armb: Dog jumping in water (Default)
armb ([personal profile] armb) wrote2011-03-23 08:28 pm
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Poorly PC

My home PC stopped booting Windows this weekend. There are backups of the important stuff that can't be reinstalled, but this could be tedious. Currently watching ddrescue (from a Linux (Debian Mint) USB stick) copying a disk image to NAS. About halfway through (having run all day), Only 1 error so far.
(It seems determined to drive my monitor at 700x400 - I can select other resolutions and the size of things changes accordingly, but not the lack of detail.)

Once I have as full and up-to-date a backup as possible, time to try Windows Restore Console. And buy some new disks possibly....
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[identity profile] keristor.livejournal.com 2011-03-24 02:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah, not as easily solved as my last one. WinXP decided that it couldn't load some essential part, so I stuck a WinXP install disk in the CD drive -- and forgot to enable it as a boot device (I normally keep it disabled just in case I get a rogue CD with aboot nasty on it). So I rebooted, and it came up in WinXP off the hard disk -- perfectly OK! Apparently it can repair itself automagically if it has a 'clean' source available on the system anywhere.

(There was also the time when WinXP gave me a BSoD, telling me that something was horrible and posed a danger to the system. The offending item? EXPLORER.EXE -- yes, Windows told me that it was a danger to the system itself! The only time MS told me the truth...)
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