PC died today

My Hard drive failed last night! Most stuff backed up OK but lost a day's work on Dace's CD art Sorry mate)
Might only be online intermittently for the next week or so as I will have to do a complete re install of everything on a new drive (got to buy one first)
Will keep you all posted.

Steve:)

Sorry to hear that Steve...........R.I.P. Hard Drive.

You must have been overworking it LOL.

See you soon when you get it fixed.

Breaks my heart Steve..I have so many probs, and understand your pain..So sorry mate. Just work it out. Life is hard man.
Im really sorry Steve.
DACE>

Shit happens!! Lucky I have access to another PC so I can still go online

God how I hate losing data!
Good luck getting most of it back!


Z

z wrote:
God how I hate losing data!
Good luck getting most of it back!


Z

I think I've only lost a couple of images, a big fractal and the high res version of Dace's CD cover. Also some of the 3D data that made up the file to render Dace's CD cover Won't take long to re do them though asd I have a back up of an earlier version, so I just have to add the guitar and re pose the girl

New Drive ordered, Should arrive by the weekend!!

Hi Star4mation,

Good to know that your work is going to continue. Computers can be problematic, but, for the magic they create, it's worth it.

Back up is all important. Good to know you are responsible to your own craft and the preciousness that it must have in your heart and soul.

New Hard Drive, new drive to continue on

Peace,

Zest

ZEST wrote:Hi Star4mation,

Good to know that your work is going to continue. Computers can be problematic, but, for the magic they create, it's worth it.

Back up is all important. Good to know you are responsible to your own craft and the preciousness that it must have in your heart and soul.

New Hard Drive, new drive to continue on

Peace,

Zest

Hey Z!
Hope all is well up there.
Or as well as it gets anyway....

Z

Star4mation wrote:New Drive ordered, Should arrive by the weekend!!

Just tracked my order, looks like it'll be Monday or Tuesday before it arrives

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!
Damn Bill Gates and his crappy operating system!

Windows XP installed without a hitch (or so I thought untill I tried to re-install my software) There's a problem with the windows installer! This problem seems to be well documented all over the web and there are numorous fixes on the Microsoft help pages and on Tech forums everywhere. One tiny problem though none of them have worked so far!!
So what does this all mean? Well I can't connect to the internet through my Live Box router (I think I can connect using wi-fi, need a wi-fi dongle to do this though)
I can't install any software which uses the windows installer! (would you believe the only 2 graphic apps I really have to have working are DAZ/Studio and Bryce, and thy both need to install c++ 2005 which uses the windows installer!!!)

Image editing, fractal making, and high end modeling, landscape generating is not a problem as all my Pro software works fine!

VSTi host, buggered! Acid7, won't load. Got no Windows Media player and the PC's CD drive wont play CD's!
All is not lost though, found another simple VST host, connected up my Korg and made a noise!!
Managed to find a good free media player so at least I can listen to and hopefully make some music!

Dace, if you're reading this I think I have enough images saved and enough software working, to sort out a CD cover for you!!

If I can't get this prob sorted soon, I might have to resort to something I never thought I would ever do and that's upgrading to Vista (spits on floor!!!) I can do that for free as I got a Vista up grade disc with my PC when I bought it.

Catch ya'll later

Steve.....Sorry to hear this.

I'm no expert but the problem with XP is that it's so old and has had 3 Service Packs and loads of other updates in its lifetime.

I too am an XP user on my desktop which is now getting old as its a Pentium 4.

I have a laptop which is newer and that has Vista and I have never had too much of a problem with it but it was already installed when I bought it.

Maybe your software is looking for XP patches which are in an earlier Service Pack ????

I don't know but Z most probably can help you.

Some news..................first the good bit!.............I managed to fix the windows installer problem!! WooHoo!! My main graphics software is now up and running! (Still rebuilding the content files, but at least all is working)
Now the bad bit..................Still unable to connect to the net, and worst still, The Windows Registration screen is missing. This means I have 23 days left to fix it or I'll be left with a totally useless PC with no operating system

Bugger!! Might have to pay someone to sort it out!

Big problem with paying someone to sort it out is that they will want to wipe everything out and do a completely new installation.

If you can live with that and can salvage what you need to rebuild it then it may be a worthwhile option.

Otherwise its a case of struggling on unless you are lucky enough to find someone who will try to fix it without data loss.

I wish you the best of luck Steve.....I have been there in the past myself and I know how you must be feeling. Only wish I could help.

UPDATE.....................
Windows installer fixed using "Dial a fix" Cool bit of software! Found it by chance, works a treat! (and it was free)
Windows Activation problem fixed. Found a crack on PirateBay which fools XP into thinking it was booted in safe mode thus by-passing the Activation process! (Comes to something when you have to resort to cracks to fix legaly purchased software!!!)

Still unable to connect to the internet at this time (srclient errors when installing Live box) Will try a wireless connection tommorow. If that fails I think a wired network to my wife's PC might work.

