BSOD
...Which, as some of you might know, stands for 'Blue Screen of Death'; i.e. the screen that Windows users dread seeing most.Unfortunately, I had the pleasure of seeing this screen (one too many times, might I add) on Juliet's birthday. (Sorry, Jules - not blaming you at all, but I hope you had a better day than I did!)
Laptop freezing + hard drive clicking + overheating processor = multiple BSODs.
I left CHKDSK (rubbish) to run overnight, and lo and behold, when I woke up I was faced with yet another BSOD, which turned out to be the final breath that my beloved laptop was to take. For after the laptop was restarted, this is what I saw -
A disk read error has occurred
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart the computer
I'll give you three guesses as to what message came up when I restarted, and when I restarted again, and again, and again...
After much research and debate it was decided that my laptop would be replaced with a Dell Inspiron 6000. The cost of replacing the internal hard drive, combined with the other problems I was having with the system, plus the fact that I am no longer covered by warranty, suggested that it would be more worthwhile replacing the whole system as opposed to bits of it. Just half an hour ago I placed the order - how scary - almost like buying a house. I suppose like most things in life (cars, mobiles, men - only joking on the last one) there comes a point in which older models must be replaced with newer, better ones. But alas, such are the pitfalls of entirely-too-short lifespans of laptop computers.
As my entire life was stored on my now-deceased laptop, I have been understandably stressed over the past few days, having aged (I swear) by about 37 years.
However. Clouds, silver linings etc:
*Vital documents/photos have been backed up onto my iPod
*The new laptop will be arriving shortly
*My parents and boyfriend are visiting Oxford for my birthday
So yes - I am annoyed, frustrated, saddened, panicked, and very much inconvenienced, but there is still much to look forward to.
In the meantime I’ll have to live sans ordinateur - which is probably a good thing as I can actually work without distraction. And not having internet connectivity in my flat means that I’ll be able to keep myself away from online shopping. Dare I call this a blessing in disguise? Perhaps. Just perhaps.
L'Esthete @ 15:31
