Death of the Laptop
Death of the Laptop
My old laptop died on Monday morning, before I had time to make a blog posting. I knew the old laptop was in failing health. It was almost seven years old and it had provided me with many years of fine service.
I will miss it.
We traveled a lot on business and I don’t think getting shoved under a seat or place in an overhead bin were good for its health. Still, it never complained about how I treated it.
I think I was a good owner; I invested regularly in anti-virus and firewall software. I ran a daily anti-virus scan. I kept the programs up to date. I bought a large UPS system in case of emergencies and power spikes. It lived on a DSL service when it was at home with me. I regularly ran a disk defragment program and cleaned out the cache files.
Together, we completed my Masters in Business Administration. We got about half way through with the Doctor of Business Administration degree.
We had been out on the balcony working on a project. It was a great day to be outside in Southern California; it was warm and sunny and there was a slight breeze blowing off of the Pacific Ocean.
Unfortunately for me, the tree contractors returned to the park. The noises of the chain saws and wood chipper drove me back inside.
I partially closed the top of the laptop as I placed it back in the docking port.
I opened the laptop and screen was black. I thought I had hit the hibernation button when I closed it. I pushed the button to reactivate the laptop.
The laptop spun up to speed and began the usual Microsoft Windows XP opening process. I went to get a cup of coffee because I knew this was a lengthy process because I had a lot of files on the machine and a relatively small memory by today’s standards.
When I returned, the screen was still black and it had the remains of an old style DOS search.
OPERATING SYSTEM NOT FOUND
This was not a good sign at all. I tried several more times to restart the laptop; all had the same result.
OPERATING SYSTEM NOT FOUND
I considered the impact of losing the hard dive on the laptop. That meant I would lose my all of the 2007 Woman of the Moment photos, my blog postings, and my chats with friends. There would be the loss of the URLs for all of the web sites I visit regularly. I would lose all of the hundred or so email addresses and all of their emails that I have picked up over the years.
It has been almost two years since I fully cleaned my hard drive.
I also considered my options as I made my lunch. I could see if I could find a new copy of Windows XP. I could move the purchase of a new laptop forward. I figured that my chances of finding a new copy of XP were really slim, a little better than Penelope Cruz becoming my next girl friend, what with Windows Vista having been released this January.
That left me with the buy a new laptop earlier than planned. I had planned to buy a new laptop as soon as Microsoft released the Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista.
After lunch, I drove over to my local Best Buy. I thought this would be a good place to start. They carry Lenovo laptops and that made me very happy. I was even luckier because they had a T60 model in stock. I had previously looked at the T60 before and thought it was perfect for my needs.
I also wanted to buy a T60 because the Lenovo machine would be very much like the old laptop. They were both IBM ThinkPads as was the machine before them. I would be familiar with the machine plus I am very attached to the track ball. I have never been able to bring myself to drag my fingertip across a panel as a mouse replicant. That; plus the fact that you have to move your finger a couple of times if you are going across the screen.
I purchased a T60 from Best Buy on Monday afternoon.
I upgraded the RAM memory from one to two gigabytes. I know Windows Vista will become a memory hog sooner or later. I can add another gigabyte when the two gigabyte size memory expansion chips become available. I think in maybe two or three years, the cost of the new chip will be reasonable and I will probably need it by then.
After I got the new laptop home, I had my dinner because I knew I would be spending a lot of time with the Internet connection setup and then loading the existing programs and downloading other programs. There was no sense in trying all of that on an empty stomach.
My first objective was the Internet connection and this was my first disappointment.
My DSL service is through my local phone company, Verizon. I like Verizon for two reasons. First, they are less expensive than Earthlink was. Second, their call centers are located in the United States so everyone speaks a version of American English. It is so easy to understand the tech support people.
I could not connect to the Internet on my own. I knew the modem and phone line were working fine because I downloaded stuff off of the Internet on Monday morning.
