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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starkers
Reply #42 Wednesday, December 26, 2007 7:37 PM
Not necessarily. As I just found out the hard way, on some laptops (Dell Inspiron 1501, notably), flashing the BIOS can mean killing your computer.
Didn't exactly kill mine, but the bad stick of RAM wouldn't allow me to restore back to default or reload from the mobo disc... so repairing it was beyond me, and why it went to the shop. Unfortunately, the RAM did not appear to be the culprit at first, so it did not become apparent until it died completely.
All is well now, though....though they have a 3ghz Core Duo Quad and a Gigabyte mobo with on-board cooling and a heap of other extras that has me somewhat salivating at the mouth right now.
When will I ever be satisfied with what I have (PC wise)?? Probably never... not while they keep coming out with new and improved toys.
Reply #42 Wednesday, December 26, 2007 7:37 PM
Not necessarily. As I just found out the hard way, on some laptops (Dell Inspiron 1501, notably), flashing the BIOS can mean killing your computer.
Didn't exactly kill mine, but the bad stick of RAM wouldn't allow me to restore back to default or reload from the mobo disc... so repairing it was beyond me, and why it went to the shop. Unfortunately, the RAM did not appear to be the culprit at first, so it did not become apparent until it died completely.
All is well now, though....though they have a 3ghz Core Duo Quad and a Gigabyte mobo with on-board cooling and a heap of other extras that has me somewhat salivating at the mouth right now.
When will I ever be satisfied with what I have (PC wise)?? Probably never... not while they keep coming out with new and improved toys.
Vampothika
Reply #43 Wednesday, December 26, 2007 9:29 PM
Reply #43 Wednesday, December 26, 2007 9:29 PM
I hear ya starkers.......... you know how i upgraded to vista? well i also took my old rig to a pc guy to take out the innards and install them to a nice and pretty new case, he did it, but then i was down a power splitter so i had to go home without one....... then i found out that he hadnt even connected the sound up properly, and he wouldnt lift a finger to help, so i had to find and download the motherboard manual and find out where the cables get plugged into which pin. ( i was scared stiff, i can install a modem, no worries, and throw in ram, but not this!!) anyways, i followed the manuals instructions and got my sound up and running. then i got an email from this guy saying he found the extra power splitter in my box that had my new graphics card......... (after i had purchased one on ebay......grrrr) so i told him to just keep it......... then i emailed him and asked him where does the power splitter get plugged into so i have lights for my 'power and hdd' light. no answer........ im never going back....... i might as well have just done the whole thing myself..... grrr. 
kona0197
Reply #44 Thursday, December 27, 2007 1:48 AM
You'll learn to be satisfied when you end up with a budget like mine. For example in my world it usually takes saving money for a few weeks or months to buy a stick of RAM.
And by the way why are people scared to work on computers?
Reply #44 Thursday, December 27, 2007 1:48 AM
When will I ever be satisfied with what I have (PC wise)?? Probably never... not while they keep coming out with new and improved toys.
You'll learn to be satisfied when you end up with a budget like mine. For example in my world it usually takes saving money for a few weeks or months to buy a stick of RAM.
And by the way why are people scared to work on computers?
yrag
Reply #45 Thursday, December 27, 2007 2:23 AM
It's not a "power splitter", it's the connectors (6 to 10 of them) connected to the inside front of your case. They plug into MB Front Panel:
Either read the manual for pin placement or the board itself. If you have it on the right pins, but still no lights, reverse the plug.
Kona, I'm going to pretend you're not in this thread any longer........
Reply #45 Thursday, December 27, 2007 2:23 AM
where does the power splitter get plugged into so i have lights for my 'power and hdd' light.
It's not a "power splitter", it's the connectors (6 to 10 of them) connected to the inside front of your case. They plug into MB Front Panel:
Either read the manual for pin placement or the board itself. If you have it on the right pins, but still no lights, reverse the plug.
