Dear Ouch 8-s

[Ouch-8s 4]

If this PC ever comes up again, I definitely have to do something drastic, but I'm beginning to think the hard drive is just gone. Is there a good (free) utility to tell me how much space is actually usable, and to convince the system to stop wasting time on bad sectors?

yeah, chkdsk. but i guess thats not working out so great. the program can't tell which ones are bad sectors until it tries them, which is what going on now. but even if you get it up again, your only task is to salvage whatever you might want to back up. it's a safe bet your drive is toast, unfortunately. although it could conceivably be a number of other things i suppose, how much time and effort do you want to invest in this old machine? a new, bottom of the line laptop that will probably run circles around this one can likely be bought for $500...

I'm not an expert on the subject, but based on my experience with three failed hard drives, I'm pretty sure yours is unusably hosed. I haven't heard of anything like what you describe... and it seems logical that such a thing wouldn't exist. Hard drives aren't that expensive.* Why would anyone bother writing a program to attempt to salvage one for more use when it is known to be failing?*Laptop repair isn't. For a machine six or seven years old, you have a few options:1. Attempt to replace the drive yourself. I've got a lot of experience working with PC hardware. I wouldn't even be confident doing this on my own laptop. They tend to be complex and impossible to work with, which explains the high cost. Things would be so much easier if the manufacturers could develop standards for laptops.2. Run it off a live CD. I highly doubt this is a workable solution as well; resources are limited on such an old machine. You're not gonna get a reasonable boot time from CD off of 128MB of RAM.3. Use your time and money more effectively by dumping this laptop for a newer one immediately.I'm gonna go with 3.

I agree with #3.However, on my laptop at least (YMMV) it's way easier to replace the HD than on any desktop I've ever used.

[hblask 1]

yeah, chkdsk. but i guess thats not working out so great. the program can't tell which ones are bad sectors until it tries them, which is what going on now. but even if you get it up again, your only task is to salvage whatever you might want to back up. it's a safe bet your drive is toast, unfortunately. although it could conceivably be a number of other things i suppose, how much time and effort do you want to invest in this old machine? a new, bottom of the line laptop that will probably run circles around this one can likely be bought for $500...I agree with #3.However, on my laptop at least (YMMV) it's way easier to replace the HD than on any desktop I've ever used.

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of... it's looking pretty bad right now. If I can just get it to boot again so my wife can pull a bunch of photos off it it I'll be happy. Then I'll just rebuild it with Linux for the fun of it and wait for it to die..... She has a really nice laptop that's new, and I bring mine home from work, so since she got her new one, this one is mainly for goofing off, but we obviously haven't been too vigilant about getting stuff off of it.Thanks for the help/diagnosis.

[ShakeZuma 585]

CRITICAL ERROR 317 NO POST FOUND

[Ouch-8s 4]

if there's anything this thread has taught us, its that if you have stuff on your computer, you need to back it up. then back it up again. and then back that backup up. then back it all up together.edit: you's a fine motherfucker won't you back that ass up.couldn't help it

they should change that button from "quote" to "backup"backed up your post for ya

[RhinestoneCowboy 2]

if there's anything this thread has taught us, its that if you have stuff on your computer, you need to back it up. then back it up again. and then back that backup up. then back it all up together.edit: you's a fine motherfucker won't you back that ass up.couldn't help it

they should change that button from "quote" to "backup"backed up your post for ya

Gotta backup the backup...

[El Guapo 8]

if there's anything this thread has taught us, its that if you have stuff on your computer, you need to back it up. then back it up again. and then back that backup up. then back it all up together.edit: you's a fine motherfucker won't you back that ass up.couldn't help it

they should change that button from "quote" to "backup"backed up your post for ya

Gotta backup the backup...

I think we're done here.

[qyayqi 11]

If I can just get it to boot again so my wife can pull a bunch of photos off it it I'll be happy.

you could try spinrite. it installs on a floppy, then you boot from that & it does some clever things to get a drive running. i don't know how far gone yours is, but it can't hurt anything.

[ShakeZuma 585]

CRITICAL ERROR 317 NO POST FOUND

crap!see what I mean!

