PC problems

[Jim]

I spilled soda on my keyboard yesterday and keys stopped working slowly. For some reason, my KVM switch would not work with any other keyboard. So, this morning, when my original keyboard still didn't work, I decided to stop using my switch. Like a moron, while my pc was running I layed it on it's side to hook up the new keyboard. When I rebooted the PC, I hear a slight grind and get a message saying that I have a system.ini file missing.

So Greenie, welcome me to your world.

[Cleo]

PC problems suck.





THat is why I don't use a PC.

[Jim]

Cleo
I didn't know that Macs were immune from hard drive failure.

[Cleo]

They aren't Jim seeing as they use the same hardware as any other computer more or less. Actually last year I lost two drives, a maxtor and a IBM in my tower before I switched to a laptop. They are far easier to recover from when there is a problem and in general give far less problems. Even if for some reason the OS has to be reinstalled you don't have to reinstall the apps again and are usually back up and running in about a hour after telling the OS disk to do an archive and install.

I thought from reading your message you had just gotten a corrupt system file not lost your whole drive. Laying it on its side while running shouldn't have killed your drive unless you really banged it will turning it on its side.

I actually do own a PC, its a Win2K machine, and had to reformat and reinstall the OS three times last year which is crazy seeing as it sits turned off most of the time.

[Jim]

I didn't really think about it hurting the drive either. I remember way back when, you had a "park" function for moving PCs. But, I guess it isn't needed anymore.

Anyway, like I said, once rebooted, the Hard Drive had a slight grinding sound. I know that is never a good sound. I have since stood it up again and hit the restart button over and over. I really don't want to give up and replace the drive but I don't think I have much of a choice.

[Cleo]

I would stop trying until you had a chance to copy everything off it to another drive.

[Jim]

I have most things already copied. There is no copying anymore. But, everyday, I would copy my important files from one PC to another.

[urb]

Problem is that parts do fail, and if you talk to an engineer, they seem to be more in favour of simply replacing specific components rather than fixing them.

I got a pc which only has the tower shell and monitor as original parts... motherboard, harddrive, RAM, DVD CDR , power supply etc... all replaced within the warranty, coz the engineer couldn't isolate the fault.

[dareutwo]

I don't have screws on any shell case in any computer I own.. always replacing, upgrading, or simply playing around with them.

[DangerDave]

I dont even have the covers on anymore.

HDD failures happen.. and those grinding ones Jim.. they are the worse.. as you feel the drives pain!

DD

[Jim]

Well, my hd started working and I have run every disk utility on it I can think of. I have now rebooted it over 10 times and the problem seems to be gone. But still, I would say it was time for a new hd.

[Cleo]

I sell my old computers to my clients and buy myself shiny new ones.

[vangend]

Originally posted by Cleo
I sell my old computers to my clients and buy myself shiny new ones.

I do the same, for clients who dont like to part with their money.

Jim
I also used to back up important stuff to another pc, until two weeks ago and I lost two drives in one day. Now chances for that are slim but it do happen.

[boss523]

Ouch! Good thing hard drives are so cheap now. I have a second drive as a mirror of my main drive, plus I also backup to a firewire drive so I can have a backup that is physically separate from my (mac) system just in case of fire, meteorite, etc. That's my rationalization for wanting to get an ipod - I could have my boot drive in my pocket at all times!

[Cleo]

Yeah I have the 40 gig iPod and in addition to having ever piece of music that I own on it I installed Panther on it so that I can boot from it and also have my home directory backed up to it.

I also a program called DataBackup that does a versioned compressed backup to a 120 gig FireWire drive each night of my home directory. I also burn DVDs of my home directory that I give to my friend Luna to take home in case my house, backups, and Powerbook gets hit by one of those annoying meteorites.

Then there are those tarballs of my web servers that I make once or twice a month…

[plateman]

I build my own computers and a few for others and with kids i have had the soda spilled on there keyboards and I just take the key board apart wash the key panel with soap and water, blow dry with compressed air or just let dry takes longer and clean the switch board as it is sealed and put back together and it works like new again..

the thing about a vendor pc is that the mother board is made just for dell or hp, so going up the road to buy another is out, they try to lock the pc owner in, so buying any parts is kept through the maker of the pc..

also if anybody has any old units but not anicent pm me or reply i do try to buy a few and fix them to sell to people that cant afford anything new and also you can donate them as well because i only make a few bucks after they are fixed and am really helping people out


also jim having the drive on its side wont do nothing as i have had them all different ways and never hurt anything

sometimes when i build a pc for a friend i will take there new formated drive and hook it up to my pc and copy and paste 20 gig of media from my drive to there's and i just let there drive dangle
and thats how i do a lot of my own back up files that i dont update that way i have another hd with what i need because 20 gig of my favorite media is hard to replace nowadays..
thanks

[Surfn]

Are you sure it wasn't a cooling fan you heard?

[Jim]

It was no cooling fan. Hopefully, it is sitting home now just being good

[alin@xlayers]

I use macs too, they're way much reliable than pc's.

[Cleo]

Originally posted by alin@xlayers
I use macs too, they're way much reliable than pc's.