Computer Woes: New Hewlett Packard Croaks

Well, my shiny new (as of 6 months ago) Hewlett-Packard computer blew a gasket this weekend. Or, more precisely, it blew its power supply. It's been randomly restarting of late, but I thought that had something to do with downloading the pre-release of Windows 7. So, Bill Gates can relax, as I won't be sending him an angry letter. Yet.

But HP might not be so lucky. Seriously, WTF? It is true that I rarely shut my computer off, preferring to have it ready when I'm ready to use it. But six months? We used to leave the computers at the bank I worked at on 24/7, and those were 1987 IBM PS/2s! This is the second PC I've owned from HP, and this is the second power supply burn-out as well. Now, I probably could have it fixed for free, since I'm still under warranty. But what a pain in the ass. I know how to change a power supply, and they're inexpensive, so I'll fix it myself.

Trouble is, I broke the power supply connector to the hard drive when unplugging it. I say I broke it, but it must have already been cracked, given I did nothing that should have broken it. So, we drove over to Fry's Electronics, only to find that they close at 7 pm on Sundays, something they don't put on their web site. Poop. So, until after work--assuming all goes well--I'll be using our inferior but serviceable Dell notebook computer, which has never had a power supply issue.