photo by Julie Collins Rousseau

When I had my most recent computer cataclysm, I thought I would die. Honestly, I started off a term of my graduate work without a functioning computer. But, as with many seeming disasters, the most pertinent advice anyone could give me, no one did. The best thing to remember when something goes wrong with technology is:

And since no one pointed it out to me, I point it out now to you. Here are some helpful tips in case of extreme circumstances, documented posthumously by the survivor.

#1 - Laptops

DISCLAIMER: The knowledge (?) contained herein is based on personal experience backed up by research. It is ALWAYS adviseable to consult a professional about your technical problem, or if not a professional, at least someone who knows more than you.

What should you do if your computer hard drive (or other essential piece of hardware) decides to take a turn for the functionality of a blender rather than a spinning stack of disks containing the recorded knowledge of your computing partner?

FIRST: Go through whatever phase of anger is required WITHOUT damaging the remaining and potentially functioning pieces of your computer. We are, after all, still only the human counterparts to the functioning (or not) machinery.

SECOND: Assess what pieces of your computer are still working, if possible. It is usually less cost-prohibitive to get something repaired if you have some idea of what the repair is going to entail.

For instance:

A problem I once had with one of my Windows laptops was as followed: The computer would get to the Windows loading screen and die from lack of power. I suspected the battery, so I tried to boot the computer with the power adapter plugged into the back of it. The computer screen would illuminate, but would not load the OS. The SOLUTION turned out to be that I booted the computer through the BIOS load on battery power and then plugged in the adapter. (Conversely I COULD have just bought a new battery, but the battery for the model was exorbitantly expensive, and I'd already been given the run-around and purchased a new power adapter for the machine. As a side note, the company that manufacture the machine still thinks I'm crazy and denies this problem is possible.)

If you have a laptop and the screen is not lighting up, or if you cannot get the machine to turn on, first check the battery pack. On most models of laptop battery there is some set of indicator lights that tell you how much juice (or charge) is in your battery. If the charge is exceedingly low, try starting your laptop with the power adapter plugged in.

The Death and Resurrection of my Powerbook G4.

My Powerbook hard drive recently turned into a shiny paperweight. If your hard drive fails, you loose your operating system. You have NOT lost your whole computer. Just all the information and youtube videoes you downloaded and saved to the disk. If this is the case and you are having a harddrive failure, what you will see is the normal gray login screen. HOWEVER, instead of the darker gray apple, what will pop up is the little folder (which you may remember from the days of Mac OS Classic) with a question mark in it. This means your computer can't find the Operating System folder.

To make sure that it's the drive, try this: Insert your OS cd, boot the computer while holding down the "C" key (that's the boot from CD key, fyi). When it tries to install, go up to the apple menu and find the disk utility. If it can find your drive, you may be in luck. If you've gotten the questioning little folder icon, you likely will see only your CD/DVD drive here.

If disk utility can find the drive, you may be able to run repair disk and save the contents of the drive. You may not need to replace it. This article relates to an instance in which the drive was un-recoverable.

Now, a note or two on Apple Care for these instances. If you have it, great, that's wonderful and I'm happy for you. If not, they are going to over-charge you for the repair. If you can ascertain for certain that it is your drive and not something else, and you DON'T have apple-care, I recommend purchasing a hard drive on your own. You can either install it yourself or take it to a service shop.

Opening your case voids the warranty, thus cancelling your expensive service plan. If you're like me, and at this point you're frustrated beyond likelihood of a personal computer solution, most service shops will charge you less than a full diagnostic-service job if you take the new drive and your computer to them. Be sure to specify that you ONLY want the drives switched out. It's easy to load an OS onto a fresh hard drive. Put in your OS cd and hold down the "C" key while booting. Follow the on-screen instructions.

You will have to re-install your software and re-activate your iTunes account for your computer, but it's far cheaper than paying Apple to replace your hard drive and install it for you.

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