SOS

I think it all started when my PC refused to boot. I brought my CPU to where I bought its parts, right there in Save on Surplus-Naga because I wanted to avail of the warranty. The technicians figured that the cause of the malfunction was the Memory so I had it replaced. Since they could not provide the item at that time and I use my PC everyday, I had to buy a new 128MB DDR 333 Memory and spend P850 for it. I was thinking that when the replacement arrives I would have my CPU upgraded.

After three months SOS called me up, saying that the item was ready for pick-up. It was great news for me. At last, an upgrade.

They installed the thing and right there it seemed to be working just fine. I even noticed that my PC began to boot and execute applications faster. But when I got home and was working on something, I experienced a reboot. I did not make a big deal of it at first although my gut instinct was sounding an alarm.

That weekend I went to Manila, did some Bar-Ops, attended the Ani 32 launch and met some friends. When I came back, my housemate borrowed my PC for her power point presentation in her Master’s class. It was then when the restarts began to be annoyingly frequent. She could not finish anything.

And so I brought back the unit to SOS. One of their technicians examined my CPU and offered a myriad of diagnoses: software problem–unapdated XP version, virus, electrical instability (it was just a day after Milenyo). Nothing about hardware. He did not even take a look at the CPU’s innards. He told me if it’s memory problem I would experience blue screen. He said they could reinstall the software for a fee. I was left thinking.

Instead of paying for it, I could do it myself, I thought. But I asked for some assistance from Fer Basbas, but we were not able to finish installation due to CD-ROM problems. The device, as I mentioned in a previous entry, was screeching like a girl being gang-raped. And so I had to buy a new one, an LG brand, for P700.

It was difficult to reinstall my softwares even with a new CD-ROM. I could not perfectly copy the XP files from the disk and so I had to repeat the process so many times. And when I was finally able to complete the reinstallation, there would still be the same reboot problems.

I was advised by Computer Engineering students to reformat my system drive using File Allocation Table 32 (FAT32), and so I did. But I lost some of my files since the reboot problem kept on bugging me while I was trying to transfer my files.

After many attempts at perfecting the reinstallation (copying of XP files is quite tedious, if you skip a file, your XP won’t work properly), I was finally able to set up a new system. I reworked my file system and started doing my thing in there but heck, the reboots kept on coming.

I disabled the automatic restart so that I could read the stop error screen. The reports mentioned computer Geek language that I had never read before. But something hit a chord: If I did introduce changes in my system like add or remove software or hardware, or change configurations, it could be the culprit.

What was annoying was that, my PC would work for some time and would suddenly shutdown. You can try to recover your work in progress though, but you will have to cross your fingers.

When I was resting yesterday afternoon, something occured to me. These problems actually happened only after guys at SOS installed the ‘new’ memory stick. And so I got up, packed my CPU and went back to SOS.

It’s true when they say that most PC’s crash at times like these, when the semester is about to end. One teacher opined that maybe it’s caused by all those negative energies coming from encoders. The computer is an energy base and much more, an artificial intelligence. Maybe it can absorb negative energy after-all.

I say this because there were dozens or more of CPUs waiting to be serviced in SOS when I got there. I argued that I ought to be given preference because I was merely coming back. They misdiagnosed the problem of my PC that is why I came back. I asked the technician to remove the memory they installed earlier and retest it.

I was right after-all. The memory they installed was defective and was causing the breakdown of my machine.

Now they gave me another replacement slip and I am expecting another three months before they can provide another memory stick.

For my trouble? Nothing in return except the little knowledge I acquired in programming.

Now my PC is as good as before. But wait until you check my CPU’s transide–it turned out the technician forgot to screw it back. Damn.