Been gone for a while, my tower died!

[icymist]

The winter storms in the Great Pacific NorthWest finally got to me! My old e-machines tower died and I had to buy a new one. Apparently, e-machines has a reputation for doing this! At least that's what the guy at the computer repair told me. All my information is still retrievable on the old hardrive. Deciding not to mess around with e-machines any more I bought a Compaq with the new Vista systems. I'll tell ya right now that I miss XP! Everything is in a different place and it took me forever (well, the greater part of the day) to get online yesterday when I first tried! What a mess! I had to call my ISP's support, had to erase one program and download another! Anyway, I'm back and am starting to find all the bookmarks on the internet I was using for this forum.

[Ilsa]

1. Hi! Glad you are back among us!

I hate it when my hardware kicks. My son, who is autistic, was hitting the keyboard on my laptop out of frustration until he finally killed it. I had kust enough time to back up most of the data. I might be missing one music file (rats), but managed to save and transfer most of my bookmarks. I've been using my kids' desktop (clumsy keyboard) and husband's Dell (not sure I like their stuff), and then we have all this upgraded software to deal with, and I'm not talking about Vista. I'm looking forward to getting a new laptop in the next month or so.

I can't imagine this forum without you!

[icymist]

2. Awww shucks! I didn't realize you'ld miss me so much!

:blush: It feels good to be wanted!:hi:

[Ilsa]

3. You post some of the best stuff here, and contribute alot. Of

we'd miss you! And I am not even Wiccan! At least not yet.

[crikkett]

4. I know all about emachines - if the problem was your power supply

(which it was, consistently, with the machines I repaired) you can replace it for $23 and have your old ctr up and running again in no time, for another 9 months or so if you keep your machine on all the time (that's how long the replacement power supplies are rated to last).

Otherwise you could just slave your old hard drive and then look up how to move bookmarks over.

PM me if you want advice. I'm bored today and willing to help a fellow heathen.

[icymist]

5. Thank you for the offer of help in computers.

It seems that every four years or so I must buy a new computer, for the old one died/became outdated/ doesn't have the memory! The latest that has happened the tower had died: in a storm surge which had left me with the filling that these computers were going to malfunction someday anyway, despite what was believed. Should I always plan on my computer dying someday, prematurely? (That e-machines was only three years old!) I believe a lot of us here have that question. Frankly, your retrieving my information, which I still have on the old computer hard drive, for just $23.00 is a bargain! Where can I have this done? The shop I brought this computer tower to told me that I would have to shelve out over three hundred dollars for this retrieval! Again, Thank you for your help in this matter.

[crikkett]

6. You're welcome! First, tell me how your machine died.

Will it just not turn on? This is the most common error and the $23 solution I was talking about. You'd simply replace the power supply.

Will it turn on but not boot because the hard drive was unrecognized?

Will it turn on, but not boot because the operating system hangs?

Do you get a specific error? Please tell.

-c

[icymist]

8. One day, this machine was working fine.

The next day it died. A power surge was diagnosed from the computer repair shop... the same people who told me that retrieval of the information on the hard drive would be over three hundred dollars! They also talked me into buying a HP, namely this compaq, which is what I could afford. Anyway, that's the story.

[crikkett]

7. ...and another thing...

I don't know how long hard drives are supposed to last nowadays but they do have a lifetime. When I was doing IT work full time we expected a hard drive to last at least 3 years. Some manufacturers guarantee hardware for 5 years.

Backups and printouts are the absolute best way to prevent data loss. That's it.

[icymist]

9. I have print-outs on most everything vital.

The rest, well it's in my closet with the dead tower. My attention is now turned toward this new machine. I am hopping that some day I'll retrieve something from the old hard-drive that I forgot about.

"Fellow Heathen"! LOL I like that!