Technologically challenged

I’m sorry, internet folk. I’ve been needlessly quiet over the last week or so, and my only excuse is the depression that’s sucking me under. What’s causing it, you ask? Let me tell you. Last week, my beloved 2 year old Inspiron E1705 (Ralph) started flashing its wee battery indicator at me… amber, amber, amber, green. Which means temporary battery failure, or, more like D-E-A-D. Over the next couple of days the keyboard began to fail, and the trackpad began to move v e r y s l o w l y. Then, on Saturday, it gave me an error. Something about a file missing, and it wouldn’t boot into Windows! The horror! I called Dell’s tech support, and since I could get it to boot from the CD the “agent” suggested that I do a system restore. This puts everything back to factory settings, and he was sure that would fix the problem.

It didn’t.

I called back on Sunday and managed to get the boot issue fixed, but the keyboard and trackpad are so unbelievably slow that I can’t go about reinstalling and restoring all my files from backups. The “agent” said he would send me a new keyboard, but as of today it hasn’t shown up. I called again today, and the new “agent” said the chat session (apparently chatting is faster than speaking over the phone - who knew?) from Sunday ended before that “agent” could place the order. GAH!

Oh, and by the way, today I’m getting the original error again. It will eventually boot into Windows, but evidently a bad keyboard can cause this error. So, if I had installed a new keyboard before doing a system restore, I wouldn’t have to reinstall anything. Great. Thanks for telling me that NOW.

Don’t get me wrong… I have a backup desktop (George) I can use, but I don’t like to. I enjoy being able to sit in the relative comfort of my couch, watching (or listening, rather) to the background noise of the TV or iTunes while surfing. George is also not as speedy as Ralph, with his Intel Core Duo… he can run virus scans AND browse the internet with ease!

I’m a big weenie. Mostly I’m just upset because I don’t like it when my technology fails. I’d rather get a brand new laptop than fix the one I have, because now it’s not perfect anymore. I know, it’s nuts. Just call me crazy.

Filed under blues, indignities, me |