Critical Laptop SNAFU | 06/02/2009 |
 I've been dumber, but not by much.
So, I've been troubleshooting a problem on a piece of equipment not directly related to my laptop. The equipment in question is a net-box. A tiny laptop which won't boot to Windows, and has your typical Blue Screen of Death.
I've determined that the problem with the net-box will be resolved by having Windows reinstalled. This is not as simple as it sounds, as the Net-box is little more than a wireless connection and tiny hard-drive hooked up to a diminutive monitor and keyboard. There's no CD/DVD device on board, just USB ports.
OK, So, Just hook up a CD ROM and install - Uh, sure. That might work if I had a portable CD ROM and a spare Windows install disk. So, no go there.
I have found several sites that list using a USB Stick drive to access the problem net-box and reload the OS - so I went that route.
Purchased a bright shiny 2gig USB Flash drive that had no bells or whistles (It's just faster that way) and proceeded to learn lots of things.
I got very frustrated at one point when I was attempting to use my HP-Proprietary back-up CD Rom to create the image - So, I did something I shouldn't have.
It was late (that's not an excuse, but I probably should have gone to bed rather than work on this problem), and I was attempting to format the USB drive using the Windows re-install CD. It's a funny thing about following directions, sometimes you should be wide awake to do it. In attempting to format the USB, I succeeded in formatting C: - Yes. I did exactly the opposite of what I was supposed to do.
So, I sat back, blinked and thought - DID I JUST DO WHAT I THINK I DID? I didn't want to know, so I shut down and went to bed.
Next day, I found out that 50 gigs of data had been wiped out like yesterday's Chalkboard.
OUCH.
I've been reinstalling ever since, but it's a lost cause.
I do have a potential back up - but I have to find the software to pull it. Of course, it's from July last year - but it's better than nothing.
Oh whell... I'll be smarter later.
|
|
|
Loading...