Rhymes With Bucket

So today, against my better judgement, I decided to attempt to reconstruct the dead computer. I put it off and put it off because, frankly, I was really hacked off with the whole situation. I've had a feeling it's been screwing of late, and expected it to go wrong, but not quite on such a monumental scale.

I had the main components out of the case and connected on my desk, testing everything I could with Jo's parts we knew were working. While having a rummage, I found the cause. My graphics card - the part that I prolly use most due to my gaming needs - has gotten hot. I don't mean "I bit on the hot side" I mean, "melted the fan" hot. To help out, the side of the case has been taken off, and a desk fan - the sort you crack out in the summer - is blowing on the inside 24/7. However, things have obviously gotten worse, and the graphics card has gotten so hot, the solder itself has melted.

Now, Wikipedia tells me this has a melting point of 180 to 190 °C (360 to 370 °F), so I would say the card has "well and truly overheated". Of course, it doesn't end there. One component of the graphics card, marked just "1R5" has fallen off completely. Two capacitors are loose. And, melted solder has dripped onto the motherboard and blown it. It's dead to the point, it doesn't even attempt t boot up. No beeps, no errors, no BIOS, just... dead.

So, unless I win the lottery, sell a kidney or otherwise find a case of money, it's no computer for me, just the laptop, which doesn't run games. The other components are all fine - I just the PSU, the Hard Drives and CD/DVD/Writer, plus the peripherals are fine too, so now I've just got to save up.

On top of this I am stressed out no end (I hate fixing computers when I know there's nothing I can do), plus feel rough as arseholes with some germs fighting their way into my body. Oh yes, my head is pounding too.

So yes, my computer. The solution. It rhymes with Bucket.