Vent thread

[*POTS*]

What brand were they David? Just curious.

[David]

What brand were they David? Just curious.

I had two Seagates and one Western Digital.

[*POTS*]

OMG Western Digital? I have a Western Digital external one, my bro told me they're good so I bought one.

[David]

What I do not get..... and this is beginning to become more than irratating.....since my hard drive would not work, I used the hard drive that came with the computer. It was smaller than I wanted but I just did not want to spend more money. Anyways, at first when the computer was booting up it claimed that no hard drive was located. I spent time on that by checking the connections. After a while, It found the hard drive and installed the software. Now two days later, my wife turns the computer on and now it does not find the hard drive again.

I might have to buy another hard drive....... What can cause the computer not to see the hard drive (only hard drive)?

[Hermskii]

There are several ways a PC may not find a hard drive. Let's cover a few real quick.

What kind of PC is it? Example Dell Optiplex 240

What kind of hard drive does it use? Example EIDE or SATA?

If it is older, it is likely a EIDE hard drive which uses that big wide 40 pin cable. If so, One connection on it is plugged into the mother board. How many other connections are on that cable? How many other devices are connected to those connections? What is the jumper set to on the EIDE hard drive if that is what it is?

These are just a few questions that will really help me to determine what may be causing this issue.

Another thing is 3 HDD in this short of a time period makes me think you lose power during storms often. Do you have the PC plugged into a surge protector? Do you lose power often? Does the user of the computer turn it off by pulling the plug while it is running? Iss the BIOS set to "Instant off" when the power button is pushed? Do you have a UPS hooked up to the PC. Does the PC often lock up or reboot during normal usage? Can you tell I'm a certified Information Systems/Technology specialist?

[David]

Both were Dell Optiplex GX270. The original kids computer and the replacement, that I have called HumptyDumpty.

The computers were the same model so pretty much same specs, except HumptyDumpty is a little bit faster.

They can use either SATA or EIDE. In the original computer I used SATA but I went through 3 hard drives in about a couple years. The way the cable is in the case, the cable breaks at the connector. Not very durable or the way the cable is in the case and how it bends. The last hard drive in HumptyDumpty, since it could not see the SATA drive that I tried to use from the kids computer I used the used EIDE that came with HumptyDeumpty. At first it stated that it could not be seen either, but ater a while of checking, rechecking, moving the hard drive around, and some swearing, the hard drive was found and I was able to install everything needed and the computer up and running.

On the EIDE, the cable is the 40 pin and no other connections, it is hard drive to the motherboard. The jumper was set to cable select originally, but it was not working so I moved it to master and it did not work , so I removed the jumper and then it worked.

The computer is plugged into a surge protector. The computer is not used a lot so most of the time it is off. The computer is set to turn off once you push the button. No UPS.

[Hermskii]

Stand up or lay flat desktop. I have a few of the small form factor lay down Dell GX270 PCs. I like them very much. Easy to work on. Yes, I know they can stand or lay down but Dell often offers two versions: the old style lay down and put your monitor on it kind and the stand up kind that usually sits along side the monitor or is under the desk standing.

[David]

Lay flat with a lcd monitor on top of it.

I even resorted to looking in the desk that it sits on to see if there is a magnet in it.

[Hermskii]

So what happened here? IS this the same PC that you are mentioning the BCCODE issues with? If I recall, the latest BIOS for the GX270 series is called AO7. What version do you have running on your PC right now? None of my GX models can flip between EIDE drives and or SATA drives so I'm confused about that. Mine all come one way or the other. If I recall, our GX260 models are all EIDE and our GX270 and GX280 models are all SATA, but no going back and forth built into them.

I did not reread this whole thing but is this a fresh install? What are your scan disk results? have you tested the drives. Bad clusters are OK. Bad sectors mean you need another hard drive.

Funny, when my GX270's or 280s get on the internet, the cooling fans kick up speed bigtime. They sound like vacuum cleaners so I have opted to deploy only our GX260 models since they never get louder no matter how hard they work and are nearly as fast anyways.

[David]

This is not really a vent, even though someone in my same predicament might vent about it. I am more relaxed about it because I was waiting for something like this to happen.

