2013 — 21 October: Monday
An email from his sister-in-law a few minutes ago has told me Big Bro is on his way over from High Wycombe1 so it's safe to assume he has a hired car. Perhaps I will escape chauffering duties this time, after all.
Meanwhile, it's still more than a bit moist out there, but at least the Books Warehouse watery incursion is now bone dry. I have yet to pinpoint the precise site of the incursion — it's not the first one, but depends on a particular combination of wind direction and rain. I half suspect a spot of gutter blockage.
Time spent...
... (or do I mean wasted?) wondering why and how Win8.1 Pro does (or doesn't) look after itself is rarely time well-spent. As this newest level of system has only been in residence for a couple of days I'm still keeping a careful eye on it. Today's case in point: via Device Manager the integrated graphics driver on my now quite venerable motherboard was once again showing the annoying little yellow triangle with an exclamation point in it. The purported problem was a "Code 31" which (according to my trusty "Windows 7 Inside Out" book) meant my oh-so-sophisticated operating system can't load the drivers. I assume (always dubious with Microsoft) that meaning won't have changed under Win8.1 Pro.
I don't like having hardware problems at the best of times — it annoys me. So, this time, I didn't bother disabling it but went straight for the jugular. "Get rid of it", say I. Expunge it. Extirpate it. Excise it. Banish it to the outer dark.2
I got the usual warning about "you're removing hardware, you'll need to reboot for this to take effect". Reboot. Guess what I find? The "Intel Graphics HD 3000" is once again all present and correct and apparently ready for business with a loadable, up-to-date driver. But since this isn't the first time, I still have my doubts. When I was first investigating the ability of Intel's "stuff" under Windows to run more than one graphics card at the same time I found the support described as "suck it and see". Quite so. When I can find one of those ever-elusive round tuits I shall have to see if I can once again drive the 60" Kuro plasma as my third Windows screen.
No rush. It can wait until after Big Bro's departure. And that can't happen until after his arrival, can it?
Mirabile dictu
Getting Barclays aligned with Big Bro's wish (at my urging) to act (as I already do) as one of the two attorneys for dear Mama should (fingers crossed) be quite simple, since I broke the ice with them (as it were) a little over three years ago. Back we go, therefore, for an 09:30 meeting on Wednesday before he flies back off to NZ. At which point, should I then fall under the proverbial bus, he will be able to step in and stop dear Mama from being thrown out of the care-home for non-payment of fees.
And he bought me lunch!
Getting (very) annoyed...
... with this integrated graphics driver. Having gone to the trouble of downloading an updated version direct from Intel, and watched it install perfectly, I'm less than pleased to get the annoying little yellow triangle back. And very much less than pleased with the system's inability to recognise, (detect, whatever), and respond to the active presence of my 60" Kuro plasma screen that I was trying to drive from the PC in order to show Big Bro some video3 of a Mosquito that my chum Christopher had supplied. In doing that, I also found I had to move my external USB-connected DVD drive over to the 7-port USB 3 hub before that was recognised (detected, whatever).
Were I even the slightest bit suspicious I might be starting to conclude that the upgrade to Win8.1 Pro has introduced some unwelcome instabilities to poor old BlackBeast. Never mind. I shall show him the new-ish Jeremy Renner "Bourne Legacy" film tonight, now that he's finished sorting through the stamps he'd bought in a postal auction and had had delivered to me for safekeeping.
Meanwhile, Ms Nice Young Gemma at Barclays has called to warn me that "Head Orifice" insist on seeing either a bank statement or a recent utility bill with Bro's name and address on it. In NZ, of course. Personally, I never ever venture abroad without carrying such things with me. Makes it so much easier for all those international terrorists who operate 24x7 all round the world. The fact that his name and address are clearly stated on the Registered Power of Attorney document from the Orifice of the Pubic Grauniad isn't quite rigorous enough for a bank that was (allegedly) manipulating LIBOR rates. Until recently.
It's not just me
Been there, done all that, still 'reduced' to a two-screen system. Mrs Google is currently returning 77,700 "results" for the search string:
intel hd graphics 3000 driver windows 8.1 problem
Meanwhile, he enjoyed "Margin Call", too. Two good films in one evening; how about that? Perhaps I'll try him on "RED" tomorrow.