I think my PC’s motherboard is dying. The other day while playing The Sims 3, my monitor suddenly displayed its “no signal” message and went to a black screen. I checked the cord plugged into the monitor as well as the end plugged into the computer, and both were firmly in place. I shrugged it off as the result of upgrading to the latest Sims patch since I often see complaints in forums about new patches for the game causing problems. I shut off my computer and left it alone.

Just now, I was going to boot into Windows to get the drivers for my Samsung Magnet so that I could transfer some files to it via its USB cable. I couldn’t even boot because my BIOS gave me its “keyboard error or no keyboard present” message and wouldn’t get past the loading screen. I tried plugging my new Microsoft keyboard into various USB ports to no avail. I even got out my old but still-working Targus keyboard but didn’t have any luck. I opened the computer case and jiggled all the connections I could think to jiggle, but I think perhaps the thing has just lived past its time. Ugh, this means I need to go searching on Newegg for another motherboard, probably a new case, and make sure everything will work with my video card and memory.