Fixing a Laptop Refugee Camp Style
5th June 2006
Welcome to Malcolm's Handy Tips for Surviving in a Refugee Camp.
Today's tip talks about what to do if your laptop gets rained on unbeknownst
to you.
You will need:
- A rain-drenched computer
- A hammer
- A nail
- A Swiss Army Knife
- A length of wire
The first problem you'll come across is the lack of a good ground (or
earth). You'll need a good ground so that you don't short circuit
vital computer components.
Volunteer House Number One has
power, but no ground. To get a good ground you must:
- Find yourself a decent sized nail and drive it into the ground
- Locate any sort of wire
This may be in short supply in the camp. I managed to find
some old Christmas wire.
- Attach the wire to the nail and then onto the bars on your bedroom
window
- Run a second wire from the bars and attach it to one of the rings
on your fingers
Should you accidentally touch any electro-sensitive devices in the
computer, any stray charge on your body will pass harmlessly through the
wire and into the ground - saving expensive computer parts.
You are now in the position to begin work on the computer
itself.
To dry out the computer:
- Find and remove any screws on the computer
Should you lack a proper screwdriver, a Swiss Army Knife will
suffice.
- Pull apart the computer into as many pieces as you can
- Dry each individual piece
An electrical fan - if you have power - will perform the job admirably.
Components such as hard drives and DVD players can simply be wiped
clean with a lint free cloth.
- Carefully reassemble the computer
- Wonder briefly why you still have screws left over
- Cross your fingers and hit the on button
- Dance a little jig when it works
Be sure to tune in to the next edition of Malcolm's Handy
Tips for Surviving in a Refugee Camp for advice on how to:
- Extract dead mice from behind bookshelves
Be sure to check out the bonus photography
section
- Keep yourself amused when there is no electricity for a week
- Laxatives and you
All the ins and outs finally revealed!
Questions? Comments? Try contacting
me.
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(c)
2005 and 2006 Malcolm Trevena.
All the stuff on this site is written by me, Malcolm Trevena. Feel free to
link to this page. Heck, you can even copy stuff from here if you
want. Just make sure you sight me as a reference.
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