Tydda Jon - Slough
jon.tydda at lonza.com
Mon Jan 17 10:28:24 CST 2011
I read an article somewhere once that said if your hard drive makes it past 6 months, the chances are it'll last more than 6 years. Mind you, it did also go on to say that if it failed, a "gentle" nudge against the hard brick wall might be enough to get it going again long enough to recover the data. I haven't tried that myself though... But only due to lack of opportunity :-) Jon -----Original Message----- From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Helmut Kotsch Sent: 17 January 2011 16:26 To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Trying to revive a computer - solved for now Tina, you wrote: +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I do believe the hard drive is failing - it's an old machine that gets lots of use and has been moved from one place to another many times in its life - and most of its users are very young. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Having spent my whole life in hard drive engineering I have to tell you that backup is a must regardless how old a drive is. No manufacturer will give you a guarantee that a new hard drive will run even more than 10 minutes without loosing data. They might advertise an average MTBF of 5 years but you could have bought the one in thousands that is bad and dies after minutes, a day or a year. I have hard drives running 24/7 365 days since more than 10 years without any problems. One reason for this performance might be that they are hardly switched off. Start/stop/start is stress to hard drives because the heads might stick to the surface and the inrush current stresses the electronic components. Helmut -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]Im Auftrag von Tina Norris Fields Gesendet: Montag, 17. Januar 2011 16:10 An: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues Betreff: Re: [dba-Tech] Trying to revive a computer - solved for now Jim, Thank you for your response. I, too, think the drive is failing. Here are my results so far: Spin-Rite did find and correct some disk errors. It also reported at least one uncorrectable error. After I looked up how to use the Microsoft Recovery Console, I ran chkdsk /r on the drive, which reported finding and correcting some more errors. After that, I was able to use the Windows installation CD to repair the existing WinXP installation. Got that essentially finished last night, so the computer would boot. A couple of files were reported by the installation program as not being able to be registered - I made notes and will check on them later; it couldn't find a dll that it needed - I checked where it was in my computer, which helped me locate it on theirs. Then, I reinstalled Vipre and set that up to scan at 1 this morning. Then, I started the Defraggler and went to bed. This morning, I've re-established the wireless adapter and the Internet connection, and I've run 70 some updates to Windows - I will still need to get SP3 - since the original install CD is WinXP SP2. But, at least the computer is running again, and my son-in-law is serious now about backing it up. Good, because, as noted above, I do believe the hard drive is failing - it's an old machine that gets lots of use and has been moved from one place to another many times in its life - and most of its users are very young. Best regards, T Jim Lawrence wrote: > I think your idea of running Spinwrite is a great idea as it sound > like you > hard drive is failing. > > I was looking at a discount place and they had Dell computers, 1 GB > RAM and > XP home...no idea what the hard drive size is but the price was $88. > With these sorts of prices around it seems hardly worth wasting time on. > > OTOH, Tina, your comments suggest a HD failure and if you want to save > the drive for its contents, run Spinwrite and when the drive is > recovered, image > the drive with a bootable CD with something like DriveImage XML, > install a new drive then re-image it back and use EASEUS Partition > Master to clean up > and re-partition the new drive. Reboot and you're done. > > It is a little more complex than that of course but if you have the > tools it > will take about an hours worth of your time but a couple days computer time. > > Jim > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Gary Kjos > Sent: Sunday, January 16, 2011 2:24 PM > To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues > Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Trying to revive a computer > > I've not done any dual booting. John Bartow, Drew and Jim are your > best bets for advice on this one. > > Good luck, sounds like you have done the right stuff so far. If you > could run SPinrite from a CD or floppy maybe that would be able to fix > the disk problems if there are any. > > GK > > On Sun, Jan 16, 2011 at 1:55 PM, Tina Norris Fields > <tinanfields at torchlake.com> wrote: > >> Me again, >> Did a little searching and found some information about using the Recovery >> Console. Started a chkdsk without switches, which got stuck at about 50%. >> Restarted the whole shebang, and this time when I got to the >> Recovery Console, the two installations of Windows were listed - they >> had not been listed in any of the previous visits to this console. >> I logged in to the first Windows installation and am now running >> chkdsk /r >> > - > >> we'll