September 2007 Archives

Installing Windows Vista is not for the feint-hearted. This morning I decided to upgrade, after yet another backup (just in case), and after getting the list of programs that would no longer be compatible with Vista, I went ahead with the install. All seemed to go well until Windows wanted to reboot, then I got the dreaded "Blue Screen of Death" with a Stop: 0x0000007B error. Something to do with being unable to recognise the boot device. Perhaps this is another issue with using a SATA disk, I'm not really sure. Even tried booting into Safe Mode caused the BSOD error, so I had to restore the C drive (thank God for the backup!!!!).

Upgrading wouldn't work when I booted into the Vista disk. So I decided on a clean install on another partition (the second partition on the SATA drive, a logical drive). That didn't work either, with Windows telling me that it was incompatible with the install. Maybe I'm just not meant to install Vista. I'm trying something else now though. Moving everything off the first partition on an IDE drive to the second partition on the SATA disk, then I'll try a dual boot. Windows sees this IDE drive as the first in the list, so when it's empty I hope this approach works. Partition Magic comes with a handy utility for mapping drives, and it looks to references to a drive letter and can change it to a new drive letter. Since all my music is on the drive that I'm moving I'm hoping it will update all the links it finds. Probably another lengthy process. Nothing is ever quick when you're playing around with large disks.

I've downloaded update drivers for everything I need to work:

• Netgear 108Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter
• Lexmark 510 Series Printer
• nVidia Display drivers

It'll mean reinstalling all the programs I'm using but that's probably not a bad thing. I think I'll be able to see what's on the old C drive from inside Vista, (thinking ahead here - I haven't even got it installed yet). One piece of hardware probably won't work anymore: a Plustek USB Scanner that is fairly old, even XP sees it as outdated but it can be installed on Carly's computer so we still have the use of it. No biggie.

I've been preparing for this all day, and once again, am getting increasingly frustrated when things aren't going as planned. Nothing new about that though.

I spent two days in Albury (Thursday and Friday) for the Local Government Planning course I'm learning through TAFE. It was a very intense two days, with more information overload, but at the same time very interesting and I enjoyed it. My birthday was yesterday so all throughout the day my phone kept going off with calls and messages from family and friends. It's a long weekend too, so I haven't looked at the assignments we were handed at the end of the day. Plenty of time for that.

I got home about 5:30 and Carly made a really nice chocolate-peppermint slice for my birthday. Not the traditional birthday cake but close enough. Emily and Lauren came over with husbands and children in tow and we all went out for tea to the local club. It was a great night. By the time Lauren and Daniel left around 11, Zeke was one tired little boy and would have lasted all of two minutes once they were in the car.

I've had some fun and games today, and it's taken me all day to resolve more computer problems. I'm definitely not meant to have a hassle-free user experience if my track record for problems is anything to go by. Last night I finally got a copy of Windows Vista. Now isn't that an experience in itself? This image sums it up beautifully.

Before I put my foot in it big time, I decided to do a backup of the C drive just in case the install/upgrade didn't go smoothly. I've used Norton Ghost plenty of times in the past and the backups have got me out of trouble more times than I can remember. I had no idea that this time would be any different. So I set the task for Ghost to back up C, and the computer shut down and rebooted into the Ghost screen, but all I got was a static hourglass and a progress bar going nowhere. So I did a three-finger salute, the computer restarted the Ghost job and the same thing happened. When I chose to skip the Ghost job and to boot in to Windows nothing happened either. I couldn't get out of the Ghost loop that I was in, couldn't get into Windows and was getting more steamed up by the minute. Talk about a disastrous situation.

I think the problem was the SATA drive I was backing up, which also hosts my operating system. I put Hiren's Boot CD in the computer, which has numerous tools for troubleshooting and after trying several partition and recovery tools I was none the wiser. I ran Partition Magic and deleted the "virtual" partition that Ghost had created and made active, but then I couldn't set my OS drive back to C. It's been a nightmare.

I read a post from Jaybee with the exact problem, after I set up the modem on the laptop and decided to look online for some inspiration, because by that time I'd run out of ideas. If only I'd done that to start with, instead of deleting things. Anyway, I tried a couple of the Symantec recommendations that didn't work either.

In the end I resurrected the "old" PC, which I had only retired yesterday after getting a new power supply back from the "new" computer manufacturer, and since it had a working copy of Windows, I swapped a couple of the drives and managed to boot into Windows. I reinstalled the new OS drivers, and suddenly my original C drive was back. Thank the Gods, I nearly fell to my knees crying, I was so relieved.

I did manage in the end to back up my C drive using Ghost, but this time from a floppy disk. Ghost does work with SATA drives and the problems only occur when you reboot from Windows. That's when it messes with the boot files on the hard drive and can cause the OS hard drive to be unbootable.

And so to the question... to upgrade to Vista or not? I have a backup now in case it all goes to hell, and I'm over my rage (yes, I had steam coming out my ears and got more frustrated as the day wore on), so I may take the plunge, but not today. As I said, I only got the new computer up and running again yesterday so I think I'll enjoy it working properly for for few more days before I make any more major changes. Perhaps I'll even consider setting up a new partition for Vista, that way I don't stuff up this install and can test the compatibility of programs as I install them.

