Based on the recent amount of computer hardware failures I’m seeing there’s definitely a case of bad karma going on. About a month ago I had a hard drive biting the dust (Samsung T166, thank you very much). Then, a few weeks ago the power supply of my desktop pc died. When I installed OS X 10.6 on my Mac Mini, the optical drive sounded really funky during the whole process – making it the top candidate for the next piece of electronics that just can’t take it anymore. Oh, and did I mention the two keys that just stopped working on my Apple Wireless Keyboard?

Bad mojo keeps going warranty-wise. The Samsung drive is under warranty, but since I’ve lost the receipt Samsung refuses to have anything to do with it. You’d think that requiring a piece of paper before taking responsibility of your products is kind of silly, but maybe it’s just me.

As for the power supply, we have a jackpot. It’s not only out of warranty, but a proprietary model as well. When designing the Aria case, Antec engineers decided to fit in a non-standard PSU with shape resembling letter ‘L’ slightly. This made sure that there’s no luck finding a replacement other than Antec’s own models and unfortunately getting a replacement is both difficult and hideously expensive. Shame since Antec Aria’s a nice case. I resolved this by connecting a standard ATX-power outside the case. The setup is hideously ugly, but works as a temporary solution.

If the DVD-drive on my Mac Mini chooses to call it quits, I have another nice ordeal in front of me. While replacement drives are available, opening the Mac Mini is a major pain. There’s, of course, hope that the drive continues to function normally and just sounds like a chopper taking off.

All right, today’s lesson? Serves me right for choosing computer’s with non-standard form factors and parts.