I was on the phone with tech support for almost an hour. We got no where. We did determine that the modem and the phone were functioning properly but I already knew that. We concluded, rightly or wrongly, that the problem lay within the machine.
I decided to take the machine back to Best Buy and let them fix the problem.
Taking the machine back to Best Buy was one of my best recent decisions. I ran into a brilliant tech support person at Best Buy. He said the problem was with the modem’s internal software. The modem that Verizon had given me when I signed had to have its software modified to handle Windows Vista.
Holy Epiphany Batman!
He volunteered to come to my house and make the phone call to Verizon to fix the modem. He said there was no charge for the service call. I think I would have been willing to pay just about any price for someone, who knew and understood the problem, to come to my place and resolve my troubles.
He showed up just after I returned home and began to work his magic.
I think he underestimated the complexity of the job at hand. He was on the phone for at least an hour and probably much closer to an hour and a half talking with two senior tech support representatives. They must have tried a dozen approaches to work around the modem software and upgrade it.
I was afraid that the battery in the hand held phone would die before he finished the call. Thankfully, it lasted until he was finished.
The tech support man suggested that I might try turning my old laptop on and off in succession because I might be able to get the hard drive to work again, if only long enough to download data and burn it on to some CDs. I had nothing to lose so I gave him suggestion a try and it worked. The old laptop spun up, just like it always had.
I quickly put it on life support and plugged in the power cord. I downloaded the all of data on the hard drive except for the Outlook Express program.
After dinner, I loaded the old software and updates for the programs.
Life is good for me again now.
Big Shout Out – Honn Robinson
I want to give a really Big Shout Out to Honn Robinson of the Best Buy Torrance Geek Squad [honn.robinson@geeksquad.com or 310-791-6436]. Honn did yeoman work on my new laptop. If he hadn’t known what my problem was, I doubt I could have fixed and I would have probably purchased a new and unnecessary modem.
I know I will call Honn if I ever have a large problem with my new laptop.
The Old Laptop
I still have the old laptop and it is still functioning. I just do not know for how much longer. My project for Friday is to extract the email addresses. There are over a hundred so I would prefer to copy them and upload them to the new Windows Mail program that replaced Outlook Express.
For the time being, I am keeping the old laptop. It will stay turned on and under power until I make the final decisions.
Verizon Tech Support
I consider all of the tech support staffers that I happened to run across during this adventure were competent, some were more competent than others and this is to be expected I guess.
I thought one of the statements from the senior tech support staffers was more than self serving and disingenuous. She said “that Vista caught them by surprise.”
Rather odd.
Vista was well announced and delayed. Developers had ample opportunity to get a copy of the new software and create workarounds by the middle of April 2007, three months after launch.
It made me wonder what the technical staff at Verizon was doing the last few months because I certainly am not the first person to buy a Windows Vista computer and want to use Verizon DSL service.
Odds and Ends with the New Laptop
I have to go back to Best Buy sometime soon. The Geek Squad staffers who added the new RAM did not put all of the screws back in the bottom of the laptop. While I don’t anticipate the machine coming apart, I do think they should have done a complete job. It just seems like the right thing to do on their part.
Woman of the Moment
I am going to put up more than the usual number of Woman of the Moment photos. Tonight, I am going to try for an image theme of “V for Victory” finger gestures. I think this is a good theme since I do not have a great lot of bikini photos to post.
The Park Next Door
It looks like the tree workers have finished their job in the park next door. I could tell by the silence and absence of the chair saws and wood chipper.
I found it less than fascinating that the workers could be out here at 7:00 AM on a Saturday morning and not be able to start until almost mid-morning on a normal work day.
So much for considering the needs of the taxpayers.
Programming Note
I have a meeting at school tomorrow night that won’t start until 5:00 PM. By the time the meeting is concluded and I drive home and finally have my dinner, it will be on the late side so I would not look for a posting tomorrow night.
