got a crashed computer...
 

It's got XP home on it and thats all I know. It constantly cycles in boot mode and there is a bluescreen there, but it disappears so quickly, I don't know what its bluescreening over.
I was hoping that I had an old-but-working version of linux on cd somewhere, to get into some files stored on the windows bit of the hdd, but I haven't been able to find it, however, there's an old beta of Win7 I found and I'm contemplating attempting that - the question is, would it work?

All I know about the computer is that it looks like it's not a retail pc unit and it smells (was in bad storage before I got it - laundry and cats mostly)

I asked the previous owner what operating system and she answered 'facebook' - so no prizes for guessing that this is going to take some sorting out. :rolleyes:

Any help would be appreciated ;)

Re: got a crashed computer...
 

Corrupted OS ,will need either a repair install or a clean install of XP or nix if you wanted thats easy enough to come by.

The beta win 7 is a waste of time tbh. If the machine was not yours what data do you want to recover anyway?

Re: got a crashed computer...
 

How about something like UBCD?

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Loads of tools on there.

Edit: Not sure how much that has in the way of file managers. Maybe not the best tool for file recovery.

Re: got a crashed computer...
 

Don't bother with the Beta of Win 7. All the betas and Release Candidates either have or are about to expire.

Re: got a crashed computer...
 

There was some data on it that needed to retrieved, but as it seems that corrupted, I might as well start afresh... thing is, there's no disks with it for recovery.

Was hoping to fix it via the back door (so to speak)

If all else fails, it'll smell of cats and taste of linux :D

---------- Post added at 15:23 ---------- Previous post was at 14:50 ----------

Ok, got isoburner and am going to create an ubuntu cd... never done it before so things might start to get interesting shortly (having some food first!)

So it's going to smell of cats and taste of ubuntu (with any luck!)

Any hints and tips from this point forward, please do!

Re: got a crashed computer...
 

If the PC smells that badly, open it up. There is probably so much gunk inside that if you don't give it a decent clean it'll soon fail negating any efforr you make on setting up the software.

Re: got a crashed computer...
 

If he stays near Mary Bale there might actually be a cat inside :shocked: ... but that's another thread. ;)

Re: got a crashed computer...
 

haha LondonRoad!

The inside of the pc is actually quite clean... I think because it was in the same room as several cats it thinks it is one and has taken on their odour. Then again, it also spent several months covered in washing in various states of having been washed once and needing washing because someone/something peed on something and I must confess, I've had it a while in a sealed bin liner because of the smell.... (would'nt it be fab if someone could create a good internal air-freshener for computers? pop the back off, pop the air-freshener in, put the back on, boot up - ROSES!!)

Having never used Ubuntu before, this is going to be a mad learning curve for me so, is there anything I should expect? (other than 'it's not windows')

Re: got a crashed computer...
 

That is the main thing to remember... it is not Windows, but, for what it is worth Ubuntu is very user friendly. Ubuntu Software Centre will have software for most of you needs.

If you want to keep to the basics you will have no problems, but if you like to tinker then be prepared for a steep learning curve.

The usual pitfalls to look out for are video drivers which can be a real pain, Wireless Cards and installing the necessary decryption software to play DVD's (the decryption libraries are not installed by default due to legal concerns in some countries). I had some fun getting Java going as well, but I am using Ubuntu 10.04 64bit so this makes it a little more of a challenge.

I transferred onto Ubuntu on my work laptop about 4 months ago and have never looked back to be honest. Most of the hardware was detected during the install and the system was usable straight away.

There are websites full of information on the internet for Ubuntu to be referenced for any niggly problems, the beauty being you will most likely not be the first person to encounter most of the problems you will see.




Berkut

Re: got a crashed computer...
 

eek! all was going well, until I got a nice error message...

