“One last try.” I pressed the button that sent electricity through the rest of the body. I imagined connections being made, electrons excited, pathways connected. I looked at the screen for signs of life.
Nothing.
“Dammit.” I reached for the button again but her hand stopped me.
“Call it.” Her voice sounded firm. “It’s over.”
I sighed. and looked at one of the many clocks on the wall. I looked back to the patient.
I looked one last time at the table. “Despite dramatic measures on the part of the technical staff, including one processor transplant, power supply replacement, and RAM reseating, patient refused to respond to all treatment.”
It was a carcass now. That’s all it ever would be. I had to accept that.
“Recorded time of death is nine pm, December seventh. Cause of death is uncertain, but this technician would guess motherboard failure.”
That machine’s not coming back. Never even got to POST after that first failed boot. My guess is that it’s the motherboard at this point and not a processor or video card issue. Regardless, it’s going to be too hard to troubleshoot at this point and all I can do is scavenge the body for parts. It’s also a good time for me to get the case clean again for a different motherboard.
Ah well. It was a good run.