Sunday, November 18, 2007

Okay then

Short story: my computer failed. I don't know when I'll be able to upload photos to the Diabetes 365 project again.

Long story: It's almost certainly a hardware problem. It's a laptop that's given me hardware trouble since the day I got it (March 2004). I've replaced the hard drive twice, the DVD drive once, the power cord twice, and the motherboard once. It just turned itself off, and now it will attempt to boot its little heart out, but it never gets past the "boot Windows in safe mode?" screen. The hard drive is ok and I can get the files, but I really need the software. We have a drive enclosure, but nothing can boot from that, and even better, the drive isn't a SATA drive. In many cases, just installing the software on another machine is not enough. My husband's machine used to have the software all set up, but it failed a month ago (it was even older than my laptop), and we can't get his new machine to boot from the old hard drive.

Since the problem with my machine isn't something easily accessible like the hard drive, the chances of repair are low. The case is so broken that if we opened it up all the way, it would be impossible for us (or a repair place) to get it back together again.

Bottom line: I need a "new" laptop. We haven't ever replaced this one partly because I need a matte screen, a trackpad, and Control keys on both sides of the keyboard. That rules out about 99% of laptops. The other part is, of course, that they're expensive.

9 comments:

Christine said...

You computer sounds like my Dell laptop. I'm willing to bet that's what brand you have?

I LOVE the macbook I have now.

Lili said...

Christine, lol! No, it's a Sony. I may be getting a Dell, though, dude...because they're one of the few manufacturers that still make matte screens, and we get a discount. However, a friend just got a Dell laptop, loved it for five minutes, and then returned it a week later. So it may just be another can of worms.

I don't have anything against Mac, (or Linux, for that matter), but I am forced to use Windows. :(

Unknown said...

oh no! Ilove your photos.

I hate Dell. My laptop is a Dell and it has sucked since the day I got it.

what's the deal with the matte scren?

Lili said...

Amylia, the new thing in laptops is to have a really glossy, reflective screen, but they give me a migraine.

Anonymous said...

I have to ask, what's up with control keys on both sides and don't all laptops have them?

I have a dell, its my second, and I love it (I honestly can't tell if the screen is glossy). Their refurbished laptops are also really cool.

good luck

In Search Of Balance said...

I tagged you.

Also, I can't believe your computer broke! Yikes. How soon can you get a new one?

Chrissie in Belgium said...

I tagged you for the 7 meme. Please look at my blog for the rules if you are interested.

Lili said...

Grey - I'm not sure what you mean by "what's up." Toshiba laptops that come with a matte screen have only one control key. BTW, you are the first person to ever tell me they love their Dell laptop!

Beth - I'm not sure, but since we get a discount at Dell and they have financing, I may have to do that. In that case, maybe a couple weeks.

Anonymous said...

I didn't realize any laptops only had one control key. That would seem odd.