Damned, Damned Puters...Rant
Grrrrr....
Sunday, December 23, 2007 by starkers | Discussion: Personal Computing
Took my Vista/XP Pro dual boot rig into the shop for some general maintenance... to delete a pesky boot entry for XP Home that no longer resides on my machine. Should have been a simple and uncomplicated procedure, right?
Wrong! It came back totally screwed.
At first boot, Vista booted up but was slow and unresponsive...ah, a repair install would remedy that, so I thought. Wrong again...the install disc would only go so far and I'd get a BSOD. 
Orright then, I'll boot into XP and see what's what in there.... NO GO, zip, nada! The boot ini file was either corrupt or missing. OK, a repair install, perhaps... maybe (being the Vista install failed)...
Oh goody, that works... and eventually XP is up and running... trouble is, the boot entry for Vista is now gone. Ok, no problem, I'll install Vista BootPro and make Vista the default OS. Orright, why can't it find Vista??? I look in 'My Computer' and it's just not there... neither is G: drive with all my documents... nor H: with 86 gigs of music. 
A check in 'Device Manager' reveals that Windows cannot see the drive, even though it shows up in BIOS as being present.
Me is totally stumped... but I try everything in my (limited) experience to bring it back on line, which was no easy feat at home without any diagnostic tools of any kind. I finally found the HDD, more by accident than design.... sadly, though, the entire drive had to be reformatted for ir to show up in XP, and all on it was lost...well not quite...
I got me one of those data recovery tools (nobody told me it'd take 4 days on a 250gig HDD) and recovered pretty much everything I wanted/needed...tho Vista would still have to be re-written, which was the daunting task because the disc would only load the files before the damn blasted BSOD kicked in....
By now XP was also playing up and running like a hairy goat...suggesting a repair was insufficient and a re-write was also on the cards there. Firstly, however, it was suggested that I had a hardware issue (CPU, MOBO, RAM, etc????) and I needed to resolve that first...
After a process of elimination/trial and error, I determined that the CPU and MOBO were fine, so tried booting up on one stick of RAM... fine, I'll leave out the other 3 1 gig sticks and reinstall XP, which went perfectly/no problems. Ok, now I'll re-introduce the other RAM stick one at a time...yep, sticks 2 and 3 are fine, but stick 4 starts to smell like it's overheating within seconds, so to prevent a major catastrophe I force shut-down the rig and remove it.
Turns out a bad stick of (brand new) RAM prevented Vista from booting/being recognised, but once it was removed the clean install went ahead without issue. I'm almost back to where I was before all this began, just a bit more setting up/a few more proggies to install on each OS and I'll be right again....GRRRRRRRrrrrrrrr!!!!!!
So why didn't I take it back to the shop to get fixed...after all, it was one of them that knackered it, right??? Yep, that's the question I kept asking myself for 5 days or so... WHY OH WHY ME???? Then I pinched myself and remembered they were a staff member down and it wouldn't be looked at much before Jan 3 08. Orright, it's broke, but a broke PC is better than NO PC for somebody who's addicted to having one to play with/customize, etc.
#@*&ing puters... #@*&, #@*&, #@*&!!!!! Rant over... now I'll get back to work on it.
Wrong! It came back totally screwed.
At first boot, Vista booted up but was slow and unresponsive...ah, a repair install would remedy that, so I thought. Wrong again...the install disc would only go so far and I'd get a BSOD. 
Orright then, I'll boot into XP and see what's what in there.... NO GO, zip, nada! The boot ini file was either corrupt or missing. OK, a repair install, perhaps... maybe (being the Vista install failed)...
Oh goody, that works... and eventually XP is up and running... trouble is, the boot entry for Vista is now gone. Ok, no problem, I'll install Vista BootPro and make Vista the default OS. Orright, why can't it find Vista??? I look in 'My Computer' and it's just not there... neither is G: drive with all my documents... nor H: with 86 gigs of music.
