RE: HANG time... -- PCTECH

replies inline:

> -----Original Message-----
> From: pctech-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx / daparnin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> There's no technology like old technology, eh?  <g>  It's been
> awhile since
> I've heard of Windows 98 referred to as new.  <vbg>

Ahh, someone who truly understands!  This box originally shipped with Win
3.11 installed, 90MHz Pentium, 16 (or 32?) MB ram.  I installed Win95 over
Win 3.11 back in '96 and never "had" to reload it.  That's gotta be a record
for Windows, I think.  Since then, I upgraded to a Cyrix 233MHz and maxxed
the ram out at 128MB.  Oh, added a 2.5GB HD to the original 1.0 GB config,
partitioned the new one into three cuz FAT16 would have carved out 256k
clusters otherwise.  During that time, I'd installed and de-installed
hundreds of apps, and my registry backed up took about 13MB.  This machine
is/was so bast*rdized it's amazing the thing still operates.  The event that
triggered the Win98 upgrade was that the original 1GB HD died, so I figured
I'd better get with the times.  <vbg>

> Seriously, if it's
> truly a scratch install then you shouldn't have any files that you need to
> preserve.  The worst case scenario is that you have to reload
> windows.

Again, more PITA than anything else.

> Can
> you start up in safe mode and then run scan disk or does that hang?  You
> say that you did a scratch install.  By that do you mean running FDISK to
> delete the old partition and recreate a new one, format the c: drive, then
> booting from a Win98 startup floppy and running the install?

Well, I installed a "new" 30GB hard drive as the boot drive, so yes, FDISK'd
and FORMATted, etc.

> Have you run
> Windows Update since the scratch install?  If that's the case then you
> don't have anything to loose by doing it again other than the
> time it takes to do it.

Yes, did the Windows Update.  Actually, I had the security update CD-ROM
that had all of the patches that Microsoft sent me a few months ago and was
current up to February 2004.  But, up to typical MicroSh*t standards, it
hung and crashed the system so that I had to scratch install Win98.  TWICE!
After that, I just got all the updates from the Windows Update site.

> It may also have nothing to do with what's loaded.  It might be memory
> that's gone bad.  If it's an old PC it might have worked its way loose.
> You could try taking the simms out and reseating them.  The same could be
> done with the processor and any cards.  It also wouldn't hurt to make sure
> that cable are secure.

The timing of the original hang and the problems of trying to access that
particular folder leads me to believe that it's purely the result of trying
to kill that copy.  But you're right, it never hurts to reseat everything.

> If all else fails check Ebay for a P-II Windows ME system.  <another vbg>

I think I'm going to break down and buy a new barebones box.  TigerDirect
has a deal on a barebones system w/ a Soyo MB, keyboard, mouse, speakers,
52x CD-ROM for $20 after MIR.  Add an AMD Athlon for $60, 512MB ram for $65
after MIR, salvage the HD, CD burner, and monitor from the old box, and I've
got a screamer for $145 plus S/H.  (One of the rebates ends today, so better
hurry.)  Only problem is figuring out what OS to load on it.  Really fed up
with Windoze being so intruder-friendly.  OTOH, with the horsepower on this
setup, I'd finally be able to run a firewall/spyware detector/AV detector
combo that doesn't freeze the system.  (I've already got a Gigafast
firewall/router, but I really have no idea how much more secure it makes
me.)

If I go with WinXP, and want to save $ with an OEM copy, do I have to buy it
from the place where I buy the system?  Or can I shop around for it?  Anyone
got recommendations on that?

> Personally, I like using Windows to drag and drop when copying files
> instead of doing it from DOS.  Either way, once it starts let it go until
> it's done.

OK, here's the embarrasing confession.  If you're a LangaList reader, you're
probably aware of the image-type backups that create an image of the HD on a
CDR(s).  I'm looking at BootItNG's IMAGE app, and it has an option to
compress.  One of the tricks discussed on LangaList was to "clear the bits"
across all of the unused disk space so that this area would compress down to
almost nothing (so you're not wasting CDR's on this space).  So, using a
simple QBASIC program, I created a 2GB file filled with blanks.  I
duplicated this file in Windows until I had only 5GB of free space
remaining.  I booted out to DOS so I could delete the Windows swap file (I
did) and had more space to "clear the bits".  (If I booted back into
Windows, the swap file gets recreated.)  Needless to say, copying a 2GB file
on this box is a test of patience, especially since the HD activity light on
the front panel isn't hooked up to the new HD (which is actually on a new
ATA/100 PCI card) because the cable, originally attached to the MB, can't
reach the ATA card.

The first copy I did in DOS completed OK, but I had left it alone for a few
hours while I did something else, so I don't have a clear idea of how long
it took.  The second copy I watched for about 45 minutes before I tried the
"proven" Ctrl-C to kill the copy.  But nothing happened that I could see.
Then I powered down.  The rest is history.  :(

> Good luck.

Thanks, but I'm not feeling too lucky today / this week.

Again, thanks for the advice.  Any others are welcomed to chime in.

db