So. It’s the CPU. Definitely. I mean, definitely according to my Intuiton (TM).

Naturally, eBay’s only been offering whiz-bang upgrade cards, which run about $100, and I completely missed a 233Mhz card (in Seattle, yet) yesterday. I mistook myself earlier when I noted that Bellerophon has a 300Mhz CPU – it’s a 233.

I have been struggling to compile the system-level image manipulation tools that enable stuff like photo uploads, something that takes upwards of 12 hours of 100% CPU activity.

I finally have jury-rigged a contraption anyone’s grandpappy would be proud of: I opened a dead outboard SCSI hard-drive, disconnected the drive itself, and pulled out the housing fan so I can position it independently to cool the laptop’s heat sink. Then, I set up a system of shims made from cork and toothpicks to float the keyboard off the surface of the heatsink, allowing the fan to move the hot air out.

I’d post a picture, but, um…

Well, maybe I will anyway.

UPDATE: Interestingly, the other image tool I set up many moons ago, NetPBM, works fine. I think I saw where the 2.51 upgrade to Moveable Type supports NetPBM now; purrhaps I’ll look into it more deeply.

7 thoughts on “limping to bethlehem”

  2. Ok, give me a minute to stop laughing.

    OK, um, better now.

    Have you thought about a liquid nitrogen cooling system?

    Or maybe suspend the entire rig in a vat of non-conductive liquid (gasoline is not recommended)?

  3. Hey! I don’t see what is so funny! Pure genius, I tell you! Those toothpicks are so…so…positively inspiring!

    Reckon that is one flaptop that is never goin’ travelin’ agin.

  4. Ken:

    I was gonna refangle the himmy-whatsit, but then I realized the wangdoodle had already refaginated the fragmentation bus.

    So then I thought, hey, maybe it’s in the EPS circuitry, up inside the Jeffries tubes.

    Pinax: you are correct, but because the battery won’t charge and hasn’t since I bought it for chep, sans screen and a couple other parts.

    In fact, I do hope to see Bellerophon returned to a non-semi-eviscerated state.

    Paul: the thermal conductive paste is in fact on the way.

    I actually did my homework on extreme cooling and have, out of camera range, a can of DUST-OFF: turn it on its side, blast a away for a second, and, yeahh boyee, the frost is on the punkin.

    However, no blue LEDs are slated for this mod. If I could use twigs and walnuts instead of toothpicks and corks, that’s more like it.

    Hm, that bears some thought.

  6. Gazizza dilsnufuses Mike Whybark saying get with the crazappy taste of Rocket fuel malt liquor. Rocket Fuel’s got the upstate prison flavor that keeps you ugly all night long. So when you want to get sick remember nothing makes your feet stank like Rocket Fuel malt liquor! Damn, it’s crazappy!!!

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