Everything is stunted and lost

[lizblackdog]

...my computer died.

Fortunately, my mother recently got a new one, so I have her old one for the time being. It is older than Charlotte was, and so painfully RAM-impaired and slow that although I've managed to install my IM client, I can't actually run it at the same time as anything else. This would be why I am not on AIM.

I don't quite know what happened to Charlotte. I got one of those spontaneous rebooting incidents last night and Windows steadfastly refused to reload afterwards. There was a blue screen and a message about boot sectors that I am too blatted now to recall in detail. I have a feeling it had something to do with the, er, unofficial version of Windows XP I had installed on Charlotte. I tried to boot her up with that version of Knoppix that I have on disc, and that worked, except that it would boot up, ask me something I didn't understand about a .JPG file, and then, no matter what I told it, it came up with a little casual message saying the system would automatically shut down as soon as it had completed that operation. I couldn't get it to change its mind about that.

The good news is that this computer has an official Windows XP, complete with automatic updates and so forth. Maybe the hard drive with it on can be spliced into Charlotte? I dunno. I guess I'll find out. I didn't get any sleep on account of having to lie there in silence and my own operating system is one flake away from the blue screen of death; don't expect me to say anything intelligent. But I am here, after a fashion.

I hope my data is safe. The most important things are all backed up, but a lot of them are backed up to Charlotte's C drive which I can't presently access, though I am sure that one is intact, and I am hopeful that her main drive is intact apart from the Windows installation. Whether it's possible to access it is beyond me, of course, and I'm in no state to think about it now. But anyway, not dead, and online after a fashion.

Comments

[dreaminginred16.livejournal.com]

My computer died recently too.. Like in May. The motherboard went on it suddenly. :( Now I got have Killswitch, and he is a lovely comp.. I'd love to upgrade the ram on him though. Mine would boot up, but would not go to windows. It kept telling me that is could not find my OS, and that my mouse and keyboard could not be found. Thought it was the HD but turned out to be the motherboard.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Ir could well be that. I am pretty damn ignorant about these things, sadly. I hope you didn't lose much important stuff?

[dreaminginred16.livejournal.com]

Actually. No I didn't lose anything. I opted for a cheaper route. I bought a new system, took the HD from my old computer and RAM and put it into Killswitch.

[ghost07.livejournal.com]

AARRGGHH! I think I would be frothing at the mouth by now. glad you're back.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

I cried. I am not completely cut off, but it feels close. Thank you!

[dumain.com (from livejournal.com)]

One of mine died recently too. Disk headcrash shortly after my backup system
ate the last full backup. I'm an IT Professional I should know better....

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Ouch!

I hope I can get my data back. Ideally, I hope it's possible to splice the two computers together - decent RAM and an official Windows XP that can be updated would be great.

thank you!

[arkady.livejournal.com]

Having had computer issues myself, much sympathies.

(And woot! for Bat Out Of Hell!)

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

It scares me a bit - both how much I rely on it and how little I really know about it.

[mwenyekischaa.livejournal.com]

It actually wouldn't be a good idea to move your Mom's harddrive into your computer - the OS was configured during installation to work with a particular motherboard and system configuration - your mom's - and putting it into a new machine, unless the motherboard make is nearly the same, could result in confusion and instability for Windows.

The version of Windows on your computer likely had nothing to do with the crash. If the computer can't find the boot sector, that means that area of the drive was somehow damaged. I hope it's possible to recover your data, but the boot sector is always the first part of the drive to be accessed for any reason...an error there is very bad news.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

I thought Windows throve on confusion and instability?

Bleh. I hate computers so much. Nothing's ever simple.

On the upside, this one is running better now I've done spyware sweeps and deleted the 3000+ temporary internet files that were lurking on it.