It sounds cliche’, but it came to me in a dream. After the Library’s fall, I was lost. While mine was no Alexandria, I must admit that it is a great deal of my world. I went to sleep that night, angry, and unsure of what to do.
And then, as mentioned, it came to me in a dream.
I was in this incredibly bright white cleanroom. There were no discernible features, no door, no windows, no real light source. Just the room, myself, and the defunct Library. It sat there on it’s side like a turtle on it’s shell staring up at the world, waiting for the eagle to come and grab it so it could be dropped to the rocks below. After all, there is good eating in one of those.
But there was no eagle. Instead I leaned over it, and instinctually began to dismantle the Library, removing it’s main components. As I carefully stripped out the motherboard, I immediately placed it on the edge of the non-existent workbench so the processor’s corner was hanging off the ledge. From there, the board alone, I began to install the heat sink. Without considering the case, or the other portions, I screwed the mount onto the board, leaving the turn screw nuts below the board so they would work like spacers between the board and the case itself.
After the heat sink was installed, I reassembled the tower, and just as I turned the final screw I woke up. Unfortunately I woke up because my alarm went off and I had to go to work. I struggled and struggled to hold on to that dream, reciting it to myself all day long. Finally, I got home and was able to get to work.
Unfortunately I don’t have any sort of cleanroom. My Office is a sweltering mess, and the rest of my house has cats to contend with, but I was able to sequester the furry beasts well enough to use the foyer of my house. It’s a relatively square room with tile floors, so it would have to do.
Getting the tower disassembled was hardly as simple as I dreamed it would be. It took me two hours to get everything out, assembled, and then back in. Of course, getting the board wired again was the hard part. Fortunately I still have the manual. With that I was able to do it right the first time around, and boot the Library up.
I literally had my fingers crossed for luck.
It booted up, and I could see that the heat sink was powered properly. To test it, I decided to run Dawn of War II. It’s a fun game, it really is, but I haven’t been able to play it for more than half an hour or so at a time before the whole thing would tank.
Four hours later I realized that it was doing it’s job. This was awesome news! It meant that I didn’t have to worry about short changing myself on the Reliquary! Instead I could keep working with the Library, keep building up cash moneys, and buy the upgrade computer I actually wanted. It also helped that one of the other allies gave me his old video card ( an nVidia GeForce 8800GT ) so I could run SLi with mine, further extending the functional life of the Library.
So now I’m in less of a panic mode. It’s been a few days and I still haven’t had a major power shut down, though after a few hours of graphics intensive gaming the Library does tend to chunk so I’ll definitely want to pick up a few fans. Still, it gives me hope that I’ll have the time to put the computer I want to upgrade to into play.
Thank you, Machine Spirit. I am ever your Servant.
— Vid