oops of the week

[CWatters]

New computer arrives with a ton of S/W all neatly installed. Just needs the
web connection setting up which I did easily. So then I decide to make a
ghost image of the HD....

I had an old copy of Ghost 2002(ish) handy so I installed that and told it
to do a backup...Those of you familiar with the original version of Ghost
will know that the process involves rebooting into DOS... but for some
reason this time Ghost didn't start. So I tried to reboot and each time DOS
starts but not Ghost.

Eventually it dawns on me that this PC has an SATA drive and DOS/ original
Ghost probably don't support SATA drives. So I'm in deep dodo.

Ghost has configured the drive to boot to DOS and I don't know how to
reverse that. I vaguely remember that DOS uses files like Autoexec.bat to
boot so I go looking but can see anything familiar. Stuff in the
autoexec.bat suggests Ghost runs a prog to clean up when it's done so I try
and run that has no effect.

In the end I have to reformat and re-installed the lot. Had to reinstall
WinXP several times as it kept insisting the hard drive was D:. Took nearly
7 hours to get it all back to the state it was when it was delivered.

 

[Rod Speed]

New computer arrives with a ton of S/W all neatly installed.
Just needs the web connection setting up which I did easily.
So then I decide to make a ghost image of the HD....

I had an old copy of Ghost 2002(ish) handy so I installed that and
told it to do a backup...Those of you familiar with the original
version of Ghost will know that the process involves rebooting into
DOS... but for some reason this time Ghost didn't start. So I tried
to reboot and each time DOS starts but not Ghost.

Eventually it dawns on me that this PC has an SATA drive and DOS/
original Ghost probably don't support SATA drives. So I'm in deep dodo.

Ghost has configured the drive to boot to DOS and I don't know how to
reverse that. I vaguely remember that DOS uses files like
Autoexec.bat to boot so I go looking but can see anything familiar.
Stuff in the autoexec.bat suggests Ghost runs a prog to clean up when
it's done so I try and run that has no effect.

Ghost creates its own partition for that boot to DOS.
You can just manually delete that partition and set
the normal partition to active to get it to boot again.

In the end I have to reformat and re-installed the lot.
Had to reinstall WinXP several times as it kept insisting
the hard drive was D:. Took nearly 7 hours to get it
all back to the state it was when it was delivered.

A Jap would have the decency to disembowel itself for not asking |-)

 

[CJT]

New computer arrives with a ton of S/W all neatly installed. Just needs the
web connection setting up which I did easily. So then I decide to make a
ghost image of the HD....

I had an old copy of Ghost 2002(ish) handy so I installed that and told it
to do a backup...Those of you familiar with the original version of Ghost
will know that the process involves rebooting into DOS... but for some
reason this time Ghost didn't start. So I tried to reboot and each time DOS
starts but not Ghost.

I've always run it from a floppy, and it does fine with SATA drives.

 

[CWatters]

A Jap would have the decency to disembowel itself for not asking |-)

Had no internet connection to ask with :-(

 

[Arno Wagner]

Had no internet connection to ask with :-(

Even worse! Seppuku for you for not habving an Internet
connection! On the plus side, this solvers your problem
permanently. I suspect that was the main reason for the
custom....

Arno

 

[Rod Speed]

Had no internet connection to ask with :-(

OK, we'll let you off just this once |-)

I'd never have just one system again, for just that reason.

The last time I had just one system, it developed a weird fault where
it wouldnt boot due to a hardware problem. I couldnt even chase up
a replacement motherboard with no net connection.

I eventually discovered that it would boot if you had that part of the
motherboard in the sun in winter, and so could order a replacement.

Never again, wota nightmare.

 

[Impmon]

Even worse! Seppuku for you for not habving an Internet
connection! On the plus side, this solvers your problem
permanently. I suspect that was the main reason for the
custom....

Hari kiri would be a better term. Seppuku is more of a "nice" and
"polite" term while hari kiri is more of "unkind" and "rude" term even
though both means the same thing.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Hari kiri would be a better term. Seppuku is more of a "nice" and
"polite" term while hari kiri is more of "unkind" and "rude" term even
though both means the same thing.

