Computers? Who needs ‘em, eh?

Last weekend Big Bertha, my laptop, started complaining about USB ports no longer working. The four letter word that went through my mind doesn’t bear repeating. Those devices I have that charge up from USB ports were still recharging, and as I was busy, I left investigating the problem until yesterday.

As I suspected that it was the fault of some software I’d installed, coupled with a security update from Microsoft, I tried rolling back to the point before the installation – with no joy. Yesterday morning was spent moving documents and iTunes library to a spare disk, and yesterday afternoon was dedicated to reinstalling Windows, Office, and iTunes. First boot and she was still complaining about USB ports – sounds expensive I thought shortly after I’d repeated the same four letter from last weekend. I thought I could live without the onboard camera and bluetooth port. My flash drives worked, but iTunes wouldn’t detect my iPad – now I can’t work without being able to sync my iPad with iTunes on a regular basis, so carried on looking through the web.

I found a blog where someone asserted that sometimes motherboards forget what they’re USB devices are doing – which mucks up the operating system – their advice, detach your computer from the power for 10 minutes and then see what happens. Nah!, can’t be right, but it’s got to be better than trying to get someone to support an out of warranty laptop cheaply. So, last night I left the laptop on, and let the battery drain. Switched her back on this morning, and let out a huge sigh of relief as the bluetooth and camera devices started installing themselves.

The moral of this story? sometimes there is a really simple answer, no matter how incredible they sound.