[speedz99 145]

Dear Ouch-8s,My laptop keeps whistling at me (I assume it's at me and not just in general). When I tip it the sound stops, but only for a minute. What the shit?Sincerely,Speedz99

[Lolli 0]

Dear Ouch-8s,My laptop keeps whistling at me (I assume it's at me and not just in general). When I tip it the sound stops, but only for a minute. What the shit?Sincerely,Speedz99

can you describe this whistle? is it like a weeeeeeeeooooooowiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit?or more like a weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetwoooooooooooo?your computer is either trying to get your attention or thinks youre really cute.glad I could help.

[Ouch-8s 4]

Dear Ouch-8s,My laptop keeps whistling at me (I assume it's at me and not just in general). When I tip it the sound stops, but only for a minute. What the shit?Sincerely,Speedz99

my first guess is that a fan is squealing. that's not a good thing. another is that your HD is squealing. that's a worse thing. either way, i wouldn't ignore this.

[strategy 4]

my first guess is that a fan is squealing. that's not a good thing. another is that your HD is squealing. that's a worse thing. either way, i wouldn't ignore this.

or, he's watching animal planet and...I'm too lazy to phrase it correctly. speedz squeals when he sees cats on TV and I misunderstand HD to mean "high def."

[ShakeZuma 585]

my first guess is that a fan is squealing. that's not a good thing. another is that your HD is squealing. that's a worse thing. either way, i wouldn't ignore this.

nah, speedz, I'm pretty sure this is wrong. I wouldn't worry about it at all.

[speedz99 145]

my first guess is that a fan is squealing. that's not a good thing. another is that your HD is squealing. that's a worse thing. either way, i wouldn't ignore this.

Dammit.

speedz squeals when he sees cats on TV

I bet I'm not the only one.

nah, speedz, I'm pretty sure this is wrong. I wouldn't worry about it at all.

You're too pretty to understand electronics.

[checkymcfold 0]

dear ouch8s,i recently bought a pretty new acer 24" LCD monitor (october 07) because i wanted to act like i could play four tables at once, even though i never play more than two. it worked splendidly until i went on vacation for all of december. when i got back, my roommate told me it was acting weird, and it was. about every 4-5 minutes, it puts up "no signal" right in the middle of the screen (indicating that it is not getting a signal from the video card, although it is, as everything is normal behind this message) for about 1 minute, then the whole monitor goes blank for 2-3 seconds, and then everything comes back up as normal.i tried:-switching the monitor from DVI to VGA--same problem.-testing the DVI/VGA connections with my old 22" CRT monitor--they worked just fine.-emptying an entire can of compressed air into the ports on the monitor, the ventilation holes, etc.--this worked for 2-3 days the first time i tried it, then same problem (although i did this again, then reconnected everything, and now it's working like normal, knock on wood)basically, i want to know if this is something that is eventually going to make me send my monitor back to acer (it's under warranty for 3 yrs, so i ain't worried--it's just a pain), or if it could possibly be a software or connection problem somewhere along the chain.love always,checky

[Ouch-8s 4]

dear ouch8s,i recently bought a pretty new acer 24" LCD monitor (october 07) because i wanted to act like i could play four tables at once, even though i never play more than two. it worked splendidly until i went on vacation for all of december. when i got back, my roommate told me it was acting weird, and it was. about every 4-5 minutes, it puts up "no signal" right in the middle of the screen (indicating that it is not getting a signal from the video card, although it is, as everything is normal behind this message) for about 1 minute, then the whole monitor goes blank for 2-3 seconds, and then everything comes back up as normal.i tried:-switching the monitor from DVI to VGA--same problem.-testing the DVI/VGA connections with my old 22" CRT monitor--they worked just fine.-emptying an entire can of compressed air into the ports on the monitor, the ventilation holes, etc.--this worked for 2-3 days the first time i tried it, then same problem (although i did this again, then reconnected everything, and now it's working like normal, knock on wood)basically, i want to know if this is something that is eventually going to make me send my monitor back to acer (it's under warranty for 3 yrs, so i ain't worried--it's just a pain), or if it could possibly be a software or connection problem somewhere along the chain.love always,checky

thats a weird one. the 'love always' bit, i mean. you don't strike me as the 'forever mine' type. but i could be wrong, it does happen a few times a year. hate to have one so early though.i'd pick a time where you're not going to need it and replace it. can you just return it to the store you bought it at and get a new one? prolly not, if you bought it in Oct, but you could try. did you just get it as an xmas gift, for example? and not several months ago which would make it unreturnable?