Haircut
I need another haircut and it is starting to look seedy now. The new stylist who did such a great job on my hair is nowhere to be found. This was the best my hair has looked in years. Now, I am back to looking for another stylist who will cut my hair close to the way I want it cut.
Teaching
I had a call from school yesterday afternoon asking me to come in at the last moment and substitute teach a class I have never taught before. I had to decline the offer since I thought Doug was going to be out here for dinner. I found out later on, after it was too late to drive to school and arrive before class started, that Doug would not be here for dinner.
Job Searching and Interviewing
On Monday, I had a telephone interview with the head of human resources for a large credit union. She wanted to talk to me about my interest in becoming their chief lending officer.
We talked for almost an hour about my background and lending philosophy and how I might fit into their organization. I told her about my teaching commitment and when it would end. I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a deal killer or not. I felt it was better to be honest and tell her up front rather than to wait until much later in the process and then spring the teaching news on her. That would have been embarrassing for her and very unprofessional for me.
I guess the teaching for the rest of the semester is not going to be a problem for the credit union. The head of human resources called me on Tuesday in the middle of my morning break to schedule an interview for the week after next with the credit union president.
This was a nice distraction from teaching Microeconomics.
El Gringo
I went to El Gringo for dinner last night to celebrate the fixing of my modem so I could use my new laptop. I also did not feel like cooking either.
Valerie the Server was working on Tuesday. That was very nice for me. Valerie asked where Doug was because the last time I was there, Doug was with me. I said he had dinner out behind the Orange Curtain.
Tuesday at El Gringo is Taco Tuesday. It is a buy one taco get one free taco proposition. I had intended to have a Number 2 Combination which two tacos, rice, and refried beans and that would have filled me perfectly.
Valerie said I could save money by ordering things separately. I saved about a dollar and ended up with twice the normal size of the orders for the rice and refried beans. I ended up with a stuffed feeling for my efforts. I think if I go to El Gringo on another Taco Tuesday and if I have tacos, I will go with the Number 2 Combination and not get so stuffed by the end of the meal.
There, that should bring you up to date on me and my life, such as it is.
Be well and stay happy.
My old laptop died on Monday morning, before I had time to make a blog posting. I knew the old laptop was in failing health. It was almost seven years old and it had provided me with many years of fine service.
I will miss it.
We traveled a lot on business and I don’t think getting shoved under a seat or place in an overhead bin were good for its health. Still, it never complained about how I treated it.
I think I was a good owner; I invested regularly in anti-virus and firewall software. I ran a daily anti-virus scan. I kept the programs up to date. I bought a large UPS system in case of emergencies and power spikes. It lived on a DSL service when it was at home with me. I regularly ran a disk defragment program and cleaned out the cache files.
Together, we completed my Masters in Business Administration. We got about half way through with the Doctor of Business Administration degree.
We had been out on the balcony working on a project. It was a great day to be outside in Southern California; it was warm and sunny and there was a slight breeze blowing off of the Pacific Ocean.
Unfortunately for me, the tree contractors returned to the park. The noises of the chain saws and wood chipper drove me back inside.
I partially closed the top of the laptop as I placed it back in the docking port.
I opened the laptop and screen was black. I thought I had hit the hibernation button when I closed it. I pushed the button to reactivate the laptop.
The laptop spun up to speed and began the usual Microsoft Windows XP opening process. I went to get a cup of coffee because I knew this was a lengthy process because I had a lot of files on the machine and a relatively small memory by today’s standards.
When I returned, the screen was still black and it had the remains of an old style DOS search.
OPERATING SYSTEM NOT FOUND
This was not a good sign at all. I tried several more times to restart the laptop; all had the same result.
OPERATING SYSTEM NOT FOUND
I considered the impact of losing the hard dive on the laptop. That meant I would lose my all of the 2007 Woman of the Moment photos, my blog postings, and my chats with friends. There would be the loss of the URLs for all of the web sites I visit regularly. I would lose all of the hundred or so email addresses and all of their emails that I have picked up over the years.
