Friday, May 13, 2022

We Interrupt Our Regular Programming ...

(Source)
So, a few weeks ago my computer decided that it had had enough of my abuse and crashed.

Not "blue screen of death" crash but a "Please wait ..." screen, which lasts approximately forever. Okay, not forever, just a very long time.

After waiting far longer than my level of patience usually allows for, I went online, via my smart phone, to determine a course of action. Something about powering the machine off enough times that it will finally give you a system recovery screen. I forget most of the details as the experience was, in some ways, rather traumatic.

Anyhoo, at the recovery screen you can basically say "No" (I'm okay with never using my computer again) or "Okay." Now the screen warns you that basically the machine goes back to it's factory settings, all applications are removed. Your data is preserved, but all the cool stuff you had loaded will need to be reloaded. Which, you may gather, is a pain in the ass.

So I reloaded the things I needed right away, then gradually began restoring my games library, which is pretty large. It's been a few weeks now and things are, more or less, fine. But as time has gone along, the machine occasionally just locks up and refuses to go any further. (Very mule-like I noted.) Which requires a "hard" restart (hold the power button down for five second or so, do a five count, then power the beast back up).

Now this has sufficed for the nonce. I've noticed recently that there is often a ticking noise from the hard drive, which is "hard drive-ese" for "Hey, Ima gonna die soon."

So I decided that a new computer was in order. As my retirement date is now visible from the masthead, I decided to get a laptop (the company provided laptop has been very useful and I've grown accustomed to having a computer - not a smart phone - with me everywhere I go). A powerful laptop. Of course, The Missus Herself was absolutely thrilled at the prospect.

"How much does it cost?"

"Well over three grand for a good one."

"WHATTTT???!!!"

But she agreed, which rather stunned me, she usually makes me work a lot harder for such things.

Anyhoo, long story short, my son, The Naviguesser, called me on my birthday. As he is something of a genius when it comes to computers (hardware and software) I asked him for his recommendations as to which machine to look at.

"Wow, what a coincidence Dad. I was planning on getting you a computer for your birthday. Good to know that you want a laptop, I'm going to send you some data on the one I think you should get, let me know."

Now of course, that was not the full extent of the conversation. But that was the part relevant to this post.

Which by now you are probably wondering, "Uh, what IS the point of this post. (Grumble, grumble, where is my WWII story?)"

Ah yes, the point, the salient point ...

The new computer has arrived at Chez Sarge, so I will need to spend some time getting it set up. Which I will be doing rather than give you a real post.

Sorry ...

Kid ...

New toy ...

I'm sure you understand.

A domani!



Editor's Note: Yup, AAR to follow.

36 comments:

  1. It's your Birthday Present, you are entitled to play with it for awhile, before putting it back into " revenue service ".

    I bought myself a SIG Sauer P-250C-45 for my birthday, in 2014. It is named Precious, of course, as it was My Birthday Present. Will you do the same with your new laptop?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, wouldn't want Sauron looking for my laptop.

      Delete
  2. Well Sarge, what make......model....processor.....how much memory.....et cetera et cetera et cetera (apologies to Yul Brynner).

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    Replies
    1. It's a Razer Blade 14 (I don't name the things) and it's a gaming laptop, very fast, lots of memory, very powerful.

      Delete
  3. Ah, yes - the best people are born in May.

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  4. FWIW, I have an inexpensive hard drive cloner which I use on both my laptop and my spouse's laptop monthly. Slow (4 hours to clone a 500GB SSD from source to backup drive) but provides piece of mind. The backup drive is maintained in a fire resistant box in a fire resistant safe offsite. So far, this has saved my bacon thrice in the last 7-8 years; hard drive failure twice for me and once for my spouse. Also nice to use even if merely transitioning to a larger hard drive. I keep saying I'm going to purchase a cloner that will copy the hard drive in just 10 minutes but the answer is always, "Tomorrow".
    Enjoy your new machine!
    -Barry

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You would think that a fire resistant box is water proof, but it might be worth checking on. Our house burnt down last year and what fire didn't get the water did.
      I never heard of a "hard drive cloner", I'll go look!

