F@*! EVERYTHING!
June 29th, 2008 Chris BeaumontI am about to have a very big moan, so apologies in advance.
My Windows installation died on me on Friday.
I opened my case up to install a new hard drive, and when I booted up afterwards, I discovered that my hal.dll file had been corrupted. I don’t know what a hal.dll file is, but on my technically cleverer than me friend Jonny’s advice, I tried to fix the master boot record on the DOS command prompt, but to no avail.
I’ve had to re-install Windows. Again. For the third time in as many months.
It’s not that I’m afraid of the process. I make a habit of re-installing once every 6 months or so, mainly to avoid the dreaded Windows registry bloat that’s the bane of so many slow Windows computers, but also because I’m a bit of a nerd and I kind of like doing it. It’s the same sort of feeling as when you decide to re-arrange all the furniture in your bedroom, or have a particularly in-depth spring clean - afterwards there’s a nice sense of calm and order, which I don’t mind admitting I get off on.
However, this time, the re-install has been forced on me. Again.
I don’t know if the problems I’ve been having with Windows corrupting are related, but 3 months ago I bought all the components for a spanking new machine. 3GhZ Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 2 x 8800 GT 512MB graphics cards and an Asus P5N-T Deluxe motherboard. One thing is for sure, I will never again buy an Asus motherboard.
The people in the shop told me it was a really good motherboard, designed for overclocking. “Overclockers!”, I thought, “They’re hardcore. I too am hardcore. I will buy this motherboard”. If I’d done my research properly I would have found an army of angry, disgruntled customers spitting venom on the Asus support forums about the problems this board has. Video card and RAM compatibility seems to be a bit of an issue, which is doubly frustrating seeing as the two graphics cards I bought are both manufactured by Asus.
What it all meant was that the machine froze up irretrievably at least once a day. Having already been back to the shop to get a different set of compatible RAM, and tried every BIOS update and system tweak that I could find, I was still getting regular lock ups. In the end I took another friend’s advice and splashed out another £100 on an 800W Tagan power supply, which seems to have done the trick, at least with the lock ups.
A big part of the reason for buying a new machine was my desire to get my head back into photography in a big way. That meant re-designing my website, starting a blog, re-evaluating my collection and adding everything to a new database, while at the same time trying to learn new techniques for taking a post-producing images, and trying to get involved in some projects with other people that would stretch me. My logic with the new machine was that I’d get something new and capable enough that the machine wouldn’t be an issue. It would allow me to concentrate on the images and not with trying to overcome the machine’s limitations.
Well it hasn’t quite worked out that way, and now I’m back at square one - an empty Windows installation. I’ve got to re-do everything - re-install all the apps and drivers and set everything up the way I like. Eungh. The thought of it is just so DEPRESSING.
The last time I did all this, I had a quick look at some disc imaging applications, but lost the initiative to actually go through with using them once I realised it would take me more than half an hour to do, but this time I’m determined. What they basically do is take a snapshot of your hard disc and store it on some other media - DVDs or another hard disc. That way, when your windows installation goes tits up, you can just re-install the image, and all your apps and settings have been preserved.
Anyway, sorry for taking up your time with a humongous grumble. Computers make my photography habit possible in so many ways, but for the last three months it’s just felt like it’s been holding me back and getting in my way. I’m starting to wish I’d saved up the cash for a Mac.