A check in 'Device Manager' reveals that Windows cannot see the drive, even though it shows up in BIOS as being present.Me is totally stumped... but I try everything in my (limited) experience to bring it back on line, which was no easy feat at home without any diagnostic tools of any kind. I finally found the HDD, more by accident than design.... sadly, though, the entire drive had to be reformatted for ir to show up in XP, and all on it was lost...well not quite...
I got me one of those data recovery tools (nobody told me it'd take 4 days on a 250gig HDD) and recovered pretty much everything I wanted/needed...tho Vista would still have to be re-written, which was the daunting task because the disc would only load the files before the damn blasted BSOD kicked in....
By now XP was also playing up and running like a hairy goat...suggesting a repair was insufficient and a re-write was also on the cards there. Firstly, however, it was suggested that I had a hardware issue (CPU, MOBO, RAM, etc????) and I needed to resolve that first...
After a process of elimination/trial and error, I determined that the CPU and MOBO were fine, so tried booting up on one stick of RAM... fine, I'll leave out the other 3 1 gig sticks and reinstall XP, which went perfectly/no problems. Ok, now I'll re-introduce the other RAM stick one at a time...yep, sticks 2 and 3 are fine, but stick 4 starts to smell like it's overheating within seconds, so to prevent a major catastrophe I force shut-down the rig and remove it.
Turns out a bad stick of (brand new) RAM prevented Vista from booting/being recognised, but once it was removed the clean install went ahead without issue. I'm almost back to where I was before all this began, just a bit more setting up/a few more proggies to install on each OS and I'll be right again....GRRRRRRRrrrrrrrr!!!!!!
So why didn't I take it back to the shop to get fixed...after all, it was one of them that knackered it, right??? Yep, that's the question I kept asking myself for 5 days or so... WHY OH WHY ME???? Then I pinched myself and remembered they were a staff member down and it wouldn't be looked at much before Jan 3 08. Orright, it's broke, but a broke PC is better than NO PC for somebody who's addicted to having one to play with/customize, etc.
#@*&ing puters... #@*&, #@*&, #@*&!!!!! Rant over... now I'll get back to work on it.
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yrag
Reply #22 Monday, December 24, 2007 2:06 AM
What are we to do with you?????????
There's five days out of your life you'll never get back
Next time, hook the HD's to another XP or Visa machine and burn the files you want to save to a CD. Then format the drive....takes minutes.
....then ask Santa for a backup proggie.
If that "4th" stick overheats in any slot, it's the stick. If it only overheats in the "4th" slot, your MB is bad.
Merry Christmas
Reply #22 Monday, December 24, 2007 2:06 AM
Starkers: Why would you let someone else work on your machine?
What are we to do with you?????????
but stick 4 starts to smell like it's overheating within seconds,
There's five days out of your life you'll never get back
Next time, hook the HD's to another XP or Visa machine and burn the files you want to save to a CD. Then format the drive....takes minutes.
....then ask Santa for a backup proggie.
If that "4th" stick overheats in any slot, it's the stick. If it only overheats in the "4th" slot, your MB is bad.
Merry Christmas
TLM7
Reply #24 Monday, December 24, 2007 3:29 AM
Reply #24 Monday, December 24, 2007 3:29 AM
Reminds me of an older gentleman whom I work with. He ask what I was going to do over the weekend,and I told him I was going to work on some computers. He made an awful face like he had a sour stomach, and said that he wished "all them things (computers) would just break!! 
starkers
Reply #25 Monday, December 24, 2007 3:48 AM
Nah, yer got that wrong... it's POME... Prisoner Of Mother England. That would be those suckers who didn't have the good sense to get out while the gitting wos good.
Cos I trust these guys... never done me wrong before... not this time neither. It were the RAM.
Definitely the RAM is/was bad...took it back to the shop for testing...went 100% gut up only 5 mins in. Oh well, the replacement was immediate...and I have Nero Backup tools so I'll be fine.
