Mysterious Problems
For a few weeks I was trying to download a torrent, (Hitman Contracts ISO). Every time I used the computer there was always someone else who needed to do something more important, so I always had to drop whatever I was doing and make room for other people to use the computer. One day I found out that my parents were going away for the weekend to attend a lecture or something like that, which means that I would be home alone for the weekend. Finally this would be my chance to download those torrents.
Soon the day came, and as I woke up I realised that I was the only one at home. At last! I turned on the computer and started downloading my torrent using one of my favourite programs, Ares. I waited the whole day for the download to finish, and since I was very tired after downloading the whole day I didn't bother to virus- scan the file. This is where I made a mistake. When I got up the next day and turned on the computer all the icons on my desktop turned blank (the same way it looks when windows cannot open a file).
At first I didn't know what to do. I tried to run my antivirus program but soon I realised that I couldn't run any program or file, because the virus which infected the computer had messed up all file extensions. I tried to manually change the extensions but it was no use. There was nothing to do except to reinstall windows, but even that was not possible. I was not able to boot from the windows CD because, the laptop which I was using had a faulty keyboard which prevented me from entering the BIOS. Since I couldn't enter the BIOS, I was unable to change the boot sequence so, my computer was unable to boot from the CD.
I knew that there was no hope in calling anyone because the will tell me the same things I already know, however I still decided to give it a try just in case they could tell something I might have left out. As I predicted it was no use. I spoke to Dell for 40 minutes and also to Microsoft for 1 hour and 50 minutes. None of them were able to help. Now I was in serious trouble. My parents were coming back the next day and the computer was ruined, and there was nothing that could be done to fix it.
I was so frustrated, I just sat on the couch and stared at the tv (which was off) as if it was somehow going to give me the answer to the problem. I don't really understand what happened on that day, but somehow I was so focused, it was as if I was scanning through my brain through everything I know about computers and all the thousands of pages which I have studied. I couldn't even move as I was thinking of a solution to the problem. Finally after 5 and a half hours the answer mysteriously struck me.
The BIOS is used to adjust the boot sequence between all drives on the pc. However my computer only had two drives, a hardrive and a CD- ROM. If there was no hardrive in the machine It will have no choice but to boot from the CD- ROM!!! This is exactly what I did. I took the heavy dell off the table and put it on the floor. Since it was a laptop, I opened the slot for the hardrive and pulled it out, Then I slapped my Windows XP cd into the drive and patiently waited. I was right, within seconds the blue windows setup screen came up and I happily slipped the hardrive back into the slot. It was such a relief. In no time I was installing windows like normal.
It was only after this day that I really believe that there is a solution to every problem. When everyone else said that it was not possible, I found a way. It has been two years since this happened, and I never understood how I found the solution to this problem. At least I wont be messing around with any more torrents from now on, or if I really have to, I will always remember to scan them first.
Soon the day came, and as I woke up I realised that I was the only one at home. At last! I turned on the computer and started downloading my torrent using one of my favourite programs, Ares. I waited the whole day for the download to finish, and since I was very tired after downloading the whole day I didn't bother to virus- scan the file. This is where I made a mistake. When I got up the next day and turned on the computer all the icons on my desktop turned blank (the same way it looks when windows cannot open a file).
At first I didn't know what to do. I tried to run my antivirus program but soon I realised that I couldn't run any program or file, because the virus which infected the computer had messed up all file extensions. I tried to manually change the extensions but it was no use. There was nothing to do except to reinstall windows, but even that was not possible. I was not able to boot from the windows CD because, the laptop which I was using had a faulty keyboard which prevented me from entering the BIOS. Since I couldn't enter the BIOS, I was unable to change the boot sequence so, my computer was unable to boot from the CD.
I knew that there was no hope in calling anyone because the will tell me the same things I already know, however I still decided to give it a try just in case they could tell something I might have left out. As I predicted it was no use. I spoke to Dell for 40 minutes and also to Microsoft for 1 hour and 50 minutes. None of them were able to help. Now I was in serious trouble. My parents were coming back the next day and the computer was ruined, and there was nothing that could be done to fix it.
I was so frustrated, I just sat on the couch and stared at the tv (which was off) as if it was somehow going to give me the answer to the problem. I don't really understand what happened on that day, but somehow I was so focused, it was as if I was scanning through my brain through everything I know about computers and all the thousands of pages which I have studied. I couldn't even move as I was thinking of a solution to the problem. Finally after 5 and a half hours the answer mysteriously struck me.
The BIOS is used to adjust the boot sequence between all drives on the pc. However my computer only had two drives, a hardrive and a CD- ROM. If there was no hardrive in the machine It will have no choice but to boot from the CD- ROM!!! This is exactly what I did. I took the heavy dell off the table and put it on the floor. Since it was a laptop, I opened the slot for the hardrive and pulled it out, Then I slapped my Windows XP cd into the drive and patiently waited. I was right, within seconds the blue windows setup screen came up and I happily slipped the hardrive back into the slot. It was such a relief. In no time I was installing windows like normal.
It was only after this day that I really believe that there is a solution to every problem. When everyone else said that it was not possible, I found a way. It has been two years since this happened, and I never understood how I found the solution to this problem. At least I wont be messing around with any more torrents from now on, or if I really have to, I will always remember to scan them first.
