My Varuna Journal

Gallery Webmaster Copyright © 2003 Milli Thornton

Epilogue to My "PHYSICAL MEMORY DUMP" Computer Crashing Problem

The first time my laptop crashed to that fatal blue screen was the first day I got it (and no, it wasn't a refurbished model, it was straight from the factory!) Brian tried everything to fix it, as he explained to me that it's futile to try for a refund on a unit having a software problem. He even brought in "The Brothers"—a pair of software experts who happen to be brothers. They gave it a temporary fix, but soon I was back to the same old computer woes. Brian could uncorrupt my personal settings to keep me going, but that was only a bandaid.
Joanna "Sparky" Quintana, says Hi to me via digital camera from Albuquerque
Photo Brian Williams © 2002
This problem had already caused me nine months worth of stress before I ever reached the pits of despair at Varuna House. Before I left for Australia, Brian had performed what we hoped to be the ultimate fix. Still, I was a little nervous. And sure enough, the minute I was 12,000 kilometres away from my computer guru, the problem went from a major headache to a full-blown emergency. Brian gave me another bandaid by telling me how to set up a new identity, so I could at least use my laptop for my Aussie writing retreat.

A few months after I returned from Australia, I was on the phone to my friend Joanna at her office in Albuquerque, ordering a new battery for my laptop. Sparky, formerly a member of the tech support team at Gateway, had a magic solution for my crashing woes. She explained that, over time, she'd noticed that whenever she advised callers with mysterious, impossible-to-rectify PC problems to update the video driver as part of the standard checklist, the customer's problem would disappear. And that's all it took for my year-old headache to vanish. A cyber-asprin from Joanna. Hooray!

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