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The day started normally enough. I got up at what I thought was 6 am, except I hadn't changed my timepiece since returning from Houston, so I actually rose at 5 am.
No biggie. Just that much more time to myself, including a perusal of my e-mail and a post to LJ.
In the middle of posting a comment, the Sony spontaneously rebooted. Halfway into the reboot, I get the Blue Screen of Death. Not to worry...I've done this before. Hard shutdown. Start up again. Diversion to safe mode...and the Blue Screen of Death again.
Not to worry...I've been here, too...sorta. Create a boot diskette. Reboot computer off the A: drive. Go to C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS and run SETUP. We're going to reinstall Windows Me once again.
Install is peachy, up until the point where it's supposed to restart the machine. Instead, it meekly exits out to a DOS prompt.
Okay. Reboot the machine, which goes straight into install-your-devices-and-Plug-'n-Play-thingies mode.
This process harrumphs for a while and then hangs. Ctrl-Alt-Del does not work..
Hard shutdown (how I hate doing that). Restart. OS goes into install-your-devices-and-Plug-'n-Play-thingies mode again. Hang again.
Try to reinstall Windows. Same deal: peachy install, meek exit to DOS, interminable attempt to install devices after reboot.
Maybe it's a bad sector on the disk? Quick, boot off the disk. Run SCANDISK. Elect to do a surface scan. This takes a long time, but returns a clean bill of health. Now what?
When in doubt...
Reboot! This time, we try an old standby. Press and hold F2 before Windows goes into install-your-devices-and-Plug-'n-Play-thingies mode. I'd like this phase to occur after killing my virus scanner, which may be playing games during the install. Also, I'd like to have more control over what devices are being considered for installation, and then to install one item at a time, if possible.
The hardware complains when I press F2 as it's booting, says there's a key depressed. Apparently, Windows is not conscious yet.
The system restore disks (the ones that reformat the disk) start to look good, except that I really need to back up a bunch of files, and there are a couple of apps whose CDs have been, um, misplaced in the move up to Colorado. But I can possibly even live without them. Go look for LapLink III.
(Program file backups have become all but useless in recent years, seeing as how programs interact promiscuously with other parts of the OS, notably the Windows Registry.)
It'll probably take a while to back up the files I need (mail, invoices, and some data files), but I do need them.
I can't find LapLink. The case the CD was in is not in its place, and Drew is asleep. (Not that he'd necessarily know where it is, but I'd ask him if he were awake.)
Try the F2 trick one more time...this time, though, I'm timing the key press to occur just before the Me splash screen is, well, splashed.
Eureka! I get the menu asking if I want safe mode.
Yes! But Safe mode won't let me install devices. Marfle-yebbits, and bowb.
Okay, so anyway, I go into Control Panel, then System to see what kinds of devices are on my system. I delete the USB stuff that's not connected. I also delete the duplicate IBM monitor that is not connected to my system.
Go into Add/Remove Programs and delete the virus scanner. Delete some recent installs, for good measure. Reboot.
The install-your-devices-and-Plug-'n-Play-thingies mode proceeds further than before. I hear a "beep" this time. It still hangs, though.
[I'm thinking, if I have to reformat my disks, then after I back up my data with LapLink, I'm going to see if I can install Linux on this laptop.]
But that "beep" indicated progress. Go back and uninstall more stuff, associated with the Iomega CD-RW drive I bought in Houston, since the System panel shows an attempt to install a USB device. (I know none of this probably makes much sense, but right now, as I'm typing this and trying to catch up with a description of what's happening on my laptop...I have just gotten an indication that all devices have been reinstalled - who knows, maybe I should have connected the CD while reinstalling Windows?)
One thing is for sure. I cannot recall if this occurred the first time I "updated" my Millennium Edition, but after I reinstalled Windows the other day, I was able to shut down and start up a total of 6 times without problem until I clicked on the tray icon that kept telling me that update files were available...after which the good times came to a screeching halt. Hypothesis: the update screws something on my machine ("Doctor, my arm hurts when I do this.") Possible solution: Don't update. ("Don't do that.")
Assuming that my machine has restored itself to a good semblance of its former self...I'm going to hunt down that little tray icon and delete it without mercy.
I'm babbling...not thinking. At least this minor (yet completely unnecessary achievement) has put something of a sheen on an otherwise stressful day. It would seem that after 5 weeks away from the store, I've forgotten everything I learned.
I really need to learn to relax.
BTW, I'm about halfway through The Hacker Ethic, by Pekka Himanen. It's a fascinating read, and I really want to apply it to my immediate situation (and look forward to trying).
