Computer Ramblings

[Christopher]

The other night I decided it was a good idea to find better drivers for my nForce chipset on my motherboard, the K8N-E Deluxe. I find a set of beta drivers, uninstall my old set via Driver Cleaner 3 and install the beta. Great, everything is by the book and I do the necessary restart.

Before I can get into the XP login screen, the computer reboots. I try safe mode, the same thing. Safe mode with networking, the same thing. Safe mode with command prompt, the same thing. Hrm - this one is a little hairy. Being an avid gamer, I had turned off system restore after the system's conception, so that's ruled out. I have no other options left that I wanted to pursue, like formatting as my girlfriend has a ton of personal stuff on the hard drive. I don't even have a floppy disk to employ that would let me play around in DOS.

I can't install Windows again because I don't have the pirated version of Windows that I initally installed. Even so, my cd-rom drive is EXTERNAL, and this means I'll need to throw in a cd-rom drive to get going again [not hard, but damnit, a pain in the butt].

After breaking down, I call my co-worker and tell him my woes, and he purchases a new Maxtor DiamondMax 10 250gb serial ATA drive with 16mb cache [$150ish] for me. Wow. I'll pay him back of course. My plan is to install the new drive, and then install Windows XP 64-bit beta RC2.

p.s. I also ordered a BFG 6600GT OC to replace my Radeon 9800XT that just died not too long ago spontaniously. Rest in peace, baby..

[jadeclaw]

Well, what was that old saying again?

Backup! Backup! Backup!

And of course: Never change a running system.

Oh, and btw, to compare Quality levels:

A finished product on Windows can be compared to a beta on Linux.

A beta on Windows is usually considered Alpha or pre-Alpha on Linux.

In other words, don't use beta-versions on a Windows box.

Especially drivers and system components.

Now that you get a new HDD, I say, invest another 30 bucks for an external USB2-HDD case and put the old HDD into that, makes backing up much easier, especially for a SonicStage library.

[streaml1ne]

Moral of the story: Don't run Windows.

[Christopher]

Well, I'm installing Windows XP 64-bit beta RC2 at work as I type this..that new hard drive is really nice.

Well, what was that old saying again?

Backup! Backup! Backup!

←

I'm a dolt, what can I say..

Oh, and btw, to compare Quality levels:

A finished product on Windows can be compared  to a beta on Linux.

A beta on Windows is usually considered Alpha or pre-Alpha on Linux.

In other words, don't use beta-versions on a Windows box.

←

George Lucas seemed confident enough to do so.

[SlowMo]

my solution to this is:

2 partitions for 2x winxp, with the fewest important data possible, if one of them fails, still have the other one to back up. then i format and reinstall, and i´m fine.

1 data partition/drive for storage.

however, recently my hdd has not much place left, and i don´t want to delete stuff, so i have to use one of the win partitions for storage until i got the money to buy me a new one.

but i REALLY have to make a backup, too. it would hurt so much to loose my 6-years grown sample library, and all of those reason songs...

how ist this win64-beta, btw ?

[Christopher]

It's great - I've had zero problems with it so far, and the new hard drive is blazing fast. I also just recieved the 6600GT, and it's really nice. It even has blue LED's which match my case.

The only downside is my Chaintech AV710 sound card doesn't have 64-bit drivers. I'm desperately trying to get this resolved..