Went to the post office on Saturday. Got home just in time to watch my video card die. Monitor suddenly said "No signal". I looked at the side of my computer & it had cat pee dripping from it. It has side vents (there used to be a fan on the side, but we reconfigured the fan placement) and one of my brother's cats sprayed the side. I turned off my computer, pulled the side panel off, cleaned it, and checked inside my computer, careful not to tip it to let pee drip toward the motherboard. There only appeared to be pee in one spot on the video card. I cleaned it up, let it dry, then tried to see if it would work. No dice. Told my brother his cat had just ruined my video card. All he said was "That sucks". If he'd used his stimulus check to get his cats neutered they wouldn't be spraying. Cost of neutering all 5 of them is lower than a replacement video card. I got on his computer and messaged a friend to help me look for a video card. All sold out. Only ones comparable were $600. Lesser ones were all over $300. Friend told me to pack up my computer, bring it over, and bring 70% or higher alcohol.
I got it over there and another friend helped me with it (had to pass it over a baby gate)- he didn't want me trying to step over it. The two of them worked on taking it apart. I got some disinfectant wipes and cleaned the outside of the case and the removed side more thoroughly. Other friend was busy cleaning the video card, while the friend who called me over was working on cleaning the inside. Put it back in, tested it, still no dice. Pulled it out & other friend was meticulously cleaning ever cm of it while my friend got my brother's old video card out. It had stopped working but my friend managed to fix it. It's a better video card than the one I had but still same amount of video RAM (8Gb). He put it in & it worked. He downloaded the new drivers reset resolution, and had me test one of my graphics intensive games on it. So, I went from a Radeon 480 to a 590. Looks like this one has better cooling.
I made a trip to the store to get some plastic sheets and clear packing tape. Friend taped them over the vents both inside and out on the side. Now if the cat's spray the side it won't go on the inside. I'm working on designing something for the top in case they puke or pee on top of it. I'm very relieved the 2nd graphics card worked bc I was about to bean my brother over the head with a frying pan. He had no intention of replacing it.
Other friend was telling me to keep my door closed to keep the animals out. I reminded him my door won't stay shut even when locked and even if I could, the dogs tore a hole in the bottom of my door so they could get in and out whenever they wanted so the cats can get through. I have tried stuffing blankets in the hole-- they manage to get it out. So, I need a new door. LOL.
Anyway, got my computer home and made dinner. So glad my friend is good at stuff like that. He used to have a repair thing going where people would pay him to repair stuff, but things got too hectic. Before we started helping him out financially, we used to pay him to fix stuff. But, at this point he says he owes us his kidneys. LOL.
Today I felt like absolute garbage. Woke up sick. Stayed in bed most of the day. Got up to reheat leftovers from last night.
Flyover, I'm glad you didn't fall off the ladder & that you weren't hurt when the squirrel attacked. Hilarious how you scared the squirrels out. I've had to chase raccoons out of my house but I mostly just yell "Get the f*** out, motherf****!!!!" at them.