(no subject)

[johnpalmer]

Sigh.

Once again, my home computer is giving me fits... it might be just the memory, or it might be the memory and the hard drive, or it might be something that is making the memory and the hard drive look like they're having problems. I hopefully have the money to get things fixed, but I'm feeling a bit nasty about maybe having to, because my cash reserves are nowhere near where I want them to be. Ah well...

At the moment, I'm disconnected from some discussions (Usenet especially). I do have a laptop at home, but it's unlikely that I'll stop slaving over my sick computer long enough to play on the laptop.

Comments

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Bleah. It's beginning to sound as if that box is due for an engine overhaul, isn't it?

Will this affect our weekend plans (other than "both of us will be penny-pinching this weekend," which we manage just fine when need be)?

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

I doubt I'll be pinching any pennies. I just want to have two thousand dollars worth of chewing gum money that I could throw at a new system, before deciding what to do, and right now, I only have a couple hundred. (I wouldn't spend $2000 on a new system - not a new desktop, at least - but I'd like to make a conscious decision as to what my ideal price point is, rather than feeling I have to be budget conscious.)

It could, conceivably, keep me from leaving early enough to get to your opening show. I really want a full backup of my system ASAP, and if leaving a couple hours later means I have a full backup, I'd probably let that happen.

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

Oh: also, it might not be as bad as I think. I finally swapped out my newer memory stick for an older one. Once I did that, the worst of the problems vanished. So, if bad memory can mimic disk drive problems (and it could - disk stuff gets read into memory, and held there, for faster access), *and* if a bad memory stick could make my system unable to recognize my hard drive, then my problems are solved.

But it could be memory and the hard drive... and that *could* mean a system problem that caused both to fail. It might be time to just get a brand new system that was built by a lucky professional (i.e.: not built by me :-) ) so I can stop worrying about it.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

'Kay. Start the backup as early as you can, and keep me posted. You know I'd love to see you as soon as I can, and to have you there for opening, but it's not like it's your only chance this weekend to see the show.

Meanwhile, *good backup juju* sent your way, along with the usual love & kisses & stuff.

[eleccham.livejournal.com]

Go download yourself a copy of Memtest86+, posthaste.

If that passes, try the cheap solution and swap your hard drive cable; you'd be amazed how often that's the problem. Oh, and move it to a different power connector - a slightly flaky connector can cause amusing weirdness.

Oh - and if the drive was made by Maxtor (or Seagate, probably!) I can quite probably advise you on determining if that's the cause.