Eh, I've had just a crackerjack morning...

I run XP. So, starting from last night. While turning off my computer, I was getting some I/O error. Later through the turning off process, I actually got the blue screen of death, telling me of course that an error had occurred and I had to turn off my computer. My response to that was: Well I'm trying to turn it off anyway, arnt I?

So I woke up this morning and have been trying to start my computer for the past 40 or so minutes. I got alot of different errors in the process and several blue screens of death, but it seems the error that I'm not getting and cant get past is that son of bitch: A Disk Read Error has occurred press CTRL-Alt-Delete to restart. And then I restart just for that message to pop up again. I had somehow managed to get chkdsk to run (disk check maybe?) and it went through the first step deleting a SHIT load of stuff. Then it got to the second step, got about 40% through that and came up with an error telling me I have a bad image... What ever the hell that means...

I am unable to get even close to safemode so doing any sort of scan is out of the question.

Based on the extremely depressing google search I did, to my understanding I have to replace my harddrive. Can anyone confirm this for me? If so, is there anyway for me to recover the data on my current harddrive because frankly I cannot afford to loose any of it. Fortunately for me, the majority of my work since last December has been getting saved on my new external, but there is still a shit load of files that I cannot loose.

If anyone is able to help me, I will be soooooo incredibly grateful.


PS: Before anyone says it. NO, I'M NOT CHANGING TO LINUX. I use XP because Vista sucks, Mac is evil, and Linux doesnt have the capabilities to do half the stuff I do every day (used to have a Linux pc, found its way to the back of my closet real fast).

Use a linux live disc to diagnose it and recover some of the files, but it certainly sounds like your drive is going south.

Try sysrescue:
http://www.sysresccd.org/

Couple of bits to try once you've booted that:

Smart

http://www.captain.at/howto-linux-smartmontools-smartctl.php

If it is a SATA drive, replace it with 'sda', if it's a second drive or not the first, replace the a with the correct letter (a,b.c etc).

Mount the drive

Because the system will run off of memory you can mount the drive:


You can get your files off with this if the sector isn't badly damaged.

Testdisk

If that fails to mount, you can try:



See if you can get the files using this, wiki goes into this:
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step

Photorec is pretty good too.

Make sure you get the drive right though:



That shoud list all your drives.

This is not switching to linux, just using it to recover your files. If you can get access to /mnt/windows, just copy the files to a usb stick, or upload them somewhere like dropbox.

My sympathies and condolences Aussiemcgr,
Edited: Nevermind I see Bread is on it

Ok, so does this mean I do need to get a new harddrive or are these ways to fix it?

You most likely need a new one. This will just help you recover some files.

With windows disc you could try recovery and using chkdisk to attempt to repair it, but IO sounds like it's the drive rather than the filesystem.

ok, well I tried to start it up and I think it is working now... I havent made any changes, so I dont know what the hell is going on.

I'm definitely going to do one thorough ass virus scan now though.


Edit: Never mind. It was a false alarm... The computer started up for about 5 minutes and then crashed. Now I cant even get it to start up like before...

If you have a XP disc, or recovery disc that came with your computer, boot to it and run the Recovery Console (press r when prompted). Errors you're getting sounds like you have bad sectors / or possibly a bad hard drive.

When in recovery console, type:

That should fix any bad sectors on the drive and may let you boot back into Windows.

Next sensible step would be to Test the integrity of your hard drive though and see whether it is actually a physical problem or just data errors.
This site provides links to a number of testing utilities (which must be ran from boot). Just find the manufacturer of your hard drive, download and burn to a bootable disc.

Ok, so my parents and I are kind of going on the thought that maybe 7 years is the extent of my computer's life. So, because I'm due to go to college in a year, my parents figure we will just get me a new laptop that will act as my primary computer.

So, I wanted to know if anyone can help me out with finding a computer brand that is reasonably priced and as reliable as possible. So, there are a few things I'm focusing my search on. First off, NOT a Mac. Next, being a laptop for college, it will mainly be used for computer programming; however, I also want to be able to play games on it. I'm not looking for some crazy ass gaming computer, just something for light gaming. So, preferably it will have a generous amount of harddrive space (which is sort of a given in these days), a good graphics card, strong duel processor, and basically a good all around laptop (I'm limited in my computer spec talk). Obviously, the most important thing is reliability. My currently broken computer was a Gateway from their prime days, and I think 7 years is a damn good life for any computer from 2002 or really from these days. Unfortunately, Gateway has gone down the crapper since then, so I am looking into either HP or Toshiba. As far as price goes, my parents said they would give me the same deal as they gave my sister. They will pay $500, but I will have to cover the rest. Now I have the money to cover for just about any computer and still have plenty left over, but I still want to do this by getting the best deal possible. So, being as cheap as I am, I am looking for a computer in the price range of $500-$800. With all honestly, I can afford something much higher, but it hurts my heart to just think of spending $300... So, first off, I need suggestions for laptop brands, then models, and then where I can get the best deals.

Now, I would prefer to run XP, but thats simply unrealistic so I was curious about something. I read somewhere that Microsoft is offering a free upgrade to Windows 7 for all Vista computers bought past July 1st. Is anyone able to verify this? My family's main computer is a vista and I frankly hate it, so I want to try as much as possible not to have to deal with vista. After reading up on Windows 7, I think that it might be a system similar to Vista, but much more reliable and convenient.

