Technology is sometimes an impossible, if not, annoying and frightening thing.
It is a facet- a gadget- in our lives- which makes us think will always be around, and yet, like life itself, is vulnerable, and can conk off anytime- whether hardware, software, or parts of either.
It's a very helpless feeling, I tell you, to access your window, your document, your files or your app on your device only to find that something's gone wrong, you don't know what's happened, you don't know why it's happened, and nothing you try can restore it to what it originally used to be.
All I did yesterday evening was take a shower, have dinner, read a comic chapter, and watch a couple of (very clean) Youtube videos- on my phone.
And then suddenly- when I got back to Elite X2- the keyboard was gone.
I had used it fine in the afternoon.
But at 9pm the touchpad didn't work, the keys didn't work and I was left with a laptop usable only in tablet style.
To say that I was stunned is an understatement.
To say that I wanted to cry is also an understatement.
Unbelievable the situation.
First thing, of course, I restarted, then decided to shut the whole thing down.
Didnt work, so Google stepped in.
First piece of advice was to update the drivers.
So I went hunting for that panel where the list of drivers are.
But I had confused Control Panel with Device Manager... so the hunt came to naught when I couldn't find the right screen at all.
In between hoping against hope for a revival, and searching for that elusive screen, I received hands on help from The Hedgehog who did a quick run through and said there're a lot of pending updates and maybe it will be fixed after those things get updated.
So the OS went on its own merry Update way.
This morning I tried again.
Booted up the computer.
Nope.
So I went to update the drivers from the Device Manager then tried a restart.
Also Nope.
Back to Google I went.
A recommendation said to pull out the tablet from the travel keyboard, shut it down completely, press the button for 30 seconds or more, fix the tablet back to the keyboard, and turn the computer back on.
I gave it a shot.
IT WORKED.
But then I shifted the keyboard a little...... and back to square one I was all over again.
Super disappointing.
There were a few more attempts after that- I detached and reattached the keyboard a couple more times, The Hedgehog suggested cleaning the specific parts with a bit of sanitizer, and I even went to the Universal something on the Device Manager to disable the Power Management part.
Didn't work.
There's only so much one can do to try fixing the thing on your own.
And I've decided to put it on hold for now.
At this moment I'm using the old-school method of USB keyboard.
Clunky and stiff like a typical $12 keyboard, but hey, it works.
Am I still flustered?
Yes.
But I want to write and I don't have time.
And gladder still that I actually do have a Bluetooth keyboard and a tablet to work on- in the alternative.
But I'm stubborn and I don't want to give up on this one so fast.
Not yet at least.
By the way, this isn't my first mishap with keyboards.
I've had three.