A near death experience... (the computer, not me)

The day after I was introduced to my new office, Chinguetti received some more wonderful news: we were finally going to get electricity, 24 hours/day, 7 days/week. I went to the office that morning, excited to plan new computer classes for the mayor. However, when I first arrived at the Tourism Bureau, the electricity was out. Turns out there had just been some kinks in the new system, but the mayor assured me the power would be up and running that morning. Sure enough, an hour later, the lights flickered on. I was apprehensive about plugging in the computer – there would likely be surges when new houses were “turned on” to the system throughout the day. However, the mayor assured me the power worked wonderfully, and I proceeded to plug my computer in.

As soon as the cord was plugged into the wall, the cord erupted in smoke. I immediately unplugged the computer again, packed everything up, and left for the day. I was terrified the computer was fried. That would make teaching computer classes much more difficult. It would also put an end to my computer-based Arabic studying. I was hopeful though that my Dell cord with a built in surge protector had saved my computer.

That night I found out that the power company had “accidentally” sent 380V electricity through Chinguetti the first day of the new power system. The mayor's computer was completely fried – the monitor erupted in smoke – and many families lost their cell phones. After I heard this, I was less optimistic about the fate of my own machine.

The next day, as I was volunteering at a French-run elementary school feeding center, I mentioned the story to a French friend of mine. The most frustrating part about all of this is that my house was not scheduled to be hooked up to the new power system for several days, so I would have no way to test the computer. “You should just come by our compound and try it there,” he suggested. So, that afternoon, I popped by with my fingers crossed and with the computer in tote.

I plugged in the computer, though I assumed at least the cord was fried. To my surprise, the small light on the computer flickered: the computer was charging. I quickly turned on the computer, ecstatic it still worked. However, as the computer was loading, it turned off again. The “charging” light was no longer on. Then, a second later, the light turned on again. I tried turning on the computer again: this time I was greeted by something a friend calls “the blue screen of death.”

“Windows has been shut off to protect your computer. Please bring your computer to your local Dell service agent.”

Shit. Nothing about this can be good. The description of the problem implied something was wrong with the battery.

I then shut down my computer, packed it up for two weeks, and waited until I came to Atar to test it with a friend's Dell power cord. I hoped – though I was not optimistic – that the blue screen of death had appeared just because the battery was completely dead and I repeatedly tried turning on the computer while the cord was shorting out. Worst-case scenario: the computer's battery was in fact fried. That would have made my job more difficult over the next 20 months, but not impossible. The mayor had one other computer that had not been plugged in so I could teach computer classes on that computer, and in my travels to Atar each month I could type up anything that was absolutely necessary.

With great pleasure, however, I can now say that the computer works fine. As soon as I get a new power cord in the mail (thanks mom and dad) I will be able to study Arabic again and I twice as many people will be able to sit in on the computer class. I'll also be able to make advertisements for the English, computer, and accounting classes that will be starting up in the next month – Alhamdulilah! (Arabic: Thank God)