How I lost my wifi and learnt to live without it (before it came back to me)

Image from www.techradar.com

Part 1: Shock and terror

The one year warranty on  my shiny, sleek and awesome Toshiba Ultrabook had just expired. Two days after that, I unplugged my laptop from the LAN cable in office and put it in ‘hibernate’ as usual. I came home and switched it on, hoping to connect to the wifi at home. But there was nothing. All it did was show me a LAN icon with a big red cross over it. I fiddled around a bit and did what all experienced techies do to computers to repair them – Shutdown and Restart. Nothing doing.

The wifi + Bluetooth flash card (F12 in my case) just stopped working. Pressing it elicited no response, although all the other flashcards for brightness, volume, touchpad etc. worked fine.

In addition to this, even the orange wifi light would not come on. Incredibly, even the wireless network adapters were missing from the device manager listing. This was getting more and more curious.

Part 2: Futile efforts

I tried re-installing the drivers from various sources so that now I have almost 14 different installation files for wifi adapters. Nothing worked. It was time to call for help.

I called up the Toshiba - India online service center tech guys. Over two days, 12 hours and way too much ‘music on hold’,  I spoke to 5 different people who all suggested five different things, most of which I had already tried. Nothing worked. Finally, the sixth tech guy on the phone threw his hands up and played an ace! He told me that I have a hardware problem and that I should bring it to the service center. This did not sound good at all. I cursed my luck and marveled at the fact that barely two days after my warranty expired, I would now have to visit the service center. This meant not just backing up all my data and getting ready for a reformat, but also a bill that would have me living on peanuts for the next few months. There was no way I was going to go to the service center, and there was no way this could be a hardware problem (In spite of my brother’s insane theory that something inside must have been affected by the large magnets in the massive woofer speaker on my work table!!)

Part 3: The miracle

All this time, the internet was working fine with a LAN cable. It was only the wifi and BT that was missing. I had deadlines to meet and decided to postpone the reinstallation by a week during which I tried to get a complete backup and finish my work. In between, there were two huge system updates. I missed my wifi, having to lug around the laptop and wrestle with those stiff unyielding LAN cables that limited my freedom. Atleast I was getting some work done I thought. It could be worse.

And then, the miracle happened.

Just the way it had left, one fine day the wifi and bluetooth just started working!! Everything was fine. It was almost as if nothing had happened at all and all this was a dream. I wasn't complaining, but I felt angry and relieved at the same time - angry at the incompetence of the tech guys on call trying to push me into the 'service center trap' while relief that I did not have to spend a single penny to repair something that repaired by itself!

Honestly, the only thing that I can think of is probably those system updates, one of which was massive. It must have been that. So, I guess, my advice to people with a similar problem is that if you have the option, then do wait and try and get the latest system updates, as installing specific driver updates doesn't always seem to work!

In Memoriam

For what is it to die,
But to stand in the sun and melt into the wind?
-Kahlil Gibran, from "The Prophet"

There are so many things that I thought I'd write about.. the story of a little girl named Pushpanjali in a small remote village, just one among the seven siblings, who had never been outside that village, never seen the 'world', who never hurt anyone and who had the smile of an angel. No, this isn't about sentiment. Although I was one of the last people to see her alive when I drove her and her parents to the district hospital, this isn't about my feelings.
Its about the way she died.
Of jaundice.
Here we are, at the cutting edge of medical science trying to find cures to all those scourges of planet earth - malaria, AIDS, cancer and we have children in our villages dying of jaundice!! Is there any reason why we should not hang our heads down in shame?
Perhaps, the most disturbing thing for me was the stoicism with which her parents took her death. It came from an acceptance of the fact that such things have always happened and will continue to do so. There are six more children in the family. And that is why there are six more and not just one more. Deficiencies in basic healthcare, high child mortality rates, low nutritive food, no hospitals in remote places, no doctors in the hospitals, no medicines... ahh.. issues issues issues... maybe someday we'll start doing the right things..
maybe the next Pushpanjali will live..
Maybe.

Double the devil!!

666 666
There you are .. twice the devils number !!
I refrain from posting cricket related stuff on my blog. There are plenty of cricket 'ex-perts' on the web and I have no intention of being one of them.
But this is special.. its a world record.. six sixes in an over from Yuvraj Singh. Not the first one to do it, but definitely the first one to do it to a fast bowler (the unfortunate unfortunate Stuart Broad)!!! Oh yeah, he also happened to hit the fastest fifty ever in any form of cricket ..
Just sit back and enjoy this power hitting..
Match report

Sunset at Sesaipura

Sunset Sesaipura
Originally uploaded by dawgmatix

Sunsets have always been my favourite form of landscape photography. Had plenty of experience clicking sunsets in Mizoram where they are just too awesome and the light is just fantastic. Central Indian sunsets arent that easy, but the flat terrain gives a panoramic view. Have been experimenting with different exposures recently and this is what came out of a recent trip to Sesaipura, a small town at the edge of the Kuno wildlife sanctuary.

Pride and joy

On 29th August, 2007 something really strange happened. India won a football tournament. They beat Syria, ranked much higher than them in the FIFA rankings comprehensively and won the Nehru cup. For a change, there were people cheering them on too, and what a show they put up! I was one of the lucky few to be in the stadium.
Although the stands were almost entirely full of young people from the north east, this has to be a first time in the history of Indian football when people were waiting outside the gates, waiting to get in for a football match in a place other than Goa, Kerala or West Bengal.
This is not the end. The way these guys were playing, something is changing.. and its for the better. I managed to take a shot of Bhaichung, Steven Dias and Sunil Chhetri with the tricolour doing the victory lap. Gives me goosebumps whenever I look at this picture. Football rules!!!!

for more read:
Times of India report
Good story in The Telegraph on the evolution of the current team