Computer Fixed... the thrill is gone
 

Never thought I'd feel, uhh, I dunno... kinda wonderin' what to do next now that I've fixed my computer.

Ahhh: My computer. It was not malware, wasn't a virus, wasn't any type of bug or something picked up.

It was a massive hardware failure. Two boot sectors were fried, totally wiped out.

The manufacturer sent new parts, and I replaced them and: whatcha know? The machine works.

The manufacturer also insisted that the only way to recover the data from the fried drive was by taking it to a third party for repair. No, nu-uh, or however they want to say it. My warranty wasn't with a third-party and the manufacturer wasn't going to pay for the recovery and, too, there was no need to take it to someone else.

I did it myself, just as I told the manufacturer I could and would. I recovered every file that I wanted.:D

Now, I just have to find the momentum and install some more software, etc.

Hi Bobbi!

Congrats! You should be proud of yourself for completing a project most wouldnt even attempt.

Now that you are familiar with the hardware you can start looking at upgrades for your computer. Most everything nowadays is plug it in and load the drivers, and sometimes not even that lol.

You can add another hard drive, or even explore the possibilities of running a couple of hard drives in a raid configuration. Upgrade and add more memory, even find some sweet deals on a new mobo with cpu combos.

Uh oh here comes the grandkids! :yahoo:

:OuttaHere:

I don't think I'm going to make any upgrades to this one; it's a laptop and... not one that I want to put a lot more of anything into. I'm running it as a skeptic these days, and will anticpate the HD to fry again - until it reaches that "magic" mark or, minimally, the point beyond when the first HD fried (slightly over one-half-year-old).

My desktop? Now, that's something I'll seriously consider doing as you mention :D.

Nothing about this laptop could have been easy, if someone were to ask the manufacturer. Of course, it could have been far less stressful if the phone jockeys hadn't behaved so arrogantly and as if they know-all, when, clearly they don't. Anyone who says that data cannot be recovered (especially after they've been told that the data is not corrupt), user-end, is full of y'know, that nasty stuff :winky:.

I do plan to do one thing, at least: As soon as I have time, I'm going to make a tutorial on data recovery. It tweaked me when one of the phone jockeys took great delight in relaying that he's lost count of how many times he's told "grandmas and grandpas that they cannot recover their grand babies photos." He should have said, "Sorry, folks. I don't know." Or, maybe, "I'll have to refer you to someone else because ... " he sure made an a$% of himself when he stuck his feet in his mouth while speaking with me.

I don't find it humorous that he was laughing as he was telling me about the "grandmas and grandpas." I feel for the people he mis-informed.

If I can do it with a fried (non-booting) drive, it'd be far easier on a drive that will boot.

Out of this, and his idiocy: An idea was born :cool:.

please do bobbi!

i have info on my old compaq pc that i need to get off. info that i sure don't want anyone at a pc shop to get a hold of.

the a drive won't write and i can't a cd to burn. :(

(banking info...on a computer that does not go online)

:o sorry...didn't mean to hyjack. :o

Yeah I have a laptop that is somewhat lacking in the memory department, but doing anything but using it till it craters is what im gonna do with it.

That is a great idea! Those customer service peoples are trippin most of the time. They read from scripts, and have no clue what the meaning of the words they just read to you mean. :ROTFLMAO:

Curious you might try putting the hard drive in to your desktop as a slave drive. I believe you then can look at drive.

Curious,

Does the computer - you're referencing that needs some first-aid - have a functioning CD/DVD drive? It doesn't matter that you can't burn to it, but only that one is installed and was working before things went haywire (not with the CD/DVD drive, I'm hoping).

If you wanna PM me a snail mail address, I've gotta tool that I believe will most likely work for you. It works like a charm. I can do the walk-through on how to use it, once you know that it will boot. And, even if the HD itself won't boot, this baby will bring it up :).

i'll boot it up tomorrow and check everything. pm on the way.

Wow...
 

I am impressed!

I practically have a nervous breakdown when I run into snags.

I really admire you Bobbi... you are one smart cookie!

MrsD., when a machine is as far fried as mine was, I look at it as: I have nothing to lose and, possibly, everything to gain by digging in.

VISTA, I will admit, has been the biggest headache in fixing. I had to go back and re-install the platform again (3 times total). Unless VISTA has its software bundled with SP1, and SP1 is one of the first updates installed, it will totally mess up the authentication of VISTA.

Anyone with VISTA who discovers that it has to be reinstalled: Get SP1 (from MS downloads) before doing additional MS updates.


Curious, I picked up a horrible cold - and it's probably related to a lack of sleep, stress, etc., from this. As soon as I am feeling better (and I do plan on resting this weekend), I'll definitely get the mail out to you - along with the how-to info. :). PM is yours when its on its way.