Kona, I'm going to pretend you're not in this thread any longer........
killajosh
Reply #46 Thursday, December 27, 2007 5:03 AM
Gee, I don't know.... Maybe because the average computer user knows exactly nothing about BIOS, and realize that if you screw something up you could end up costing yourself mucho $$ getting everything straightened out. Kona, I've been messing with computers for years, have built several in fact. But I am nowhere near dumb enough to think that I can fix every little problem that may arise. I have a $1200 pc that I built, and if I'm not sure I can fix a problem I'm going to at least talk to someone that can. That's why I'm friends with the guys at the local PC shop.
I may not let other people work on my PC, but I'm not afraid to let them walk me through it.....
Reply #46 Thursday, December 27, 2007 5:03 AM
And by the way why are people scared to work on computers?
Gee, I don't know.... Maybe because the average computer user knows exactly nothing about BIOS, and realize that if you screw something up you could end up costing yourself mucho $$ getting everything straightened out. Kona, I've been messing with computers for years, have built several in fact. But I am nowhere near dumb enough to think that I can fix every little problem that may arise. I have a $1200 pc that I built, and if I'm not sure I can fix a problem I'm going to at least talk to someone that can. That's why I'm friends with the guys at the local PC shop.
I may not let other people work on my PC, but I'm not afraid to let them walk me through it.....
Fuzzy Logic
Reply #47 Thursday, December 27, 2007 5:08 AM
Reply #47 Thursday, December 27, 2007 5:08 AM
Kona, I'm going to pretend you're not in this thread any longer........
kona0197
Reply #48 Thursday, December 27, 2007 5:42 AM
Reply #48 Thursday, December 27, 2007 5:42 AM
killajosh - I usually try to tackle any PC problem that comes up due to the fact that I can't afford to pay anyone to solve my issues. So I come to forums like this to get advice.
Yrag - Exactly why are you mad at me this time? Last time I checked I was allowed to share my opinions as well.
Yrag - Exactly why are you mad at me this time? Last time I checked I was allowed to share my opinions as well.
starkers
Reply #49 Thursday, December 27, 2007 10:34 AM
Kona... not everyone has the confidence to open up their rig, much less the knowledge or expertise to resolve their issues. The average user is just that... a user, and when something goes wrong, the inside of the box is uncharted territory and thus it has to go into the shop to resolve what's wrong.
I can fix a lot of things, but I'm no expert and I'm not ashamed to admit that when I need tech help, I'll take my rig into the shop.
Reply #49 Thursday, December 27, 2007 10:34 AM
. im never going back....... [/quote]
Yo, kitty, sounds like a shonky mongrel to me. It's a pity you're a bit far out to see the guys I go to here in Goodna... there's no way they'd treat you like that. I've recommended them to dozens of people and have not heard a bad/critical word from anyone with regards to their pricing, quality of work and/or service. Hopefully, you can find someone similar to my techies and won't have to deal with another shonky practice again.
[quote And by the way why are people scared to work on computers?
Yo, kitty, sounds like a shonky mongrel to me. It's a pity you're a bit far out to see the guys I go to here in Goodna... there's no way they'd treat you like that. I've recommended them to dozens of people and have not heard a bad/critical word from anyone with regards to their pricing, quality of work and/or service. Hopefully, you can find someone similar to my techies and won't have to deal with another shonky practice again.
[quote And by the way why are people scared to work on computers?
Kona... not everyone has the confidence to open up their rig, much less the knowledge or expertise to resolve their issues. The average user is just that... a user, and when something goes wrong, the inside of the box is uncharted territory and thus it has to go into the shop to resolve what's wrong.
I can fix a lot of things, but I'm no expert and I'm not ashamed to admit that when I need tech help, I'll take my rig into the shop.
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Reply #41 Wednesday, December 26, 2007 12:17 PM
Not necessarily. As I just found out the hard way, on some laptops (Dell Inspiron 1501, notably), flashing the BIOS can mean killing your computer.
Seriously. I now have to speak to Dell about a new motherboard for a customer's computer because of a failed BIOS flash!