hate. Still no range. Luckily, I remember a wireless NIC I'd left up at Mikey's months and months ago while trying to help Brian fix his computer. They never used it, as they needed a desktop NIC, so I call em up and go grab the thing.
And, of course, it isn't Vista compatible. To make matters worse, all the case cracking has warped the slot just enough to ensure I have to beat around the metal casing with a screwdriver to make the card fit. Download the drivers with an Ethernet cord, get the 2nd wireless card up and running. The range is restored, but in the process I realize that the touchpad of the mouse will allow me to move the cursor, but not click on anything.
Motherfucker. Really?I mean, REALLY!?
Since I didn't have this problem before the power cord snafu, I roll back the computer to the beginning of the month in hopes of restoring it. Nothing. I rip and reinstall the mouse drivers. Nothing. I crack the case for a 4th or 5th time and check to make sure the connectors didn't accidentally come unplugged. They weren't.
Reboot the computer, touchpad works on the login screen, then ceases to work once I log in. Discover something buried deep in my profile settings was causing it to disable on login. Fix registry error. Touchpad works.
Still no power cord.
Damn it.
