OT: need some computer help

Slack said:

I think all the heat wave killed my PC; at least that's what I
blaming on. Then again, maybe it was one of Sorni's emails

Got home today and it was moving super sluggishly. So, I reboot only
to find out a system cfg file is fubar: "...missing or corrupt
\windows\system32\config\system" Did a chkdsk and several files are
irrecoverable... double damn. Googled and tried some manual recovery
techniques to no avail. No big deal, I'll just start fresh and reload
XP Pro, but that won't even work. Here's the error message I get
after the initial setup screen an d it asks you where you want it
loaded:
(There is no disk in this drive.)
Unknown Disk

And then the blue death screen if I hit enter anyway.

I presume this is due to my RAID setup? Do I have to format the drive
first, and try the fresh install?

It is currently setup as a 2+0 RAID (NTSF)... yeah, I now know

Thanks for any guidance

Last time I got something close to that (couldn't open ANY applications even
though all looked normal), I managed to use a safety disk to boot to safe
mode, did a system restore to like two weeks earlier, and voila all worked
OK. (Now I never turn it off! LOL )

Slack said:

I think all the heat wave killed my PC; at least that's what I blaming on.
Then again, maybe it was one of Sorni's emails

Got home today and it was moving super sluggishly. So, I reboot only to
find out a system cfg file is fubar: "...missing or corrupt
\windows\system32\config\system" Did a chkdsk and several files are
irrecoverable... double damn. Googled and tried some manual recovery
techniques to no avail. No big deal, I'll just start fresh and reload XP
Pro, but that won't even work. Here's the error message I get after the
initial setup screen an d it asks you where you want it loaded:

(There is no disk in this drive.)
Unknown Disk

And then the blue death screen if I hit enter anyway.

I presume this is due to my RAID setup? Do I have to format the drive
first, and try the fresh install?

It is currently setup as a 2+0 RAID (NTSF)... yeah, I now know

Thanks for any guidance
____
Slack I've been keeping my player cool since March with this small cooling fan from Radio Shack 20 bucks. The player was getting hot and freeze framing. So I went lookng for a small clip on fan. No way in March. Checked Stables all they had was battery operated or hook up thu your computer by way of connecters.

Slack said:

I think all the heat wave killed my PC; at least that's what I blaming
on. Then again, maybe it was one of Sorni's emails

Got home today and it was moving super sluggishly. So, I reboot only to
find out a system cfg file is fubar: "...missing or corrupt
\windows\system32\config\system" Did a chkdsk and several files are
irrecoverable... double damn. Googled and tried some manual recovery
techniques to no avail. No big deal, I'll just start fresh and reload XP
Pro, but that won't even work. Here's the error message I get after the
initial setup screen an d it asks you where you want it loaded:

(There is no disk in this drive.)
Unknown Disk

And then the blue death screen if I hit enter anyway.

I presume this is due to my RAID setup? Do I have to format the drive
first, and try the fresh install?

It is currently setup as a 2+0 RAID (NTSF)... yeah, I now know

Thanks for any guidance
____
Slack

OK. I'll hit this one before I head out.

/Geek mode on/

I don't think the heat has anything to do with this. Hard Drives have
one of the shorter life spans of PC components. Two things can happen
depending upon age or use. Either the drive platter starts to groove or
loose magnetism or the drive motor starts to fail.

If the drive is old (3 - 4 years) it is most likely grooving. It the
drive is relatively new (1 - 2 years) and has either been kept on most
of the time with some disk access program running in the background
(Google or MSN desktop search / Antivirus that's over zealous / spyware)
then it's most likely the motor. Some drives are more prone to motor
problem than others. I have noticed that seagate drives tend to never
have motor problems, while maxtor seem to be prone to them. Western
Digital falls somewhere in the middle. External drives (those little
boxes you hook up through USB) are the worst. Avoid them at all cost!
Not enough breathing room and the USB causes them to spin more often
causing motor problems.

So my solution? Even if you could get the drive to start working again,
it's fried. Go get a new hard drive. They are actually inexpensive in
the grand scheme of things.

RAID is only valuable if you have two drives (mirroring) or three drives
(striping). I suppose you have a RAID controller, but it is only
treating it as one drive. I use NTFS on all my drives except the Linux box.

/Geek mode off/

Remember, backups are your friend.

--
o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-o
www.schnauzers.ws

Ride-A-Lot said:

Slack said:

I think all the heat wave killed my PC; at least that's what I blaming
on. Then again, maybe it was one of Sorni's emails

Got home today and it was moving super sluggishly. So, I reboot only to
find out a system cfg file is fubar: "...missing or corrupt
\windows\system32\config\system" Did a chkdsk and several files are
irrecoverable... double damn. Googled and tried some manual recovery
techniques to no avail. No big deal, I'll just start fresh and reload XP
Pro, but that won't even work. Here's the error message I get after the
initial setup screen an d it asks you where you want it loaded:

(There is no disk in this drive.)
Unknown Disk

And then the blue death screen if I hit enter anyway.

I presume this is due to my RAID setup? Do I have to format the drive
first, and try the fresh install?

It is currently setup as a 2+0 RAID (NTSF)... yeah, I now know

Thanks for any guidance
____
Slack

OK. I'll hit this one before I head out.

/Geek mode on/

I don't think the heat has anything to do with this. Hard Drives have
one of the shorter life spans of PC components. Two things can happen
depending upon age or use. Either the drive platter starts to groove or
loose magnetism or the drive motor starts to fail.

If the drive is old (3 - 4 years) it is most likely grooving. It the
drive is relatively new (1 - 2 years) and has either been kept on most
of the time with some disk access program running in the background
(Google or MSN desktop search / Antivirus that's over zealous / spyware)
then it's most likely the motor. Some drives are more prone to motor
problem than others. I have noticed that seagate drives tend to never
have motor problems, while maxtor seem to be prone to them. Western
Digital falls somewhere in the middle. External drives (those little
boxes you hook up through USB) are the worst. Avoid them at all cost!
Not enough breathing room and the USB causes them to spin more often
causing motor problems.

So my solution? Even if you could get the drive to start working again,
it's fried. Go get a new hard drive. They are actually inexpensive in
the grand scheme of things.

RAID is only valuable if you have two drives (mirroring) or three drives
(striping). I suppose you have a RAID controller, but it is only
treating it as one drive. I use NTFS on all my drives except the Linux box.

/Geek mode off/

Remember, backups are your friend.

--
o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-o
www.schnauzers.ws

Thanks. Yep, I think my Maxtors are about 4 yrs and I keep them on
24/7. They've been rock solid, but I think your right, they wear just
like everything else.

I have the most important stuff backed up on my USB, so no problem
there... except for my research paper for English 101 that I started
last week. I didn't back-up any of my source matl or the paper itself,
so I'll have to redo it from scratch.

Thank God I recently bought a a laptop.
____
Slack

Slack said:

Ride-A-Lot said:

Slack said:

I think all the heat wave killed my PC; at least that's what I blaming
on. Then again, maybe it was one of Sorni's emails

So its not caused by switching to Operas mail setup then. Is that worthwhile?

dardruba said:

Slack said:

Ride-A-Lot said:

Slack wrote:
> I think all the heat wave killed my PC; at least that's what I blaming
> on. Then again, maybe it was one of Sorni's emails

So its not caused by switching to Operas mail setup then. Is that worthwhile?

Yeah, it's worth-while. Previous versions weren't 100% ready, imho, but
the latest 9.0 release is almost perfect. Their web browser is highly
regarded, too. Give it a shot. if you don 't like, some don't, just
uninstall and move on. You can't beat the price.
____
Slack