Computer Failure Immobilizes

Hi Everyone! I had to blog about this HUGE thing...
When your computer fails and you are totally immobilized! How does one continue on the tablet when it has crashed out of one's pocket onto the Wall-Mart parking lot (not shutting off...ever) then a second time it jumps  out of my back pocket(turns white only!) and then...yes, I had to let it run out of battery power to just shut off.
But that is not all, it comes on at 6 am to wake me up, it  had not totally shutdown by this time and blared like a siren for 10 minutes as I frantically tried every button to cut the noise; then it finally died. Quiet and Black. 

Now, you say, use another tablet, right? Well, I tried that after coming back home and we had to reset the "Factory" status of the second tablet, only to have it continue to shut off when,ever it wants to. And it does this at the most inopportune times, like, on an important chat. Or, here's a good one, placing an order online. Or, yet another one, typing out a blog where you know you have saved it all the way through, but it won't shut back on, so you don't know if it is truly saved or not. Oh, and I forgot to say, it also dumps my photos!!

So here is how this all started. I think I had a bug/virus/worm/insect invasion of my Personal Computer that my Norton Antivirus failed to catch, while I was away doing therapy. Yes, that is another story and disappointment, but that is for another blog. This one.... is on Computers.

 For me, at the time of this post, Computer is a Four Letter Word!

Photo from Fan Page: HERE

Like I said, I was in therapy and away from home and took the PC so that I could work a bit, write a lot and chat to family and friends. Well, the computer started acting strange (Back Story HERE) and 
I had several days of it doing things it's own way. Kind of like the computer who takes over in the story by Isaac Asimov, 'I Robot' named "VIKI" (Virtual Interactive Kinetic Intelligence). And mine is not so cleverly named.

"VIKI"  As seen on Fan Page: pathofthebeagle.com

So we will call her "Pee See", as I can not find a nicer name for my computer at this moment. Pee
See, decided to die out giving me the "Blue Screen of Death", as we call it, when the PC gives you a message line that all your files are being erased and that you are now loosing your whole life that is loaded on to this dying PC. And yes, you have backed it up to the external hard drive, but YES, it has been effected too!

Oh Joy of Joys!!

So, I will set the scene. A full day of morning Pool Therapy, Walking Therapy and playing with the beautiful Grand Babes gives way to the nice relaxing chat with my hubby online. Five minutes into the conversation, I get the "Blue Screen of Death".

 I hit the enter key, as instructed to save, and the thing shuts down. Supposedly saving my files, photos, and hubby's work files/website info, etc. Right?

AS SEEN ON: HERE

Well, it does not come up again, and I have to do a reboot, with Safety Mode set for it to go through some sort of reconstructing. Next it says that the "System failed to shut down properly" and "Information may be lost." LOVELY!!

Screen shots from my personal Pee See.

Then it says, "Would you like to look for a solution online?" I press "YES" and away it goes. Only to then shut down, give the blue screen and black off. 

Totally quiet. I sit there, dazed and confused. And realize that "Hubby" is in chat limbo and no way to tell him that I am having one major computer issue after another! Panic sets in... I unplug everything from the wall and the power strip. I did say many prayers to God that I believed helped ME to calm down, but it did not last long.

Five consecutive times "Pee See" expressed herself in beautiful
Cerulean Blue...

 Pretty Purples...

 And...
Light Absorbing Black Void.

Oh, and she made lovely Blapping noises and sounds like a Semi Truck coming into the room (as described by my son)and that scared the dogs!  


Who would have thought a machine would seemingly freak out and go as stark raving mad as I was getting? Nothing I was trying to fix her would work! Pee See tried, but she just couldn't find herself either. She turned on and off relentlessly. She tried in vain to get the help she needed from the "infamous Microsoft  FIX Program" to no avail! Pee See continued to turn blue and black in the course of the next five days.

Nothing worked, each suggestion came back with the same dissatisfying results...

