Tuesday 21 September, 2004

Fixing things

Tired.

My computer's fan has been making some nasty noises lately, and since it's still under guarantee I'm sending it back to be fixed before it fails. This day and age though it's not possible to be without computer - or goddess forbid, without internet access - so after packaging the new computer to be taken away by a courier I fired up my old computer that's still gathering dust in the corner.

So, I plug all the cables in, and turn it on - and I hear this rrrrrrr-klunk-klunk-klunk sound. Not good, but maybe it's just something weird because it's not bee used for a while.

No operating system found

Oh shit. Maybe it'll go away if I reboot? (Hey, a girl can wish!)

rrrrrrr-klunk-klunk-klunk
No operating system found

Oh fuck. But - all is not lost, I think. It's got two drives and I can still just "quickly" install Windows on to the functioning drive. So open the computer up, detatch the dead hard drive - which was the smaller and older one anyway, and start again.

rrrrrrr-klunk-klunk-klunk

Why is it still making that sound? Windows installation starts up, loading all the drivers takes about five minutes.

No hard disk found, can't continue with the installation.

What? Ok, well, maybe the hard disk needs to be on another buss - change cables around a bit, make sure everything is well attached, start it up again.

rrrrrrr-klunk-klunk-klunk - for fuck's sake, why is it still on?
No hard disk found, can't continue with the installation.

Ok, hm, need to think about this a bit. Check bios settings, everything seems fine. It can't be that both of the hard disks have failed at the same time, that would be just too unfair. But I know - it must be that the smaller drive was the master and the bigger on was a slave: if I just move the jumper so that the large drive is a master it should "just work". However, this is a Dell we're talking about so changing the jumper basically requires me to take out the hard drive - and fiddling with jumpers is bloody annoying anyway, even if it wasn't about midnight already. They are those tiny plastic things on your hard drive that are next to impossible to get out - and once you get them out they usually just fly somewhere and get lost and you never ever have any spare. After a bit of jiggery pokery I managed to get the jumper out and change the drive into a master, plug it in and off the installation goes and the old hard drive stops klunking, too. (Quite proud of myself there - for some this might all seem just too obvious, but I really do this stuff only when I have to - and I was glad that I was able to logically figure out what the problem was and fix it.)

XP installation is actually quite simple and smooth, only took about an hour with all the updates. So I got to bed just before one - and woke up again about five hours later.

Tired.

Posted by kolibri at 21 September 08:39, 2004
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# 1 - Outi (on September 21, 2004 11:01 AM):

"for some this might all seem just too obvious, but I really do this stuff only when I have to"

YOU GO GIRL! :D Me, I never ever touch those things. I'd be scared to death to look at what's inside the big black box. So what do I do when shit hits the fan? I call my male friends and weep in a way that makes them feel sorry for me :/ Not too proud of myself... :P


# 2 - kolibri (on September 21, 2004 11:22 AM):

Thanks, I really appreciate that :)

I think in my family we were always assumed that we - my sister and me - could and should do all the things boys/men do. I remember when I bought my first CD-ROM drive (as my computer hadn't come with one) and I asked my dad to install it - and he just said "you do it, it's not difficult". So I did. After that I've believed that there's no mystery in computer hardware more than software: there are rules that you need to know and follow, and after that everything is simple. It's just that finding out the information you need is not always trivial, as I think lot of people in-the-know to keep it a bit mysterious.


# 3 - Ursa Major (on September 22, 2004 07:00 PM):

Actually, that is what you learned from Linus Thorwalds at Helsinki University!


# 4 - kolibri (on September 23, 2004 06:14 AM):

No dad, I'm pretty sure you're a bigger influence in my life ;)


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