It starts but it does not go
6/2/10 19:48![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darkemeraldsThis is weird and frustrating--and it's probably going to be expensive.
1. My (almost brand new) Dell Studio laptop went on the fritz today when I was trying to back some large files up to my external hard drive. It locked up COMPLETELY in Vista--the push-the-button-till-it-turns-off kind of locked up, and when I restarted I got a message saying no operating system found.
(Notes to my technical friends: diagnostics show no problem with the hard drive. I can boot into Ubuntu off a DVD, and Ubuntu can read the whole hard drive, including the Vista sector.)
2. I drove my car today for the first time in weeks, and it started up sweet as pie, but I could not shift it out of Park. Fiddle-fiddle-fiddle, off-and-back-on again, and it worked. I drove to coffee destination. Repeat. Drove to IKEA. Repeat. Drove my sister home. Repeat, only there, NOTHING I did could get it to shift out of Park.
Turns out it was the starter key (one of those infrared ones). As soon as I tried the newer of my two keys, the car shifted out of Park, no problem.
Weird, though, huh? Both my car and my computer are to all appearances working fine, but I can't make either of them go.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?????
1. My (almost brand new) Dell Studio laptop went on the fritz today when I was trying to back some large files up to my external hard drive. It locked up COMPLETELY in Vista--the push-the-button-till-it-turns-off kind of locked up, and when I restarted I got a message saying no operating system found.
(Notes to my technical friends: diagnostics show no problem with the hard drive. I can boot into Ubuntu off a DVD, and Ubuntu can read the whole hard drive, including the Vista sector.)
2. I drove my car today for the first time in weeks, and it started up sweet as pie, but I could not shift it out of Park. Fiddle-fiddle-fiddle, off-and-back-on again, and it worked. I drove to coffee destination. Repeat. Drove to IKEA. Repeat. Drove my sister home. Repeat, only there, NOTHING I did could get it to shift out of Park.
Turns out it was the starter key (one of those infrared ones). As soon as I tried the newer of my two keys, the car shifted out of Park, no problem.
Weird, though, huh? Both my car and my computer are to all appearances working fine, but I can't make either of them go.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?????