Haven't been to bed since Saturday so I sleep now.
Reply #25 Monday, December 24, 2007 3:48 AM
Pom... You Aussies really love that word. Well duh! It is actually pohm (prisoner of Her Majesty) and refers to criminals, deported and shipped to Australia.
Nah, yer got that wrong... it's POME... Prisoner Of Mother England. That would be those suckers who didn't have the good sense to get out while the gitting wos good.
Starkers: Why would you let someone else work on your machine?
Cos I trust these guys... never done me wrong before... not this time neither. It were the RAM.
If that "4th" stick overheats in any slot, it's the stick. If it only overheats in the "4th" slot, your MB is bad.
Definitely the RAM is/was bad...took it back to the shop for testing...went 100% gut up only 5 mins in. Oh well, the replacement was immediate...and I have Nero Backup tools so I'll be fine.
Haven't been to bed since Saturday so I sleep now.
kona0197
Reply #26 Monday, December 24, 2007 3:48 AM
Reply #26 Monday, December 24, 2007 3:48 AM
Bet you a computer tracks his hours worked and prints his paycheck... 
Ranger375
Reply #27 Monday, December 24, 2007 12:40 PM
Starkers you and I are in the same boat on this - and I too have the same reaction when my "external brain" fails me.
But I am sure you and I will continue to lean on technology and endure the love / hate relationship until the very end...
Reply #27 Monday, December 24, 2007 12:40 PM
So does my memory these days... which is why I depend on technology to do it for me... and why I'm stuffed when technology fails.
Starkers you and I are in the same boat on this - and I too have the same reaction when my "external brain" fails me.
But I am sure you and I will continue to lean on technology and endure the love / hate relationship until the very end...
HG_Eliminator
Reply #28 Monday, December 24, 2007 12:56 PM
Reply #28 Monday, December 24, 2007 12:56 PM
phsa.. my internal HDD gave out years ago..and my ram.. CPU just sits there all dusty.. *recharges his Ipod while listening*** Breathe in.. breathe out.. breathe in..**** gasp" cough"choke" doh..an earplug fell out..
Bushman
Reply #29 Monday, December 24, 2007 1:17 PM
Reply #29 Monday, December 24, 2007 1:17 PM
I feel ya. I had some thing like what you had but w/o any VIsta stuff (Still do not have it), but my system just shut down one day and I also took it in to a local shop to get tested to see what was wrong. First it was my Power Supply so I put in a new one, next the video card went, replaced that, then the sound card went, then the MB went, after replacing it half (one stick) of my memory went. Now they didn't go all at once but one at a time with in about a week. The good part about it was I got to upgrade my system. The tech screwed up my system so I did lose everything and I did go back and raised hell with them. 
Ranger375
Reply #30 Monday, December 24, 2007 1:33 PM
Reply #30 Monday, December 24, 2007 1:33 PM
Bushman - don't know for sure but I have had what you had happen occur to me. When the power supply goes out it sends too much voltage or a nice spike throughout your entire system and then the weakest components go first but not all at once. Sometimes it can take weeks to happen but usually it can be traced back to the power supply failure.
Although none of this makes you feel any better just thought I would throw in some of my experiences.
Although none of this makes you feel any better just thought I would throw in some of my experiences.
starkers
Reply #31 Monday, December 24, 2007 4:16 PM
But I am sure you and I will continue to lean on technology and endure the love / hate relationship until the very end...
I'm sure we will... tho for me it's still more a love than a hate relationship, despite the last week being more about trial and tribulation than PC enjoyment. I learned quite a bit and feel more able to deal with certain issues myself, so all in all it was rather productive from that viewpoint.
The reason I took it into the shop in the first place was because I'm not so good at messing with the BIOS, which needed tweaking due to slower than average startups and several hardware changes... and that was achieved because she boots in half the time now.
