‘The writing’s on the wall.’ This idiom derives from the biblical story about Daniel who reads the handwriting on the wall that predicts the end of the kingdom of Babylon [1]. Regarding my Dell Inspiron 8600 laptop computer [2], I first saw the writing on the wall 13½ months ago – when it crashed [3]. At that time there was a lesson to be learnt. Did I learn it? Well, no. Even though the computer was then four years old, i.e. quite old. But I blithely assumed the November 2009 crash was a meaningless aberration. How stupid I was. Last Saturday it crashed again: it wouldn’t boot up. I tried everything I knew to diagnose and remedy this malfunction. To no avail. So I enlisted the help of my friend Craig. He suggested I try some things he (an IT man) knew and I didn’t. But they didn’t work either. So, in a funereal voice, he pronounced the Inspiron’s hard drive moribund. Luckily, after the November 2009 crash, as I blogged I would, I bought a portable hard drive. And since then I’ve used it religiously. I think I may have saved all my data. Though maybe not my contacts and emails. Craig suggested I download Ultimate Boot CD [4] – which may let me boot the dying machine one last time, so I can retrieve this info. The moral? If the writing’s on the wall, read it.P.S. Yesterday I bought an HP Pavilion DV-3205 TX [5]. Ho hum.
4 comments:
Congratulations on your new purchase! We look fwd to reading the fruits of its, and your, labour
Ah, my friend, all of us can identify with you. I once owned a Toshiba laptop that required three motherboards in 6 months! I wish there was a brand or make that might guarantee never to crash.
Most of the interior architecture is made in China these days by the same company for most brands. Your Dell was highly recommended in its day. HP has become one of the largest manufacturers of laptops. My son Jason has one, a few years old, that runs fine, without service.
I wish you good luck with your new machine. A new computer is always fun and it seems to operate so much faster than the old one.
Like you too, I leave my laptop connected to an external hard drive all the time. Backups are automatic according to a schedule.
Best of luck, my friend.
Sorry to hear that your Inspiron died; but glad to hear that you have bought a new machine so we snant be denyed the pleasure of your blog.
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