Yesterday morning I got home from my aikido class and got on my computer. I was running agonizingly slow. I thought maybe one of the processes was running out of control, sucking up resources. So I was trying to shut down Outlook Express, etc. Even shutting stuff down was slow. I finally just unplugged the machine, and then plugged it back in. I couldn’t get my machine to boot up. I started getting a screen at the very benning saying “Primary master hard disk S.M.A.R.T status bad. WARNING: Immediate back-up your data and replace your hard disk drive. A failure may be imminent.” How scary is a message like that? I tried to boot the machine up in safe mode, but no luck. I chose an option saying something about booting up in last known good configuration of something. It ran chkdisk, and was trying to fix issues, but was having problems. One of the last things it said was that it was unable to save $MFS. I did a search found the $MFS is the master file system. So it basically erased my hard drive.
I couldn’t find my original CDs for the eMachines computer. I had another Windows XP cd though. I reformatted the hard drive. I chose the quick option. It then tried to install Windows XP on the machine, but died shortly into the install saying it couldn’t save files. I reformatted the HD again, this time not the quick. I gotr farther in the install before it died. I was still getting the <em>Primary Master Hard Disk SMART Status Bad</em> message. So I figured the drive was toast.
I looked around online at Circuit City and Staples, both of which are nearby. I figured I could get a 160 gig hard drive for around $100. Later, my wife and I headed to Officemax (also nearby), and found a Western Digital 160gig HD for $120. She had a corporate discount card, but I didn’t think it would drop the price much. We headed over to Circuit City. I found a Western Digital 250 gig HD for $120 with a $50 mail in rebate (final cost about $70). So I bought it and brought it home. The install was easy. I like the way the eMachines computer is set up on the inside. I removed a couple thumb screws and the side panel came off. I remove one screw, and the drive cage came out. I unscrewed 4 little screws, removed the old drive, slid in the new drive, screwed it in place. I reinstalled the cage, and then transferred the cables from the old drive to the new one. I put everything back together, reconnected the cables to the back, and was on my way.
I formatted the new HD, and installed Windows XP. The machine worked fine, but I couldn’t access my network. It was like WinXP didn’t see my network card. I then found the CDs that came with the eMachines computer in the first place. There were three CDs with an exact image of the original machine as it came from the store. It use Symantec Ghost. I used these to install the machine, and it reformatted the HD, and installed the stuff. When I booted the machine, it worked great including the network interface. Then I spent hours updating the OS, and Norton Antivirus stuff, reinstalling software, etc. Fortunatly, I had backed up a bunch of stuff a week ago to an external harddrive. I still lost a lot:emails, bookmarks, etc.
Today, I was going to fill out the mail in rebate, and found that the yutz at Circuit City, had printed my wife’s name on the reciept and rebate forms. Same address, different name. I don’t look like a Helen. My credit card doesn’t say Helen! So, hopefully, I will get back up there tonight, and have them reprint the stuff with my name! Not that I couldn’t have mailed the stuff in, and gotten a check in my wife’s name. But it is annoying.
My computer is my business! I make a lot of money with that computer. So spending the money to get it up and running kind of sucks, but it is a necessary evil! It is an investment. I use my laptop computer too, but the desktop is easier to type on, and has a real mouse, and had all of my data on it, etc.
