Wouldn’t you know it – I just finished paying off my furniture, thereby eliminating one monthly payment from my budget, and now my computer has decided it’s going to die real soon.
The silly machine has been exhibiting signs of extreme illness for months. One by one the USB ports have failed, it’s become slower and slower to boot up and shut off, and it’s constantly freezing in the middle of whatever I’m trying to do. I was hoping to manage with it for as long as possible, despite the annoyances.
But tonight when I tried to boot up, I got a message: “Error in loading operating system.” Twice. The third time, it did boot up but only after I unplugged the external hard drive.
All those lights stopped working a long time ago.
Now, I’m in no way a geeky person, but I gotta assume that “Error in loading operating system” is not a good thing. I still remember the time a computer gave me a message that it was “unable to find operating system“, and I remember the tech support guy saying, “Well, that’s not good.” I imagine my current computer will soon have that same message.
Thus, I’ve gone online and ordered a new computer. (Thank heavens they have interest-free financing!) It will be at the store tomorrow, but we’re expecting one to two feet of snow with blizzard-like conditions and sub-zero temperatures so I don’t think I’ll be going shopping any time soon.
The reason I’m telling you all this is so you aren’t concerned if you don’t hear from me for a few days. I suspect that once I turn this computer off tonight, it will be done for good.
If I’m absent for awhile and you really miss me, don’t forget you can always read some of my older posts. Just click on the links on the right sidebar.
And please enjoy this week’s photographic offerings:
It’s Not All Black and White (sometimes there’s a little gray)
The Tower at UB South Campus, Buffalo, NY, USA (View 1)
The Tower at UB South Campus, Buffalo, NY, USA (View 2)
And now I must spend the rest of this evening frantically copying files to the external hard drive (if the computer will recognize it).
‘Night, all.
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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Images by Cordelia’s Mom
Cordelia's Mom, Still 
ugh! that sucks. my MacBook Pro died on me and I had to make a run to Best Buy top get a new lone. I did a little research and found out that my iDE drive died so I ordered a new SSD thru Amazon. it took no time for new to install the new drive but I had some problems getting to the new IOS at the time. a little more research fixed that problem for me. it’s an older system that won’t support the Mojave IOS but it works well for a backup until I order a new Mac desktop.
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See, I’m so technologically inept I don’t even know what all those initials stand for! I barely managed to figure out how to plug the external hard drive into the USB port and then transfer files to it.
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You probably can’t read this, but it sounds to me like your hard drive may be going out. If you have your operating system disc, I’m wondering if you could just swap out the hard drive with a new one, and install your OS on the new drive. But you probably can’t read this, so what does it matter? And besides, you’ve already ordered a new computer.
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I can still read the comments as I haven’t turned the computer off yet. I’m sure the hard drive is going, but I haven’t a clue how to install a new one, and don’t care to try. I got a good deal on a whole new system. It will be grief enough just setting that up.
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If I was there I’d do it for you. But alas, the snow is too deep to trudge through.
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It probably needs to have the operating system reloaded. IF you have all of your data backed up, you can reload it yourself or call someone. It should cost you less than 100 dollars to get it done. IF your data is NOT backed up, back it up NOW. Pictures, any writing you need and don’t have saved externally in a cloud (like WordPress or Google or Amazon, for example). Then call your local “guy” who comes to your house and have him reinstall a new operating system.
Over the years, computers slow down, get glitchy. They aren’t really broken. It’s software. Clean your hard drive — or even replace it because memory is cheap and if you can get a new one, get one. You can even bump up your memory and put in a larger hard drive … and it will STILL cost you just a couple of hundred dollars.
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Good advice, Marilyn, but since the computer is so old, I figure it’s time for a new one anyway rather than try to replace the hard drive. I have copied everything over to an external drive, so I’m not too worried about losing anything.
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Hoping it all works out! Back in the day I actually swapped out my hard drive and eventually wound up with a system I’d rebuild piece by piece. I loved that thing, I knew it inside and out. But I finally had to join the world of smaller and more compact. Today I’m all about notebooks and laptops. Just basically a big phone. Cheap,easy, not so many components to dust. 🙂
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I’m definitely not skilled enough to swap out a hard drive, and I don’t care to pay someone else to do it. So long as I’m still working, I can afford the new one, but it will probably (hopefully) be the last one I ever buy.
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Sorry to hear that, CM. It’s never fun trying to switch to a new computer, especially under duress. Good luck.
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I remember the last time I had to set up a new computer. The set up was easy enough, but re-downloading all my video games took me weeks!
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Exactly!
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Computer death is a horrible thing. My laptop was terminal last summer so I frantically transferred everything before it’s last breath. Good luck!
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I copied everything over last night before I shut down. I can hardly wait to see if the darn thing boots back up when I get home today.
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Oh, geez, good luck, CM! Computer glitches are the worst! Hoping ALL works out for you!!
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It was time, Amy. I’ve been thinking of getting a new one but hoped I could wait until next year. The good news is, the new computer has upgraded graphics which should help with the photography editing.
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Very cool!!! That is the very reason why I bought my Mac-Book. Only Apple device I own and I bought it strictly for editing. 😁
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Hope you can get it sorted.
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Working on it. Unfortunately, I can’t pick up the new computer until the weekend, due to our current snowstorm.
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We’ve had some snow and sleet tonight and it’s damn cold. The roads will probably be bad tomorrow.
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Congrats on paying off a bill, I am slowly working on a paypal bill of mine. Sorry about your computer though.
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Thanks for joining me! Kudos on paying down your own bill. I takes time and diligence. I just wished I could have kept my debt paid off. Darn dead computer.
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Night night see you on the other side💜💜
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Thanks, Willow. The good news is the computer booted up again this evening, so I can reply to comments. But it wasn’t happy about it.
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Darn computer it’s got a mind of its own . 💜
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Good luck, CM! With the cold, snow and switching of computers, all.
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Thanks, Mark. We have a snow day today – even my boss said to stay home. If I could get out of my driveway and through my street, I would go pick up the new computer. But it’s not worth getting stuck somewhere in whiteout conditions.
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