90% of graphics software re-installed and working well.
Same for music software. Important stuff working (lost a few VSTi's but I needed a clearout anyway!!) Lost some good little music apps which I got from Giveawayoftheday but they will come around again

Good news Steve.......sounds like you're nearly up and running again

globaltrancemission wrote:Big problem with paying someone to sort it out is that they will want to wipe everything out and do a completely new installation.

If you can live with that and can salvage what you need to rebuild it then it may be a worthwhile option.

Otherwise its a case of struggling on unless you are lucky enough to find someone who will try to fix it without data loss.

I wish you the best of luck Steve.....I have been there in the past myself and I know how you must be feeling. Only wish I could help.

Anyone who knows what they're doing and is charging for it should only format and reinstall as an absolute last resort. Unfortunately cowboys like PC World etc a) Don't know what they're doing and b) Just want a quick fix they can charge you for without spending much time on it.

Having worked in IT for 25 years I know how long it can take to recover data, but there are some basics even the idiots who charge should go through

I must admit I've stuck with XP as there were so many issues with Vista (if it's working for you though Pete, then stick with it!!). One piece of software which I use all the time to recover data is Ubuntu - you can run it from CD and it will recognise NTFS formatted disks and let you copy data from them. You do ned to know some basic Linux style commands, but I can help with that if you need it (I'll usually use this to recover data before I try and fix the problem so at least I have a backup). The first thing I would use though is the repair option on the XP disk. Let it start up from the CD, don't select the first Repair option (repair from command console) but carry on as if you're going to reinstall XP - after you hit F8 to accept the T&C's you should get another option to repair - DON'T let it reinstall though if it doesn't find a copy of XP or you WILL lose everything!!! You'll probably have to reinstall patches but it surprising how often this works, even though it's a Microsoft utility

Anyway, hope you managed to get everything back Steve, it's a nightmare when it happens, but if you've got any questions I'm happy to help.

Cheers,

Paul

Good useful information Paul.

Anyone who knows what they're doing and is charging for it should only format and reinstall as an absolute last resort. Unfortunately cowboys like PC World etc a) Don't know what they're doing and b) Just want a quick fix they can charge you for without spending much time on it.

I agree with that but when you go to any repair shop you will be charged by the hour and as you say it takes a long time to recover data. As an IT employee your company are paying for your time and thats a different ball game......also they will place a different priority on recovering data.
Therefore most repair shops don't even offer you that alternative.

I've been in Steve's position and thats the situation that I have found in the past.
I now keep important data on a seperate external Hard disk and I have a second computer to use while my main one is not in a working state if I should run into problems.

Vista is installed on the secondary computer (Acer laptop) which I don't use much which is probably why I haven't had a problem with it. I also prefer XP.

Like Steve I am not an IT person ..........just a power user in my own fields and I too struggle when faced with these problems so experience has tought me that backup is always the best answer so that you can do a completely clean install and rebuild from there.

I am sure that you know better solutions as a professional though and I hope your advice will help Steve with his problems.

Thanks for the advice Paul
99% of my important files and data were backed up to an external drive, so nothing lost. I did a clean install on my new internal drive but for some reason chunks of XP were missing! Got it running fairly well now using some software tools from the net. Just having the odd prob with the SRCLIENT not found and no internet connection.
The windows repair console has not been much help, but at laest my graphic and music software is funning real well!! (I can access the net on my wife's PC when she and the rest of the family aren't using it)

Steve:)

The bottom line is always have backups! I know what you mean Peter, if you're charged an hourly rate it can get expensive but the trouble with most places is that they won't even try to recover data - it takes 10 minutes to run XP repair and about the same for Ubuntu. At least then they could find out if the data is easily recoverable and give you the choice...

When I worked for myself I always charged by the hour, but that was as an IT contractor to big companies doing systems admin, project planning and support, so not the same - I've never been in the situation of charging individuals and to be honest I don't think I could, I'd feel I was ripping people off even if I had spent days on something...

Anyway, if you do have any questions I'll be happy to help (for free )

--Paul

I think that a lot of the cowboy repair shops.....and some of the big ones like PC World....rely on the customers lack of knowledge just like many of the cowboy mechanics in the motor trade.
You have the knowledge in these matters but many people have no idea and will readily accept whatever solution they are offered.
Consequently it has now become standard practise for these people to work to their own set procedures and only do what is easy for them as they do not want to do jobs that they have to spend extra time on where they actually have to solve problems.

At the end of the day it's all about money.............PC World would rather try to sell you a new computer than fix your old one for a few quid

Your absolutely right Peter - it's maximum profit for minimum effort, along with Knowledge = Power. Also, you go to these people because they are the 'experts' and therefore should know best. When I was a contractor (and now as an employee for that matter!) I always did the best possible work as I wanted my contracts renewing, but it's more as a matter of principle - I want to do the best I can and fix every problem

Again, as you and Steve have said, backups are the most important thing - if you haven't got them you haven't got anything, which reminds me, I MUST backup my work!! (Typical IT person, tells everyone to backup, but never does it himself )

--Paul

Sod's law says your PC will fail the day before your scheduled back-up takes place!!! That's why everything I save now gets saved to my external drive at the same time!