Every few weeks the little bots inside my computer go to work looking for software updates. A tweak here. A bug fix there. Mostly they’re obscure little changes that affect few users–probably not me. I install them anyway.

This computer is custom. Each of the pieces was bought separately. There’s no Dell or HP to ship these fixes, only the individual component manufacturers.

Last night there were updates waiting from MSI, the motherboard manufacturer. They were for the computer’s BIOS, the basic input/output system which controls the booting process, and an ethernet port I’m not using. I ran them both then went to sleep while the computer was doing its thing.

When I woke this morning everything was good–except no Internet! Hold on, I didn’t install anything for that.

It’s tough to say, but more than likely the new ethernet driver killed the WiFi card I’m using. It took around an hour to fix, no thanks to the Internet which was less than helpful.

First I tried turning back the hands of time using Windows normally reliable System Restore. Unrestorable, it said.

Next I looked for a new driver. Of course I had to look on a different computer since this one was now Internetless. Again, nada.

Finally I uninstalled the WiFi hardware’s drivers. It only took a few seconds for Windows to find the now dead card and get things going. It didn’t ask. It just did it.

Everything’s working again, though I can’t exactly tell you why what I did corrected the problem.

All of this part of my lifelong work to fix things until they’re broken. It’s not the first time. It won’t be the last.

Job well done.