It has been almost two years since I fully cleaned my hard drive.
I also considered my options as I made my lunch. I could see if I could find a new copy of Windows XP. I could move the purchase of a new laptop forward. I figured that my chances of finding a new copy of XP were really slim, a little better than Penelope Cruz becoming my next girl friend, what with Windows Vista having been released this January.That left me with the buy a new laptop earlier than planned. I had planned to buy a new laptop as soon as Microsoft released the Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista.
After lunch, I drove over to my local Best Buy. I thought this would be a good place to start. They carry Lenovo laptops and that made me very happy. I was even luckier because they had a T60 model in stock. I had previously looked at the T60 before and thought it was perfect for my needs.
I also wanted to buy a T60 because the Lenovo machine would be very much like the old laptop. They were both IBM ThinkPads as was the machine before them. I would be familiar with the machine plus I am very attached to the track ball. I have never been able to bring myself to drag my fingertip across a panel as a mouse replicant. That; plus the fact that you have to move your finger a couple of times if you are going across the screen.
I purchased a T60 from Best Buy on Monday afternoon.
I upgraded the RAM memory from one to two gigabytes. I know Windows Vista will become a memory hog sooner or later. I can add another gigabyte when the two gigabyte size memory expansion chips become available. I think in maybe two or three years, the cost of the new chip will be reasonable and I will probably need it by then.
After I got the new laptop home, I had my dinner because I knew I would be spending a lot of time with the Internet connection setup and then loading the existing programs and downloading other programs. There was no sense in trying all of that on an empty stomach.
My first objective was the Internet connection and this was my first disappointment.
My DSL service is through my local phone company, Verizon. I like Verizon for two reasons. First, they are less expensive than Earthlink was. Second, their call centers are located in the United States so everyone speaks a version of American English. It is so easy to understand the tech support people.
I could not connect to the Internet on my own. I knew the modem and phone line were working fine because I downloaded stuff off of the Internet on Monday morning.
I was on the phone with tech support for almost an hour. We got no where. We did determine that the modem and the phone were functioning properly but I already knew that. We concluded, rightly or wrongly, that the problem lay within the machine.
I decided to take the machine back to Best Buy and let them fix the problem.
Taking the machine back to Best Buy was one of my best recent decisions. I ran into a brilliant tech support person at Best Buy. He said the problem was with the modem’s internal software. The modem that Verizon had given me when I signed had to have its software modified to handle Windows Vista.
Holy Epiphany Batman!
He volunteered to come to my house and make the phone call to Verizon to fix the modem. He said there was no charge for the service call. I think I would have been willing to pay just about any price for someone, who knew and understood the problem, to come to my place and resolve my troubles.
He showed up just after I returned home and began to work his magic.
I think he underestimated the complexity of the job at hand. He was on the phone for at least an hour and probably much closer to an hour and a half talking with two senior tech support representatives. They must have tried a dozen approaches to work around the modem software and upgrade it.
I was afraid that the battery in the hand held phone would die before he finished the call. Thankfully, it lasted until he was finished.
The tech support man suggested that I might try turning my old laptop on and off in succession because I might be able to get the hard drive to work again, if only long enough to download data and burn it on to some CDs. I had nothing to lose so I gave him suggestion a try and it worked. The old laptop spun up, just like it always had.
I quickly put it on life support and plugged in the power cord. I downloaded the all of data on the hard drive except for the Outlook Express program.
After dinner, I loaded the old software and updates for the programs.
Life is good for me again now.
Big Shout Out – Honn Robinson
I want to give a really Big Shout Out to Honn Robinson of the Best Buy Torrance Geek Squad [honn.robinson@geeksquad.com or 310-791-6436]. Honn did yeoman work on my new laptop. If he hadn’t known what my problem was, I doubt I could have fixed and I would have probably purchased a new and unnecessary modem.
