I took the drive to my workshop and took four screws off to access the internals, but whatever was holding the drive half open/closed, it was not accessible to view and decided to find a replacement.  The drive had been making some noises in the past, therefore whatever was wearing out, gave up the ghost. 

I got the info off the DVD R/W drive and went on line and found a HP replacement drive available from Amazon and ordered one.

BACKGROUND IN TECHNOLOGY

When I entered the US Navy in 1964, I was selected to go to the Radioman Class A school in Bainbridge, MD after basic training that was in Great Lakes, Illinois.  The Radioman rate is more of an operator and clerical type job than a technician, however the Navy sends you to six (6) months of basic electronic schooling in addition to having to learn Morse code which is now obsolete due to all the satellite communications, etc.

After completing four (4) years in the Navy, I went to work with the North Carolina Telephone Company and was employed with them for seven (7) years.  The first four (4) years was installing and repairing two-way radios and mobile telephones and associated base stations which required a FCC Second Class Radiotelephone Operator License, of which I obtained and six months later, upgraded to the First Class Radiotelephone Operator License.  After four years, I transferred to the inside office equipment section maintaining, repairing and installing special circuits and maintenance on Microwave equipment.  In my biography page on this website, I give a little more detailed information.

My friend Greg Benner stated that those licenses might buy you a cup of coffee these days due to all the technology changes and deregulations by the FCC!

Believe it or not, two-way radios (hand held type) are still a staple in the security business, law enforcement, prisons, medical field, etc., since they are now digital instead of analog and very reliable.

With that said, I burned out on Electronics with our section working one summer for seven (7) days a week, installing central office equipment on the weekends and that planted the seed for staying about fifteen (15) years behind current technology once I left the telephone industry.  I remember one paycheck for two weeks which was 80 hours regular time and 79 hours overtime.  It took about 15 years before we went from a rotary dial telephone to a touchtone telephone and my bride purchased that one......grin if you must!

I remember when the liquid display electronic calculators came out and later Texas Instruments came out with the chip for the smaller hand-held calculators in 1972 and the technology boom was on.

When I went to work with the North Carolina Department of Correction at Polkton, NC, most of the accounting was done manually along with ordering food, supplies and equipment.  Inmate records were not computerized/automated as it is today and remember when our unit got its first personal computer which was a Tandy 800 or Tandy 1000 which had a real "floppy disk drive" for sure.  The printer had "dip switches" to program what functions you needed and the modem was placed on line by yours truly.  We thought we were in high cotton for sure.

I later purchased a Brother Word Processor for home use which had a removable disk drive storage and used it for many years to do all of our SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) which worked great.  Prior to the Tandy 800 or Tandy 1000 floppy disk drive personal computer, we used IBM typewriters and/or their generics which would store and retrieve documents, but a long way from the ability to compute aka word process.

COMPUTERS OVER THE DECADES

I have owned many personal computers over the decades since internet dial up and was able to add and remove components as needed; e.g., hard drives, CD burners, memory storage, power supplies, etc., but finally got tired of trying to keep up with the changing technology and currently have a HP Pavilion desk top that is probably 8 years old which has the Intel CORE I5 processor @ 2.7 GHz and 12 GB of ram which is fast enough for me since I don't do any game playing which requires a tremendous amount of speed/storage capability.  I have friends that are more computer savvy than myself who have helped me over the years being Greg Benner, Calvin Jones and Brian Threadgill.

I remember one personal computer that was working fine until a Time Warner Cable service technician came out to check the modem and crashed both the main hard drive and an auxiliary drive in the pc.  I immediately fired that cable service provider and went with Windstream.  That visit cost several hundred bucks to get another system operational and lost a good amount of things that wasn't currently backed up to an auxiliary external drive.

My bride has her own laptop which she uses about every day doing on line puzzles, YouTube videos and Facebook.  I personally do not like a lap top computer and enjoy using a desk top with a full size multi-purpose keyboard with all the bells and whistles and mouse!  I am old school all the way.  I do realize the necessity of using a lap top, but it is not for Bill Porter.

My favorite operating system was the Microsoft Windows XP Professional which I used for about 12 years at work and at home if my memory is correct and had a "ton" of peripheral equipment that was supported by the 32 bit operating system.  When Microsoft stopped supporting the XP Pro operating system, I went with the 64 bit Windows 8.1 operating system and had to start all over again as far as peripheral equipment was concerned.  I had several scanners and one scanner was dedicated for slide media only (high dollar), HP Photosmart printer which worked fantastic, etc., audio imaging software such as CoolEdit and could no longer use them with the 64 bit operating system.