Interesting distinction. So the one thing is "please kill yourself"
and the other is "please kill yourself, and by the way, you are a
cretin"?

Arno

 

[Aidan Karley]

Seppuku is more of a "nice" and
"polite" term while hari kiri is more of "unkind" and "rude" term even
though both means the same thing.

Not as I understand it. "Seppuku" is committing suicide for
reasons of honour (however defined) ; "hara kiri" is one method of
performing seppuku, which happens to involve slitting one's belly open
(to varying degrees, to be decided between the primary and his second)
followed (if you're lucky) by decapitation form behind. The longer the
second waits before lopping the primary's head off, the more incredible
the agony the primary has to endure. Silently.
Women normally have the option of performing seppuku by slitting
their throats. Kamikazi pilots performed seppuku with a plane (or died
trying). Western Digital hard drives can perform seppuku by overheating
while Samsungs do a much more stylish explosive disintegration of the
spindle. (I made that last bit up, but hopefully you get the idea.)

 

[Jesco Lincke]

I eventually discovered that it would boot if you had that part of the
motherboard in the sun in winter, and so could order a replacement.

oO ..... Computer Feng Shui???

 

[Impmon]

oO ..... Computer Feng Shui???

Maybe. One of my older PC gets cranky and refuses the startup if the
case is oriented north-south but if I rotate it to east-west it boots
without trouble.

 

[Rod Speed]

Rod Speed wrote

oO ..... Computer Feng Shui???

Nar, much more mundane, it was the warmth that did it.

Classic dry joint/cracked trace effect.

 

[Rod Speed]

Maybe. One of my older PC gets cranky and refuses the startup if the
case is oriented north-south but if I rotate it to east-west it boots
without trouble.

Likely another dry joint problem.

 

[John Turco]

Nar, much more mundane, it was the warmth that did it.

Classic dry joint/cracked trace effect.

Hello, Rod:

That reminds me of a predicament I had, around five years ago. Suddenly,
my home-built PC refused to POST, the first time I switched it on, each
day; I heard the system's internal fans running, but, the monitor
screen remained black. If I waited a few minutes, and then pressed the
reset button, the machine booted as usual.

This behavior started, after replacing my AT computer case's original
(generic) AT power supply, with a "PC Power & Cooling" ATX PSU. Plus,
some months earlier, my Tyan S1830S Tsunami (AT mainboard) had been
returned to the manufacturer, for repair.

I'd e-mailed both Tyan and PCP&C about the situation. It appeared to be
temperature-related, as it only happened when the room was cool (e.g.,
air conditioned). PCP&C thought it might've been a "power-good" issue,
which would've meant the PSU was at fault.

That, indeed, proved to be the culprit, as when I swapped in a new
"Enermax" ATX PSU, later on, the problem vanished.


Cordially,
John Turco <[email protected]>

 

[Guest]

New computer arrives with a ton of S/W all neatly installed. Just needs the
web connection setting up which I did easily. So then I decide to make a
ghost image of the HD....

I had an old copy of Ghost 2002(ish) handy so I installed that and told it
to do a backup...Those of you familiar with the original version of Ghost
will know that the process involves rebooting into DOS... but for some
reason this time Ghost didn't start. So I tried to reboot and each time DOS
starts but not Ghost.

Eventually it dawns on me that this PC has an SATA drive and DOS/ original
Ghost probably don't support SATA drives. So I'm in deep dodo.

Ghost has configured the drive to boot to DOS and I don't know how to
reverse that. I vaguely remember that DOS uses files like Autoexec.bat to
boot so I go looking but can see anything familiar. Stuff in the
autoexec.bat suggests Ghost runs a prog to clean up when it's done so I try
and run that has no effect.

In the end I have to reformat and re-installed the lot. Had to reinstall
WinXP several times as it kept insisting the hard drive was D:. Took nearly
7 hours to get it all back to the state it was when it was delivered.

I migrated from Ghost to Acronis True Image, which can create images
from within Windows...