I had the day off today so I could take Alex over to Wagga to get the all-clear from the surgeon after his appendix operation. He's fine, and should be right to play touch football this Saturday. What I really would like is a day off when I don't have to get the kids up for school and then drop Carly off. There's no chance for laying in. But I do enjoy not having to go to work. Today I got an email from the computer place about the power supply I returned, and sure enough, it's faulty. It will be next week before I get it back and get the new box up and running again, but I'm already preparing for it. I've saved all my emails and will make up a disk. Then the box I'm using will be off to the fan doctor, for some overdue surgery of its own.

Remember...
Good manners sometimes means simply putting up with other people's bad manners.
H. Jackson Browne

The new exercise machine arrived this afternoon and Alex got straight to work putting it together. He's done a marvellous job, and I just did my first 2 minutes on it. Did I say 10 minute stints? My legs were killing after 2 minutes. I got off and was all wobbly, like I'd ridden up a 10 km hill. God, how unfit I am!! Okay, so it will be lots of little 2-minute sessions. It runs fairly quietly too, I was surprised. It won't interfere with the TV too much.

My friend finally got around to doing the lawns today too. Poor bugger has been laid up with the flu, I don't suppose there's many around that hasn't had it this winter. It has raged through Junee. It took Thommo two days to do the yard; there was marshmallow weeds 2-foot high down the back. He would have needed some heavy duty whipper snipper cord, but he's done a great job and it looks good. That was my payment for 7 hours trying to rid his computer of about 350 nasties that he'd accumulated. His computer is still running slow but I'm not rushing back around there. I think a memory upgrade might be in order.

I had an email from Dad's sister today who's up in Queensland saying that Dad isn't the best. He's 70 this month and I wish I could afford to fly up there and help him celebrate but the finances won't stretch that far. Winter bills are a killer. I rang him on Monday and spoke to his brother Ron who checks on Dad every day, and unless he wants to come and live down here for a time, there's doesn't seem to be much I can do. He needs to see a doctor and promised he would make an appointment. I'll ring tomorrow to see how he's going. He lives alone and everyone worries about him and that's the last thing that he wants. I guess when I'm that old I won't want everyone fussing over me either.

Today I'm feeling so relieved, like a weight has lifted from my shoulders, because all my assignments are finished and have been sent off.

And speaking of weight, I bought myself an Elliptical Cross Trainer Exercise bike off E-Bay last night and after a few weeks I'll be ready for summer. Ha ha, that's the plan anyway. It's not the first time I've bought a piece of exercise equipment, only to move it out of eyesight so it wouldn't make me feel guilty that I never used it. This one is going to sit in the lounge room, so that I can exercise while watching TV. I plan on doing little bursts to begin with, say 10 minutes at a time, until my legs feel like they can handle longer sessions. Who knows? I may even like it when I see the new shapely me begin to emerge.

Seriously though, I could definitely do with the exercise. I spend all day at work sitting in front of a computer, and I come home and do the same thing of a night. It's not good for my body!! After several years of doing this, I can understand why I may be a tad unfit. Time to change that.

I'm doing a TAFE course that I started in July that's turning out to be quite a commitment. It's a Certificate IV course, and involves alot of reading and study and I'm not feeling up to it. I go down to Albury for 2 days each month (but that didn't happen in August, change of plans) and that's great. I can handle the classroom environment. It's the commitment each night to do so many hours that's getting to me. Tonight I've spent three hours going over Council's various management plans so I can write an assignment detailing how they link and cross-reference each other, and what, if any improvements can be made. I've got seven pages of notes so far and there's lots more reading to do. This is the final part of the assignment, I've completed the other four parts already, but it's already overdue.

I'm having second thoughts about it being such a good idea. At the end of the course I should be able to carry out planning functions like assess minor development applications and carry out building inspections, develop and review policies and procedures. I'm feeling rather overwhelmed with all that involves.

At the end of September we have another two days in Albury and enjoy that part. Getting away from home is a major incentive, and working with other people from local councils who know as much as me (or as little as me) gives me the encouragement I need to go on. It's all good for work, I'm learning more than I normally would and at the end I'll have achieved something more.

Last Friday I spent most of the day at the hospital with Alex, and was downloading a movie on my computer. I got home and found that the computer had restarted, but as usual, nobody did it. Later on Friday night, the computer shut down and restarted while I was laying in bed reading, and nobody did do it. I was quite perplexed, not sure why it had happened. This is my new computer we're talking about, less than a month old! Anyway, just in case it happened again, I loaded the download program into the startup folder, so that I could continue to get the movie during the night. Next morning the computer was off and wouldn't restart.

I seem to be plagued by computer problems. I did learn how to remove the power supply from a computer, and to diagnose whether that's what the problem was, or whether it was a motherboard problem. I guess that's a bonus!!!

Meanwhile, I'm back to using the old computer, which has problems of it's own, though I did manage to solve a problem that's been plaguing me for months. The icons on the desktop used to jitter out of control, the CPU usage would go from 0 to 100 erratically, web pages kept reloading, the email would download constantly..... I started unplugging a few things to see if it was a hardware problem, and it turns out that the keyboard was the culprit. It was a HP keyboard, not very old, but it didn't want to play with the rest of the gear. Since replacing it the computer is working fine. It still has a noisy fan, but I can live with that.