Announcing “The gasping computer, the changing plan”

Gasps of a dying computer: click to embiggenSome three weeks ago, I told you how my computer was dying, and crowdfunding would ensue. Then just two days ago I said that the crowdfunding was imminent. That too must change.

Yesterday morning I lost three hours to chasing various error messages. The week’s plans were ruined from day one.

Last night I stopped to think how the computer’s steadily degrading performance was affecting my productivity, and I went digging. The image at the top of the post shows just one species of frequent error message.

As I explain on the Flickr post:

For whatever reason, user interface (UI) updates get disabled รขโ‚ฌโ€ and stay disabled for seconds at a time. Signals just aren’t getting through, and I’ve seen them last for up to 20 seconds or more.

So the basic problem is that you click on something, or press a key on the keyboard, and there’s a delay. Then another one.

And that’s just one of several serious symptoms.

Trying to assemble the crowdfunding campaign — as well as all my other work — on the dying computer itself is a fool’s errand. And I have been that fool.

Fortunately, Justin Clacherty has a spare mid-2013 MacBook Pro with maxed-out processor and RAM specs, and he’s going to lend it to me while I organise things. The new current planned start for the crowdfunding campaign is during the week beginning 20 July. Wish me luck.

3 Replies to “Announcing “The gasping computer, the changing plan””

  1. Ouch, that looks nasty. Glad someone’s been able to help in the meantime. Happy to chip in when you send out the call. ๐Ÿ™‚

  2. @oberonsghost: Yes, we figure the motherboard has been through plenty of impacts, as well as many deep cool-heat cycles, so there’s all manner of intermittent faults. When signals get delayed or corrupted, all sorts of events fail. And this is just one of them.

  3. Glad to see you have a stand in Mac. Was just about to offer my spare 17″ MacBook Pro as an option

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