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- Joined
- Feb 28, 2001
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I have been limiting my activity on the forum for a while due to an unfortunate series of events. (Say, I could write a novel with that title...) But a few days ago, things boiled over.
The machine I normally use to access the forum had started crashing on me. It is possible to run diagnostics at boot-up on this machine so I did that and it called out the HD with a specific error code.
After bunches of on-line research using my older XP clunker (which still works so far), I was able to apply a temporary fix. The error was indicative of having had a head-touch event and running afoul of some bad blocks. The drive timed out on me. So I scheduled a CHKDSK with the bad-block recovery option. Things worked OK for a while.
Then the same thing happened again and I had to apply the fix a second time. The system came back again, but when a hard drive starts acting up, it is not long for this world. It is strictly a guess on my part, but if the problem really was a head touch, then the platter was damaged but so was the head. It is only a matter of time before the head literally bounces around inside the disk shell and nothing will bring that back.
So while my disk data can still be read, I'm getting a new system disk to replace the old one. I lack the tools to do a drive "ghost" copy so I took it to a shop I have used before. They can do an image copy for me. But this time I'm getting the HD replaced by an SSD of the same size. While I'm at it, I will have them replace some older, slower memory chips with some newer, faster, larger ones, effectively doubling physical memory while speeding it up. It was bought as a game machine, so it had Intel i-7 CPUs (4-CPU/8-core) and a fast internal bus. Plus a good video card. When it comes back, it ought to run everything faster, and things that were typically disk-dependent will be a LOT faster.
At the moment, though, that means I have to use my old XP, which I use only for certain old games. It still works but when it gives up its ghost, that will be the end of it. I won't try to replace it because it cannot ever go past 4 GB of RAM. Too old a bus structure for extended memory. Win10 might run, perhaps, but nothing else would fit. So while I'm waiting for the big beast to come home, I'm stuck on the clunker.
Which leaves me with only two distractions remaining. Last night the flexible spray handle on our kitchen sink disconnected and we had "cleanup on aisle 1" to handle. The plumber has been called on that one because the hose won't stay in place. I think there is a clamp that broke or died or something and I don't have a replacement. Nor do I know what to call it, much less where to get one on short notice.
The other annoyance is that my big-screen TV is dying and will have to be replaced soon. My sweetie and I have been out shopping around to see what is available and what it will cost. The current beast is an LCD, which has a particular "aging death" mode in which pixels will be stuck in the "on" condition. I have a positive constellation of blue dots that show up during dark scenes. They tell me the old beast is dying. Time to get a new one.
If there is any purpose to this post, it is that I can rant a little about how stuff comes at you in threes. For me, it was a dying computer, a dying TV, and the kitchen sink! In the USA, when we talk about things piling on, we say "everything BUT the kitchen sink" but today that exception doesn't apply.
Perhaps if anyone is having computer problems with their hard drive, my tale of woe can be helpful in that:
a. A hard drive that crashes a lot and forces reboots is trying to tell you something. Act sooner rather than later because if it still works well enough, you can do backups and even have the drive re-imaged. If that happens, you have protected your data investment. This is a good thing.
b. Prices on solid-state drives have dropped like a rock, as we say in the USA. A 1 TB SSD now costs about $150 in US dollars. I'll pay more than that for the labor to install and re-image, but the point is that you can get some impressive storage devices these days for less cost than an external TB spinning "backup" disk used to cost. If you were thinking about it, use my article to think some more.
The machine I normally use to access the forum had started crashing on me. It is possible to run diagnostics at boot-up on this machine so I did that and it called out the HD with a specific error code.
After bunches of on-line research using my older XP clunker (which still works so far), I was able to apply a temporary fix. The error was indicative of having had a head-touch event and running afoul of some bad blocks. The drive timed out on me. So I scheduled a CHKDSK with the bad-block recovery option. Things worked OK for a while.
Then the same thing happened again and I had to apply the fix a second time. The system came back again, but when a hard drive starts acting up, it is not long for this world. It is strictly a guess on my part, but if the problem really was a head touch, then the platter was damaged but so was the head. It is only a matter of time before the head literally bounces around inside the disk shell and nothing will bring that back.
So while my disk data can still be read, I'm getting a new system disk to replace the old one. I lack the tools to do a drive "ghost" copy so I took it to a shop I have used before. They can do an image copy for me. But this time I'm getting the HD replaced by an SSD of the same size. While I'm at it, I will have them replace some older, slower memory chips with some newer, faster, larger ones, effectively doubling physical memory while speeding it up. It was bought as a game machine, so it had Intel i-7 CPUs (4-CPU/8-core) and a fast internal bus. Plus a good video card. When it comes back, it ought to run everything faster, and things that were typically disk-dependent will be a LOT faster.
At the moment, though, that means I have to use my old XP, which I use only for certain old games. It still works but when it gives up its ghost, that will be the end of it. I won't try to replace it because it cannot ever go past 4 GB of RAM. Too old a bus structure for extended memory. Win10 might run, perhaps, but nothing else would fit. So while I'm waiting for the big beast to come home, I'm stuck on the clunker.
Which leaves me with only two distractions remaining. Last night the flexible spray handle on our kitchen sink disconnected and we had "cleanup on aisle 1" to handle. The plumber has been called on that one because the hose won't stay in place. I think there is a clamp that broke or died or something and I don't have a replacement. Nor do I know what to call it, much less where to get one on short notice.
The other annoyance is that my big-screen TV is dying and will have to be replaced soon. My sweetie and I have been out shopping around to see what is available and what it will cost. The current beast is an LCD, which has a particular "aging death" mode in which pixels will be stuck in the "on" condition. I have a positive constellation of blue dots that show up during dark scenes. They tell me the old beast is dying. Time to get a new one.
If there is any purpose to this post, it is that I can rant a little about how stuff comes at you in threes. For me, it was a dying computer, a dying TV, and the kitchen sink! In the USA, when we talk about things piling on, we say "everything BUT the kitchen sink" but today that exception doesn't apply.
Perhaps if anyone is having computer problems with their hard drive, my tale of woe can be helpful in that:
a. A hard drive that crashes a lot and forces reboots is trying to tell you something. Act sooner rather than later because if it still works well enough, you can do backups and even have the drive re-imaged. If that happens, you have protected your data investment. This is a good thing.
b. Prices on solid-state drives have dropped like a rock, as we say in the USA. A 1 TB SSD now costs about $150 in US dollars. I'll pay more than that for the labor to install and re-image, but the point is that you can get some impressive storage devices these days for less cost than an external TB spinning "backup" disk used to cost. If you were thinking about it, use my article to think some more.
I attributed it a saying my Mom always used to say, 95% girls in the family... "Boys don't have enough sense to come in out of the rain. Don't be the boy, when it starts raining get in the house!" 
