![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
James' Rolling Cart of Laptop Doom
Jun. 23rd, 2004 09:44 amSometime last year, the laptop that I had on a rolling cart in my bedroom upped and died.
This happened while I was in Biloxi--at some point, I believe the thing overheated and just shut down. When I got back from Mississippi, I flicked the mouse, and when nothing came back, I power-cycled the machine. The display didn't come up, and after a few hours of troubleshooting, I gave up on the beast, ordered a USB laptop harddrive enclosure, and wrote the thing off.
Yesterday, after getting the Independent wireless network up and running via a laptop that I brought into the bar, I took the thing home, set it on my rolling cart, plugged all the wires into the back, and went to take a shower. When I came out of the shower, I flicked the mouse. Nothing came up on the display. Noting that the light of the mouse would turn on when I moved it, I hit the Vulcan Nerve Pinch (Ctrl-Alt-Del). When that did nothing, I power-cycled the machine. Mashed keys, removed/reinserted the battery, removed/reinserted the harddrive. All for naught.
I noticed when turning the thing on, the power indicator comes on, and then the caps lock indicator flashes: *blink...blink-blink*. I suppose that means that there's some kind of hardware problem, but since this machine is about as old as the web, it's been a little tough trying to find documentation on what those flashes mean. And it's not like they could have just used the standard beeping error codes that most computers use.
So it seems the Rolling Cart of Laptop Doom has claimed another victim. Hopefully Dealnews will have a good deal on another USB harddrive enclosure, but who knows--that thing was probably less than a Gig in size--it's probably not even worth it...
Grumble.
This happened while I was in Biloxi--at some point, I believe the thing overheated and just shut down. When I got back from Mississippi, I flicked the mouse, and when nothing came back, I power-cycled the machine. The display didn't come up, and after a few hours of troubleshooting, I gave up on the beast, ordered a USB laptop harddrive enclosure, and wrote the thing off.
Yesterday, after getting the Independent wireless network up and running via a laptop that I brought into the bar, I took the thing home, set it on my rolling cart, plugged all the wires into the back, and went to take a shower. When I came out of the shower, I flicked the mouse. Nothing came up on the display. Noting that the light of the mouse would turn on when I moved it, I hit the Vulcan Nerve Pinch (Ctrl-Alt-Del). When that did nothing, I power-cycled the machine. Mashed keys, removed/reinserted the battery, removed/reinserted the harddrive. All for naught.
I noticed when turning the thing on, the power indicator comes on, and then the caps lock indicator flashes: *blink...blink-blink*. I suppose that means that there's some kind of hardware problem, but since this machine is about as old as the web, it's been a little tough trying to find documentation on what those flashes mean. And it's not like they could have just used the standard beeping error codes that most computers use.
So it seems the Rolling Cart of Laptop Doom has claimed another victim. Hopefully Dealnews will have a good deal on another USB harddrive enclosure, but who knows--that thing was probably less than a Gig in size--it's probably not even worth it...
Grumble.
