The Bug spilt water on my laptop (.. while playing RIFT over at Miniclip). Didn't seem like very much. Maybe an ounce. I wiped the keyboard with an old tee-shirt. No problem.
Twenty minutes later » the dreaded Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). What happened?
he asked.
That's the blue screen of death,
I said. Not good.
The laptop wouldn't restart. BIOS error said it couldn't even find the dang hard drive (media). "No operating system found." Never a good sign.
I lifted the laptop and found a little puddle beneath the hard drive that I'd missed upon my earlier wipe-up. There's the problem,
I said.
I mopped up the puddle but the laptop still wouldn't start. Couldn't get past the BIOS media-not-found error.
All the while, the Bug is bugging me, Dad, when can I play Crazy Chicken Pirates?
A little frustrating.
I tried restarting a dozen times. No dice. We finally went to bed. Next morning (before I headed to the kindergarten orientation) it still wouldn't boot. Now I was getting worried.
••• today's entry continues here below •••
After returning from orientation, I set the laptop in the sun, turned upside-down (to expose the hard drive area to the warm sun). Three hours later the laptop was nice and warm but » still no go. Maybe things were worse than I thought.
The Bug suggested I open the lid and let it sit in the sun rightside-up, since that's where the water spilt. I explain how the error said the laptop couldn't find the hard drive, which I yanked and showed him. (No evidence of water found there. No moisture either.)
So I did as he suggested. Nothing to lose, right? Couple hours later, we pressed the start button. Hallelujah! There appeared the beautiful Windows boot screen. Whew! We celebrated big-time.
Some people suggested using a hot-air blower. But I was concerned about melting solder.
One final note » tonight Frontline is airing a special on the earthquake that killed hundreds-of-thousands in Haiti on January 12th. Titled » The Quake. Sounds interesting.
The earthquake in Haiti was one of the most devastating in recorded history. If you miss tonight's show, you can always catch it online (.. along with many other features).
Haiti is the only country (ever) where the slaves rebelled (1804) and overthrew its rulers. Even the mighty gladiators eventually were put down by the Roman army .. after a few years. And Haiti laid the smack down on none else than Napolean .. some of his best troops. The word Haiti mean 'higher place.'
