USB: Universal Serious Baloney

Plugging in...

OK, USB doesn't really mean Universal Serious Baloney, but those cool little devices we love to plug into to our computers (iPods, phones, digital cameras, printers, backup drives) that make computing SUCH fun, can be troublesome. To wit:

Once upon a time a Tutor client left an external backup drive attached to their laptop, all the time. All was fine for awhile but one darky and gloomy day, the laptop wouldn't turn on properly.  The client, distressed and frustrated, did not have the Tutor at hand to address the issue and was guided down a path toward destruction. Instead of unplugging ANYTHING attached to the laptop and trying to start it, the poor laptop was brought back to "OEM" status. A fancy way of saying it was made to look as if it had just been purchased, exactly the day in the PAST that it had been purchased. This caused the laptop to work once again, however, it took 6 hours to re-load all the software and data that had accumulated since it was purchased.

The Tutor discovered the wrong path taken to fix the laptop when hired to re-load the laptop and bring it up to date. The discovery was done by reading an error message, posted on a 3M yellow sticky on the wall. When the Tutor asked the client why said message was on the wall, the answer was "it's the error message received when the laptop wouldn't start". Well. The Tutor recognized the message and asked the client if they had left anything plugged into the computer (other than a printer) all the time. The answer, of course, was YES: the external backup drive. The poor laptop (and poor-er client) had wasted time and money with an inappropriate diagnosis.

What happened? You're on the edge of your seats, aren't you?? The item that was left plugged in was a USB external hard drive used as a backup drive. The laptop, when started, had the option to BOOT from a USB device. In other words, the laptop was looking for the windows software to be ON the external hard drive that was left plugged in. When it didn't find what it was looking for, it gave up.

The moral of the tale: if at first the computer won't boot, unplug ALL USB devices, and try, try again!

ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, is a USB device plugged in, and is it turned on?

Unplugged