I was just baffled by a 9 volt battery.
This morning, I sat down at the computer and put my headphones on. I fired up Firefox and started browsing a few random sites. All of a sudden, I heard a loud, high pitched beep from my headphones. At first I just ignored it, figuring it was something on one of the websites I was on. About a minute later, though, I heard it again. So, I shut down Firefox, figuring it would go away. I started up Red Orchestra Ostfront for a 10 or 15 minute run, and as the map was loading… I heard the beep again.
At this point, I thought perhaps it was some program that was running in the background. I shut down Red Orchestra and looked through my tasktray and saw nothing suspicious. I also checked the process list, but didn’t see anything out of place. I figured restarting the computer would kill off any sneaky program that was hiding, so I went ahead and restarted the machine. My guess however was wrong. The beep occurred again, while the computer was booting up. It wasn’t in any operating system at all – neither Ubuntu or Windows XP.
At this point, I thought maybe that my headset was dying. It’s getting pretty old, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the wiring and electronics inside of it were starting to go. So, when Windows finished booting up, I unplugged the headphones and plugged in my computer speakers instead. I know they’re fine.
But alas… Beep.
It was at this point that I… well, had no idea what was going on. It couldn’t be anything that was going on under an operating system, because it happened during boot up. I knew it wasn’t the headphones, because the computer speakers were doing it too. I decided to just shut down the computer and let it sit for a while I took my morning shower. While it seldomly makes sense, occasionally I’ve had computer problems just disappear while the computer was turned off.
So, as the computer is shutting down, I get up and leave my office, going through the door that leads into our bedroom.
Beep – and it’s louder.
I turn towards the sound, look up, and see the culprit. It was never my computer at all. It was the smoke detector going off because of a dying 9 volt battery. Argh! It would be an understatement to say that I took pleasure in removing that battery from the smoke detector.
Perhaps I should have turned to Google for my answers instead of pondering over it. If I’d read this entry by Matt, I probably would have realized that it was my smoke detector beeping, and not my computer.
Comments 5
I’m sorry, but this has got to be one of the single most hilarious things I’ve heard in a long time. My smoke detectors are hard wired and even still, they are the first thing I suspect any time an odd beeping noise starts up.
Posted 12 Jun 2007 at 10:10 am ¶I take it you’ve not bought into changing your smoke detector batteries on a regular basis (such as every time change, as they recommend here, and plaster in all the papers, advertise on the radio, etc.) Dead batteries will not save your ass if there is a fire.
My assvice? Start changing those 9 volts every spring and fall. At least that way you’ll eliminate one possible source of beeping noises….
Fig: I’m glad you took so pleasure in my misery.
And no, I haven’t. And yes, I know I should! Really.
Following your assvice, I will start checking them regularly and replace them every spring and fall.
Posted 12 Jun 2007 at 10:18 am ¶Okay, that is funny. Some remarks though.
Just kidding.
Posted 12 Jun 2007 at 4:53 pm ¶One, you started Firefox? Haven’t you heard? We have Safari now
Two, a loud, high-pitched beep may have come from a website you were on? How many times, Josh. Stay away from MySpace. Just kidding too, of course.
Third, I love how you instantly assumed any noise that was out of the ordinary would come from your computer. I guess we all do these days: something’s odd, must be the PC.
Good thing cave men didn’t have comps or we would have been eaten by bears and gone extinct in a flash.
I sound like a broken record: but great stuff, again.
Nils: Yep, I still use Firefox. However, I did not know that Safari was now available for Windows. I’m checking it out now!
I’ve heard some pretty peculiar sounds from Flash advertisements. And for the record, I don’t do MySpace. I did in the past, but I’ve since deleted my account.
And yeah, I think it’s telling that I assumed that it was the computer. If something is misbehaving and making weird sounds, it has to be the computer, right?
Posted 12 Jun 2007 at 6:40 pm ¶Hey, I still use the Fox too. Safari’s nice to look at and fun to have now, but I couldn’t survive without my trusted plug-ins and everything arranged just as I want it. Well, survive… I’m just not as lightning-fast without.
Posted 13 Jun 2007 at 1:56 am ¶Post a Comment