The Bulge

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about "My Experiments with Truth"...

Aah... Wait a Min... Sorry... Let me take a step back...?

Mr. Gandhi already wrote about it with the same title...?

It's not by me...?

Actually I wrote about "My Experiments with Windows OS", not about "Truth", even though what I wrote is really a true story.

You know what? I am happy to learn that I have few readers except me who have read what I had written there. Actually speaking, when I wrote it, I thought I would be the only "reader" of the article, besides being the author. Now I am so glad to know that there are quite a few humans out there to read my "writings".?

To my surprise, even my wife read it, and commented, "It's a good one, because for the first time I could understand a technical article in LinkedIn...". Otherwise, She never bothered to care about my native language writings on saving the human society from "the clutches of human evils".?

My 11 year old son said "Your English writing is not as bad as I thought...". He thinks that in America, aliens like mine's English language skills are lacking the "The Real English", and he mocks my "elocution".

I too very well know that my "Conversations with English" is not so great. But there is no need of someone telling it repeatedly, especially who knows only "English". At least I know more than just "English".?

Let it be. Now, Let's discuss the "real content" that I have intended to write in this article.

In my previous article on "The issues the Windows OS" in which I wrote about a Windows PC I bought in the year 2016 which has 1 TB of hard drive storage capacity, 1 GiB of RAM and its performance issues, especially with its recent Windows 10 upgrades.

BTW, What is GiB??

"Google it", I would say...

I am not going to explain it here. It would be a deviation from my current focus on the "real content", which I have planned to write. The intent is not educating my readers about "Bits and Bytes", you see.?

The so-called "The Higher End PC" bears the name "HP Pavilion" which has 15 inch display and Dolby Amos sound system, etc. Once I carried it with pride to my customer's place. A quirky guy, another consultant like me, asked, "Why did you bring an entertainment PC to work? Are you going to watch movies?".?

Ah... I didn't know few PCs meant for entertainment.?I never had that luxury. I bought it for my new learning about the field where I am into. I never watched movies or played games with it. I realized 15 inch display is for gaming and entertainment. I was ignorant / level of awareness about personal computers at that time. Thanks to him for the "The PC Gyan".

By June 2024, it has been living with me for almost 8 years now. With the real blessings of my ancestors, it didn't qualify for the "Windows 11" upgrades. At times, luck plays an important role in my life, you see.?

Okays... Some time during last year, I noticed "The Bulge" on the top left corner of my pet machine. I took it lightly at its humble beginnings. But "The Bulge" kept growing on its own, which is not always the case on my personal front.

One fine day, my wife came to my "Den", saw me working hard(ly) on it. I was so busy with "FaceBooking". She noticed the bulge or swelling, and asked "What's this Bulge that I have never seen in recent times around here?", she touched it and asked.

Hey guys... Wait... Rein your wild thoughts here... Now... Immediately...?

She too meant "The Bulge" on my PC as I also mean here. I assure you that she wouldn't have meant what you are thinking right now. Okays?

"Looks like it's going to explode soon", she continued without waiting for my answer, which is pretty much common with anyone's wife I guess. It's "The Wifely Thing", just ask questions, no need to wait or worry about the answers, especially from me like "Husband Materials".

I too started worrying as she said, "What if it explodes?", I started panicking, but I didn't act on it. It kept growing, its performance was going down steadily, I changed it from Windows OS to Mint OS, etc. All these continued till last week.

Sometime during the last week, I badly needed a Windows OS machine for doing a few experiments that I couldn't do on the Linux PC. Most of us must be wondering "What you could do on Windows OS, that you couldn't do it with Linux?". I know, its a valid question. But, there are still quite a few things that we could do only on Windows OS. My Microsoft loyalists like me would agree with it I guess. Very first time in my life I regretted for not having a Windows PC. I decided to bring back the Windows OS on this higher-end machine. Before that, I wanted to fix "The Bulge" as the installation of Windows OS would take hours. It should not explode during those long hours.

We took it to Costco where we bought it nearly 8 years ago. The lady who was at the counter looked at us as if we were from the original ship "May Flower" that brought "The Colonialists", to the US back in 16th century. Now, Few of them think that they own the country, forgetting their past immigrants status, treating me like people as "Aliens". She told us that there was no recall notice for this model from HP, and suggested to throw its away as its lifetime has already crossed. But my "Middle Class Mindset" didn't allow me to do so. And I don't want to buy another new Windows OS PC again in my life.?

As software developers, the Windows PCs we get at work are way ahead of the personal PCs we buy for our personal use. Microsoft and Windows PC makers are very serious about it I guess. They can't afford to lose the business PCs market with inferior quality / performance machines. The PC market is which is already declining steadily what I read. But for them, personal PCs are like a game field for pushing unwanted stuff for their experiments I think. Retail customers are clowns for them.

Anyways I am not worried about their business. For me I need a Windows PC immediately for my experiments. But with the "Battery Bulge" issue, I don't want to do the Windows OS installation that takes hours with the current status of my machine and weekend Internet speeds in my community.?Looks like these days, Internet service providers deliberately cutting down internet speeds during weekends to minimize the amount of movie streaming, there by saving few bucks for their investors.

I also didn't want to spend a million by taking it to "Best Buy" which is shown as "The Official Service Centers" of HP brand PCs to fix the bulge. I decided to become a "Hardware Engineer" then. Me was in the situation similar to the protagonist character who wanted to become a pilot in the movie "Catch Me If You Can". I also wanted to prove "What I have been doing for the last 25 years in the IT industry?" to my family and my non-IT friends.?

Yes.

I did cut open the PC on my own, with the strategy of "You take the Controls of your own destiny, Do Not let others do that for you". I took out the "The Bulged Battery", to make it safer to work for long hours to install Windows OS. Laptops run even without the battery, most of us knew that already.

Today, I hope my electricity service provider won't do any power outage, to complete the mission of brining back "Windows OS" on it. If it is the destiny of this machine, I or No one would be able to change its fate.

Here comes "Mohan Jayabal, A Hardware Engineer Too...".

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