My only computer broke last night. Poor laptop. It wasn’t entirely unexpected, because it’s been behaving like a cranky toddler for the past year and has had trouble since I bought it – but it was still sad.
I tried everything I knew. Hard re-sets, switching outlets, replacing the battery, turning it upside down and shaking it, threatening it verbally, etc. I even took it apart, blew air through a few of the more suspicious looking components, and putting it back together again. Nothing worked.
So I spent like 4 hours researching and buying a new computer. I went to bed defeated, but looking forward to a fancy new laptop that wouldn’t totally suck.
This morning, I wake up to a surprise. My laptop is on.
It’s working perfectly as we speak.
Apparently the threat of competition succeeded when all rudimentary computer engineering techniques could not.
… I think the lesson here is supposed to be something like “Be patient” or “Accept that electricity is a mysterious force that’s a little more difficult than the MCAT let on” – but all I got out of it was “All major problems in your life magically disappear if you just ignore them hard enough.”
I’d love to blame messages like this for my continued procrastination on responsible grown-up chores (This tax form mess will sort itself out eventually! No need to spend 3 hours on the phone, I’m sure!), but I can’t. I have an incredibly expensive laptop purchase to cancel.
Action Potential 
Make sure everything’s backed up while it’s still breathing. I once had a computer catch a similar “second wind” right before going into complete asystole. Had I used the second wind to back-up all my important data, the final throes of hard drive death would not have been quite as devastating as they were. (Not trying to be an electronic doomsday prophet…may your computer live long and prosper.)
Good point. Time to research online backup sources…
I agree with medexaminer. Back everything up while it’s still working. I’d even go with the new laptop, because if the old one did that once, it’ll do it again probably soon, and the chances of recovery after a second failure are slimmer. Plus it’s nice to have your old one functioning while you’re getting your new one set up, because there’s always something you forget to transfer.
“All major problems in your life magically disappear if you just ignore them hard enough.”
I love it!
I live with an IT guy and what I’ve learned is that restarting the computer, and kicking it in the appropriate spots while muttering has fixed 99.9% of all problems.
Let me guess…. you have a Dell.
I have an HP. They’re a demon company that covers up their broken trail of merchandise with vague allusions and panicky lawyers. I hate them very much.