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Monday, March 15, 2010

Damn computers!

I have a laptop that's sick. It has a cord that plugs into an outlet like all other laptops but there's a short somewhere and it isn't "acknowledging" that my computer is plugged in. Therefore, it's running off the battery but I have no way to recharge it. Yes Houston, we have a problem. Because when the battery dies I don't know what I'm going to do.

I went to see the Geek Squad and they tried several other cords to see if that could be it. It's not. The Geek Squad dude I worked with told me the terminal where the cord connects is really, really loose; apparently they aren't supposed to "dangle" in the slot. Go figure! He thinks it could be a short and it could be fixed if it was welded. But to have the Geek Squad do it, my laptop has to be sent away AND they charge $75 per hour. I asked if he has other suggestions. He gave me the name of two local guys who do computer repairs. Then he said if that didn't fix it, my motherboard is probably fried.

Oh greeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaat- a fried motherboard- joy, joy. So if the welding doesn't work I can either get a new motherboard for about $200. My laptop is an Acer which new is almost $350. Yeah, do the math.

Curley's Oldest Son is a computer whiz and he volunteered to look at it for me and he will probably do the welding part. I hope that fixes it!

And no, it's no longer under warranty.

I only have 45 minutes of battery life. And I need to get my pictures and word documents off. I have over 1000 songs in my Itunes. I also want to save all my bookmarks (This is why I haven't been reading blogs like I usually do- all my favs are marked on my computer and I'm currently using Daddy-O's- thank you kind sir! And I'm sorry blog readers for not reciprocating). I want to try and save all this stuff on a couple thumbdrives. The pictures and word documents are most important. I hope I can do it in the 45 minute window. I don't even want to know how much it would cost to take the "memory" out of the computer and retrieve stuff. Or if it's even possible.

It really throws me off, too. I'm very lucky to have access to Daddy-O's computer or I would have to go to the library otherwise. But I'm used to surfing while I sit in a comfy chair or sitting with said laptop on my...well, lap, and watching tv, even if I'm not doing anything with it. Or surfing during commercials. I feel like I've lost a limb or something. Okay, not quite that bad but you get my drift, right?

I love technology when it works and I get my way. The rest of the time, it just sucks. Majorly sucks.

Blowin' raspberries at my laptop,
Maggie

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

no warranty left on it.... I just had a shit show with my HP the warranty was out but the motherboard had been replaced 3 times while under warranty.. needless to say by the time I was done... legal gave me E gift cards to replace the unit.... keep in mind the cost of repair will likely be more than the cost to replace...

Halfway through Monday maggie.. hang in there.

Unknown said...

If the hard drive is still alive and spinning it doesn't matter whether or not the laptop turns on. Data can be recovered for around $200 plus the cost of an external hard drive for storing your recovered data. call (866) DEBUG 911 or www.debug911.net to schedule your recovery.

Maggie said...

TaDa- doesn't is just suck!

Alex- thanks for the advise, for reading and for commenting!

Bragger said...

Oh Lord, I hope you work things out. Nothing, NOTHING is worse than a computer that won't work.

Well maybe....

Never mind.

Maggie said...

Bragger- very little other than 7th graders maybe are worse than computers!