Problem #1

I turned on my computer this morning and all it did was BEEP BEEP at me. No startup. No screen. Just “beep beep” -then it shut itself down.  All sorts of worst case scenarios started to go through my poor head.

After my heart started again, I Googled the problem using another computer. I typed “my computer goes beep beep and won’t start.” Seems that happens a lot because the web is full of beeping help.

So I clicked the link to http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm  and learned that Motherboards are designed with beep Morse Code, ie, the combinations of beeps tell you what’s wrong.

They listed all the TERRIBLE THINGS that the beeping indicated “could”  be going wrong, but their first suggestion was to ”unsnap my memory chips from the motherboard and snap them in again.”  Sounded too easy. I was sure I was going to have to spend 3 hours on the phone with Dell only to discover my harddrives were fried.

But it worked. I unsnapped the memory card and snapped them back in. Hit the power button and away she went.

I don’t know why it worked, it just did. The chips weren’t loose. Apparently the motherboard had just developed “electrical vaporlock” during a recent power outage we had,  and unsnapping the chips broke the lock. Computer booted right up.

Which brings up something every staff person in a church (or any computer user) should know:

you don’t have to wait for the church techie to solve your problem,
=you just need to get to the right website.

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PCHELL.com is a great site. http://www.pchell.com/   Everything from hardware problems to do it yourself virus removal.

http://www.smartcomputing.com/techsupport is a good “fix it” website written in plain english.

The better computer companies also have websites full of useful info. Dell.com’s “Forums” are filled with people posting their problems, and others -including Dell technicians, posting solutions.

Problem #2

My daughter’s new laptop has a broken DVD drive. I called Dell, but their phone system is crazy. So I went online and used their “Tech Support Chat.”   They were quick and very helpful. They even had me download a small file that allowed them to REMOTELY CONTROL the laptop so they could run some tests. This is the second time I’ve had to use Dell Online Chat to help with family computers, and it’s the only way to go.

It’s such features as Dell Chat and their ability to remotely access my computer which keep me coming back to Dell.  Buy your computer at a store like Best Buy, and you’re stuck going to their store to get things fixed.

Horror Story Alert: A friend took her computer into Best Buy to fix her HP’s built-in webcam which was still under warranty. They came back saying she had all these viruses and they could remove them for $149 !!

…I told her I’d do it for free. When we got the computer back, she didn’t have viruses, she had some spyware and ‘malware’ which any one of a number of free utilities was able to nuke. The GeekSquad was just trying to drum up business.

Vista Commercial: 

The more I use it, the more I like the Vista operating system. It is MUCH more HELPFUL than XP is in figuring out problems, such as internet connectivity. 

My computer with the BEEPING problem was an XP computer, and the problem was hardware, not operating system. But we’ve been having “power and internet issues” on all three of our computers here at our new place, and the VISTA laptop we have with us has been MUCH more intuitive and helpful than the XP computers.