remember: while i was archiving my scattered internet writing over 2017, and focusing on a journal-writing phase over 2018-2020, and i spent the end of 2020 building a diet, i have been trying to get back to recording since early 2021 and have been unable to because the recording computer is broken in a way that i do not understand.

i thought it was ram, but it's not.

i can't convince myself that there's a short in the board.

the machine exhibits unusual network behaviour (despite being air-gapped), and there are symptoms of a "bios virus" that seems like a government attack. it has frequently randomly installed netbios, using a process i don't understand. i've wondered if somebody is utilizing a hidden wifi chip, or hacking me using microwave technology.

until recently, ps/2 functionality repeatedly disappeared. i seem to have solved that with repeated bios flashes.

i think it's hardware. 

but, the bottom line is that i can't figure it out, and i need very careful testing, as a result of it. i have to organize my data in a specific way before i can get back to what i was doing, but i'm going overboard on organizing it and calling it "filing" in an attempt to test the machine by using it. 

i've stripped everything down and/or turned everything in the bios off, except 

- video card (nvidia card manufactured in the mid 00s. there is no card on this board, otherwise i'd just use it. i'm not very concerned about video quality.)

- external pc sound card (maudio delta 1414 that i bought at a discontinuation sale for the rca dacs)

- one dvd reader/writer

- floppy drive

- four sata hard drives

- usb functionality is the only thing running via the bios

it's running as a single core, for example. no firewire. nothing.

i can only hope that's stable.

i didn't change anything in my install scripts, so i don't know why it would be software....