PC maintenance and repair

If you own or have ever just used a computer, it’s not to hard too sympathize and completely understand what the maniac in the video above was going through.  Just a short time ago, I was the closest I have ever come to pulling a Kung Fu Panda on my computer.  I went to check my e-mail, as I do every morning, only to find nothing but a black screen.  I first thought I had lost power and the computer was off, but that was far from the truth.  Once I realized the computer was still on and I had pressed a few of the buttons including the old stand combo of (CNTL/ALT/DEL) without any response, I began to worry.  Considering that I had no blinking arrow, no blinking hourglass, and not even the ”blue screen of death” sighting some sort of “Fatal Error” I knew that my PC was not in good shape.  Not having time in the morning to even consider making the call to the manufacturer, I headed off to work only imagining what I was in for once I found the time to tackle this issue.  The only thing that was providing me with a little peace of mind up to this point was the external back up hard drive that I installed about a year ago.  That night I set aside some time to call the support line.  I had checked my original paperwork prior to making the call to ensure that I still had an active warranty, which I did.  After about ten minutes of waiting to get through to someone, I was connected with a support technician.  He walked me through multiple steps of re-booting the computer, but still had no luck.  He then, verbally walked me through removing the side panel on the computer exposing the internal contents.  The technician the directed me to the hard drive and after a few tests he concluded that the hard drive had more than likely crashed and that we would need to install a new one.  He asked me if I thought I would feel comfortable if they simply sent me a new hard drive and I installed it myself with their assistance, or should they plan to send someone out to install it.  My first thought was to have them do the whole thing considering that it was all under warranty, but then I thought if they were willing to take the time to teach me how to do it, I might as well take them up on the opportunity and learn something throughout this ordeal.   So, we agreed to reconnect after I receive the new hard drive which was expected to arrive within the next 2 -- 3 days.  The package arrived on time and I was able to reconnect with the same technician I had originally spoken to.  Again he verbally directed me to open and expose the internal parts of the computer.  He took me step by step through the process of removing the old hard and installing the new one.  After that was complete he assisted me in re-installing all the necessary software and drivers.  By about 2:30 AM my computer was back up and running and seemed to be running much better than it had it the recent past. 

Don’t get me wrong,  this was a very long and tedious process and several times throughout it I was ready to throw in the towel and request that they send someone out.  But in the end I definitely felt a sense of accomplishment in the fact that the computer was back up and running and now I am a lot more knowledgeable when it comes to PC maintenance and repair.  Whenever the opportunity presents itself for you to learn something new you should take advantage of it.   I would now feel confident in the future working on my own computer or assisting some one else who might be in need of some minor PC Maintenance.

Caldo’s here to give you a virtual hand with all of your home projects. Send him questions at caldo@davezillion.com

DZ