"(initframs) mount: mounting /dev/loop0 on //filesystem.squashfs failed: Input/output error
Can not mount /dev/loop0 (/cdrom/caspar/filesystem.squashfs) on //filesystem.squashfs"

point to note: used my last cd for it all too..

Re: got a crashed computer...
 

have you got a usb stick you could use to host a version of Linux
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/

I've seen that error on bad burns, but it may not be faulty cd, maybe iso issn't dl correctly, or faulty cd drive

Re: got a crashed computer...
 

I recon you need to leave one of these http://lh4.ggpht.com/_Z_uGd2LDFt8/Sd...jpg?imgmax=800inside your machine. Even Ubuntu is scared fo your machine

Re: got a crashed computer...
 

If you find yourself struggling with Ubuntu, either to get it running or to do the work then you may be interested in the Hirens CD. That's the one I meant yesterday but got my utility disk names mixed up.

Have a look at the site here:
http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd

Download takes a bit of googling, as the mirrors tend to move about.

Re: got a crashed computer...
 

I need to get another pack of cds seeing as how I used my last one on that last burn. What I *will* do, is select a slower burn speed and redownload the iso again.
I haven't had much time lately to do anything to it/with the computer.
Was contemplating grabbing a few isos and burning to dvd with the hope one of them will work - used knoppix in the past and quite liked it. (The pc in question won't be going anywhere near the internet until I'm happy it's working well)
It will probably be sometime at the end of September when I'm more able to do something as I'll have a bit more time then :)

Thanks for all the help so far, keep any tips coming, I am looking!! ;)

Re: got a crashed computer...
 

Ok, the deed is done. Ubuntu is now up and running on the other computer. I feel somewhat proud of my achievement :D
One pack of cds bought, Ubuntu redownloaded and burnt as an iso a little bit slower than last time and hey presto - we have a machine thats worthy of calling a computer :D
I've also acquired a few more friends for having done this deed too.. *lol* :D
And as for it smelling of cats? it doesn't anymore!!

I just have an issue now as regards the RAM. There are two 512mb sticks in, but it's only seeing 128mb???
(thats what I'm seeing anyway)
I've unplugged it and checked to make sure it was seated correctly, and it is... so is this something I can sort out or...?
Either way, the performance is sweet, no complaints there. Just need some time now to get adjusted to it.
I haven't had the opportunity (as yet) to get it online at all, but I will do before the end of the week (hardwired, not wireless, not yet anyway)

Now all I have to do is get the P4 comp working. It just needs a power supply, double up on the RAM (currently 1GB) and a hdd...
(May actually chicken out of that and get a good local company to do any work for me in getting it running right...)
And yes, I'll probably install ubuntu on that aswell... and I'll probably look into getting another monitor too :D

What will I do with a multi-pc household? absolutely no idea!!

Just PRAYING I don't get another computer for Christmas!! (actually, I am... the geek in me has decided it needs multiple operating systems and a nightmare new year haha!)

Re: got a crashed computer...
 

Y'know... I'd kiss that computer... but I haven't cleaned the outside of it yet :p:

---------- Post added at 17:09 ---------- Previous post was at 15:17 ----------

it's still only seeing the 128mb from the gfx card and using that as opposed to the 1Gb of ram in the ram slots (of which there are two)

Is it
a) the previous owners fault for getting someone to just stick any random RAM in that fitted into the slots
b) a possible issue with Ubuntu not seeing/using the 1GB RAM?

Or something else?

---------- Post added at 18:09 ---------- Previous post was at 17:09 ----------

Ok, I have the MoBo pinned down, it's a gigabyte 8s661fxmp-rz and it's refusing to see the RAM still.

There's also an 'AverTV' card in it - as yet, I haven't determined what it does - or what sort it is.

The GFX card is a geforce fx2500 (128mb ddr+tv)

Re: got a crashed computer...
 

That's just not possible. If it didn't 'see' the RAM memory it wouldn't even boot. Somehow it may not be reporting the installed RAM correctly but it's got to be using it.

