A disk read error occurred

ok, so I'm sitting there, working on a document for a project, on my nearly 10 year old laptop, when I start hearing this odd clacking sound.  Now mind you,  I keep the volume off  because I hate all the little pings and chirps, and, and, so I figure it's something else and keep on.  But in the back of my mind is this little worm, it's in there, it's moving, I sense it, way way back there, but I can't quite put my fingers on it, something......

Yeah, you know where this is going.  I didn't listen to the little worm till the clacking got louder, and more persistent - I checked the dvd drive, you know, just in case there was an old disc in there, nope, still more clacking, now I'm scrambling, getting the largest flashdrive I have, hoping to back up, before....

oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please, don't die yet, please,oh please, oh please, let me get just this one last backup

Yeah, you know where this is going.  No, I haven't backed up in, well, in a very long time.  And, well you guessed it, the machine went to the blue screen and advised me it was doing a memory dump,  I shake the flashdrive at the screen and scream dump here, dump here!

I've turned it off and let it rest, then on again, 3 times, to no avail!  I've tried in SafeMode(f8)  no luck.

A disk read error occurred

Going back in time

Once again I find myself affecting computer repairs, installations, re-installations, upgrades, drivers, deletes, and system setups.


Yesterday morning, while trying to prep my notes for a presentation to a class in a local colegio I got the Blue Screen, yes, I hear the collective intake of breath, you all know what that means.  And like 2/3's of you I don't make it a habit of doing backups.  


So there go all my notes, which made this my opening statement -


 Con frecuencia los niños de los Estados Unidos  utilizan la excusa de "mi perro se comió mi tarea 'cuando no tienen su tarea terminada. Hoy pensé que iba a tener que hacer la misma excusa, salvo por causa de mi computador. Tengo una vieja laptop, es un poco más de 8 años de edad. Así que esta mañana cuando he intentado abrirlo para trabajar en esta presentación todo lo que vi fue la pantalla azul, y todos ustedes saben lo que eso significa. Me llevó varias horas y finalmente, en ser capaz de enviar este archivo a mí mismo. Se tomó mucha de la persistencia y la creatividad para poder encontrar la manera dehacerlo. La creatividad y la innovación son de vital importancia en TODOS los aspectos de nuestras vidas, todos los días tenemos que ser capaces de ver un proyecto o tarea y decidir cuál es la mejor manera de ...


 In the United States kids frequently use the excuse 'my dog ate my homework' when they do not have their homework completed.  Today I make the same excuse, except because of my computer.  I have an old laptop, it is just over 8 years old.  So this morning when I tried to open it up to work on this presentation all I saw was the blue screen, and you all know what that means.   It took me several hours of trying to finally get in to be able to send this one file to myself.  It took a look of persistence, and creativity to be able to figure out how to do it.  Creativity and innovation are vitally important in ALL aspects of our lives, Everyday we must be able to see a project or task and decide what is the best way to ...

The presentation was on using Creativity and Innovation in problem solving of of our daily lives

 

Well, you see where I am going with this - Once before this same computer (which I purchased second hand back in 2007 or 2008) was giving me fits and that is what caused us to purchase both a new desktop laptop (in 2009, which Tom uses), and this handy little netbook that I am now using to compose this post.

I did manage, after the presentation this morning, more on that later, to push my docs, photos, and a few other things over to an external harddrive.  So I decided rather than try to figure out the problem I would just do a restore to factory defaults and see if it is software rather than hardware.  So while I am composing this I am also updating and installing stuff on the old laptop.  We'll see, fingers, toes, and legs crossed.

OK but don't feel sorry for me, it's not like I'm not top heavy on electronics - we have the big laptop, this netbook, an ipad2, a kindle, and now an ipod touch - I'm flush - It's just so much easier on a regular laptop, I mean, my wrist already, in just this short post is feeling the strain.

Oh, the title - the laptop is/was from 2004, so the restore disk is taking it back to 2004 setups, OMG the updates and drivers and things I am having to go get and install, and the graphics, it's really quite funny, it all looked so slick and cool, Way Back Then!

Death of a friend!

The old Dell Optiplex GX240 that made the trip here to Mexico is dead.

It's poor little hard drive bit the dust.

I'm going to miss you old friend

I was trying to eradicate all the software and personal info so that I could gift it to the housekeeper for her kids. I was hoping that without all the bulky software and pictures and such it would be up to par for a couple of kids to do their homework and maybe a bit of web-surfing, que lastima. Fortunately housekeeper indicates her brother-in-law is a computer tech and she is confident he can put the ole girl to rights for the kiddies.




However, even before this occured I knew the computer was having issues, it was SLOWWWWWWWWWWW, it froze, it gave us the evil blue screen, it was in need of assistance. I had also upgraded the momory to its MAX of 1 GB. Nothing helped. I off loaded photos, deleted software, defragged, everything I could think of - so knew a new computer was needed, immediately!





I consulted with several people and developed a list of must haves, and would really likes.





Then the internet research began. No internet search includes in-store close outs and specials.




I didn't and don't mind last years model. So even though you think you know what you are going after it can all change in a flash once you walk into a store! I am so pleased with what I got, and the single biggest, and nearly only complaint I found in the online reviews is that the shiny surface shows all the finger prints - WAAAAAAAAAAAAA!




I ended up with a Toshiba Satellite P505D model; it has an 18.4 in screen, 400GB hard drive, and 4GB memory - it's FAST! It has graphics, webcam, cardreader for camera cards, Harmen Kardon speakers, built in wireless, and DVD burner, but unfortunately it comes with Windows Vista. I'm dealing with the Vista.





OHHHHH, Look, see how pretty!




Included in this purchase was a new wireless keyboard and mouse, such a light touch to the new keyboard, in fact I am making lots of errors because I had to really bang on the OLD keyboard.





Oh and the second computer is an ACER Netbook, one of the small 3 pounders, it is adorable, and so easy to travel with. I went with the 10.1 inch monitor instead of the 8.9. but still MUST use my readers for the monitor. Oh and it is RED! WooHoo!

Ah electronics - life is good!

One friend departs, and another enters, oh so fickle.