# Everything's broken. Everything sucks. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 3, 2005, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-broken-everything-sucks/306721 "2005-06-03T14:31:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-broken-everything-sucks/306721/101 "2005-06-07T13:28:11Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > TDN, I hope you take the advice to contact train professionals in your area. No sense investing $1000 in a hobby and then abandoning it. I’ll get to it soon. Fixing my computer comes first. I’m now at the point where I can’t even reinstall Windows without the damn thing crashing. My next action will be removing the C: drive and turning the slave drive into the new master. The resulting smoke and sparks should turn out to be real purdy. ---
**Author:** ![Daizy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@Daizy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daizy)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-broken-everything-sucks/306721/102 "2005-06-07T13:36:21Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > My computer is broken. It started with extreme slowdowns and lockups, in which mouse clicks would be delayed by up to as much as 20 minutes, while the hard drive grinds away. After defragging and checkdisking, now I can’t even boot up without the motherfucker crashing. I spent several hours last night trying to fix it (mostly watching in astonishment as it just froze), and it’s worse than ever. Oh, and to you idiot Mac heads who are about to say “Get a Mac, they never break”, get bent. I’d shoot you, except I’d probably break the gun as well. Ya can’t win for losin’, I tells ya… Hey **tdn**? Open up the case and take a gander at the capacitors. (They look like AA batteries set on end) Their tops shouold be shiny and flat. No bulging or discolouration. While you’re in there… take a look and find the name brand of that hard drive. A quick run with the manufacturer’s diagnostics, should be able to tell you if the drive itself is failing. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-broken-everything-sucks/306721/103 "2005-06-07T13:53:40Z")
> [@Daizy](#): > > Hey **tdn**? Open up the case and take a gander at the capacitors. (They look like AA batteries set on end) Their tops shouold be shiny and flat. No bulging or discolouration. While you’re in there… take a look and find the name brand of that hard drive. A quick run with the manufacturer’s diagnostics, should be able to tell you if the drive itself is failing. Good stuff. Will do. Thankee. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-broken-everything-sucks/306721/104 "2005-06-07T13:56:22Z")
Ah, except… The Western Digital diagnostic tools are too big to fit on a floppy. I can download them from work, but then what? ---
**Author:** ![Daizy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@Daizy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daizy)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-broken-everything-sucks/306721/105 "2005-06-07T21:22:24Z")
Did you read the [bottom of this page?](http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp?cxml=n&pid=999&swid=2) Download the .exe or zip… doesn’t matter which. Once downloaded… run it, and it will help you make the floppy. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-broken-everything-sucks/306721/106 "2005-06-08T06:44:00Z")
Are we back to the trains, yet? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-broken-everything-sucks/306721/107 "2005-06-08T12:33:54Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > Are we back to the trains, yet? The trains are out of service for now, at least until I’ve got the computer fixed. Last night I took out the master drive and turned the slave into a master. That fixed the booting problem. But it looks like my network card is fried. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-broken-everything-sucks/306721.md?page=5)