Freeday 7 December 2001

Pic of the day: Picture shows the EXIT of the EverQuest demo. And that's pretty much it, or so it seems.

NeverQuest?

(Continued from yesterday, sort of.)
So I kept starting EverQuest each time it crashed. I stopped it each time it just died, and restarted. And eventually it was clear that it was moving on to new files. Eventually it patched the patcher, and from there on it took just one more hour or so to download the rest. At 3 in the night, the game was ready to start!

I started, and choose account, new account, like the book said. The program hung. The entire PC hung. I had to reset it. So I waited until it came up again, and started anew. Hope springs eternal, is that not what they say? The patcher came and went (without any new files, I'm happy to say) and I once again verified that yes, I had read the overly paranoid license agreement. I chose account, new account. The computer hung. This time, I managed to stop the task "EverQuest" from Ctrl-Alt-Del, and noticed that the modem had hung up.

I connected again, and started EQ again. Chose account, new account. The program thought for a while, then complained that it could not connect to server. I backed out in a worthy manner, and found that the modem had hung up again. I repeated this a couple times, then went to bed.

Next morning, I tried with the external modem instead. This time I got up a screen where I could enter my name, address, and a few other choice fields. I sent it, and got the reply that connection with the server seemed to be down. I backed out, and yes, the modem had hung up. I tried again. The computer reset, and I ran for work.

***

In the box, there had been a tiny statue made from some light gray metal (pewter?). I put it on top of my monitor at work. Trust me, this is not about work. I forgot about the whole thing for a few hours, until suddenly for the first time in my 21 years career, three binders half full of paper fell from the shelf beside my desk. Seemingly stretching the laws of physics just a little, they did not fall straight down but rather jumped a bit out from the shelf and rained down on my monitor. After the inital shock, I was delighted to find that nothing was damaged. Only after I had put them back, did I notice that the small statuette was gone from the top of the monitor. Indeed from the entire desk. It had been knocked down between the desk and the wall, and was now lying on the floor awaiting a friendly vaccuum cleaner or something. I picked it up, but now I wonder what will happen next.

Perhaps I should try once more to start EverQuest, then when the computer hangs up I should strike it and see if it starts to talk to me like some smart-ass ... (Obscure Judeo-Christian in-joke.)

***

Actually, the computer problem problem is probably related to the earlier blues I have had with this computer and Internet. My best guess is that it logs off when exposed to certain internal conditions, probably heavy processor load. It also disconnects if I play The Sims for a while without logging off first. Daggerfall however I can play quite a bit longer. Daggerfall was made for much weaker computers, and may put less strain on the motherboard. I am sure it is a problem with the bus or somewhere on the motherboard, because it does not matter whether I use the internal or the external modem. (This is also why the boys at North Corporation refused to believe that the problem was with the computer rather than the phone line. They could not imagine a problem that affected all kinds of modems but no other units. Well, it's not my job to find out. If they think the motherboard is OK, why can't they switch it with one of their own? I'd pay them for the worktime it'd take.)

Anyway, the short of it is that I don't get to play the infamously addictive roleplaying game until I find a new computer. In my home, that would normally take one to three years, depending on whether SuperWoman finds herself a man with his own computer soon, or not. (No pressure, young lady, I just imagine your future husband won't particularly want to have my computer in your common home. I may be wrong; I almost hope so. It would all depend on the man, I guess.)