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Did you say a laptop? Well, if you had asked me 24 hours ago I probably would have agreed with you. However, today what I see in the picture is a giant paperweight. Yep, my laptop gave out yesterday and I'm pretty bummed out about it. If you have ever been around me when I use this computer, you know that it is one of the loudest machines ever built because it has three fans that run constantly. HP had a BIOS update to help fix the fan issue so I let it install the upgrade and during the installation the computer shut off and now will not do anything when I press the power button. It won't even recognize that the battery is charging when I plug it into the wall. I looked online and found that this has happened to other people and now my computer is just a bunch of electronic pieces that don't know how to communicate with each other. The most difficult part for me is that the computer is still just fine except for one little chip that needs to be reprogrammed. I was hoping that when my laptop died it would short circuit and flames and smoke would ensue.....it's just difficult to accept that my computer no longer works because of an update from HP.After it died, I took everything apart to see if the BIOS chip was removable. I don't think it is so I'm pretty sure I would have to buy a knew mother board to fix the problem and since I'm in Haiti, that isn't really an option. While I had it apart, I cleaned all the dust out of the heat exchangers. Everything is nice and clean now, but it doesn't make much of a difference anymore.
So what am I writing this blog entry on? Well, Chris and Leslie had an old laptop that still works and I'm using that until I figure something else out. To look on the bright side, how great is it that they have a spare computer? I can still check email and put pictures online, so I really can't complain too much. If your reading this and have any suggestions about how to fix my laptop or what else I can do, please write me an email or comment on this post. Thanks.
A couple other things that happened this week:
- Chris and I came up with a design to mount the solar panels on the pillars we have constructed.
- We started cutting and building the support structure that the solar panels will attach to.
- A dead dog washed up on the beach in front of our house. Chris dug a hole and I helped him bury it. I think I'll leave it at that since the description of the dog I would give is anything but pleasant. Bright side....they have had a horse wash up before, so at least we didn't have that.
- The other side of the dorm building is now finished. We had a push this week since there is going to be a class coming in on Sunday. This will be the first filter class that we have taught since I arrived, so I'm looking forward to finding out how it will all work.
4 comments:
That bites the big one, man. I've got an HP Pavilion dv6000 series laptop, and the heat issue has been my biggest (and only) complaint about it. I tried downloading one of the bios fixes from HP--mine didn't crap out on me when I did--but it actually hasn't made all that much difference. Unfortunately, I've got no advice other than shipping it back to the States for HP to repair. I suppose it's too much to hope that it's still under warranty at this point.
Yeah...The laptop has been great other than the heat issues. I got it in 2003, so it's been a while since the warranty expired. There is a small chance that I can take it somewhere in Port-au-Prince to have the BIOS flashed. My Dad is checking with HP about that. Hopefully that will work, but I'm skeptical about someone in Haiti being able to something that technical.
Bummer about the computer. Are you doing okay? How's the hurricane. Nick told me that Al Roker told him that a hurricane suddenly formed where you are. If there is a hurricane you're probably not reading this. Anyways, bummer about the laptop friend!!
Ruple,
I stared at that stinking picture for about a minute trying to figure out what was wrong lol
Sorry to hear about your luck.
From the picture, it looks like you already removed the CMOS battery (the little watch-looking batter). Try shorting the positive and negative terminals with the battery removed. This usually involves taking a screw driver and completing the circuit, holding the connection for about 20 seconds. This will effectively reset your BIOS. But, since you said your computer crashed during a BIOS update, there may not be much there to reset to. Definitely worth a try though...maybe it completed and got stuck in some funky state.
Secondly, you can normally update your BIOS from a boot-up DOS disk. I didn't quite understand the state of your laptop, though. It sounded like absolutely nothing happens when you press the power button. Uhhh, that's not such a good thing. I'd recommend just unplugging random parts that aren't necessary to run(CD-ROM, etc) and trying different things to see if anything works (I did a lot of this at AMD haha). Make sure your RAM modules are installed completely and not hanging out. You've probably tried these things...but worth a try. Don't try to understand what your problem is, just try stuff until it works!!
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