Night of the dead computer

[miriam_e]

Scary, scary stuff!!

My computer is doing really stupid stuff like refusing to open things, so I decide to reboot... the usual solution with crappy MSWindows. Imagine my horror when the boot screen freezes with the message: BIOS checksum error. I have had that error on occasion before, but I've never had it freeze there.

I start to sweat. Everything is on that machine, and it is months since I did a proper backup. I am blinded somewhat by fear -- probably why I don't see the solution. I am imagining some insane program (or even virus?) writing faulty info into my flash-RAM BIOS and fucking it so badly that it can't even reprogram from the backup BIOS (I have a dual BIOS machine for that reason). If the flash RAM is stuffed then that is it... adios. You need to replace the BIOS chip, I guess.

Drenched with fear and sweat I ring Morgan to tell her of the scary news -- the final files of the work I was doing for her are on the unbootable machine. She seems strangely buoyant. She asks "Do you know how to fix it?" I am a little disoriented and answer negatively. Her reply states what should have been obvious to me: the battery that maintains the CMOS RAM for the BIOS settings... the battery was probably dead. There was likely nothing wrong with my flash RAM. (Thank heavens for geek-goddess Morgan!)

Luckily I have 6 computers here: 2 Amigas, my little PalmVx, a laptop, and 2 desktop PCs (god, what a nerd!). I pull apart the 2 PCs and remove the battery from each, put the suspect one aside, and the other one into my main machine, then plug that machine back in and switch it on. I almost fall over wiith relief. It was the battery.

End of scary tale.