The African Teak in the abode of a Carver

Prologue

My laptop started acting up a while back and somehow, I have been able to manage it - at least, until yesterday. I decided to update the Windows 10 and that was when the entire pc went kaput. Immediately the update finished and the pc restarted, the electricity supply went off (this is a normal thing here) and there went my pc with it. It may seem that the battery has gone totally kaput, or perhaps it is something else.

I read up on what the issue could be and got a couple of suggestions and how to fix them. The first one was to update the bios, which I did but without any result. Another suggestion was to uninstall the power drivers and restart the pc as this will automatically reinstall the power drivers. Yet, no positive result. The last suggestion fix was to replace the battery itself. That is really a long shot for me. What if I commit resources into changing the battery and the status quo remains?

I took a deep, long look at myself, and then took a deep breath. The laptop represents a major instrument through which the little income I use to sustain myself and my family comes from, at least, since I lost my paid employment in November last year. Getting a manageable laptop now is not going to be easy as far as my pocket is concerned.

The African Teak has fallen into the house of the Carver

The African Teak is one of the most popular tree species in West Tropical Africa. It goes by the scientific name, Milicia excelsa, although this was not the name originally. The original scientific name was Chlophora excelsa, meaning that the genus name was changed from Chlorophpra to Milicia.

Locally in Nigeria, among the Yorubas to be precise, the African Teak is known as Iroko. It grows as a large tree up to 50 m in height and 3.5 m in diameter. It is grown primarily for its shade and timber. The wood is hard and deciduous, while the leaves and milky latex from the bark of the tree serve a wide variety of purposes, especially in herbal medicines. ref

The hard woodedness of Iroko means that it can be utilized for a wide variety of purposes, including constructions and local carving crafts. One of such crafts is the mortar and pestle that are used in pounding yam.

The mortar and the pestle. Image by @gentleshaid

Mortar and pestle are carved by craftsmen known as carvers. They make use of local tools to carve out a hollow space in a log of timber of considerable diameter to form the mortar, and then use a slimmer log to carve out the pestle.

Only timbers that produce hardwoods can be used to carve mortar and pestle. Hence, the hardwoodedness of the African Teak makes it a major candidate for the carving of mortar and pestle. Now imagine that there is an African Teak growing near the house of a carver, a major storm uprooted the tree and it falls right within the abode of the carver. It means that the tree fell right where it is needed and a major work has started for the carver.

This is how the African saying was derived.

The African Teak has fallen into the abode of a Mortar Carver, work has resumed.

Epilogue

I simply cannot afford to be without a laptop for long because that is where my meal tickets come from. This means that I have to look for every means to get another laptop in the coming days. The African teak has fallen into my abode and I, a carver, must now commence work to make a mortar out of it.

The bullet has jumped down, the race has started.

This would be for another day.


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Actually what you said is true, mortar and pestle has actually become a very important 2 in every African family recently because it's used to prepare most of the African dishes in most homes ranging from pounding yams ,pounding pepper ,pounding palm fruits e t c I must confess that the craver that carved out this mortar and pestle I really skillful ones because I'm sure it wouldn't be easy to cough out such an important tool


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It's really a great task to be able to carve out mortar from hard woods such as ìrókò. I wonder how those people feel appreciated because these mortars are not even that expensive


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Okay, I need to understand something, does the laptop still power up and what exact error does it display?
In your second paragraph, you wrote about power driver (power management driver) which got me confused on the issue you have. But I can guess the issue is your battery having little to no backup which can be solved by replacing the battery especially if you have been using the laptop for some years.
Anticipating your profound reply.

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On one hand, I thought its the battery. On another, the battery works fine sometimes. Staying over two hours unplugged. I am just not convinced that it is the battery and wouldn't want to take chances making guesses and spending money. The laptop is 3 years plus old now by the way.


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It's most likely the battery ,maybe you should lend a friend/neighbor battery to give it a try.

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I decided to update the Windows 10 and that was when the entire pc went kaput

Sorry to hear that. I hope u able to solve that issue as soon as possible

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I have to look for every means to get another laptop in the coming days.

Good luck to you in getting another laptop in the coming days.

But while not still try to change the battery and see if that was the problem, better still you can just tell a laptop engineer at your local area to test it with another laptop battery so to be really sure it's not battery problem.


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I don't want to start spending money on guesses. I would rather focus on getting another one first. I can attend to the laptop itself later once I know that I've got a strong backup. The battery is inbuilt and not something I can get around. I spoke to an engineer and he said they will have to order for it.


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Ooh! Okay , now i understand your reason for planing on getting new laptop. I wish you all the best 🤝.


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(Edited)

Sorry to hear about the laptop. You have been a positive member of Hive since I have known you here and contribute a great deal and done much to encourage me, so know I encourage you to stay positive now.

I will send you over some Hive to help out with the expense. Its not much, but you can pay it forward later by helping others like you always do.

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I'm short for words to express my gratitude. As toxic as this environment is due to the monetary rewards involve, it is amazing to still find a few kind ones like you. I'm genuinely grateful and will never hesitate to pay it forward within my capacity in the nearest future. Thank you!

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No thanks necessary. You are always there with an encouraging word for me. You even listen to my rants when I’m in a bad place sometimes too. You are always engaging and add a great deal to the community.
Thank you sir!

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Sorry brother, just reading your post now, it is not easy to be in that situation. You must have used your phone to publish this post. Here is my advice sir:

  1. First troubleshoot the battery by plug in directly to the source of power supply, if (the system is ON), then the battery backup is drained
  2. else if (it doesn't work when plug in), it is either the battery is faulty or the system itself is faulty, in that situation, the only option you have is to take it to the engineer around which will further troubleshoot two (2) things: your battery since it is mounted together with system and the system (hardware especially mother board). I didn't mention drivers or operating system here because none of the two is required for a system to ON at least.

You have been a good curator and valuable contributor of the hive growth, especially on this platform as such I will be glad to hear from you soon.

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