Backdraft.......(& follow up on The Notebook)

So....Notebook ver2.

Ever since I got my new laptop (when the other on packed up in Kenya) its had a faulty USB port. Just one of them was faulty and it has four of them so not a big problem. However the keyboard is also sticking so I decided it was about time to get it fixed. Problem is my warranty runs out in February and geting it fixed down here would be a problem....A big problem as it turns out. What I wanted was to register the problems and get it fixed when I return. HP said "no thats not possible as you will be out of warranty". They wanted me to buy an extended warranty to cover something that happened under warranty just because I want it fixed at home in a year. Crappy service. So I called the UK and they said "call Argentina". So I called Argentina, who don't speak English. So I called the USA and they said "call Argentina". So I called Argentina, who don't speak English. Eventually I got a chat session going with and English speaking Argentinian support guy. He said "call Kenya". See where this is going?

Eventually I got the Argentinian support guy to register the faults. He said the "parts will be 24-72 hours" and all will be sorted. As it turns out this was a lie. Parts here take almost a month coming from the USA. He also said "remove the encryption from the drive as the motherboard will need changing and the two are linked". I started the removal of the encryption and it broke. I lost all my data on the laptop. Luckily I got on the internet another way and found this is a common problem and there is a recovery disk as long as I have a copy of the backup encryption key. I did ! No how do I get this disk that only HP are meant to have? So we go to Universal System in Buenos Aires on Chile Av. The guys there didn't understand what I wanted at first but after 3 hours of Spanglish we managed to download the disk and boot the laptop to prove the data was still there. Eduardo at Universal System (this is the same place that HP were sending me for the motherboard) was fantastic. He went out of his way to help me and I left with a way to get my data back. I copied all data off the laptop and rebuilt it using the repair disks. Eduardo spent nearly 3 hours helping me for free!

So the next story....

Today we picked up the car. Faultless process and Matilda started first time. I was a little worried as we had no fuel in the car. There must have been a few litres left. We let down the tires to get it out the container and pumped them back up no problem. She was in great shape......

This was all until the rear LED light shorted out and set fire to the back of the car. Luckily Julie smelt burning and actully said something. I immediately opened the battery box took a look and switched off the main switch. At this point she noticed the flames in the back of the car. I ran round back and unlocked the back door shouting for Julie to bring the fire extinguisher as I unlocked the door. She was there in quick order and I pressed the plunger and the fire was out. Utter devastation. Curtains gone, mosquito net gone, roof bungee nets gone, mattress damaged, roof lining damaged. The car was also full of dry powder and so are my lungs. Its a real mess and I'm really angry we got all this way and a simple short in a LED light did all that damage. I'm happy Julie said something as I could have been GAME OVER......

We didn't take many photos of the damage as I was more worried about getting it all cleaned up. It was worse than it looks in the photos but not worse than I could have been.

We now need a new net, new curtains and new bungees. We have a spare mattress cover and we can spin the hole to the bottom. The roof lining and fittings are just something we will have to live with.