I currently have Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Internet 11 Explorer browsers on this pc for accessing the web with each having its advantages and disadvantages.

Adobe finally wised up and now offers monthly subscriptions to their high dollar updated software programs to prevent stealing and using their technology for free.

OBAMAPHONE

With the current technology, most companies now want you to list your cell phone number to receive text message updates such as credit card companies and most any financial institution, however I have a 19 dollar plus/minus cost flip top TracFone cell phone, of which it cost me about 20 bucks or so every three (3) months to keep it activated..  I currently have over 2K minutes available, therefore it doesn't get much usage, but stays powered down over 99 percent of the time.

BTW, I call all cell phones, Obamaphones.  Maybe when the current Stupacrats in DC take office, I will have to change the cell phone name usage, but no one has yet to top the classic original Obamaphone Lady on YouTube which has over 10 million views! 

To me texting is about as impersonal as you can get and I have made a total of two (2) test text messages and will remain that way until forced otherwise!

That Obamaphone is more or less used for emergency usage while traveling and of late, ordering take out Pizza Inn pizza when in Rockingham, NC due to COVID-19 concerns......grin if you must!

Below is a copy and paste from my web page, In the World, but not of the it: 

CELL PHONES

I am not chained to a cell phone aka Obamaphone, but have one (antiquated flip top TracFone) available when we travel as an emergency phone, whereas the cell phone stays powered down about all the time!  Look around and see all the idiots texting and talking while driving which is a violation of the law, endangering the lives of others and themselves as well.  Go into any store or basically anyplace and observe people mesmerized to their Obamaphone not paying attention to their surroundings, reminiscence of a zombie.  It is no wonder they are called cell phones, because individuals are a prisoner to them.  Yes, I do realize cell phones are dependent on cell towers, but I like my descriptive terminology better relating to being a prisoner to them.  I had to verbally chastise one of my friends who would receive a call and tell me; "Let me take this call and I will call you back."  That would be fine for an emergency, etc., but not on a daily routine basis which was very annoying and tends to be disrespectful! 

TELEVISIONS

My bride has an updated flat screen TV for her room, whereas I still have an antiquated Zenith floor model TV in the main living room and basement.  However a few years back, I disconnected the incoming Time Warner Cable/Spectrum from the living room and basement TVs being disgruntled with all the biased news networks, the ungodly agendas being promoted with homosexuals and their life styles being portrayed as normal.  Also, the one sided discrimination issues such as "Black Lives Matter" while all lives matter, not just one race, helped to "keep me off the grid." 

It is about impossible to watch movies anymore without a ton of profanity being used.  Now with the Hallmark channel promoting homosexuals and their sponsored TV commercials with homosexuals kissing, etc., which is a sin and an abomination in God's sight, Hallmark is disgusting as well.  Mankind can make all the laws they want to self justify their sin nature and acts, but the consequence in the end will be spiritual death in the flames of eternal hell!

Yes, homosexuals do have rights, the right to burn in hell with the rest of the ungodly and wicked!

STUPACRATS

If our Lord tarries long enough and the current 2021 "Stupacrats" in Washington, DC consisting of both Demoncrats and Republicans continue to erode our democracy, America might end up speaking Chinese and having to shoot a slingshot and throwing rocks for hunting and self-defense.

Open this .PDF file if you think China is asleep!

WILL CHANGE DVD R/W DRIVE WHEN IT ARRIVES

When the DVD R/W Drive arrives, I will break out the ole Canon 3D 35MM DSLR camera and take a few pixs of the install and post them on this page.

I am surprised and glad the HP Pavilion desk top has lasted this long as much as I use it.  I back up on a regular basis to two (2) auxiliary hard drives and have learned the hard way over the years to back up often as often as you can, otherwise, a hard drive will crash on you for sure.  Murphy's Law never sleeps and that is a fact!

I am thankful for each and every day our Lord allows and give God, the Praise, Honor and Glory in all things!

OOPS - PUT THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE

NOTE:  The drive came in on 01-12-2021 and installed it without taking any pix....my bad.  The replacement drive is working fine. 

Web page created by Bill aka Mickey Porter on 01-02-2021 and updated on 01-12-2021.

LEAVING ON A SPIRITUAL NOTE

If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please take this moment to accept him by Faith into your Life, whereby Salvation will be attained.   

Ephesians 2:8 - 2:9 8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

Open this link about faith in the King James Bible.