Let me explain. Each time I try and make a good solid payment towards my one credit card that has a balance (in which I plan off paying with the tax return if there is such a thing when time comes), something will end up costing me money. You know 2 steps forward 1, 2, 4, 5, 10 steps back kind of thing.

Well, I made a decent payment towards the credit card and I get to "open my present this morning" IE discover what I get to pay for now. I noticed that the house is cooler more then normal. So I looked at the thermostat in the house and discovered that it was about 60 degrees, the furnace is set at 70 or so. I turned off the heater and turned it back on and I hear it but the air is cool. I went in the attic and saw that the burners are cool and there is no spark. Now I have no experience with furnaces so,..... I will be waiting to call for a ac/heating person tomorrow. Yea Me

I am not mad. I am not upset. Just life. We have a fireplace/wood stove, so we will keep a fire in it and try to keep the kids warm there. It was about 30 degrees outside when I went and checked on the furnace. I hope everybody had a good Christmas. Enjoy.

[Hermskii]

I had a great Christmas and thanks for hoping it was! About the furnace, we had just thrown down about $6,000 just before we decided to move out of the house. The day they installed the AC/Heater combo in my attic it was snowing here in Houston. Does that make you feel any better? This will: we get into the new house and the AC unit craps out. I have it fixed and then the AC guy who is a friend checks out my heater and warns me the heat exchange transfer unit is toast. Cost to replace everything? Oh, about $6,500 even. Needless to say, we were all very cold last night. I left the fireplace on to try to get a little heat. Family being here was more than enough to keep us all warm and fuzzy inside. Feel better David? LOL. Peace.

[ZippityDooDa]

I had a great Christmas and thanks for hoping it was! About the furnace, we had just thrown down about $6,000 just before we decided to move out of the house. The day they installed the AC/Heater combo in my attic it was snowing here in Houston. Does that make you feel any better? This will: we get into the new house and the AC unit craps out. I have it fixed and then the AC guy who is a friend checks out my heater and warns me the heat exchange transfer unit is toast. Cost to replace everything? Oh, about $6,500 even. Needless to say, we were all very cold last night. I left the fireplace on to try to get a little heat. Family being here was more than enough to keep us all warm and fuzzy inside. Feel better David? LOL. Peace.

OUCH< the things I get to look forward to when I buy my first house

[David]

STUPID!!!!!!!!!! I read this story and I can not think of enough ways to hurt this "person". http://www.komonews.com/news/local/117676223.html

anyways..... I was going to write something down on this thread about my life but I read this story and any issues I feel I have/had goes away when I read about "people" like this.

Once I relax I might come back and post what I was originally going to post.... it was some what humorous/pathetic

[Hermskii]

I was talking to my wife just the other day about all of the madness around here when it comes to people killing their kids. We had a lady put her 3 year old in a oven and cook him to death about a week ago. Two weeks ago a Home-care daycare owner left the house of 4 children to go shopping. The house burned down killing them all and the lady then moved to Nigeria. Google tata Nigeria. That ought to find you that story. You tell me about this lady killing her own baby. I'm just holding my hand across my forehead in disbelief. What is wrong with people? Makes me sick and mad.

[David]

I bought a new mouse to replace the one that broke on my when SB was taking me to town the other day. I got the mouse in the mail today. I bought the same brand that I broke, since it lasted me and treated me well for years. The brand was "Frisby".

Well as I was going along the internet today, I noticed that the mouse would stop reacting when I tried to move. It did this to me several times

So, I was going to by another one, bit not Frisby. I decided to gut the new one and take the scroll button/wheel out of the new one and place it in my old one. I did this and it worked but it did not have the same smooth feel to it and when I played UT the scroll button was not as responsive as I need. So I grabbed another mouse from another computer I had and will be using that for my computer and the "refurbished" old mouse will be on my kids computer.



Is it bad to buy two $1 lottery tickets each week and hope and pray daily that I could win so I can quit my job. I mean the job itself, I do well at it and have been doing so over 12 years and I am more than halfway to retirement already, but the politics just sucks The funny thing is I hate having my lottery ticket checked by the scanner. I'd rather have a person tell me I am loser instead of a machine