I have been doing the install/reinstall go round of XP home since last week - tried to clean up extra partition and been messed up since - trying to get it to work right - and save all my files...

finally bought a disk doctor program so i could recover all my stuff and then copied everything to my spare hard drive.

then totally formatted main drive and did a clean install

so now it's working but I turned off updates part of my problem started when i backed up and cleaned up to do the XP SP3 update/upgrade:mad:

Read about it online before doing it - seems it has issues with AMD, ASUS and Dlink - I have all of those :eek:

So not getting SP3 again until after the bugs are fixed.

I am planning to pick up another HD to copy this whole HD & set up as a spare back up HD.
I had some stuff saved on a DVD & flash drive but couldn't use it to make any repairs to the main system.

Bobbi what is the program you used?

Jo, wouldn't it be nice (or at least the decent thing) if manufacturers clearly stated the means to problem avoidance when the platform must be (re)installed?

In encountering compabable probs. with VISTA, I read so many help forums (for the O/S), and most had ideas that weren't even accurate. I finally stumbled into the solution: installing SP1 before all else. That tidbit could have saved me several days of frustration, that's for sure.

Some good can come from this... and that is: Maybe what we've learned might help others and spare them the frustrations.


The program that worked as beautifully as can be on my fried drive (and RAM): Spotmau PowerSuite Professional 2008: http://www.spotmau.com/

It's reasonably priced and it's worth more than it's price in gold, in light that it truly did do as it claims.

My prob. was when the drive (etc.) fried I was totally caught off guard - no symptoms or anything and no recovery software on-hand for VISTA. I took a risk, I know, in getting SpotMau, yet it sure performed :D. (If I'm not mistaken, the program also offers a money-back guarantee; I think it extends 30 days.)

I created the emergency boot disc - using SpotMau's instructions - and also ordered the snail mail CD (hard lesson learned long ago, as well).

To use Spotmau - or similar - just be sure to have external media for saving recovered data.

Please...
 

What are SP1 and SP3?

Today since we have not been online with this desktop, I had a huge---very long update that took me down for over 1/2 hr.

I have auto updates enabled on here, but when we go away for long periods, this unit is OFF..unplugged.

Each time we booted up the laptop up North, I had updates loading. Sometimes I had to interrupt my work. I was only at the laundromat for about an hour to 1.5 hrs, to charge. But even then I had updates on that unit.

I just had my son at Xmas put in a new hard-drive and tranfer this old one to it. It seemed to go very quickly, whatever he did. (duh)...

So please explain these abbreviations to those of us who are less computer savvy. I'd really appreciate it.

I should say...this is XP. Not Vista.

SP1 & SP3 are: Service Pack 1 and, likewise, Service Pack 3.

For XP, the SPs run from SP1 through SP3. I would do as Jo is doing and hold off on updating #3. Opt out of automatic timing set for installation of that Pack as long as it's buggy.

The Service Packs contain program and system patches and/or fixes.

To find the Update settings:

Start Menu
Control Panel
Windows Update

On Vista, I've only encountered the need for SP1; SP2 is related to Office products, that I noticed. And, I've not come across a SP3 for VISTA - yet.

I am lost....
 

I went to the place you recommended, but could not find if I had already been updated.

What makes SP3 buggy?

I cannot find if I had this update today. It was a biggie
and I don't recall it having an ID. It was major, and if it were SP3 do you know what will happen here?

Sorry to be so dense. I guess I will call my son... he will just LOVE it! NOT.

Within Windows Update, there should be an option to "View update history," which will display everything that's been downloaded and installed via automatic/manual updates.

Jo will probably come along and relay what she knows of the buggy-factor.

I've not run into SP3, yet, on my Desktop w/XP or old laptop... because I've not booted them in a while.

this is how I found what I have:
 

Desktop, right click on MyComputer, and then
select properties, and there I found that I have SP3 already.

(it was probably loaded earlier today, when I had that massive update)

So that is that.

So my son says this is a HP issue. AMD vs Intel cloning of XP when purchased can affect SP3 downloads. Since I have an Intel processor it doesn't affect me. But people who buy AMD processors have a potential problem with this download.
I just learned about this now....still don't really understand.
It deals with the installation of XP on AMD processors.
The manufacturer who puts XP on an AMD processor may encounter a snag with SP3. Those who have Intel processors are most likely okay. (like me... sigh).

I'm glad you located, on your 'puter, where to look to see if the update has been installed or not. My VISTA is config'd differently than XP; i.e., VISTA uses Aero interface.

Please tell your son thank you for the info. about the update; all of my computers also have Intel processors.

I found info that SP3 can have a problem with -
ASUS mother boards
AMD CPU
Dlink wireless driver/card

These are what applied in my case, since that was what I was searching for info about.

I just suggest doing some searches about SP3 before you agree to the upload.