Argh. Just... argh. I hate this stupid OS, but I'm stuck with it.

Basically, something happened to my comp on Monday last week, and Windows basically started imploding. First the modem drivers started malfunctioning, then we lost the sound, and before I realised what was happening System Restore decided it couldn't help me any more, so I realised I was royally screwed. Reinstalling Windows XP didn't help. Antivirus programs, spyware-destroyers, everything. Tried everything, the original ballsed-up settings remained.

So basically I've had to reformat the whole HD. Yay.

What was even better was this computer wasn't commercially assembled- it came with XP installed already on it but with no CD in case of emergency. So had to borrow an *ahem* semi-legal copy off someone, and maybe possibly do something to the serial number... but yeah, it works now. Except the motherboard now isn't working properly, Windows won't recognise the drivers or something. And the video/sound is off the motherboard, so that equals a juddery screen and no SFX. *sigh*

Better still was connecting it to the net again. BT Broadband spelt the name wrong so that took like 4 attempts to start installing, and it crashed halfway through. Much uninstalling and reinstalling later, it worked! Yay! Log on to the net and guess what? Blaster. At this point I was close to smashing the screen with a sledgehammer, but no, I managed to get rid of it and the bajillion other trojans/viruses that had lept on to the comp in the brief time it was connected up, update Windows with the 1035720485742 patches Micro$haft couldn't be arsed to include in the retail version taking up another 3 hours of my time and a number of restarts, re-download all the stuff I had off the net, re-get-rid of the ad-ware that nestled in my 'net files, and the sound and video still don't work.

Remind me to shoot Bill Gates next time I see him.

Wow, that is *really* messed up. I don't think I've ever had something like that happen to me... Anywho, always call the company and request restore CDs if the computer didn't come with any. They might charge you 10 bucks or something for shipping, but it's worth it for the peace of mind...

/me pets his bug-free, virus-free, and crash-free 12-inch PowerBook G4 running OS X 10.3

/me kicks her laptop, which has malfunctioning number keys and punctuation keys. been using the character map for my passwords.
FiReMaGe suggested I reformat... but I don't have the disks for xp or anything either.

cheers

Hmm. I guess I'm lucky. Despite the fact that much of what I do is on Linux, there's been a Windows machine here, nonstop, usually on 24/7, since 1996. In that time, I've NEVER gotten a virus (yes folks, not one), NEVER had a system failure bad enough to require reformat-and-reinstall, and never had any of those annoying spyware things that tries to dial a porno site every 5 minutes (one of my teachers had that until I brought in Spybot). I never even got Blaster.

See what happens when you run 2 virus scanners, 3-4 layers of firewalls (the 4th is the built in, and I disable it when I use the built-in filesharing) and Windows Update every day?

Dave, have you run any harddrive diagnostics to assertain whether or not your drive is immenent danger of failure? It might explain why your system crashed in the first place.

Download and install the latest chipset, video, and audio drivers for your systemboard. Do not connect to the internet until you have installed a functional virus scanner. Viruses are external to Windows XP and you can thank your Microsoft hating hacker/crackers for any viruses you may have picked up, not Bill Gates.

And given that you are running an illegal copy of XP, you have no legitement grounds for complaint regarding viuses, driver problems and the like.

Well if there is one he should complain to, it's his vendor for not including a bloody CD.

[quote]UncleDave: ...this computer wasn't commercially assembled...[/quote]

Which implies that there was no vendor.

Video/sound is back up. After much rummaging I found the vendor included the motherboard drivers CD, installed a whole bunch of crap off there, and the system works fine, now the DNS has updated.

YAY!! Good for you Dave. :-)

When I say not commercially assembled, I mean its not something you pull off a PC-world shelf, its custom-built. HDD is fine, I was a bit scared after I got the uber-blue-screen-of-death before the format but now it seems ok.

I bet a Mac did all this UD, KILL MACS

Those damned Macs.

Code Gnomes!

One by one, the lawn gnomes slowly steal my sanity

grrr, /me shakes his fist at all the WinBlows users.




my g4 12' 800mhz Ibook kicks ........


I think I can leave it at that.


(those damned Lemmings damning non-damnable things, damn your WinBlows;)

Lemming was being sarcastic you numb-nut.

Anyone would know that if they were hanging around IRC when i was attempting to get the family's Windows laptop to work. (I gave up on it when it hanged on closing a window.)

My mom's 1.25 GHz PowerBook beats your iBook any day.

"My mom's computer beats..." heh. My 2.3 barton pwns all.

Hang on a minute, I have to refresh the nitrogen of my over-clocked Cray Beowulf Cluster here.