Unhappy about hardware

I have two unrelated problems.

The first is that my computer has lost contact with one of the hard drives. I was in the middle of copying a large file from c: to d:(because there was something over 100 gig of space on d that I wasn't using (I bought two drives because there was no good reason not to, rather than because I needed that much space) when the system hung. It noticed control-alt-del long enough to bring up the task manager, but then would do nothing. It took leaning on the power button to bring the machine down, and three tries to get it to come back up again. At that point, the list of devices didn't include that second hard drive. This morning, it booted a little slowly, but seemed okay. It even admitted to having a d drive, but when I tried to actually open that device, it said it couldn't find it, and suggested I check either the cabling or my network. I'm going to open this box up and check the connections in a bit (right now I want to use the net), but I think I'd have noticed a jolt to the machine while I was sitting right in front of it, so I may not have a d: drive anymore. This is, short-term, annoying because that's where I was making my backups to (I've got a few things on a USB key, and put a backup on C last night after this happened, but backing a hard drive up to itself is suboptimal), rather than because I need the space qua space.

The other problem is that our air conditioner, which is at least a decade old, hasn't been cooling as well this summer. A little while ago, we went into the bedroom to put away laundry. I went to the closet to get hangers, and saw that there was a significant puddle under the air conditioner. cattitude thinks it's tilted wrong, but again, it's been in the same position for months (on a relatively new bracket that the landlord installed; I think the city yelled at them about unsupported air conditioners). This likely means a new air conditioner, which in turn means scheduling time for someone to deliver it, install it, and remove the old one. Cattitude has deadlines, and I'm not sure I have any available time off (though Wednesday's pay slip will have updated information on that, and there might be some. I might be able to work at home to deal with this, but I'll need to ask my boss. So while we could shop tomorrow, unless they'll give us a next-weekend delivery date, we can't actually schedule delivery yet.

If anyone knows anything useful about current models of window air conditioner, or about NYC appliance stores, please feel free to leave advice and suggestions.

Unhappy about hardware

I have two unrelated problems.

The first is that my computer has lost contact with one of the hard drives. I was in the middle of copying a large file from c: to d:(because there was something over 100 gig of space on d that I wasn't using (I bought two drives because there was no good reason not to, rather than because I needed that much space) when the system hung. It noticed control-alt-del long enough to bring up the task manager, but then would do nothing. It took leaning on the power button to bring the machine down, and three tries to get it to come back up again. At that point, the list of devices didn't include that second hard drive. This morning, it booted a little slowly, but seemed okay. It even admitted to having a d drive, but when I tried to actually open that device, it said it couldn't find it, and suggested I check either the cabling or my network. I'm going to open this box up and check the connections in a bit (right now I want to use the net), but I think I'd have noticed a jolt to the machine while I was sitting right in front of it, so I may not have a d: drive anymore. This is, short-term, annoying because that's where I was making my backups to (I've got a few things on a USB key, and put a backup on C last night after this happened, but backing a hard drive up to itself is suboptimal), rather than because I need the space qua space.

The other problem is that our air conditioner, which is at least a decade old, hasn't been cooling as well this summer. A little while ago, we went into the bedroom to put away laundry. I went to the closet to get hangers, and saw that there was a significant puddle under the air conditioner. cattitude thinks it's tilted wrong, but again, it's been in the same position for months (on a relatively new bracket that the landlord installed; I think the city yelled at them about unsupported air conditioners). This likely means a new air conditioner, which in turn means scheduling time for someone to deliver it, install it, and remove the old one. Cattitude has deadlines, and I'm not sure I have any available time off (though Wednesday's pay slip will have updated information on that, and there might be some. I might be able to work at home to deal with this, but I'll need to ask my boss. So while we could shop tomorrow, unless they'll give us a next-weekend delivery date, we can't actually schedule delivery yet.

If anyone knows anything useful about current models of window air conditioner, or about NYC appliance stores, please feel free to leave advice and suggestions.