Everquest Vs Al-Qaida

[Prosatinos]

Garden is almost planted.... now to see about starting the grapevine patch

[Gnar]

Current update on Facebook said they wont be up at all this weekend but they are working around the clock.

[Chania]

That's OK, tomorrow in First Life I'm undertaking an epic journey to the far away land of Pella.

A new graphics pack was required for the trip, but there are several optional side quests to keep me busy. The primary quest involves finding a rare flower lost amongst a town festival decorated in similar blooms. I'm told there is a mission that takes place inside a breathtakingly realistic windmill. I'm hoping to bring back some exotic meats and pastries from the journey.

If all goes well, upon my return I'm to be honored in the traditional, and unfortunately annual, ritual associated with gaining a level of experience.

Happy Birthday, old man! DING!

[Ventrix]

Yes indeed, Happy Birthday, Ana. Can you give a bit more detail about the especially rare flower hidden among other rare flowers? That sounds more like EQ than First Life. Did you know that the parts of the body most important for Taureans are the throat and the genitals?

[Hazenson]

Happy birthday Anarsys!

[Hastilee]

I mowed, cooked, got sons to plant things, watered, weeded and updated Unholy Czars site for the first time in 3 yrs. I might mow again tomorrow on the lower setting. I've also turned into the Red Queen when I see dandelions. OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!

[Gnar]

I had to get a new cellphone this weekend, upgraded to a Iphone. I wanted to hold out for as long as i could to see what new phones come out this summer but my 7 year old broke my old phone. This is my first smartphone and So far i love it, lots of junk to screw around with till EQs back up.

I did try D&D Online and LOTR, They both failed my taste. I did wow's 10 day cataclysm trial. My highest character was only 55 so ive been fooling with a tauren death knight on the pvp server my oldest son plays on. Still not a great remedy to fill in for eq. My son was telling me warhammer may go free to play soon.

[Vorusk]

When these games go free to play its not exactly free right? Some people tell me that you still pay for certain things basically anything interesting or to do with high level is this true?

[Retrievil]

In the case of lotro they don't limit all that much. You can only have a certain amount of gold, you can only have 1 character, you dont get access to certain traits. (somewhat like aas), and you cannot equip legendary items. Its quite possible to level to max without ever paying a dime. Most wont though because if are going to invest all that time into a char, you will probably end up paying the $15 to get that stuff. If you are just looking to mess around till eq comes back there is no need to pay.

Unfortunately ddo sucks, and unless you are REALLY into the lore, lotro is just a bland wow clone.

[Anarsys]

Well years of playing EQ didn't do it, but a few days turned off did my machine in.

Tried to boot my notebook last night and Poof, no display and a few paltry beeps. I guess it is throwing a temper tantrum for me neglecting it.

Now it's a race to see who will get their stuff running first, SoE's server admin team or Dell's technical staff. Based on previous history I really can't make a guess as to which group is less incompetent.

[Brekthar]

DUDE, my primary PC is doing the EXACT same thing right now. No display, and I'm getting one long beep and 3 short ones. Any suggestions from you all?

[Anarsys]

Your motherboard manual would have a section on beep codes, but since it's pre-video initialization it's likely a severe memory error or video card failure. It could also be a processor unseated, although very unlikely.

In my case it's almost certainly a video card failure (this model has a LONG history of bad video cards) but the brain trust at Dell are sending out a new motherboard, cpu, ram, memory, and ac adapter.

I really want to see the service flowchart that starts with "no display" and ends with Motherboard, CPU, RAM, and AC Adapter being replaced. I'm especially interested in how it applies to a machine with a known (we're talking class action lawsuit) bad video that calls in for tech support with nothing on the display doesn't get a new video card sent out as a repair part, but I suppose I'm just not smart enough to figure out the mystery that is Dell.

I'm also somewhat taken by their redefinition of "next business day on-site service" as no one even called me today to set up the appointment to show up to work on it. I figure it'll be at least a week of parts being exchanged between the local rep and Dell corp before it boots again.

[Brekthar]

I'm having trouble finding a guide for my Asus motherboard. The manual does not include. I have reseated the video card and RAM modules. I have disconnected all other internal devices. I continue to get the 1 long then 3 short beeps. There is then a 5 second delay and then one more short beep. My MB is a P5N-E SLI and my video card is a GeForce 8500 GT 512 MB. Any further suggestions?

[Anarsys]

Asus forums say bad video card: http://is.gd/LoBuMA

[Brekthar]

Thanks for the help. Suggestions on a decent new video card? Just when I have a new 22" monitor in route also. In the meantime I'm going to try to wrestle the video card from my old PC just to confirm.