Hardware failure?
August 20th, 2008Sadly I am once again experiencing problems with the PC’s video signal. Every now and then it will just refuse to output anything to the monitor when it is turned on, which puts the LCD into a power save mode as a result. When this started happening a couple of months ago it seemed to be enough to just switch DVI ports (the video card has 2) or reboot the system, but it’s become a bit trickier since then. When I ran out of easy options about a month ago I carried the thing outside and gave it a good air-dusting. After blowing out a fair amount of dust — mostly from the processor’s heat sink — and reseating the video card in the PCI-E slot, everything was running well again. The problems returned this evening, though, and I’m not sure what is causing this strange behavior.
In other hardware-related news, I’m currently very interested in acquiring a Mac mini for use as a HTPC. There is a plethora of great-looking software out there that I’m itching to use, but I have to get the hardware first. I’m waiting (and hoping) to see Apple release an update to their mini product line, which is rumored to happen sometime in September. 802.11n wouldn’t be too shabby at all. Waiting isn’t so bad considering I don’t have the money to go out and buy one right now anyway!