[El Guapo 8]

Ouch, what is the easiest/cheapest way to transfer about 20 gigs from my desktop to my laptop? Desktop is XP laptop is Vista, don't know if this matters in the equation? The only way that I have known in the past is a lap link cable, and I tought I had one, but it turned out to just be a reg cat 5.Preemptive thanks.

[Ouch-8s 4]

Ouch, what is the easiest/cheapest way to transfer about 20 gigs from my desktop to my laptop? Desktop is XP laptop is Vista, don't know if this matters in the equation? The only way that I have known in the past is a lap link cable, and I tought I had one, but it turned out to just be a reg cat 5.Preemptive thanks.

Cheapest is a crossover cable (this is a cat5 cable with some of the wires rearranged). This assumes that both have network cards installed (who doesn't these days? cough*cough* MBA?)You can use that regular cat5 cable with a 2nd one and a switch - if you have a laptop, you probably have a wireless router that has a switch. Plug the two computers in, enable file sharing, and copy over...

[El Guapo 8]

Cheapest is a crossover cable (this is a cat5 cable with some of the wires rearranged). This assumes that both have network cards installed (who doesn't these days? cough*cough* MBA?)You can use that regular cat5 cable with a 2nd one and a switch - if you have a laptop, you probably have a wireless router that has a switch. Plug the two computers in, enable file sharing, and copy over...

OK I may have some more questions when I begin, what does this have to do with having an MBA?

[HangukMiguk 8]

The sound has really only gone off when I have Full Tilt open. The sound for the whole computer goes off. Only one time did the sound turn off when I didn't have FTP opened. The only tru way to get the sound back is if I restart the computer. Once in awhile though if I go to a website that loads up a sound, like music, when I open that page the sound will sometimes comeback on.

Since Ouch didn't know the answer, but I do,It is a problem with Full Tilt's software, not your computer. If you close down Full Tilt, and try to reopen it, it won't reopen either. Here's why:Hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete to go to task manager. Click on the processes tab. Scan through till you find fulltilt.exe (or something like that, I forgot the exact filename of the exe), click on it, and then click End Process. Click Yes on the dialog after that, you'll notice that your sound comes back, and you're able to rerun Full Tilt, reboot free.I have no idea what causes Full Tilt's sounds to crash, and take every sound with it, or why it leaves a ghost process running after you close it when this happens, and telling Full Tilt will only result in them telling you it's not their problem, call your computer manufacturer, but that's how to fix it.On Linux, this sound problem is more pronounced, as no matter what, sound only lasts one hand, then goes out (doesn't take the sound server with it, though).

[HangukMiguk 8]

Dear Ouch,Any idea why after a normal reboot on my Linux machine, none of my drives will automount? I had done no work in fstab, only change I made was switching from xfce to kde.Note: Since then, I've had to write to fstab so that I can actually get my USB HD to mount and be able to write with it. But nothing automounts anymore.Sincerely,Geek With A Smaller IQ

[Ouch-8s 4]

Dear Ouch,Any idea why after a normal reboot on my Linux machine, none of my drives will automount? I had done no work in fstab, only change I made was switching from xfce to kde.Note: Since then, I've had to write to fstab so that I can actually get my USB HD to mount and be able to write with it. But nothing automounts anymore.Sincerely,Geek With A Smaller IQ

nope, i know 'most nothing about linux. maybe mln_falcon or strat will pop in and see this.good advice re: ghost processes btw.

[HangukMiguk 8]

good advice re: ghost processes btw.

no prob. i'm good like that for random assists.

[mln_falcon 0]

Hanguk, under KDE what did you use for automount? If it was a K specific program, you might have to enable it by going to; XFCE settings --> sessions and start up --> advanced --> Launch KDE services on startup. Or you could install Gnome-Volume-Manager, or pmount (possibly the same thing) instead. If that doesn't work I have no idea without googling as the only thing I automount is my usb drive. I use Gnome-VM/pmount with xfce fwiw.

[HangukMiguk 8]

You misread my post, I switched FROM xfce TO kde.maybe it's a service i'm missing somewhere in kde then.Edit: found it, it's KwikDisk.