mellowtigger (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mellowtigger) wrote2010-12-27 08:08 am
mellowtigger) wrote2010-12-27 08:08 am
Entry tags:
bad luck
I'm having a string of bad luck with technology. :(
My UPS finally gave out several months ago. Rather than purchase another environmentally UNfriendly battery backup, I chose instead to buy a simple surge suppressor. All went well until this holiday weekend when the kitten pounced after something and landed on the power button of the surge suppressor. The power flickered off/on, and I was no longer able to boot my computer. A Windows repair install was unable to fix the problem. I ran memtest (http://memtest.org/) for 2.5 hours before canceling and proceeding with a full Windows reinstall. That worked. I could boot into Windows 7 again. Now to reinstall all my software yet again.
Intending to avoid the same problem again, I took my UPS to BatteriesPlus to get the cells replaced. Once the tech had the UPS opened, however, he discovered that this old Belkin UPS apparently was intended as a disposable product. There was no easy way to replace the cells. I was watching him with it, and I agreed. Even after removing the circuit board, they allowed no room on the many attached wires for him to pull the board out of the way. It was going to take a long time to replace the cells, and he would need to charge me for time used on the replacement. So I gave up and had him just recycle the whole thing. I'll do online research later to find a good UPS replacement.
Meanwhile, my Windows 7 install froze up again. Not sure what happened, but I lost all of my BIOS settings after rebooting. I think I forgot one of the settings, though, because now Windows 7 is complaining about not having a USB device driver. I hope I didn't fry something on my motherboard during the power flicker.
My UPS finally gave out several months ago. Rather than purchase another environmentally UNfriendly battery backup, I chose instead to buy a simple surge suppressor. All went well until this holiday weekend when the kitten pounced after something and landed on the power button of the surge suppressor. The power flickered off/on, and I was no longer able to boot my computer. A Windows repair install was unable to fix the problem. I ran memtest (http://memtest.org/) for 2.5 hours before canceling and proceeding with a full Windows reinstall. That worked. I could boot into Windows 7 again. Now to reinstall all my software yet again.
Intending to avoid the same problem again, I took my UPS to BatteriesPlus to get the cells replaced. Once the tech had the UPS opened, however, he discovered that this old Belkin UPS apparently was intended as a disposable product. There was no easy way to replace the cells. I was watching him with it, and I agreed. Even after removing the circuit board, they allowed no room on the many attached wires for him to pull the board out of the way. It was going to take a long time to replace the cells, and he would need to charge me for time used on the replacement. So I gave up and had him just recycle the whole thing. I'll do online research later to find a good UPS replacement.
Meanwhile, my Windows 7 install froze up again. Not sure what happened, but I lost all of my BIOS settings after rebooting. I think I forgot one of the settings, though, because now Windows 7 is complaining about not having a USB device driver. I hope I didn't fry something on my motherboard during the power flicker.
Welcome to the club...
On this side I had a memory brain malfunction at San Francisco airport and forgot my laptop AND my visa + passport in one of the seats ...fortunately I recovered it all from the police two days later. i am presently on mainland Mexico spending the holidays with my folks, I brought my external hard-drive to show them some travel pics. It worked well for two days but suddenly it went into an unpleasant and worrysome tic-tac noise phase and stopped working (insert a big ARGH here...), fortunately, I made a full back-up one day before all the traveling. I am about to consult a cousin here -the family geek/nerd hybrid- about what to do...
Hope you are having the best possible holidays given the circumnstances anyway... Warmest hugs your way dear Terry,
Luis.
Re: Welcome to the club...
A pc used by another renter in this house also died this weekend. I wonder if there was a weird electrical brownout problem that affected the pcs not connected to battery systems?
Yikes, I'd panic if I lost both a laptop and passport. :( It's good that you're back in possession of them. If the laptop noise was a result of hard drive thrashing (constant access of hard drive), then either the hard drive needs replacing or Windows needs to be reinstalled. If the noise was from a wire touching a cooling fan, then that wire may have been cut by fan blades and is causing overheating/shutdown of the laptop.
Re: Welcome to the club...