Saying that the last month was rough is in some ways putting it mildly. Oh things between Kayla and I are fine, we are moving forward in our relationship; exploring, experiencing, and laying plans for the future.
What has made it rough are some of the speed bumps I’ve encountered along the way.
Just after Thanksgiving I started having some computer problems. I began troubleshooting and working my way through the problems. Bit by bit I began replacing parts in my computer until it came down to each part in my desktop was now new.
Sounds like a great solution, I ended up with a new computer…not so.
My computer would only boot intermittently and then when it wouldn’t work it wouldn’t even POST, meaning the motherboard didn’t detect ANY of the hardware needed to work. Okay once again easy right I had determined it was the motherboard and since it is new just RMA it for another one.
Wrong.
The first time I called the manufacturer I got right through, they issued me a case number, told me what to try and then call them back with the results.
I had to disassemble the computer and with the very basic of hardware put it together outside of the case. It had to wait till the weekend, I set aside the time, Kayla worked it so her and the boys were out and I could work in silence, call them back and get my RMA.
It was another week and a half before I could even talk to another human being on the phone!
After explaining my troubleshooting they agreed it was a bad motherboard. But wait there was still a catch. If they (the manufacturer) RMA’d it they would send me a refurbished board. If I went through the reseller I would get a new one.
I opted to go through the reseller, thankfully things went through with them quickly and with only one call. What helped was having a case number from the manufacturer. I was sent a return shipping label and two days later the motherboard was on its way back. No new MB till they get the old one and test it.
So hopefully sometime shortly after the New Year I will have a new motherboard and be back up and running.
Now mixed in with that I found I had a need for some files stored on an external drive I have. A 4 terrabyte drive which contained 2 terrabytes of data.
All I have at this time is my work laptop which I am very cautious in using with my kink stuff. But I hooked the external drive to the laptop as I needed these files.
The laptop would not read the drive! Linux said the drive was corrupt and needed to have Windows Check Disk run on it.
SO into Windows I went and tried to run Check Disk.
It wouldn’t work, it said the drive was to corrupt and needed to be formatted.
My heart rose up in my throat.
After I calmed down, I have some software that can recover failed drives.
So the software was installed, the external drive hooked up, and away we went.
6 hours later after the scan was done…
It found no data, nothing, nada, zip, zilch.
Everything gone, documents, videos, digital photos that I have taken over the course of the last 12 years.
A portion of the family photos I do have stored in places like Drop Box and a few other places so a portion of them I will be able to recover.
It has taken me a bit for my mind to wrap around this. Kayla says I am a digital hoarder and I had to much data.
Being a computer guy; data is my life’s blood.
I am ready to put all these computer problems behind me and move forward.