The Kernel Wasn't the Only Thing Panicking
So here's what happened—about a month ago I gave up on my liquid-damaged keyboard, got a new one, found I had to install the software to get certain keys to work, and as soon as I installed it boom—no computer. It crashed every time I started it, a form of crashing called a "kernel panic." In hundreds of starts I got to the desktop twice, and then all hope ended.
What's that? Was I backed up completely?
No.
Are you?
All right then.
Anyway, I yell at the keyboard manufacturer for a session or two and then take it into the shop. Young man pops the back off and points. Several of the capacitors had this beige cheesy substance coming of of them. They might as well have been brains oozing out, because it meant the logic board was gone. But why, I wailed, did the catastrophic failure happen exactly when I installed the new software?
The young guy looked straight at me. "Coincidence," he said. And with a sinking heart, I realized he was right. It just wasn't a stupid glitchy problem, like corrupted startup software, it was a serious hardware problem and my whole computing world, which is basically my career, was in jeopardy.
They spent three weeks trying to fix it, and in the end they couldn't. While that was going on, my laptop suddenly died. Hard drive on that one. No computers. Dead in the water. I had to go to the library to get my e-mail. I couldn't show clients the work I was doing for them or get the images printed for a fast-approaching art gallery show or do one damn thing to further my flagging fortunes. It was kinda depressing, if you really want to know.
But I got a new drive in the laptop, and put the hard drive from the desktop in a doohickey called an "external enclosure" that enabled the laptop to read it. I'm most of the way back (and totally backed up, it goes without saying) except for certain technical things I won't bore you with. Long story short, uh, hi! I'm back. This has been a pain to deal with. If there's an organization that goes around and lets backup slackers tell their sad stories, the way the Salvation Army has former drunks as speakers, I'd like to sign up.
What's that? Was I backed up completely?
No.
Are you?
All right then.
Anyway, I yell at the keyboard manufacturer for a session or two and then take it into the shop. Young man pops the back off and points. Several of the capacitors had this beige cheesy substance coming of of them. They might as well have been brains oozing out, because it meant the logic board was gone. But why, I wailed, did the catastrophic failure happen exactly when I installed the new software?
The young guy looked straight at me. "Coincidence," he said. And with a sinking heart, I realized he was right. It just wasn't a stupid glitchy problem, like corrupted startup software, it was a serious hardware problem and my whole computing world, which is basically my career, was in jeopardy.
They spent three weeks trying to fix it, and in the end they couldn't. While that was going on, my laptop suddenly died. Hard drive on that one. No computers. Dead in the water. I had to go to the library to get my e-mail. I couldn't show clients the work I was doing for them or get the images printed for a fast-approaching art gallery show or do one damn thing to further my flagging fortunes. It was kinda depressing, if you really want to know.
But I got a new drive in the laptop, and put the hard drive from the desktop in a doohickey called an "external enclosure" that enabled the laptop to read it. I'm most of the way back (and totally backed up, it goes without saying) except for certain technical things I won't bore you with. Long story short, uh, hi! I'm back. This has been a pain to deal with. If there's an organization that goes around and lets backup slackers tell their sad stories, the way the Salvation Army has former drunks as speakers, I'd like to sign up.
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