Damn computers!

[PeterW]

Had a small setback with the computer this week. The hard drive went down making groaning noises and the computer just wouldn't start up.

Fortunately I have a a second "data" hard drive built in where I back up all my work twice a day so I didn't lose much.

I used John's computer to order a new hard drive on the internet from a firm called E-Buyer and I must say that the service was excellent. I ordered it at about 3pm and it turned up by courier at 11 am next day.

John fitted it and reloaded all my applications and drivers from their original discs, and I was up and running again just after lunch. The only thing he forgot was to save my bookmarks, so I've had to find the websites and re-bookmark them as and when I need them, but that's no real problem, just a minor annoyance.

PeterW

[Randy]

Glad you got back online. I run 2 computers, but I like the old HP better than the new fast one.

[daveh]

Peter,

several points come to mind from your post.
1) I have used e-buyer several times over the years. I like the fact that postage can be altered to suit t one's needs. I've never had a problem with e-buyer.
2)I bought new computer system (15-20 years ago) which had a faulty hard drive. The system was installed, then when switched it on the following day nothing happened, except for a hard drive error message coming up on the screen. The company refused to believe that the drive could be faulty: as they said "hard drives last forever". They would only believe it when they came to check for themselves.
3) I think I did print out all my bookmarks a few years back always useful. While most of them can be found again fairly easily there is occasionally the odd one that a new search doesn't seem to want to find. The thing is I can't remember how I did it. I probably found a programme somewhere that allowed it to be done - but I didn't bookmark the programme and I haven't found it since.

I'm glad you're back up and running.

Dave.

[Doug T.]

Peter,
I'm glad you got your problem solved.
I bought a small netbook a couple of years ago. After a year, it crashed ,"operating system not found". Of course the warranty had just expired.
The maker (may they roast in a hot place) wouldn't help. I took it to a repair guru and was told that it has a "virtual" hard drive, a little chip that costs ca. 130-150 USDollars to replace.
The d**n thing only cost ca. 250 to buy new
Like I said, "May they roast in a hot place!"
Doug

[daveh]

Doug,

If they can't fix it economically, have you tried "fiddling" with it yourself? I have a note book, but I've never really thought about how the operating system was actually held. I did a backup of the drive soon after I got the computer. I did wipe and re-load the drive from the backup copy, which seemed to work okay.

Dave.

[mickeyobe]

Thanks for this little eye opening, rather scary, session folks.

I have an external one terabyte hard drive. I have no idea how it works but it does have an attractive blue light that blinks comfortingly when it is doing whatever it is that it likes to do.

I am now going to find a way to make a print out my bookmarks. I hope I can remember where I put it if I ever need it.

Mickey

[Doug T.]

Hi Dave!
I'm going to try using an external cd drive. I have a system disk, and could probably use my tower to load it, but I'm a bit worried that whatever caused the netbook to crash would jump over to the tower.
There's no hard drive in it, just a little chip that costs approx. 75 US Dollars.
I'll play with it eventually, but my mad hasn't worn off yet and every time I spot the d**n thing, I want to use it as a frisbee
Doug

[daveh]

Doug,

It would be interesting to see how well it flies.

My notebook (HP Compaq Mini) has a 160gb hard drive. The solid state drives seem good in terms of size and weight, though I've no experience of them in use.

I haven't fiddled with the notebook (other than that wipe and reload) so I don't know what would work and what wouldn't,. However it's always worth removing and reseating the chips - it could just be a poor contact somewhere.

A few months back my main computer crashed. Actually it didn't crash. For a change I closed it down properly. When I came to turn on again it didn't. Eventually I got round to reloading the operating system (still on XP on this machine).

Mickey, you've got a Mac haven't you? You would be having the problems Windows users often get.

Dave.