OK, so before we start the content, let me give y'all a little background about this series.
I was known as a computer doctor since my early years in high school, and many friends, classmates, and relatives asked me to fix their computers. I have seen all kinds of problems, be it hardware, software, or networking. My all-time favorite was that one of my classmates could not distinguish a shortcut icon from an installer package, and I will never forget the rainy night when my Seagate ultra-large-capacity 20GB hard drive made in 2000 suddenly erased itself, after nine years of loyal service.
My 12-year-old self might have absolutely no clue about what a partition table is, but now I know it must be a problem with the partition table and that I would have had a pretty good chance to recover whatever data in it with the right software. Actually, since I successfully removed the abominable wgatray.exe that forced my pirated Windows XP into a blank desktop and 2-hour Sisyphus reboot cycles at the age of primary school third year, I have been accumulating a lot of experience. Abundant experience subsequently turned into instinct, and several times I could identify the problem right after listening to my friends explain their pains. My three-minute solution saved my friend from his desperation that lasted two years. That was a great satisfaction, but then I realized that instinct alone was insufficient.
How a computer nerd like me ended up in medical school right after high school graduation may be a fascinating story for some of my English-speaking audience (I mean, if there were any). How a medical school graduate like me turned out to be in an MS Computer Science program may also be an intriguing one. But both are long stories - way too long since I would have to introduce the Chinese college admission ecosystem, which itself is a giant Frankenstein that mutates every year or two. Admittedly, I cured computers better than humans, but for my classmates, it was not the case. Most of my medical school classmates didn't really understand how computers work. And when their computers stopped working, they came to me. Eventually, when my upperclasswoman in her Ph.D. program first year rang me to help her with command-line software used in academics, it became apparent that I could not help them forever - they needed to learn troubleshooting by themselves. I can not put my name in the acknowledgment section of everyone's dissertation. Besides that, finding out that she typed every command with the path containing 7.1.2 for whatever reason but had software version 7.2.0 installed on her computer didn't teach me any valuable lesson at all.
The idea of compiling a collection of all the computer problems I have looked at is not new. I was always thinking about it, but I haven't really written any notes until 2022. Evidently, I have missed the best opportunity to make such a collection. Now I'm in the computer nerd paradise, and everyone fixes his own computer. How do I get any new patients, I mean, clients? So I don't know when I will post the next episode, but anyway, I have to start it now. Earlier is always better than later - recent CNY/USD exchange rates indeed taught me a lesson.
Lastly, forgive me for writing in Chinese medical record format - I have some pathetic inertia here.
(Japanese/Chinese versions upcoming; also, page organization subject to change - the preface may have its separate post, and I may adjust the link address, tagging and categories)
Lorem Ipsum Hospital
| Name | Gender | Department | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| HU, Tianjian | M | Comp. Sci. | y2023 m08 d13 |
CC: Unable to eject USB drive for 10 minutes.
HPI: The patient attached a USB hard drive via USB-C connector to his computer. He was not able to eject the drive using the tray icon because the computer keeps telling him that the drive is in use by some program.
PMH: The patient encountered similar problems many times and solved them by shutting down the computer and unplugging the hard drive.
CURRENT HEALTH Hx: The patient is experienced with everyday usage and basic troubleshooting of Windows OS. Denies USB hardware development experience.
PE: Laptop computer with Windows 10 22H2 Pro x64. Attached proprietary recharger, USB hard drive via USB-C, and iPhone via USB-C. Visible open programs are Task Manager, Firefox, Thunderbird, Telegram, Sticky Notes, and Visual Studio Code.
Rx:
eventvwrWindows Logs\SystemKernel-PnP (First record mentions \Device\HarddiskVolume3\Windows\System32\Taskmgr.exe)Comment: Seek doctor assistance in the event of any abnormality.
Reference: https://superuser.com/a/1102080 . It was really a surprise to me that Taskmgr could prevent ejection of a hard drive. Honestly what for? Anyway that's it for today, hope you guys have a good night and don't come to my clinic again.