So, if anyone can help me out, that would be fan-fricken-tastic. We may start checking out some computers on Friday, so if I can get some feedback before then, that would be great.

I personally LOVE windows 7, and I now work in a call center doing tech support for Costco members that buy electronics from Costco warehouses. If you buy a computer from Costco you get free technical support through the "Costco Concierge Service" phone number for however long you own that computer. I get calls daily about the windows 7 upgrade program, just go to windows.com/upgradeoffer to learn more. If you buy a "QUALIFYING" computer right now you get windows 7 for free when it comes out. keyword QUALIFYING, I've had so many customers bitch and moan because they haven't been able to get the upgrade, "even though there are signs throughout the store saying I get a free upgrade". If you buy a vista machine, you better make DAMN sure you get the windows7 upgrade.

Also, I would recommend an HP because their customer support is paramount, I haven't dealt with Acer technical support yet, so take that how you will (I'm thinking, Acers are just so good that people don't have to call in as often). I can't really make a true recommendation, because I am only 1 person out of 400 some odd people that take calls for Costco tech support, and the calls I do get are all troubleshooting calls, but the thing I see most often breaking on computers is wireless (which is normally solved on the phone in one go) or screens going bad (which deals with us getting in contact with the manufacturer and setting up a service order on the computer). Don't go with ZT systems, they might look nice, and are cheap for the price, but their website sucks, their customer service sucks, and I feel that they are just too new to be a good contender, only thing they have going for themselves is that they are cheap.

I'm going to go pass out now, maybe I'll write more. Feel free to PM me as I'm sure I'll miss this topic next time i'm on.

My mum and I were checking out some computers on the internet from various sites (costco included. we were unaware of the technical support thing) and one thing came apparent. I may know how to program real well, but I dont know shit about computer hardware...

One thing that has come apparent is I do not really know much about graphics cards (which can easily be solved with a good google search). I know there was a particular graphics card I was told to stay away from, but I cant remember what it is atm. My mum knows that.

As far as the processors go, am I right to believe that 4GB is the limit for laptops?

Here are some of the more expensive computers we were looking at (one of which is HP).
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?...670&topnav= -- Believe does not qualify for free Windows 7 update
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?...670&topnav= -- Believe does qualify for free Window 7 update
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?...670&topnav= -- Believe does qualify for free Window 7 update

If your disks is bad you can still recover most of the data. Try Get Data Back for Windows. It's amazing.

Ok, so I found a computer that I loved and bought.

It is a Toshiba Satellite A500 Series.

500 GB Harddrive
4GB Memory
64-bit operating system
Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor 2.00GHz
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4500 Series Adapter
2305 MB Graphic memory
512MB dedicated video memory
17900 shared system memory
Upgrades to Windows 7 on October 22nd

I got it bundled with a 12 month subscription for Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009 for a grand total of $820 (all covered by parents ). So, did we get a good deal?

Silly idea. Barely anything runs on a 64 bit system?

Jacob.

Complete lie. Some older devices don't have 64-bit drivers because Microsoft makes device comapnies PAY to become certified by microsoft for their drivers. And on 64-bit windows OS's all drivers have to be signed to be used. I know in 32-bit versions you can bypass the signing requirement, but not in 64-bit, which is just plain stupid.

But lots of things work correctly in 64-bit now, and at least at Costco you can't find any computers without 64-bit on them (maybe one model but I don't think so).

I do have one question regarding Vista (since I havent used to too much). I think my problem is with the security settings or something, not too sure. But basically, because of that pain in the ass varification every time you want to do something as basic as making a folder, some of the programs I use are unable to do things.
For example: creating a folder, writing to the programs folder, unzipping, ect. Is there a way to allow things to do these without them hitting all these stupid ass roadblocks?
I tried downloading the newest JDK, and I had to download all the files to my desktop and then manually copy and paste them into the Java Programs folder because the downloading program was not allowed to write to the programs folder...
I've also been pretty much unable to unzip things (still trying to find somewhere that isnt secure that the files can go to).

You need to right-click the programme and click "Run as administrator". Then it has all privileges.

It's annoying, but apparently this is sorted in Windows 7. Fingers crossed!

Sounds like a nice laptop. Not too sure on the 64-bit OS myself, although at least it means you can make use of all 4GB of your RAM!

Like Dave said if you run as administrator then the program has all rights. And your desktop and my documents folders are two places you can unzip things without any issues.

This issue isn't fully rectified in Windows 7. I do notice that some programs still have issues with the security settings, but most are able to work around it. You can still run as administrator and the program will work fine. Windows 7 is SOOOO amazing, but there are some stupid user account control issues that in my opinion should be fixed, but because they are minor they probably won't be changed and will become the norm as people will just get used to them. considering windows 8 or whatever they decide to call it probably won't come out before 2013 lol.

Ok, another question for ya.

According to my display settings, my monitor driver is Generic pnp monitor on ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4500 series. I have wanted to play various games but because of their inability to properly set themselves for the widescreen, everything is really stretched horizontally. With a little research, I found out that enabling fixed aspects ratio, the problem is solved. Unfortunately, I could not find out how to set that with my particular monitor driver.

Does anyone know how to do this, if it even is possible?