Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Aaaaahhhh!! :-))

Hey People! Its working! My laptop started working again! Just like that! Boy, am I relieved or Am I Relieved!! Going over some of the 'Greek' IBM Thinkpad sites, I think I diagnosed what the problem was. Looks like the poor baby went into hibernation because of over-charged batteries!! I had not the faintest inkling that such things could occur! The whole episode scared the living daylights out of me. I`m taking extra care to see that the batteries are only half charged now! Gosh! What a day its been!
My earnest plea to any and all techies reading this post. Is this hibernation thing for real? Could there be any other problem with the darn thing? What,if any at all, precautions can I take to avoid such hair-raising, bone-chilling episodes in future??
p.s - A Big Hug to Suki for her response :-))

6 comments:

Apple Bee said...

I wouldn't mind NOT having a laptop for a couple of days!

That being said, what's your laptop model? How long have you had it? Maybe my CS degree will finally be put to use to solve REAL problems ;-)

By the way, been catching up on your blog for a while (thanks to NC), but first time commenting.

Piper .. said...

Ah! You surfaced! I had you in my blogroll in stone age. But then removed it since I thought you had closed down the blog :-)) Shall add you again. How`s Boston treating you? That was the last blog I read - about the move.
Secondly, had I been at home, I pbly wouldnt have over reacted. But here in the hills(small town in south west Germany) and having to stay confined within the 4 walls of the guest house, the laptop`s my lifeline! I was horrified yesterday! :)
Ok, now for some serious business. The laptop is the IBM Thinkpad model number R40. Its been with us for the last 5 years or so and has been working just fine. Yesterday morning when I tried starting it, it didnt work. The whole day it didnt. Finally I removed the batteries for a while.And also kept the laptop on for some time. And then it started working on its own.
What do you think the problem could be?Thanks for stepping up and offering to help :)

Mira's mom said...

Hey hey hey.....any clue on the hibernation bit...because my laptop too does that once in a while...just hoping that the hibernation doesn't get any longer.

Piper .. said...

M`s M: No idea what it means. Just read about it in a forum in one of the IBM sites. Its depressing, isnt it? :-((

surbhi said...

Looks like I missed out on all the action!
Glad your laptop's feeling better now.
Also glad to see Apple Bee finally delurking :)

Apple Bee said...

I have heard of similar problems, but never faced one probably because I have never owned a laptop and companies keep updating employees' laptops quite frequently...in short, I never kept the same laptop for more than 2 years at a stretch. It's not just IBM's, but batteries in general don't like to be overcharged or completely discharged...it reduces the battery life time. Since it's a 5 year old R40, anything is possible. All I would say is, backup your stuff regularly and if something *unthinkable* happens, don't try to replace parts (like batteries which are quite expensive) and buy a new one because you can get a fancy new laptop with all kinds of features for less than $500 (in US).

Sorry, can't be of much more help on the exact problem and the solution...