BAD NEWS AND GOOD NEWS

Last night I was in the Observatory with the Laptop hooked up to the CCD camera on the scope and just starting to get into "the swing of things" when I had a problem with the software saying there was an error. I switched off the Laptop and then, with the intention of rebooting it, tried to switch it back on. I say "tried" because the Laptop, which by the way is only six months old wouldn't restart even though it was plugged into a power source. Not only that but the LED power indicators on the Laptop were not lit. I spent half an hour trying start it but no success. This was not good news as I have several licensed bits of astronomy software in it and losing those and having to replace them would have been a real pain. So I phoned up my local Computer Geek and explained what had happened and for the first time he was not encouraging about repairing the Laptop Anyway, he said he would look at it and so I took it to him and after a couple of tries to restart it and failing, he said "leave with me, and I'll take it apart and put it back together again to see what happens".......not very reassuring Anyway, that was the bad news. The good news is that he phoned this evening to say he had good news and bad news. The good news is that he has now got the Laptop back on line again and it's working fine. The bad news?.......it's going to cost me £10 ........cheap at the price as it has saved me replacing the Laptop by taking it back to the Dealer and probably buying a more expensive one, having to contact the Software companies to transfer the licensed software over to the new Laptop as well as having to go through the rigmarole of setting the Laptop up all over again So I guess there's some truth in that saying "all's well, that ends well"

 

So am I, Anthony. To be honest, my first inclination to sort it out was to put a big hammer to it

Actually, I'm going to give him his normal charge of £40, even though he is asking for just the £10.......it's a great relief to have the computer back again and working.

Unfortunately not, because [a] I'm collecting the Laptop tomorrow, but I can't even do visual star gazing tonight as the skies have had low haze with higher, thicker clouds above it all day even though it has been sunny and warm, and now the skies are completely clouded over.

 

I haven't posted any yet, Anthony, as I'm just getting my head around the software "Nebulosity", ASCOM, the CCD camera software etc so I'm taking my time getting used to working in sequence with it all..........a bit of a learning curve. But as soon as I'm comfortable with it all I'll post some images.

 

My Desktop is like that, silu I think what has really irritated me is that the Laptop is only 6 months old and has only been in use since March when I got the Observatory up and running. So it's probably only been used less than 50 times and during that time has been carefully stored when not in use and care taken when in use, so why did it die on me like that?? The ongoing problem is that should it happen again I can only get some of the data on it but not the licensed software which is the most important.

 

I have a top end Desk top, Lori, which is USB/landline connected, while the Laptop only needs a power cable and USB connections as it is only for use with the computerised scope, and controlling the CCD camera with the specific software for that purpose. So WiFi would not be of any use as the Laptop is not connected to the internet and, to be honest, having seen the problems that WiFi can give I will never use it!! Having said that the computerised mount has intergrated WIFI so that it can "talk" to the Observatory roof to turn it as the scope also turns when tracking a Star or Planet/

 

Hi Miraflores, thanks for that. Yes, you're right, £10 is really cheap but he's a nice guy. But, since getting the computer back has saved me such a lot of trouble by not having to take it back for exchange/renewal, plus not losing all the software on the Laptop it was worth more than £10 to me so I paid him £40 which I thought was fair.

I think with certain Laptops that remedy still stands, Scrungee. My guy was going to try that but found there was a different battery arrangement so he detached the battery and left it lying for a couple of hours, did a bit more testing but couldn't find anything wrong, put the battery back in and the Laptop came back to Life. So the real problem is not really knowing what the problem was. It was obviously power distribution but on powering up the Laptop the LED lights should have lit signalling at least the AC power if it was a battery problem, unless the circuit was a loop, which, coming to think of it, it probably was and so if one circuit isn't connected no power reaches the other. Anyway, the Laptop is up and working so all I need is some clear skies but, of course, the skies are covered in clouds tonight!! But, I've got my Laptop back, and that's great!!