Yeah, I know what you mean. mrs starkers reckons she has to feed me curried cabbage daily (for the subsequent methane effect) to see if I'm still alive.
Yep, I can well imagine your anger cos I hate it when others mess my stuff up. That wasn't the case this time, however... unless I want to take it all the way back to the RAM manufacturer.
Also, I'm so glad that I took the RAM back to the shop for testing... within 30 seconds or so it crashed and burned with a rather loud bang... took out the dimm slots/mobo on their test bench. Could have been mine if I'd persisted to find which stick went bung, and fortunately they have a multitude of spare MOBO's from customers who left them behind after upgrades, etc.
Thing is, I'm happy with my rig as it is now.... still setting up a few things, but it's running very sweetly....
Oh and Kona... it's a very laid back kind of shop with just 3 guys working there... the owner and 2 others. More importantly, they always have the time to be polite, friendly and extremely helpful... never ever too busy to answer customer questions, etc. So I doubt very much that a computer tracks their hours/productivity, etc. There should be more stores like it, where personalised and friendly service is the norm, rather than the very rarely seen exception.
Reply #31 Monday, December 24, 2007 4:16 PM
But I am sure you and I will continue to lean on technology and endure the love / hate relationship until the very end...
I'm sure we will... tho for me it's still more a love than a hate relationship, despite the last week being more about trial and tribulation than PC enjoyment. I learned quite a bit and feel more able to deal with certain issues myself, so all in all it was rather productive from that viewpoint.
The reason I took it into the shop in the first place was because I'm not so good at messing with the BIOS, which needed tweaking due to slower than average startups and several hardware changes... and that was achieved because she boots in half the time now.
phsa.. my internal HDD gave out years ago..and my ram.. CPU just sits there all dusty.. *recharges his Ipod while listening*** Breathe in.. breathe out.. breathe in..**** gasp" cough"choke" doh..an earplug fell out..
Yeah, I know what you mean.
mrs starkers reckons she has to feed me curried cabbage daily (for the subsequent methane effect) to see if I'm still alive. 
The tech screwed up my system so I did lose everything and I did go back and raised hell with them.
Yep, I can well imagine your anger cos I hate it when others mess my stuff up. That wasn't the case this time, however... unless I want to take it all the way back to the RAM manufacturer.
Also, I'm so glad that I took the RAM back to the shop for testing... within 30 seconds or so it crashed and burned with a rather loud bang... took out the dimm slots/mobo on their test bench. Could have been mine if I'd persisted to find which stick went bung, and fortunately they have a multitude of spare MOBO's from customers who left them behind after upgrades, etc.
Thing is, I'm happy with my rig as it is now.... still setting up a few things, but it's running very sweetly....
Oh and Kona... it's a very laid back kind of shop with just 3 guys working there... the owner and 2 others. More importantly, they always have the time to be polite, friendly and extremely helpful... never ever too busy to answer customer questions, etc. So I doubt very much that a computer tracks their hours/productivity, etc. There should be more stores like it, where personalised and friendly service is the norm, rather than the very rarely seen exception.
kona0197
Reply #32 Tuesday, December 25, 2007 3:40 AM
Reply #32 Tuesday, December 25, 2007 3:40 AM
I still would rather avoid shops when I know I can fix it myself...
killajosh
Reply #33 Tuesday, December 25, 2007 3:49 AM
There's a 'puter shop here like that. Called Computer Universe. Funny name for it, 'cuz it's not big at all. Great guys working there, friendly customer service. That's where I buy all my PC supplies (tho I have yet to let them work on my PC- if I can fix it myself, I will...if I can't, I'll call my buddy Joey- he knows everything about computers)......
Reply #33 Tuesday, December 25, 2007 3:49 AM
There should be more stores like it, where personalised and friendly service is the norm, rather than the very rarely seen exception.
