When I was a kid, 6 or 7 years old to be exact (1998 or 1999), my dad bought our family our first PC. I don’t remember the brand or the specs, but I do remember loving it so much. This computer was everything I wanted to do in my free time. I played several games on it, such as “Global operations” and “James Bond 007: Nightfire”. I also liked to draw on Paint. Our second computer followed after a few years, which by the way didn’t last very long. Technologies developed very quickly (they still do) and it was necessary for my father, who has always been a huge tech fan, to get a new machine. I was about 15 years old when we got a Hyundai computer that all of us shared. I remember I used to argue with my sister a lot because of it. We would use a stopwatch to see how many minutes, even seconds, one of us spent on the computer so the other one could have an absolutely equal PC time.
Here is a picture from my Instagram account of me and my first computer. I did not like photos, obviously, ha-ha.
Over time, everyone in our family got their own PC, and this Hyundai became my personal computer. And so for many years I used this computer actively and every day. I also had a laptop most of the time. I bought the laptop with my first scholarship that my uni gave me for high results, and I used this laptop a lot outside, and for lectures at the university. The convenience of the laptop at one point completely turned me away from the PC, and so the Hyundai was retired to the bottom of the closet.
For a long time now, this computer has appeared periodically in my mind, bringing fond memories and curiosity. I was wondering if it was still “alive”. So I decided to take it out. And it looked terrible.
The computer was covered in dust, literally covered in dust. Picking it up left large fingerprints and handprints on the thick layer of dust particles and clothing fibers on the machine case. I opened it carefully and for about 2 hours I went over every corner and inch of the inside with a vacuum cleaner, and then with a sponge and a special type of foam. Well, I couldn’t remove 100% of the dust, but I dare say I reached at least 80-90%. Step two was to put it back together and step three was to turn it on. I connected the cables, monitor, mouse and keyboard (which were with such old connectors that I can’t connect them to anything around the house anymore). The monitor started, which was a beautiful start. It said no signal. I plugged the computer into the power aaaaaaaaand the light on the button blinked. I pressed the big “ON” button aaaaand nothing happened. It didn’t start. I started looking at it, fidgeting, pressing the buttons, but nothing was happening. My mind wandered to all sorts of odd problems and reasons why a computer wouldn’t start. I didn’t come to any conclusion. I thought I might take it in for repair, but whatever the cost of repairing this computer – it won’t be worth it, it’s too old. Okay, I have to fend for myself. I opened it again and started disconnecting the cables and reconnecting them. I also found more dust.
One small detail caught my eye – the CMOS battery. A small round 1.5V battery that helps the machine know what date we are, what time it is, various settings and other more important things, even when the computer is turned off. How old is this battery? It is certainly exhausted to the maximum. I replaced it and tried to turn the computer back on.
And it worked!!!!
I felt great pleasure. I won’t ever know if I fixed a loose cable or if the computer didn’t start because of the battery. The important thing is that it started. There was also a bit of drama with the monitor that kept getting no signal, but I’ll stop going into details that might bore you. It all ended with a happy ending and I was able to eventually run the machine. I opened some old saved photos from my school days on the hard drive. There was also a huge amount of games installed – World of Warcraft, Surf’s up, GTA, Prototype, Mass Effect. I literally went back in time.
The computer turned out to be running XP and now I’m wondering whether to replace it with Windows 10. I was also thinking of selling it, but seeing how the prices of some similar machines are going – no point in bothering. After all, this computer will sit for another year or so (it’s already in a thick layer of stretch film and the dust doesn’t stand a chance this time!) tucked away and unused. I will leave it for my daughter who is still at the baby age of 6 months. Today’s kids, in my humble observation as a 3rd through 12th grade teacher, are extremely technologically advanced. Judging by the child of some friends of mine, who at the age of 1 opened YouTube and dug up videos with “Masha and the Bear”, children today are born with built-in tech skills that my generation had to learn later from the world of technology. The little finger does not yet know how to hold a spoon correctly, but it can scroll the touch screen. In time (it won’t even be long) my daughter will ask for a computer and instead of paying half a salary and watching her ruin something new with her little clueless hands, I’ll just let her use mine. The computer even turns out to have quite good characteristics, I expected it to be much worse. The hard disk size is 600 GB, the processor is 1.7 GHz, it has 3 GB of RAM and it has a bunch of Win XP games installed. And when the little one learns how to deal with a PC on this old one, that’s when the moment will come to buy her a new and modern PC, or maybe a laptop.
It was quite enjoyable to go back in time, and I did a good job restoring the old PC of my teen years. Now I’m going to indulge that nostalgic note that has come over me and download “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” one more time, enough to play for half an hour while the baby sleeps. And when I feel like it, she can play that game too. Time flies when you become a parent.
Technology Realm Resources 