Computers always fail at the worst times.

They really do! Luckily I'm not completely useless when it comes to computer issues, so I should have it fixed soon!

That does help. And a CPU cooler is relatively minor.

I'm glad I have a Fry's Electronics nearby. Short drive and I have alllll the parts I need.

Hopefully they don't make you wait too long, at least it's not a total blowout!

Luckily I will be getting it on Friday for sure! ;3; so work will resume then~

That's not so bad at all! The wait time is pretty reasonable, then; nothing worse than feeling like you just have to wait it out for a long time.

Did the fan on the old/current one stop working? If so, I could talk you through how to oil and service it to get it up and running again.

It just flat out broke! I made the mistake of blowing canned air through it one too many times before learning that I shouldn't do that to clean it out. And honestly, it's old as all hell so I wouldn't be surprised if it was unsalvageable. At this point, replacing the heatsink and fan altogether is the best bet, and not too expensive!

I appreciate it though :]

Never been a fan of canned air - I always took the heatsink off and vacuumed it out (though then you have to be sure you have thermal paste to reapply to the CPU and put it back on). If you're careful, you can vacuum it out while it's still attached. If the heatsink fan was of decent quality, you should be able to get 10+ years out of it. While my laptops are newer, my tower PC's motherboard and CPU is 9 years old and still running fine on the original CPU fan. Trick is you have to oil them every 3 or 4 years.

Yeah, fortunately heatsinks are not that expensive - just sucks when you're in a wait-state for one to you. >_< Hopefully it won't take too much longer.

Yeah, I learned that I should be vacuuming it after the fact! Though I don't have thermal paste, so I would have either had to go find some or order it anyway. And this heatsink fan is probably 6+ years old, and has not been oiled as far as I know, so it is likely kaput! I have learned a lot about my computer ever since I split from my ex, but it still seems that there's more for me to learn haha ;3;

Luckily it'll be here Friday! So only a couple of days of working on ~other~ stuff haha.

*laughs* Yeah, that's basically how you learn that one. Hmm.. 6 years without oil, yeah, may have seized the fan. Learning about them can be interesting! Knowing how to build, repair and maintain your own is super handy - been doing it myself since before you were born. ... awww dammit... I'm actually getting old enough that I can say that now.

Most people don't realize there is maintenance you can do yourself, and that's often how computer servicing places wait like vultures to make a killing off ya. If ever you want to learn more, just msg. me - I'd be happy to help you learn. And woo for Friday - not a long wait at all. :)

Yeah, so far I've disassembled and reassembled my own desktop 2 or 3 times, replaced the harddrive, power supply, and gerry-rigged the assembly into a new tower. Long story short, my dad gave me a case that was meant for a server, but my current case hadn't had a side panel for years and I needed something ENCLOSED so I took it, cause free is free! The power button on the case didn't fit in my mother board so I had to cut the power button out of the panel on my old tower and taped it to the back rofl. That was an experience.

I'll have to message you after my cons I'm working! I'd love to learn more about my computer, particularly how to better maintain it so it can continue to live a long life haha.

Ha! That's awesome! Totally with you there - free case is free case, so a little "customization" here and there to make it work is great. Since all the ATX motherboards essentially just need to prongs touched together for a second to power on, you can make a switch that works from just about anything. :3

And sure - PM me any time, I'd be happy to share whatever I can about'em. :)