Re: got a crashed computer...
 

When it starts up, it only sees 128mb of ram - even when I changed the ram (to something wholley inappropriate that I thought could work) it still booted up with 128mb Ram... even with the ram slots empty, it still loaded up with 128mb Ram - the same amount of ram on the geforce card... so it's definitely using resources from the gfx card.

I can't find where to look for the system specs in Ubuntu to find out for sure whats going on, but I'm really suspecting that something is afoot in the memory department...
Was contemplating hooking the pc up to the internet and finding/installing the MoBo drivers - see if that helps... (or not)

I already saved this computer once from being launched from a window - it might not be so lucky next time... only *I* will be doing the launching!!

And who the heck put tetris in the games on Ubuntu? thats the most addictive game on the planet!! (where my afternoon went when I wasn't swearing)

---------- Post added at 19:29 ---------- Previous post was at 18:57 ----------

Sorted!! Went into bios and q-flashed it... it now sees all the Ram :D

I feel soooo much better now! :D

Re: got a crashed computer...
 

Colour me gobsmacked !!

In 20 years of diddling with computers I've never known a system boot without RAM. Mind you, it's not something I've ever tried on a regular basis.

Re: got a crashed computer...
 

It happened because I forgot I'd taken the ram out in frustration and put the back on and just assumed I'd put ram in it... it wasn't until I booted it down and reopened the back that I saw two empty slots - meaning that until I noticed that, it definitely was using the memory off the gfx card....

Either that, or I have mystical powers over technology :D

Re: got a crashed computer...
 

next on my agenda:
A windows 95 machine that still works, just need for it to do *something* (old dos games are a possibility :D)
A PC with no power supply and no hdd that just needs those two things and a monitor :D (it's got a P4 chip in it, so it's worth doing something to get it working again :D)
A dead PC which needs stripping down to see which bits work and then either replace or get rid - not sure... it's 10 years old and up until this time last year, still worked.

May also dig out old Commodore 64 at some point too - just for old times sake (I bought it a floppy disk drive some years ago and it's been sweet!) :D

Either way, whichever of the computers I can get up and running (with a decent amount of ram - except for the win95 machine as it's waaaay past it :-p) will have ubuntu slung on it - now I know what the heck I'm doing (at long last!)

Re: got a crashed computer...
 

The onboard audio chip (needs a soundcard but I can't afford one at the moment) doesn't work so I've compensated and plugged in an old usb skype-style handset (the sort you get from Maplin) and it's doing its thing and I now have audio :D
I also have a usb soundblaster soundcard and I'm going to test that out later... :D

I'll be honest, I'm really seriously impressed with Ubuntu and what it's done to a seeminly dead computer :D

I've also got a microsoft lifecam which I'll plug into it at some point (got a cold, don't want to scare myself thanks!) and see what happens.

I'm learning important rule 1: you *can* breathe new life into an old computer :D

Re: got a crashed computer...
 

'Breathing life' - Yes you certainly can. There are a lot of functions that don't require the latest and greatest hardware. I had a NAS box for a time built from an old Pentium II machine. That worked perfectly well. (running Linux FreeNAS BTW)

Re: got a crashed computer...
 

I have to admit, one week on since getting everything 'operational' - I'm still impressed! :D
I also managed to get my daughter acquainted with it - and within an HOUR, she knew what to do (with my guidance) and I was ok to leave her to it after that :D
I'm still using a usb handset device for audio.
As for the gfx, I have had a few issues with the nvidia site in regards to downloading the appropriate drivers and thats on two machines! (so I'm guessing it just isn't me, or is it?)
Either way, the sheer speed and efficiency of the pc means it's going to be coming in very handy and useful for a lot of stuff.
It now just needs a bigger 2nd hdd and the RAM doubling to make it even sweeter :D
(The P4 comp that still needs work, well, I'm hoping to get that done before Christmas - there's no rush at the moment :D)