Unplanned visit to Grammy's house

A while back, I got a very affordable computer from Walmart.  It didn't have a monitor, but I can get monitors at work for a song, if I don't mind the old CRTs.  Kevin got her all hooked up and things were fine for a few days.  Then, it bit the big one.

No telling what happened.  It had ridden down there in the back of the pickup, plus it was pretty old and slow to begin with.  I think it was just tired.  She was sure she had done something wrong, because she has no experience, but she couldn't have caused what was happening.

A bit after 5 last night, I told Kevin, "I can't fix it from here.  I think I'll just go down there."  He agreed that, despite the fuel involved, it was the best solution.  Monica was at a friends house, so Natalie and I jumped in the truck and headed South.  She and I are great travel buddies, and we laughed and sang and acted silly for three hours before arriving in Carthage.

I tried everything in my limited repertoire to get the poor thing running.  Diagnostics tests found most things OK, but the display adapter wasn't happy.  That wouldn't explain everything that it was doing, but it would explain some.  I gave up and went to bed, then woke up this morning and started messing with it again.

I finally cried "Uncle" and told Linda that I didn't think I could fix it.  She decided it would be best to buy an eMachine like my new one, so off we went to WalMart.   We went back to her house and set it up.  After several updates and the long setup process, we got her online once again.  I feel better about her chances with a new machine.

Now, we just need to set her up with a digital camera!  LOL  When we left, she had some things added to favorites, knew how to get to her email, and was playing a very competitive game of Hearts.  (Please don't tell her that those other three players aren't real people.)

Now, I'm home in my comfy living room, while the 20-25 mph wind howls outside (gusts are close to 50 mph.)  It got warm today, but it's blowing so hard, I fear we'll be transported to Oz if we step out there!  "Auntie Em! Auntie Em!"