see how that goes. Still looking for any great ideas you guys have. >> T >> >> Tina Norris Fields wrote: >> >>> Hi Guys, >>> >>> Maybe you can help me bring a computer back to life. It's a dual >>> boot setup - Win 2000 Pro and Win XP Home. It began its life as a >>> Win 2000 >>> > Pro, > >>> and was updated with the second operating system added on a couple >>> of >>> > years > >>> later. The Win 2000 Pro was kept because of a game that wouldn't >>> play on >>> > Win > >>> XP. >>> >>> This computer belongs to our kids, Cheryl Lynn and Brad, and their >>> > family. > >>> It's sitting here in my office until they finish putting together >>> their library and study area in their house. The girls often use it >>> to do >>> > homework > >>> and to visit online with their friends. Three days ago, I saw it had >>> the awful blue screen of almost death - the one that says if this is >>> the >>> > first > >>> time you've seen this screen, reboot, otherwise go get professional >>> help >>> > or > >>> call the undertaker because your computer is dead - or something to >>> that effect. >>> >>> I rebooted. It reached the point where Win XP should start and stopped. >>> > It > >>> displayed this message: >>> >>> "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or >>> > corrupt: > >>> system32\DRIVERS\pci.sys >>> You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup using >>> the original Setup CD-ROM. Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair." >>> >>> I thought I'd try the other operating system. When Win 2000 tried to >>> start, it displayed this message: >>> >>> "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or >>> > corrupt: > >>> <Windows root>\system32\hal.dll >>> Please re-install a copy of the above file." >>> >>> I had to find my way into the BIOS to switch the boot sequence - by guess >>> and by golly to find which function key it needed (I think it ended >>> up >>> > being > >>> F2, but I'm not sure), because it was A:, C:, D: - and I needed D: >>> to >>> > come > >>> before C: Got that done, and put in the Setup CD-ROM and booted. >>> >>> Setup went through a process of loading lots of files, then came to >>> the first screen. I selected the 'r' choice. It brought me to what >>> looked >>> > like a > >>> DOS screen with the following message: >>> >>> "Microsoft Windows XP(TM) Recovery Console. >>> The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality. >>> Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer. >>> C:>" and a blinking cursor >>> >>> There were no other instructions on the screen and I am not familiar with >>> this Recovery Console. First, I thought that perhaps some recovery >>> and repair functions had happened in the background and it was time to EXIT. >>> > So, > >>> I typed EXIT and pressed ENTER and the machine began trying to >>> restart - >>> > of > >>> course, I still had the CD in, so we went back around. I removed the >>> CD >>> > and > >>> rebooted, with precisely the same results as before. >>> >>> I have run Spin-Rite on this computer at three different levels, 2, >>> 4, >>> > and > >>> 5. There is a consistent uncorrectable error reported in the same section >>> > of > >>> the partition. In the technical report screen, it is at the far >>> right of >>> > the > >>> screen, and it says "01." >>> >>> When the computer goes through the boot sequence, the POST sound is fine, >>> but when the operating system selection is made, there is a sort of >>> "squishy" sound that reminds me of the noise made by that failing >>> hard >>> > drive > >>> I worked on last year - a sort of high-pitched little squishy peep. >>> I >>> > think > >>> maybe the drive has a really bad spot right where some critical operating >>> system files are. >>> >>> I don't know what commands to use in the Recovery Console. If I did, >>> I would certainly give that a GO. Does anybody on this list have any >>> good advice - in addition to getting a new hard drive, or new >>> computer altogether? >>> >>> I did try to let Windows install itself, but it came back with the >>> > message > >>> that the partition was too full or sick or something and would have >>> to be >>> formatted before installation could proceed. And, no, my kids do not have >>> their stuff backed up from this computer, so I did not move ahead. >>> >>> Thanks for any ideas, >>> >>> T >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> dba-Tech mailing list >>> dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com >>> http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech >>> Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com >>> >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> dba-Tech mailing list >> dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com >> http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech >> Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com >> >> > > > > _______________________________________________ dba-Tech mailing list dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com _______________________________________________ dba-Tech mailing list dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com This communication and its attachments, if any, may contain confidential and privileged information the use of which by other persons or entities than the intended recipient is prohibited. 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