Starring:
My Computer, a three year old Compaq, POS.
Me, a 43 year old unemployed.
Monday. A brief visit to Windows Update to check if anything was needed. I wasn’t going to download SP2, since I wanted more info on how it was behaving. But sometimes there are other things that need to be updated and 3rd party software might have new patches and stuff. So I check in there about once a month.
I download some stuff, update and everything is fine and dandy.
Tuesday. Maybe not. Something’s changed. It’s no biggie, but still irritating. Whenever I click something in the task bar or system tray, all open windows get maximized. People tweak their computers into ways that fit them, and I want to open every folder in a new window. When all windows are minimized to the task bar, I can easily find the folder I want to go to, e.g. if I’m copying files from one to the other. So now, for whatever reason MS had, all windows open up, when I click one. Crap!, thought I. Now, what to do? I mused. Now, had I used some thought processes, instead of just going by instinct, I would have saved myself a world of agony and problems. But I didn’t. Sometimes, when I install stuff, the easiest way to back up and undo any changes is to use System Restore. You’ll note the bold type face. That’s because this is the point when all problems started. I’ll just use System Restore, I thought and did so, restoring the computer to a restore point on Monday morning, before the update from Windows Update.
Chug, chug, chug. Grind, grind, grind. Restarting. “Windows XP Professional, build 2500” Grind, grind, grind. Blue screen. Chug, chug, chug. “Welcome”.
And what a warm welcome that was.
Because it just sat there. For five minutes. Ten. Fifteeen. I knew something was wrong, of course. But being jaded, I have learned that worse things might happen if I interrupt. So I took the dog for a walk.
“Welcome” was still there when I came back. Oh, well. I hard booted the computer.
This time I didn’t even get a “Welcome”. I just got the blue screen. Not the dreaded blue screen of previous incarnations of Windows. The blue screen where “Welcome” normally pops up. Only, no “Welcome”. The mouse was working, since I could move it.
Time to dig up the disk with XP. Insert, reboot. “Press any key if you want to start from disk…” So I did. I get three options: Install, repair and cancel. Hmmm. Let’s try repair.
Let me tell you, that was interesting. I got to a simulated DOS environment, where a few DOS commands where available. However, I could only access the Windows folder and C:.
I couldn’t get to any other folder to back up any files to the 2nd hard drive I have. And those DOS commands didn’t help either. Believe me, I know. Because I tried each and every one of them and rebooted after.
At this point it’s getting late, I’m irritated and I decide to postpone any further work till next day.
Wednesday. Rested and fresh I decide to have another go. What to do, I think. Well, as with all Compaqs, it got delivered with two partitions. What if I install XP on D:…. Well that worked just fine and now finally, I could get to C:\ to try to fix the problems.
Anyone who’s installed Windows know that there are often numerous rebootings and a lot of waiting. So morning up to lunch pretty much went to getting XP up and running on D:
Time to check C:
No, no utility can find the problem. There isn’t a problem. Everything is working just fine.
Except, it isn’t. When I boot the computer, I now have te option to choose from “Windows XP Professional” and “Windows XP Professional”, but whereas one works, the other just give me that blue screen, and no “Welcome”.
Having fiddled with this most of the afternoon, I decide to move everything essential and not so essential to H:\ which is my other (physical) drive.
Only, I can’t find a way to back up the registry. I can access C:\ but since XP is running on D:\ I can only back up that registry. At least I’m able to save all documents, music, photos, video clips. But I realize that I’m screwed. I decided to get screwed the next day.
Thursday. So let’s reinstall Windows. This is the last resort. It wasn’t, but I thought so at the time. I’m wary about this, since re-installing tend to screw up all settings and things go missing, and I have to spend a couple of days tweaking Windows to get it back to the way I want it. Getting rid of the dog in the search window, changing settings for folders, re-configuring my Internet connection. It’s a pain in the posterior, but there was no other way.
Well there was. Because this wasn’t the way.
My upgrade disk of XP pro wanted me to have something to upgrade from. Only, I didn’t get a Windows disk with the computer, when I bought it. I got distribution disks from Compaq with WinMe and Windows is part of a package of a lot of software, so upon installing, the program asks me for a disk, which, of course I don’t have. Not a Windows disk that the install program can recognize, anyway.
Well, hell. It’s all legal software, so I’ll just install the stupid Compaq software, and then there’ll be a valid installation on the disk that I can upgrade from.
So I pop the disks in. Which didn’t work. Because now the computer is NTFS and that’s not backwards compatible with FAT32, so I can’t install Windows this way.
I try calling MS support, but of course, they don’t support OEM software. The guy was friendly and suggested having boot disks made. They could be downloaded from somewhere and since the OS was working on D:\ I did that. To cut a long rant short, that didn’t work either. After a long day, I decided to call it quits.
Friday. I gave in. I decided to go out and buy XP pro. Format the whole damn thing and cut my losses. The friendly computer store saved me quite a lot of cash. Buying an original box would run to about $550. He suggested I get the OEM version instead. That was about $200, but the catch was that I had to buy it with something “essential” to make a computer work. A mouse wouldn’t do, but a hard drive would. So I got a new Maxtor 200GB and the software for about $350, which felt like a good deal.
Back home and happy, I started formatting C:\ and getting rid of D:\ at the same time. There wasn’t a lot to save, since the old registry would be overwritten, even with a re-install, so most of the software would stop working.
After format, I installed, registered Windows and re-booted.
The first hing that happens is that about 15 Internet Explorer windows open, originating in Clogland from something called dynaboy.nl. I don’t know if this Clogmeister was responsible, but after checking the registry, running Ad-Aware and SpyBot, I still couldn’t stop it. I disconnected the computer from Internet, Installed Norton Antivirus, which still had some milage left, since it was a three year license.
Only, it didn’t work with XP, SP1, which was now included on the disk. I needed to download a patch from Symantec, which meant opening the Internet again, which of course flooded me with more crap. When it was done, NAV found W32.spybot.worm in C:\System Volume Information, but couldn’t fix it.
Well, ZoneAlarm should help. I downloaded the latest version. However, I couldn’t access the Internet with IE. I know how to configure ZA and I did give IE permission. I could ping other servers from the command prompt, but I couldn’t access the WWW.
Un-install, re-boot, rinse and repeat.
How about an older version of ZoneAlarm, then? That used to work. I found it, but it didn’t help. Well, SP2 does have an improved firewall, doesn’t it?. Well, I guess it does, but for some reason, I couldn’t get IE onto the net. Rinse&Repeat.
I gave up, had a couple of drinks, watched a movie and went to bed.
Saturday. Time for a hardware firewall. The choice was D-link 604, for about 50 bucks, which got the computer enough protection for me to start fixing all problems. The virus is gone, NAV is running as it should, I can (obviously) get on the ‘Net and now, all that remains, is getting all software I had up and running again. Some of which of course was freeware …and other stuff… not easily found again.
You may freely insert a [re-boot] just about anywhere in the text.
It’s all my own fault, so
:smack:
But if anyone as much as whispers Linux or Mozilla, I swear, I’ll hunt you down and beat you over thew head with a cayak.
(And I couldn’t spellcheck, because there’s something strange going on with Word.)
(And for some reason, probably having to do with the d-link firewall, I don’t get cookied at the SDMB - any advice?)