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    2. Ich auch! Gonna get smarter on those kinda things since Bride has a new business.
      Have fun with the Machine, Sarge; we'll wait.
      Boat Guy

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    3. Barry - So far I've been living dangerously. Never had a hard drive failure per se, just lost a boot sector or two (which is, of course, problematic). All my drives live on and I can get the data from them. By various (oft nefarious) means.

      Delete
    4. Rob - They're out there, Amazon has a crap ton of 'em.

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    5. BG - Yeah, if your business relies on computers, ya gotta have something like that. How about a Cloud-based solution?

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  5. When you have to do the gymnastics to get the thing to boot, it's past time to update the hardware. I don't even play after that. It's number is UP.

    HB and good on ya.

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    Replies
    1. That was my thought. Now setting up the new one is painful, but rewarding in the end.

      Delete
  6. Good story. Good on Mrs oafs for not fussing.

    Hurry up with the lead up for the Battle of Britain!!

    Franknbean

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    Replies
    1. We'll be back at it soon enough, I hope. 😁

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  7. With what you're doing a good laptop is a fine idea! It's a good idea anyway :-)
    When you do backups to your new machine be sure and keep them somewhere else, mine were in my desk last year when the house burnt down. I had always figured the back ups were for some virus...
    Enjoy your new computer!

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    Replies
    1. I'm starting to think about a Cloud based solution.

      Delete
  8. Clone to external SSD. And at today's prices, clone to a second external SSD. Store them seperately in EMP proof bags. Different neighbors, return the favor for them. I've had to go to the third backups stored in the caves for complete restores.

    Remember: it's not backed up until it's been restored from the backup verified by comparisons!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Been there done that, with a government system. Everyone trusted the backups, guess what didn't work when it was needed?

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    2. More than once. People /trust/ their backups. They should NOT. (Especially, they should not trust the backup software claiming to have either tested or verified a backup it created!)

      Backing up into the cloud ... as a tertiary or quadratic backup. The boss is happy, "It's in the Cloud!"; I'm happy, it's in a cave, high above water.

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    3. OAFS, be wary of the Cloud! You may think your data is safe there, but I have heard that some (some of the big names) can decrypt your data and if they don't like what you are storing cause problems with retrieving your data such as making it just disappear. The censor are even there.

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    4. Anyone who thinks their data is safe anywhere on the Internet isn't really thinking things through all the way.

      Delete
  9. As a Latter Day Luddite I should be the last person giving advice on computers. Awhile back I added "Boost" to my computers https://boost.en.softonic.com/. The price was right (free). It has helped the speed. I use it daily.

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    Replies
    1. Speed isn't an issue on he new box. She goes like lightning.

      Delete
  10. Sarge, I am one of those that will bitterly cling to the machine almost until the Blue Screen of Death or until it takes 15 minutes to boot up. Good on you for being a bit more proactive and have fun! (And, he grumbled to himself, good reminder to get an external hard drive...)

    "She usually makes me work harder for such things". In my experience, this only because 1) There has already been a purchase of which I am not aware which will equivalent in cost; 2) There is going to a be purchase which I am not aware of equivalent in cost; or 3) There is some unpleasant task coming up in my future that I am not aware of. So really I guess, I am unaware in general.

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  11. PiKtuRs Ore IT dindt Hapen... LoL

    ReplyDelete
  12. Must be something going 'round. Had a similar problem yesterday. Everything was taking FOREVER to complete. I need to officially rename it. I believe I'll name it "Methuselah" as its BIOS date in 1/10/13. Do you suppose I could ask The Missus to call Mrs. J and talk her into letting me get a new one?
    On a different note, I sent you an email yesterday with some technical info I hope will be useful to this next section of your book. Now I know why there was no response. No worries.

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    Replies
    1. I did see your email, I've just been too busy to respond. Good stuff, thanks. Mot dives were conducted at close or at 90° but that took a lot of cojones and not everyone had those.

      I asked The Missus Herself about calling Mrs. J, she just smiled. Pretty sure that meant "Ain't gonna happen."

      Sorry ...

      Delete
  13. Удача, Щасти вам, sok szerencsét, usw.

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  14. Thank you for the reminder, to both backup my data, and start to shop for a new one for my wife since hers is getting very touchy. Fortunately we don't much with them besides web browsing or Microsoft office stuff, so we get the moderately priced ones.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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