There's a 'puter shop here like that. Called Computer Universe. Funny name for it, 'cuz it's not big at all. Great guys working there, friendly customer service. That's where I buy all my PC supplies (tho I have yet to let them work on my PC- if I can fix it myself, I will...if I can't, I'll call my buddy Joey- he knows everything about computers)......
starkers
Reply #34 Tuesday, December 25, 2007 7:40 AM
I generally do... fix it myself, that is, but the BIOS is something I'm not too familiar with as yet, so my rig went in for tweaks to that. Unfortunately, a stick of RAM went bung when I got it home, but that wasn't their fault... and, with a bit of trial and error, I fixed the subsequent issues myself.
I let these guys work on my rig because I consider them to be friends as well as great PC repairmen. They treat my family and I differently to other customers, like we're friends, too. As for labour costs, I'd ask how much and they used to say for me not to worry about it, but when I insisted it had to be worth something (I like to pay my way), it'd be "20 bucks 'll do it"... well below the going rate. I think that may be because my recommendations helped build their customer base considerably over the years.
Reply #34 Tuesday, December 25, 2007 7:40 AM
I still would rather avoid shops when I know I can fix it myself...
I generally do... fix it myself, that is, but the BIOS is something I'm not too familiar with as yet, so my rig went in for tweaks to that. Unfortunately, a stick of RAM went bung when I got it home, but that wasn't their fault... and, with a bit of trial and error, I fixed the subsequent issues myself.
tho I have yet to let them work on my PC- if I can fix it myself, I will...if I can't, I'll call my buddy Joey- he knows everything about computers)
I let these guys work on my rig because I consider them to be friends as well as great PC repairmen. They treat my family and I differently to other customers, like we're friends, too. As for labour costs, I'd ask how much and they used to say for me not to worry about it, but when I insisted it had to be worth something (I like to pay my way), it'd be "20 bucks 'll do it"... well below the going rate. I think that may be because my recommendations helped build their customer base considerably over the years.
Bushman
Reply #36 Tuesday, December 25, 2007 7:56 AM
Reply #36 Tuesday, December 25, 2007 7:56 AM
I normally don't let any one touch my system but when it went out I had no way of checking the parts myself. Never again
kona0197
Reply #37 Tuesday, December 25, 2007 4:31 PM
Reply #37 Tuesday, December 25, 2007 4:31 PM
I flashed my BIOS the other day. Nothing to it.
starkers
Reply #38 Tuesday, December 25, 2007 7:02 PM
Didn't just need flashing/updating....needed some manual adjustments to improve startup & performance, etc.
Reply #38 Tuesday, December 25, 2007 7:02 PM
I flashed my BIOS the other day. Nothing to it.
Didn't just need flashing/updating....needed some manual adjustments to improve startup & performance, etc.
kona0197
Reply #39 Tuesday, December 25, 2007 10:23 PM
I've been messing with BIOS settings ever since I've owned a PC. Nothing to that either. You just have to understand what your doing that's all. And if you mess up you load the defaults and off you go.
Reply #39 Tuesday, December 25, 2007 10:23 PM
Didn't just need flashing/updating....needed some manual adjustments to improve startup & performance, etc.
I've been messing with BIOS settings ever since I've owned a PC. Nothing to that either. You just have to understand what your doing that's all. And if you mess up you load the defaults and off you go.
starkers
Reply #40 Wednesday, December 26, 2007 12:12 PM
Off I went orright... to the puter store cos the defaults wouldn't reload after I tinkered and messed up. Not to worry, tho... all is well that ends well, and I will learn more about BIOS settings now I'm delving into it a bit more now.
Reply #40 Wednesday, December 26, 2007 12:12 PM
And if you mess up you load the defaults and off you go.
Off I went orright... to the puter store cos the defaults wouldn't reload after I tinkered and messed up. Not to worry, tho... all is well that ends well, and I will learn more about BIOS settings now I'm delving into it a bit more now.
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Reply #21 Monday, December 24, 2007 12:41 AM