When the unexpected happens…

Smile, laugh, frown, even cringe… but don’t run.

Good day until I tried to be smart. My new computer doesn’t want to use my ATA controller so I can use 8 IDEs at the same time. Through testing I found out it was most likely due to the drive enumeration. The ATA addon wants to start numbering at 0… which is fine the the motherboard doesn’t mind being offset by 4… but my new motherboard is a little stubborn. So… me being too smart for my own good figured I might be able to fix it with a bios update. Well, there was this pesky problem with the computer posting but not booting with the ATA card installed. So (and this is were I go a little overboard) I disabled the onboard IDE controller and the SATA controllers (trying to protect them from possible foolishness) and booted from my USB flash drive. The reprogramming went fine, but when I renenabled all my controllers my onboard IDE refused to detect anything. I fought with it for almost 2 hours. Tried many combinations of controllers… reinstalled drivers… flashed the system bios 3 times… fragged the nvram and cmos checksum more times than is healthy… In the end all I had to do was pull the backup battery for 10 minutes to let the capacitors drain. Apparently there are settings that survive a complete wipe of the bios. That makes me angry.

2 midterms this week that I don’t feel like preparing for. I should for the one I have tomorrow since I don’t really know most of whats going on… but I have a feeling most of the class is with me and I’ll end up above the curve anyway.

Mike, no matter which way the wind blows, you will be ok. I know is sucks, and probably hurts, but you’ll be good in the end. Call on me when ever you need or want. My phone is always on and I’ll always answer when you call.

Good night… sweet dreams… ahh hell… I just need sleep.