PC's and things

[Structo]

Well for the second time in three months, my PC crashed and burned.

I was trying out a new program and it locked up hard so I had to turn the PC off.

So I go to boot it up and I got a "missing NTLDR" on the post screen which is a boot file.......

Tried every trick known to man, finally just had to format and re-install Win XP.

Luckily I do back up just about everything.

I know, I know, should have bought a Mac......

[Cantplay]

Get a usb stick and make it bootable.

During the power on self test you can enter setup and tell it to boot from usb.

Maybe this will help for next time.

John

[Jana]

I went Mac over 3 years ago and haven't looked back.

[Aurora]

XP also have a "repair" function, or one can also reinstall over an existing installation, without affecting documents and other user files. A full reformat is often not necesseary.

EDIT: Mac's are good at what they do, but from an engineering POV, there's still quite a lot that cannot be done on a Mac......

[chief mushroom cloud]

EDIT: Mac's are good at what they do, but from an engineering POV, there's still quite a lot that cannot be done on a Mac......

word.....I would have bought a mac if they had any decent CAD programs....I thought I read that Autodesk might bring back Mac version of AutoCad....but that was a rumor....

[martin manning]

Turbocad is available for Mac's.

[Bob S]

Unfortunately for my job I use a lot of pc based software.
I have seen guys use a mac for what I do but it seems like it would be a pain and doesn't work seamlessly.
Which is a shame because in my opinion Mr Gates F'd us all.

[Structo]

Get a usb stick and make it bootable.

During the power on self test you can enter setup and tell it to boot from usb.

Maybe this will help for next time.

John

Yeah I know but I went into the recovery console and copied the NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM files to the C: directory.

Then it came back with something else.

I tried FIXMBR and FIXBOOT and a bunch of other things.

So if I made a memory stick bootable, what do you put on it?

I need to find some kind of fix because this is the second time it has happened in three months.

This time I was trying a system spec program and it locked up hard.
I had to push the power button to turn off.
Then when I restarted it is when I got the bad news.

I have run diagnostics and so far nothing looks like it's failing.

But, this computer is going on 6 years old, long time for me as I used to update every year.

[jon]

I switched to Draftsight about three years ago. Almost the same as Autocad, and FREE they support MAC Ubuntu and WIN

[LeftyStrat]

I use VMWare Fusion on my mac. Let's me run Windows and Ubuntu in a virtual machine. Performance is really good.

I also use the Homebrew package manager on my Mac. This makes it easy to install all kinds of free/oss software for the Mac. Just about anything that runs on Linux will build and run on the Mac. You just need to install the free developer tools and X windows.

[Espjr215]

Get a usb stick and make it bootable.

During the power on self test you can enter setup and tell it to boot from usb.

Maybe this will help for next time.

John

Yeah I know but I went into the recovery console and copied the NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM files to the C: directory.

Then it came back with something else.

I tried FIXMBR and FIXBOOT and a bunch of other things.

So if I made a memory stick bootable, what do you put on it?

I need to find some kind of fix because this is the second time it has happened in three months.

This time I was trying a system spec program and it locked up hard.
I had to push the power button to turn off.
Then when I restarted it is when I got the bad news.

I have run diagnostics and so far nothing looks like it's failing.

But, this computer is going on 6 years old, long time for me as I used to update every year.

Here you go Structo, http://www.ubcd4win.com or I'm local to you and could drive down to Salem and give you a hand. I work on pc's and servers for one of the local HMO's.

Juan

[amplifiednation]

Tom,
Have you thought about upgrading to windows 7? There are some good bare bones installs that keep the computer lean and mean, and don't junk up the drives and start up with manufacturer files.

XP is old news!

[vibratoking]

Tom,

You most likely have a hard drive problem. It could be a mother board going bad, but not likely. Hard drives have become very cheap commodity items that are becoming increasingly prone to failure. Passing a single test does indicate that the drive is stable. I would replace the hard drive if I were you. Loader files just don't dissapear and the OS isn't at fault for the problem you stated. If it is not the hard drive, you can always use that hard drive for your next machine if you are smart and buy something with a compatible bus.

Also, have you been running a good antivirus program? BTW, I can't think of any good reason why you should have to replace a good machine once per year.

XP is old news and very good news. XP is without a doubt the most stable Windows OS ever. There is most likely no reason to change to another OS. If it works don't fix it. Don't use Vista. Windows 7 has some advantages for certain hardware and software configurations, but it doesn't sound like you need it.

I don't do Mac. Yuck IMO. I could tell you ugly stories about problems with both Mac and PC. PC problems, usually have solutions. Mac problems often lead to dead ends. YMMV.

[amplifiednation]

I've found that if you can get a good clean install of any OS once a year along with antivirus software, you can usually keep your computer worry free for many years longer than a normal cpu lifespan.

My computer is from 2008 and it boots up as fast as any new computer. Why? Because it's ONLY starting Windows, nothing else.

I think many of our "older computers" slow down considerably because of all the manufacturer loaded software and the offline content stored by the internet (i don't believe you can ever really clear the cache)

I'm not sure about XP, but with Windows 7 you do have the ability to do an install without wiping out old user files, so if the computer just won't boot (even into safe mode) and you have no choice other than to reinstall, you can at least go in, get your old user files, burn them to a disk or external hard drive, then go back for the full reformat to bring your computer back to "new". I had to do this to my wife's computer about two months ago...it was pretty stressful. (she's my toughest customer...thank god i don't have to build her cabinets!!)

If vibratoking is correct and it's a hardware issue, you may be out of luck...but i know i've also fixed many "computer self-diagnosed" hard drive issues with one of my clean installs.

They are tricky creatures, these computers, much harder to diagnosis and fix than one of our beloved tube amps.

[johnnyreece]

I'll second the new hard drive motion. I had a problem with my Vista machine crashing every time I tried to instal service pack 1. I kept having to system restore, and finally gave up. After a lot of diagnostics, decided to throw a new hard drive at it. Still running fine after a couple years (although it does still have Vista...blech). Although, at 6 years old, it might be time for an upgrade. I'm thinking of using my current tower, PSU, and GPU (and maybe hard drive) and replacing the motherboard, processor, and RAM. I'll probably also upgrade to Windows 7, too. Best of luck!