From the Ground Up

This evening, I was asked by a family friend to help them fix a friend’s computer. He was explaining to me that the computer was the old work computer, and he had just helped them set up a new Dell, and that they also were setting up a wireless home network. The older computer (a Gateway running Windows XP) was moved from the basement to an office upstairs, and was going to connect via a wireless adapter. The new Dell was hardwired in the basement. After checking an initial connection downstairs, the Gateway was moved upstairs and functioned properly for a short while. However, after restarting it once, the computer would Blue Screen – without an error message – every time a connection was attempted. This is where I was brought into the mix…

I assumed it was either a driver or hardware issue, but after seeing the computer blue screen, and no error message coming up, I wasn’t in the mood to troubleshoot an open-ended error. Next, we tried using a Windows XP disk to repair the existing install. I should probably mention that the system had also thrown a BOOT.INI error, and that it had somehow unactivated itself, claiming that there was significant hardware changed in the system, even though the computer remained the same except for the wireless adapter. So after trying to use the Recovery Console from the XP disk, and finding out that it only gives you a command prompt, I decided to give a full install a go. After the install finished, I was brought to a clean Windows desktop, and assumed that the problem was fixed. However, the system began restarting every few minutes, with no explanation. At this point, my friend and I decided that it was a losing effort, and told their friend that it was time to replace this computer also.

So, coming back to the whole point of the story, when is it time to call it quits? The Gateway was 8 years old. In my opinion, that’s roughly twice the normal life span of a computer, and something that people need to start addressing earlier. Given how much computers have come down in recent years (the friend was able to purchase a Dell Inspiron 15 to replace the Gateway, decently equipped for under $500), why do people still feel the need to stretch the life of their electronics to the limit? If the owner of the computer is knowledgeable enough in their own right to maintain a system of that age, then yes, they are entitled to hold onto it for as long as they desire.

But what about the people who rely on friends and family to maintain their systems – should they be able to lay blame on their friends when the system finally fails? Again, this comes back to the question, when is enough enough? In my opinion, if you’re relying on someone else to keep your system running, you should have them over at least every other month to make sure everything is in working order. Just because you know enough to do your business on the computer doesn’t mean you’re knowledgeable enough to keep everything working properly, or at all for that matter. If this is the case, you should have them sit down with you to teach you the basics – how to backup and the warning signs for an imminent crash – that way you can take some responsibility and not have to keep them on speed dial all the time.

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