Fatal Error M1004 — that’s what my computer says when I turn it on.
Power up, two beeps to get my attention, then with some old DOS based messages about the hardware it encountered and system stuff, it stops with that Fatal Error message and give me a choiuce of F1 to continue or F2 to go into set up. The first time I picked continue, and was able to get running, but not without some glitches which may or may not be related; worst among them being my email program that gives me wierd messages about being unable to get my mail because it is busy processing my folders. Now that could just be a coincidence of timing — I am an electronic packrat and have years worth of saved email, so it just could be that I hit some measure of “full” simultaneous with these other as-yet-unknown issues….we’ll see.
Anyway, I did get onto the Internet where it seems that Fatal Error M1004 may have somethoing to do with the Flash BIOS. I read up on it, downloaded the latest version and tied to install only to find that my current Flash BIOS is already up-to-date. So it’s not that.
There’s another fix they recommend – unplugging the computer, removing the battery, then holding the power on/off button for a whole minute, something about resetting the memory??? I may try that later, but maybe I’ll get some writable CDs first and save some crucial data first — just in case.
Until I get this handled, in between a bunch of scheduled interviews for the Luther Henderson book, blogging may continue to be lite. Noon today I’ll be visiting with Mercedes Ellington, Duke’s grandaughter. So, please check back tomorrow. I will have much to tell you about.