Windows XP and Major Overhauls (Part 2)

“A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow”

Proverb

Surprise! My upgrade didn't go according to plan. So, what went wrong?

The image that I'd created a while back..... No good. I installed it, and all appropriate progress bars and blinky lights seemed to be in order.

But when I go to start my new Vista 64 bit install? BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH.

Now our first thought might be to blame Vista, because that's the most obvious target. It's not fair though. I've never used this imaging software before (Ping), so it's possible that the imaging software caused the issue, or it could even be good old fashioned user error.

Besides, once the blame is assigned, I still had to contend with a laptop that was 'bricked'.

For those who don't know:

Definition of Brick (thanks to Wikipedia).

When used in reference to electronics, "brick" describes a device that cannot function in any capacity (such as a device with damaged firmware). This usage derives from the fact that some electronic devices (and their detachable power supplies) are vaguely brick-shaped, and so those which do not function are as useful only as actual bricks. The term can also be used as a verb. For example, "I bricked my MP3 player when I tried to modify its firmware."

But as one of my friends in I.T. taught me: Have a backup plan.

What's that plan?

So I install from scratch, and as of now, my OS is up and running. It takes a couple of hours to install the security updates (tedious, but necessary). Now I'm getting my remaining software slowly installed again.

So as of right now, no screen captures, because Snagit and Camtasia aren't back on yet.

But we're on our way. Software is starting to get back installed, and my performance is noticeably better. Whatever was plaguing my system seems to be cured now.

There's still more to be done, but I'm definitely off and running.

The moral of my little adventure? When you're doing anything major like this, have a fallback plan in case the first doesn't work. I'd be in for a pretty long night tonight if I hadn't had the disks as a backup.

And while things aren't ideal, I'll be at 100% by tomorrow.

Sometimes it's not about whether or not things go according to plan. It's how well you recover when the plan goes wrong.

WIndows XP and Major Overhauls.

“Technically, Windows is an "operating system," which means that it supplies your computer with the basic commands that it needs to suddenly, with no warning whatsoever, stop operating.”

Dave Barry

This weekend, I'm in the process of performing some serious maintenance on my laptop.

I'm razing the OS to the ground, and reinstalling all over again. Scorched Earth, so to speak.

As with most Windows Operating Systems that see heavy use, this installation of Windows XP is looking pretty ragged.

For those of us who live on the ragged edge, you've seen it. Usually your system starts getting slow, and defragging and temp space clearing only does so much good.

For those foolish or daring enough (I'm not sure which I am yet), this is the time for a total rebuild of your system. Rebuild it from the ground up.

Lucky for me, I've got some of my building blocks in place. So before we start, here's what we have.

1) An image created for Vista 64 bit on this machine. (I created it a ways back, just in case).

2) Installation disks for Vista 64bit. Just in case the image turns out to be bad. (This is my first use of it, so I'm makings sure to have a backup plan).

3) Installation disks for all my software that will eventually live on the system.

So all that is in play. Now we start the long 'progress bar rodeo' of backing up all my data. (There's no way I'm attempting this without a backup!).

As I write this, my system is backing up to my portable hard drive. That's going to take into the evening.

Tonight, I expect to get the image installed. Forunately, tomorrow is a day off for me (mental health vacation day), so I can finish out tomorrow if needed.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. "What kind of freak are you? It's your vacation day and you're installing software?!?"

It's the best day to do it, and besides, most of what I'll be doing is letting progress bars do their thing.

In any case, wish me luck. Hopefully tonight is met with much rejoicing, instead me cursing the error of my ways.

I'll keep everyone posted!

A Geeks Humor..... Be Careful what you Assume

"There is always an easy solution to every human problem— neat, plausible and wrong. "
H. L. Mencken

Learning Autodesk Inventor, Showcase, and Vault (among other things) are often exercises in learning a process as much as the product. After a frustrating evening, I've decided to share a bit of an anecdote, and out of a need to laugh. Even if must be at my own expense.

Earlier tonight, I installed Internet Explorer 8.0, plus a .Net update, among others. I'm figuring I'll go ahead and test out the new version of Internet Explorer (being a Firefox guy, I'm wary of new versions of I.E.).

I shut off my laptop, head home after a good day at the office, and do my evening drill (stop by the grocery store, make dinner etc).

After dinner, I sit down in front of my ever present laptop (me without my laptop is like a gunfighter without a six shooter), and decide to jump on my wireless network

A few mouse clicks and....... nothing. Wireless my wireless doesn't connect, no internet. I'm knocked off the grid.

I murmur to myself. It must be a wireless setting. After all, I just installed those updates. They must have done something. I dive into my wireless settings and start dissecting my system.

Nothing's wrong, and nothings working. My murmuring turns into grumbling. More clicking of mouse buttons, and gnashing of teeth. Still nothing.

My frustration level goes. Grumbling turns an incoherent conversation with my laptop using language that makes mothers blush and cover the ears of young children.

Even using this level of diplomacy, my laptop fails to offer any suggestions.

I even try uninstalling and reinstalling the updates. Still nothing! GRRRRRRRR!

Finally I grab a spare network cable and walk to my wireless router. Determined to emerge victorious, I plug directly into the router.

My laptop flashes a message that my network cable isn't plugged in. I pace the room like a caged animal. Could it be that the updates have seriously messed up my network connections?

Good grief, does that mean that I may have problems at work tomorrow? What if I have to reinstall the OS? The muscles in my back tense at the thought.

I spend a few minutes trying different combinations of cables and ports.

No luck. Absolutely nothing. I'm starting to wonder if something has seriously gone wrong with my laptop.

Then, my eyes fall upon the router itself. And I realize something that I should have noticed right way, if I'd checked.

Every single light on the router is out.

THERE'S NO POWER TO THE ROUTER! THE POWER SUPPLY WENT BAD!

I grab a spare power supply, plug it in to my router, and in a minute or two. The router lights are happily blinking away like the lights on a Christmas Tree, and my laptop blinks up the happy message 'Wireless Connection Status: Connected"

Exhibit A: The perpetrator and accomplice in tonight's little 'challenge'.

I had spent the better part of TWO HOURS trying to fix something that wasn't the problem in the first place.

And to add insult to injury, all I had to do was double check that the router had power.

That's my lesson for the evening. With my problem solved, I've had a good laugh at my own expense (I definitely earned it).

And the next time technology goes 'sproing!' on you, no matter what the technology, take a deep breath, and make sure you don't jump to any conclusions.

Sometimes the solution is really as simple as double checking to make sure the lights are on....

Joanthan Landeros

www.ketivtech.com