I know I will call Honn if I ever have a large problem with my new laptop.
The Old Laptop
I still have the old laptop and it is still functioning. I just do not know for how much longer. My project for Friday is to extract the email addresses. There are over a hundred so I would prefer to copy them and upload them to the new Windows Mail program that replaced Outlook Express.
For the time being, I am keeping the old laptop. It will stay turned on and under power until I make the final decisions.
Verizon Tech Support
I consider all of the tech support staffers that I happened to run across during this adventure were competent, some were more competent than others and this is to be expected I guess.
I thought one of the statements from the senior tech support staffers was more than self serving and disingenuous. She said “that Vista caught them by surprise.”
Rather odd.
Vista was well announced and delayed. Developers had ample opportunity to get a copy of the new software and create workarounds by the middle of April 2007, three months after launch.
It made me wonder what the technical staff at Verizon was doing the last few months because I certainly am not the first person to buy a Windows Vista computer and want to use Verizon DSL service.
Odds and Ends with the New Laptop
I have to go back to Best Buy sometime soon. The Geek Squad staffers who added the new RAM did not put all of the screws back in the bottom of the laptop. While I don’t anticipate the machine coming apart, I do think they should have done a complete job. It just seems like the right thing to do on their part.
Woman of the Moment
I am going to put up more than the usual number of Woman of the Moment photos. Tonight, I am going to try for an image theme of “V for Victory” finger gestures. I think this is a good theme since I do not have a great lot of bikini photos to post.
The Park Next Door
It looks like the tree workers have finished their job in the park next door. I could tell by the silence and absence of the chair saws and wood chipper.
I found it less than fascinating that the workers could be out here at 7:00 AM on a Saturday morning and not be able to start until almost mid-morning on a normal work day.
So much for considering the needs of the taxpayers.
Programming Note
I have a meeting at school tomorrow night that won’t start until 5:00 PM. By the time the meeting is concluded and I drive home and finally have my dinner, it will be on the late side so I would not look for a posting tomorrow night.
Haircut
I need another haircut and it is starting to look seedy now. The new stylist who did such a great job on my hair is nowhere to be found. This was the best my hair has looked in years. Now, I am back to looking for another stylist who will cut my hair close to the way I want it cut.
Teaching
I had a call from school yesterday afternoon asking me to come in at the last moment and substitute teach a class I have never taught before. I had to decline the offer since I thought Doug was going to be out here for dinner. I found out later on, after it was too late to drive to school and arrive before class started, that Doug would not be here for dinner.
Job Searching and Interviewing
On Monday, I had a telephone interview with the head of human resources for a large credit union. She wanted to talk to me about my interest in becoming their chief lending officer.
We talked for almost an hour about my background and lending philosophy and how I might fit into their organization. I told her about my teaching commitment and when it would end. I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a deal killer or not. I felt it was better to be honest and tell her up front rather than to wait until much later in the process and then spring the teaching news on her. That would have been embarrassing for her and very unprofessional for me.
I guess the teaching for the rest of the semester is not going to be a problem for the credit union. The head of human resources called me on Tuesday in the middle of my morning break to schedule an interview for the week after next with the credit union president.
This was a nice distraction from teaching Microeconomics.
El Gringo
I went to El Gringo for dinner last night to celebrate the fixing of my modem so I could use my new laptop. I also did not feel like cooking either.
Valerie the Server was working on Tuesday. That was very nice for me. Valerie asked where Doug was because the last time I was there, Doug was with me. I said he had dinner out behind the Orange Curtain.
Tuesday at El Gringo is Taco Tuesday. It is a buy one taco get one free taco proposition. I had intended to have a Number 2 Combination which two tacos, rice, and refried beans and that would have filled me perfectly.