                       NULL & Void

The next day,early on the sixth day, I plugged Pee See back in and she started right up, as if nothing had ever gone wrong!  I didn't know if I should laugh or cry!
It was all too surreal and I pinched myself to make sure
I was not dreaming (or hallucinating)!
I immediately checked the chat log for any word from hubby, as
I'd called the night before and we discussed my plight with
Pee See, and hubby suggested me to just unplug her and leave her alone till he came to pick me up.

But hubby was not online, nor had he left any off line messages for me.
 So, my next thought was how to break the news.

I had also brought my tablet with me on my trip,
"Tab", for short.
Hubby had stated, in our verbal phone chat, that I should just use it to check email, blog and chat.

A great idea, if I hadn't just smashed it into a coma, a day prior.
This was not going well on my end, you see, I had neglected to bother hubby with the little details of killing Tab.
To hubby's knowledge,Tab was up and running and would provide the necessary back up to which I could continue to address the situation. However my situation was worsening by the day and
Pee See coming back alive was so uplifting!

 So, as quickly as possible I got onto chat to leave a message for hubby.
 Literally, the moment I hit send, Pee See went black for good.
 

This never came up and it went BLACK FOR GOOD

I turned her screen off and unplugged her for the trip home  the following day.

I had had enough stress and it seemed that Pee See had too.
She road home in the backseat of the car resting silently.

In the car ride home, I opened up the flood gates and told my computer killing confession to my unsuspecting hubby.

The conversation went something like the woeful little lost kitten story about the mittens being lost and the kittens would have no pie, but, I bravely, through crocodile tears, made my confession of killing not only one, but two of our computers; Pee See & Tab.

Hubby was driving the car home from my trip. He didn't look my way, but kind of made an interesting throat clearing sound. "Uhu"
Hubby kept his cool though and I was so glad! It popped into my thoughts, as Gary Smalley suggests in his wonderful Christian series,
 "I Promise", http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=11B1CNNU
that hubby was practicing this treasured restraint not to blow up at me.

Which also brings to mind what I had responded on why
Tab was in my back pocket to begin with. In a coy manner I said,
"I had been counting steps with a new app for my fitness therapy and the app was a pedometer that linked this accumulative step information into the current fitness app. I was really excited to find out and chart my walking progress."

But hubby's response was a bit more pragmatic when he pointed out the fact that I had an "expensive, $100.00 pedometer that you broke".

I sat quietly, but hubby added, "but I guess you can use mine
(we each had tablets as Christmas gifts for each other the year before) and we will buy you a cheep pedometer to take with you walking."

To which I replied excitedly, "Really?" Thank you honey, I will take good care of your M Tab walking and take a bag so it won't be dropped!"

And you can just imagine the wide eyed look I got back in return for that brainy comment.

The end result of this: We are buying a pedometer and I will plug in the step information manually. Like he said.


Now back at home, Pee See is given a two day respite before I gladly connect her back together and plug her in.

That night we cuddled up in front of Pee See to watch "Mr. Selfridge" on PBS online. LINK

Just as it ended, on came the ever infuriating Cerulean Blue screen, to which I remarked, "See honey that is what happened while
I was gone"!

and then that expected black screen to which Pee See has yet to return.

But my story doesn't end there, as Hubby & Stepson are diligently trying to revive Pee See to her glorious computer opperating state and for me some sanity.

New parts ordered, waited for, put in and ripped out of her black and metallic body, Pee See lays gutted. A shell of her former bright and educational self. She has only unpluggrd parts filling her unfulfilled innards and hubby perplexed on why she is not responding to any of his dedicated solutions.

She did not fit in the new case, her new motherboard was the wrong one to fit her memory, my memories! Her "C" drive never to run again.

Sadly, she will remain in her tattered state until a solution is found, like her brothers, Joe, and Gamer, who are respectfully awaiting the same fate.

So I sit here using M Tab to finish this story of confusion, tears, laughter, and grief about yet another one who has "bitten the dust".
Nothing is clear except the sorrowful fact of how many of us out in cyber space feel the loss, torment and loneliness of being "UN-Plugged."

Those of you who follow me will have to excuse the in frequent blog posts till Pee See or relacement is up and running.
May God keep you smiling even when you're pulling out your hair!
God Bless all you who can relate to my story!
CJD.Sign