It's been a long day...
Cheers...
No biggie. Just that much more time to myself, including a perusal of my e-mail and a post to LJ.
In the middle of posting a comment, the Sony spontaneously rebooted. Halfway into the reboot, I get the Blue Screen of Death. Not to worry...I've done this before. Hard shutdown. Start up again. Diversion to safe mode...and the Blue Screen of Death again.
Not to worry...I've been here, too...sorta. Create a boot diskette. Reboot computer off the A: drive. Go to C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS and run SETUP. We're going to reinstall Windows Me once again.
Install is peachy, up until the point where it's supposed to restart the machine. Instead, it meekly exits out to a DOS prompt.
Okay. Reboot the machine, which goes straight into install-your-devices-and-Plug-'n-Play-thingies mode.
This process harrumphs for a while and then hangs. Ctrl-Alt-Del does not work..
Hard shutdown (how I hate doing that). Restart. OS goes into install-your-devices-and-Plug-'n-Play-thingies mode again. Hang again.
Try to reinstall Windows. Same deal: peachy install, meek exit to DOS, interminable attempt to install devices after reboot.
Maybe it's a bad sector on the disk? Quick, boot off the disk. Run SCANDISK. Elect to do a surface scan. This takes a long time, but returns a clean bill of health. Now what?
When in doubt...
Reboot! This time, we try an old standby. Press and hold F2 before Windows goes into install-your-devices-and-Plug-'n-Play-thingies mode. I'd like this phase to occur after killing my virus scanner, which may be playing games during the install. Also, I'd like to have more control over what devices are being considered for installation, and then to install one item at a time, if possible.
The hardware complains when I press F2 as it's booting, says there's a key depressed. Apparently, Windows is not conscious yet.
The system restore disks (the ones that reformat the disk) start to look good, except that I really need to back up a bunch of files, and there are a couple of apps whose CDs have been, um, misplaced in the move up to Colorado. But I can possibly even live without them. Go look for LapLink III.
(Program file backups have become all but useless in recent years, seeing as how programs interact promiscuously with other parts of the OS, notably the Windows Registry.)
It'll probably take a while to back up the files I need (mail, invoices, and some data files), but I do need them.
I can't find LapLink. The case the CD was in is not in its place, and Drew is asleep. (Not that he'd necessarily know where it is, but I'd ask him if he were awake.)
Try the F2 trick one more time...this time, though, I'm timing the key press to occur just before the Me splash screen is, well, splashed.
Eureka! I get the menu asking if I want safe mode.
Yes! But Safe mode won't let me install devices. Marfle-yebbits, and bowb.
Okay, so anyway, I go into Control Panel, then System to see what kinds of devices are on my system. I delete the USB stuff that's not connected. I also delete the duplicate IBM monitor that is not connected to my system.
Go into Add/Remove Programs and delete the virus scanner. Delete some recent installs, for good measure. Reboot.
The install-your-devices-and-Plug-'n-Play-thingies mode proceeds further than before. I hear a "beep" this time. It still hangs, though.
[I'm thinking, if I have to reformat my disks, then after I back up my data with LapLink, I'm going to see if I can install Linux on this laptop.]
But that "beep" indicated progress. Go back and uninstall more stuff, associated with the Iomega CD-RW drive I bought in Houston, since the System panel shows an attempt to install a USB device. (I know none of this probably makes much sense, but right now, as I'm typing this and trying to catch up with a description of what's happening on my laptop...I have just gotten an indication that all devices have been reinstalled - who knows, maybe I should have connected the CD while reinstalling Windows?)
One thing is for sure. I cannot recall if this occurred the first time I "updated" my Millennium Edition, but after I reinstalled Windows the other day, I was able to shut down and start up a total of 6 times without problem until I clicked on the tray icon that kept telling me that update files were available...after which the good times came to a screeching halt. Hypothesis: the update screws something on my machine ("Doctor, my arm hurts when I do this.") Possible solution: Don't update. ("Don't do that.")
Assuming that my machine has restored itself to a good semblance of its former self...I'm going to hunt down that little tray icon and delete it without mercy.
I'm babbling...not thinking. At least this minor (yet completely unnecessary achievement) has put something of a sheen on an otherwise stressful day. It would seem that after 5 weeks away from the store, I've forgotten everything I learned.
I really need to learn to relax.
BTW, I'm about halfway through The Hacker Ethic, by Pekka Himanen. It's a fascinating read, and I really want to apply it to my immediate situation (and look forward to trying).
It's been a long day...
Cheers...
