Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Not the sound you want from your computer

Last night I was working on my laptop ... on my lap, in front of the TV. I can’t recall what I was working on, probably an email or the forums.

Suddenly the computer made a loud POP and I felt the expression of air on my legs. I picked the computer up by the corner of the keyboard and held it like a rat by its tail, fully expecting to burst into flames (it is a Dell, after all). I dare not put it down, lest it catch something else on fire so I held it out for The Man to yank the power cord. It shut off instantly and The Man followed me into the kitchen as I carried it by the corner. Twisting it around and seeing no indication of flames or even any unusual heat or smoke, I put it down on the floor. I felt the top, then the bottom then closed it and sniffed it. All perfectly normal.

We took out the battery, which also looked normal and didn’t feel hot at all.

After a few minutes of puzzlement, “You heard that pop, didn’t you?”

“Oh, yeah. Did it hurt?”

“No, not at all, just, you know, I thought it was gonna burst into flames, like they do on BoingBong.”

We set it down on the dining room table, sans battery and plugged it back in. It works just fine.

The battery wasn’t holding even the slightest charge for the past month or so, so it’s not like running it without the battery is any big deal.

You can be sure the first thing I did was copy ALL of my files off to the server.

Now I can’t decide if I should get a new battery (which Dell doesn’t even sell on their website any longer) or just spring for a new laptop. My Inspiron 2600 turns four this month. That’s 88 in dog years.

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:24 am    

Comments

  1. “Like they do on BoingBoing” . . . That made me laugh. 

    You should spring for a new laptop.  And not a Dell.  My Inspiron 9100 is less than three years old, has never quite worked properly, and the DVD drive died six months ago.  Dell used to make nice computers, and then they stopped, right after they stopped providing tech support by people who knew computers and started providing tech support by people who read scripts.

    Comment by Jon on 10/03/06 at 11:23 am

     

  2. Jon - I know what you mean about things not being quite what they used to. This one was from the outlet store, no less, and the right ctrl and alt keys never worked. But still, I’ve written over a quarter million words of novels on it, plus most of my blogs. I definitely got my $900’s worth.

    I was actually looking at the Sony Vaios for my next purchase, something pretty compact.

    I was hoping to nurse this one along until Vista is out (I hate reinstalling my OS).

    Comment by Cybele on 10/03/06 at 12:00 pm

     

  3. Dude, get a Mac! All the cool people have one. Haven’t you seen the commercials? Though lately, I’ve been dreaming of upgrading to one with a bigger screen…

    Also, you should do it before November. It would suck if your computer finally gave out while you were writing your novel.

    Comment by Ernessa on 10/04/06 at 5:01 pm

     

  4. Maybe it just decided to be a Dell/Windows machine and act ghey to try and scare you into spending more money. xD Or the burst of air was it trying to fly away…. ;p

    Comment by Mis on 10/08/06 at 12:56 pm

     

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During November it's all about me writing a novel. Sometimes it's about whalewatching. You know, and then there's other stuff.