Exploding CD's (or You'll put your eye out, Kid!)

Exploding CD

We discovered Friday that our old computer was no longer upgradeable (a nicer way to say it is obsolete), so Saturday we purchased a new Power Spec 8737 with an 80 GB hard drive and a gorgeous 19 inch, flat panel monitor. Now Connor and Marilyn can play their new software that does not work on the old computer.

Yesterday while Connor was honing his Math skills with his 5th Grade Adventures CD ROM, I heard a loud POP! I rushed over to Connor and he looked really surprised and started saying, “I didn’t do it.” He noticed that his program was frozen, so I told him to open the drive and reinsert the disc. When he opened the drive, the CD fell out in pieces and shards. The picture above shows what could be removed. Connor saw the look on my face and immediately proclaimed his innocence. Just as I was about to kill him, the phone rang – saved by the bell. Marilyn was calling to tell me something, but she was preempted by me hissing through gritted teeth, “YOUR boy just slammed the drive shut and shattered a disc in the new computer!” She was surprised, but immediately said, “Don’t kill him; he may not have done it. I saw this once on Mythbusters.Sometimes a disc spins too fast or it's defective and explodes.” I couldn't wrap my brain around the possibility that he had not done something to cause the catastrophe that was now lodged in tiny pieces in the D drive, so I sent him upstairs to take a shower while I tried to calm down. We managed to get the drive replaced (long story) and I have researched the phenomenon of exploding CD’s and found that it happens more than anyone would imagine. I also remembered that I once saw a CD in a parking lot that had been run over and wasn't in nearly as many pieces as the one that met it's demise in our D drive. I found a link with many posts from people who have shared this experience, so not only is Connor off the hook for the exploding CD incident, I am grateful that he wasn’t hurt by flying CD ninja stars.

Now the new computer is restored, everyone is happy, and all is well…except that I got a “Fatal Exception” on my Palm and I have to figure out how to fix. On to the next tech dilemma…