Exploding cds...
D.W.Q.M.: "Computers are really just sophisticated idiots." -the Fourth Doctor
This is actually something I meant to post last month. I was sort of waiting to see how everything would play out, (*hehe* play) *ahem* sorry. ...before posting the story.
Okay, so, several weeks ago, I was working on pre-order searches, listening to a cd that I had borrowed from the Cuyahoga County Library in my cd rom drive on my computer. The cd was on the second to the last track, when I heard what appeared to sound like a loud snap, then a pop. (hey, if there had been a crackle, we could've had rice crispies.) *ahem* sorry ;) Well, I wasn't the only one who had heard the noise-several of my coworkers around me heard it as well. It sounded like something had fallen. I paused my cd (which was still playing), then stood up, looked around, saw nothing was amiss, then sat back down and unpaused my music. The cd happily played along to the end of the track...
...that's when the trouble started.
It refused to move on to the next track-in fact, the program I was using seemed to freeze. I stopped the program, and it took several seconds to close.
...then I opened the cd drawer.
Out came the cd, the Library's cd, in pieces. In pieces!
I stood there with my mouth hanging open...all I could say was, "OMG." I immediately went over to the tech team area, and found Tony sitting at his desk. Not really knowing how to explain it, I said "Umm, Tony, I was sitting at my desk, listening to a cd...and I heard this 'pop'...and well, my cd exploded in the drive." Needless to say, the look on his face was a bit incredulous. He came down to my desk and took out the few pieces we could see. Then he took my computer over to the Approvals table, took the drive out, then walked over to the wastebasket and started to shake the drive-you could hear the pieces rattling around inside. It was quite sad. He said he was going to try to clean out the drive as much as possible, and that he'd be right back. About 20 minutes later he came back and said he had a souvineir for me. He handed me one little piece of the cd-with a partial branch name on it. It was all he could salvage-told me to bring it back to the library to help explain the situation. Then he put the drive back into my computer and tried to run some tests.
The drive started to make this humming sound, like a warning siren. Yeah, we figured the drive was shot.
Skip ahead, skip ahaed, skip ahead So, it's about a week after the incident before I finally had a chance to go to the South Euclid branch of the library, with the poor little cd in tow. I calmly walked up to the desk and explained to the librarian what had happened. I then opened the cd case to show her the remenants of the cd. She was trying so hard not to laugh that all she could get out was "Th..that's just gross." She then called her manager and another librarian who was working at the info desk and explained to them what happened. They both laughed, and one said, 'I'm so sorry, I know it's not funny, but we've never heard of this happening before.' I told them not to worry about it-everyone at work also had a good chuckle, and if you think about it, it was kind of funny. The manager said that they should just take the cd off my record and send it back to the branch it was borrowed from, along with an explanation. The librarian at the info desk then asked if I'd like another copy sent. I said sure, then aksed the question that had been nagging at me since the cd had been destroyed. Was I going to be charged for it? She looked at me reassuredly and said 'No. We only charge people for gross negligence, or repeated offenders-people who come in every week and say the dog ate my cd or something.' *WHEW!* That was a relief! That Saturday morning I left three very amused Librarians at the South Euclid branch. They're pretty cool over there. :)
So, what happened to my drive? Well, Tony said he had ordered a replacement, but it turns out that the person from Dell that he called should have walked him through a series of tests to see if my drive was really shot. Apparently it wasn't, so he told me that if I had any problems to let him know, and they'd get me a new one. Well, Carolyn lent me a cd to test the drive-one that she didn't care whether or not it survived the test. It did, but I'm still a little hesitant to play cds in my drive. (Hey, wouldn't you be?) ;) LOL.
This is actually something I meant to post last month. I was sort of waiting to see how everything would play out, (*hehe* play) *ahem* sorry. ...before posting the story.
Okay, so, several weeks ago, I was working on pre-order searches, listening to a cd that I had borrowed from the Cuyahoga County Library in my cd rom drive on my computer. The cd was on the second to the last track, when I heard what appeared to sound like a loud snap, then a pop. (hey, if there had been a crackle, we could've had rice crispies.) *ahem* sorry ;) Well, I wasn't the only one who had heard the noise-several of my coworkers around me heard it as well. It sounded like something had fallen. I paused my cd (which was still playing), then stood up, looked around, saw nothing was amiss, then sat back down and unpaused my music. The cd happily played along to the end of the track...
...that's when the trouble started.
It refused to move on to the next track-in fact, the program I was using seemed to freeze. I stopped the program, and it took several seconds to close.
...then I opened the cd drawer.
Out came the cd, the Library's cd, in pieces. In pieces!
I stood there with my mouth hanging open...all I could say was, "OMG." I immediately went over to the tech team area, and found Tony sitting at his desk. Not really knowing how to explain it, I said "Umm, Tony, I was sitting at my desk, listening to a cd...and I heard this 'pop'...and well, my cd exploded in the drive." Needless to say, the look on his face was a bit incredulous. He came down to my desk and took out the few pieces we could see. Then he took my computer over to the Approvals table, took the drive out, then walked over to the wastebasket and started to shake the drive-you could hear the pieces rattling around inside. It was quite sad. He said he was going to try to clean out the drive as much as possible, and that he'd be right back. About 20 minutes later he came back and said he had a souvineir for me. He handed me one little piece of the cd-with a partial branch name on it. It was all he could salvage-told me to bring it back to the library to help explain the situation. Then he put the drive back into my computer and tried to run some tests.
The drive started to make this humming sound, like a warning siren. Yeah, we figured the drive was shot.
Skip ahead, skip ahaed, skip ahead So, it's about a week after the incident before I finally had a chance to go to the South Euclid branch of the library, with the poor little cd in tow. I calmly walked up to the desk and explained to the librarian what had happened. I then opened the cd case to show her the remenants of the cd. She was trying so hard not to laugh that all she could get out was "Th..that's just gross." She then called her manager and another librarian who was working at the info desk and explained to them what happened. They both laughed, and one said, 'I'm so sorry, I know it's not funny, but we've never heard of this happening before.' I told them not to worry about it-everyone at work also had a good chuckle, and if you think about it, it was kind of funny. The manager said that they should just take the cd off my record and send it back to the branch it was borrowed from, along with an explanation. The librarian at the info desk then asked if I'd like another copy sent. I said sure, then aksed the question that had been nagging at me since the cd had been destroyed. Was I going to be charged for it? She looked at me reassuredly and said 'No. We only charge people for gross negligence, or repeated offenders-people who come in every week and say the dog ate my cd or something.' *WHEW!* That was a relief! That Saturday morning I left three very amused Librarians at the South Euclid branch. They're pretty cool over there. :)
So, what happened to my drive? Well, Tony said he had ordered a replacement, but it turns out that the person from Dell that he called should have walked him through a series of tests to see if my drive was really shot. Apparently it wasn't, so he told me that if I had any problems to let him know, and they'd get me a new one. Well, Carolyn lent me a cd to test the drive-one that she didn't care whether or not it survived the test. It did, but I'm still a little hesitant to play cds in my drive. (Hey, wouldn't you be?) ;) LOL.
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