Valerie said I could save money by ordering things separately. I saved about a dollar and ended up with twice the normal size of the orders for the rice and refried beans. I ended up with a stuffed feeling for my efforts. I think if I go to El Gringo on another Taco Tuesday and if I have tacos, I will go with the Number 2 Combination and not get so stuffed by the end of the meal.
There, that should bring you up to date on me and my life, such as it is.
Be well and stay happy.
posted by Chuck Reinhardt at 4:18 PM
6 Comments:
I am writing this email to express how pleased we are with the computer work done for us today by Agent Honn Robinson. We have had several Geek Squad agents and were generally pleased. Agent Robinson was outstanding; therefore, we felt the need to make you aware of our appreciation for his endeavors.
Gene and Frances Garrison
Honn,
Thanks much for providing the great experience to Ms. Garrision that she is commending you for. Services is a business that ensures it's future only through the one on one opportunities that arise in "connecting" with our customers and in turn, being recommended to others for our(your) great work.
Thank-you for earning the trust of our customers and delivering a truly differentiating Geek Squad experience to all of our customers that you come into contact with--such as Ms. Garrison.....
Thanks for wanting to be the best,
we here at the Pro Design Group wanted to let you know that Honn Robinson
ROCKED!!! He help us a lot and he did a great job. he is a good worker.
Thank You
Nancy Flores
The Pro Design Group
310-767-1032 Phone
310-767-1034 Fax
Nancy@theprodesigngroup.com
100 Honn did a great job in diagnosing the problems with my system. Very courteous and knowlegable
100 Mr. Honn Robinson is the reason. He is the type of person whose talents are readily recognized.Additionally, his professional manner and explanations regarding the work performed are both outstanding. He had to make a round trip to the store and back to pick up the CPU and 4 recovery discs and Norton CD to bring back to my home. He had not been advised prior to the appointment, that all materials were at the store. He made this trip cheerfully and in a timely manner. Impressive!
100 Han helped me a lot and explained as he went. I really appreciated him and he validated why I rely on Geek Squad for
FromRonnieHill,T4ServicesSolutionsDirector
HelloWelcome to Recognition wherewe shine a spotlight on those of you who are shine a spotlight on those of you who are servingouremployees,clientsand shareholderseveryday. OctobercompanyPrecinctCSIwasup slightlyto70.0.Rebootismakinganimpact!In Home RepairCSIwasalsoupto87.4 tying afiscalyearhigh. Areyoureadyforthisholidayseason?(Youmighthave heardthat its ourmostimportantoneever ). Were goingtoseesomeserioustrafficinourstores,onlineand overthephone.Allofthiswillleadtomoreopportunities todelightourcustomerswithGeekSquadservicesintheir homes,businesses,vehiclesandmore.Besuretokeep currentonallofthehotoffersandpromos were running. Nomatterhowbusyweget,weneedtofosteraculture ofprovidinga first class employeeexperience.Keepthe lines of communication open to understand whats lines of communication open to understand whats working/notworkingandhowwecanhelpeachotherout. Thankyouforallthatyoudo.Keepupthegreat work!
DoubleAgentHonnRobinson(USO1826LA,CA) wasvery knowledgeable,professionalandhadgreatcommunication skills. Im fromtheoldschoolandhewasabletoexplain whatwasgoingonwithmyPCdowntomylevel.Ifservice iseverneededagain,IwouldliketorequestAgentHonn. Thanksforhavingfolkslikehimtohelpus out. Client
This Guy Honn was amazing and so nice he has got to be the nicest guy on the planet
and as for fixing things i will say dam good and leave it at that.
Honn thanks for your service,
Oh wow its been like 10 years i have been searching for honn and hey i found that super tech
the geek guy that once worked for bestbuy i ran in to him in the city of industry he was working for a major computer developer company call MSI micro center inc he said he was still doing Tech support sure wish he was still in beach front redondo beach and or Manhattan beach just saying happy to of had the chance to say hi and get some hints on this windows 10 stuff
thanks to you honn im rocking and rolling, sky's the limit honn thank you!
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