 |
Hints Tips & Rants
by Dale Atchison Tampa Bay Computer Society |
Blue Screen of Death
I got a computer last week that was showing a BSOD every time it tried to boot, even in Safe Mode. The error codes displayed by Windows XP were different every time. There was no new hardware installed, and the client insisted he hadn't added any new software since I last worked on it. I pulled the hard drive, and connected it to my laptop thru a USB adapter (best $20 I ever spent!). CHKDSK found and fixed a few errors, but when I put the drive back in the computer, Windows still wouldn't boot. Back to basics...
I pulled all the PCI cards to see if a failure on one of them was pulling the PCI bus down — no dice.
What the heck?!
Last year, I had added RAM to the computer from Memory.com . I've never had a problem with their memory, and didn't suspect any now. But, I had left the two small sticks of DDR2 that Dell had put in at the factory in place. I booted to Dell's Diagnostic Partition, ran a memory test, and found one of the old sticks to be bad; I pulled both sticks of the old (OEM) RAM, leaving the new sticks in place — and the computer booted without a hitch! A quick trip to CompUSA, two new sticks of DDR2, and I had a computer that ran much better than when it was new.
I've been doing this sort of work since 1992, and this is the first time I've had a stick of RAM go bad like this. I've had them fail altogether, so that the BIOS didn't see the RAM; I've seen RAM fail so that the Power-On-Self-Test wouldn't complete, so you never got a beep from the motherboard; and I've seen RAM that failed Windows' HIMEM.SYS testing, giving you a warning. But RAM that gets past the POST routine, will work all day in CMOS Setup, but fails as soon as you try and boot an operating system? Not till this week.
And the moral of the story? There are actually two:
I disconnected the CDROM drives — still no help.
I even pulled the PCIE video card and plugged in a plain old PCI VGA card — also no help.
Plugging in a brand-new power supply didn't change a thing...
and three different versions of Linux all failed to start in the 'live CD' mode.
Good thing for my client I charge a flat fee when I take a computer home. He wouldn't have enjoyed paying for the time I had wasted, but if I'd had to write off a couple of hours, it would've ruined my week. As it was, I expected to work for several more hours than I was getting paid for, and I got exactly waht I expected, only a little more.
Free Online Scans
I've been really disappointed in how long it takes to scan a computer using TrendMicro's free Housecall website. And invariably, there are files it can't heal or delete. So, I tried Panda's free scan, instead.
It found lots of 'infections' in a very short time. However, the only file it would repair for free was the EICAR anti-virus test file I use periodically to check my avast! installation; to remove the tracking cookies it said it had found, Panda wanted me to buy the software. No, thanks.
I don't recommend free online scans. If you suspect you have an infected computer, install avast! 4.8, tell it to run a boot-time scan, and reboot immediately. If it finds infections, get rid of the anti-virus you were running and keep avast! . If you don't qualify for the free edition, buy avast! Pro — it's worth it.
HP Tech Support, Revisited
I've written in this column previously about my extreme disappointment at the quality of the help I received from HP/Compaq's 'Customer Service' and Tech Support. Well, I recently had to deal with them again, and the results were pretty much the same, with one minor exception: this time, the 'Restore CD' they sold me actually restored Windows to full, like-new operation on a HP Compaq d220 Business tower.
And, I found the number to order Quick-Restore CDs and DVDs, without wading thru the layers of uninformed so-called 'techs' who couldn't/wouldn't help. Sadly, it was the third person I spoke with who thought to give me the number.
HP/Compaq Quick-Restore: 1 800 952-7689
Here's a Great Surge Arrestor, Dirt Cheap
In this section, I had intended to tell you all to rush to your nearest CompUSA store to buy this super-wazoo surge arrestor. APC has (had) an OEM-packaged unit with cable tv, network, and telephone connections, in addition to eight or ten ac power outlets. It was marked $20 on the shelf, but it scanned for $10 at the register, so that's what they charged me for it. I went back to buy ten more today, but
I don't believe this unit has the $25,000 equipment protection warranty their other units have (and other cheaper brands have, as well), but APC is THE brand in the surge protection industry — I'd rather have their unit without a warranty than anyone else's device with one. Besides, a warranty is only as good as the company behind it; did I mention APC was the absolute best in the business?
Till next month...
Nonetheless, if you live near a CompUSA, go see if they have more of these crucial devices. Or go to CompUSA.com , and search for APC. These are the units APC usually sells for $30. Almost no one who has cable tv protects the incoming RF line from surges and nearby lightning strikes, but every line into a PC needs to be protected, or all the other protection is wasted. (Imagine locking every door except one, but still expecting your belongings to be safe. Same concept...)
