bktheirregular (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bktheirregular) wrote2011-09-15 05:41 pm
bktheirregular) wrote2011-09-15 05:41 pm
Breakers and overload
Last night, it happened to my laptop.
I turned the little machine on to check my email and browse a couple of sites before going to bed, and after about one minute, the machine cut off with a sudden "clink". I went huh? and turned it back on. The machine turned on ... but the screen backlight didn't. Not good, especially as the laptop's not a big-name brand. I figured that if worse came to worst, I could plug the laptop into the VGA port of my TV or desktop machine monitor in order to recover files and such.
That lasted for half a second before I heard the loud screeching beeps coming from the machine. Again, not good. So I figured I'd better try to close down the machine - let it get to stable-on, even without the backlight, and then push the power button to start an orderly shutdown. That lasted until I heard another "clink" and the thing suddenly shut down again.
After half an hour of jiggery-pokery, I came to the depressing conclusion that the laptop's internal fan wasn't spinning, leading to the system overheating and shutting down so as not to melt the CPU and such. Which left the system totally dead.
Except that while I was poking around, I sent a concentrated blast of canned air into a set of cooling fins, and I heard the fan whirring as the wind set it in motion.
I turned on the laptop - the backlight came on this time - and, lo and behold, after a bit, the fan started spinning. And the laptop stayed on.
So the laptop's safe. For now. I may need to look into a replacement over Christmas, though.
Thsi afternoon, after a couple of rush jobs were finished and I went out to grab a bite of food, a similar thing seemed to happen to my brain. No audible "clink", just the sensation that my mind had closed down.
Except this time it might have been the cold. From the office air-conditoning, this time around, which seems to run off a thermostat in another room.
At least the rush tasks were complete before the breakers popped in my head.
I turned the little machine on to check my email and browse a couple of sites before going to bed, and after about one minute, the machine cut off with a sudden "clink". I went huh? and turned it back on. The machine turned on ... but the screen backlight didn't. Not good, especially as the laptop's not a big-name brand. I figured that if worse came to worst, I could plug the laptop into the VGA port of my TV or desktop machine monitor in order to recover files and such.
That lasted for half a second before I heard the loud screeching beeps coming from the machine. Again, not good. So I figured I'd better try to close down the machine - let it get to stable-on, even without the backlight, and then push the power button to start an orderly shutdown. That lasted until I heard another "clink" and the thing suddenly shut down again.
After half an hour of jiggery-pokery, I came to the depressing conclusion that the laptop's internal fan wasn't spinning, leading to the system overheating and shutting down so as not to melt the CPU and such. Which left the system totally dead.
Except that while I was poking around, I sent a concentrated blast of canned air into a set of cooling fins, and I heard the fan whirring as the wind set it in motion.
I turned on the laptop - the backlight came on this time - and, lo and behold, after a bit, the fan started spinning. And the laptop stayed on.
So the laptop's safe. For now. I may need to look into a replacement over Christmas, though.
Thsi afternoon, after a couple of rush jobs were finished and I went out to grab a bite of food, a similar thing seemed to happen to my brain. No audible "clink", just the sensation that my mind had closed down.
Except this time it might have been the cold. From the office air-conditoning, this time around, which seems to run off a thermostat in another room.
At least the rush tasks were complete before the breakers popped in my head.