McAfee deal

Ken Lang · From: Simi Valley, Ca

Just a heads up for McAfee computer protection, if anyones looking. They are havig a special on protection and virus protection. I got the program for 4 computers for $50.59, which I think is 50% off.
That is a real deal.
_________________
heavily medicated for your safety

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

Back in January, I bought McAfee Total Internet Protection 2009 - 3 PC's for $29.95 (no shipping or tax) and a $20 rebate. I was not a McAfee fan for a long time but at the price and I needed a new security package so I bought it and it's worked well and has not been the "bloatware" that Norton or CA Associates security packages are.

Ken Lang · From: Simi Valley, Ca

Don't know why I couldn't load XP on my new hard drive. Bought an OEM disk too. Had to take it to Best Buy to have them load it. Good, they did.
Take it home and load Acronis Done. Acronis restore worked until the end, wen it said it needed to get updated windows files and load the new windows disc. From there it went kablooie. Let me say this in my best French: goddam it. Nothing now works.

I'm now reformatting the disk in hopes I can get XP back on it. Then get my saved files one folder at a time. This sucks.
_________________
heavily medicated for your safety

Wiz Feinberg · From: Mid-Michigan, USA

Ken;
It is possible that your CD drive has a worn our, or dust covered laser, leading to dropouts of the data on the XP disk, or Acronis disk. This has happened to me on more than one occasion, where I had trouble reinstalling Windows. Replacing the CD/DVD drive unit usually fixes the problem.

Please describe the type of backup you tried to restore. I have never been prompted for a Windows disk when restoring saved Acronis image files. Did you save complete disk images, or just particular files and folders?
_________________
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog

Ken Lang · From: Simi Valley, Ca

I suspected the CD drive myself. I figured if it was bad, Best Buy woud find it, but it was not replaced. Cleaned-maybe.
I am reloading XP now and----It worked. I now have windows.
Now I have to reload the Dell disks etc.

For Acronis I selected just the files. I don't know whether to try it again. Why it looked for windows again I don't understand either, but what it did when I put in the disc was start the installation all over again. Maybe I should have taken the boot sequence to the disc off.
_________________
heavily medicated for your safety

Wiz Feinberg · From: Mid-Michigan, USA

Ken;
I recommend that you schedule a separate Acronis job to create a weekly backup of your entire C or boot drive. There are special settings available to remove images after so many new ones are created. I usually keep two old and one new image, on a daily basis (I alter a lot of files every day). You might get away with keeping two weekly backups in a "Backup Location."
_________________
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog

Ken Lang · From: Simi Valley, Ca

Wiz. I do have an external drive where I keep my backups. At the moment backups aren't scheduled, but I should do that. As it happend I did a backup a week before the C drive went down, so I'm in pretty good shape, if I can get the restore done. As it's a totally new hard drive, with XP now loaded, do you think I should do a full disk restore or just files?
_________________
heavily medicated for your safety

Wiz Feinberg · From: Mid-Michigan, USA

Ken Lang · From: Simi Valley, Ca

Wiz. Sounds like a plan. I will do so. Gotta run for a golf date. I'll see what kinda damage I can do later on.
_________________
heavily medicated for your safety

Ken Lang · From: Simi Valley, Ca

OK. It's later on. Did the re-install from Acronis. After 2+ hours The Acronis was done. The sceen went blank and all that was left was the dos bar, which would do nothing. It will not load windows. It will only go to the windows installation---again. Repair doesn't work. I'm going to have to try and install widows for the 3rd time. I have unkind words fo Acronis.

So I'm a dummy. But I'm smart enough to know this should not be such a problem.
_________________
heavily medicated for your safety

Ken Lang · From: Simi Valley, Ca

This is becoming a comedy of errors. There must be a solution.

So I can't load XP because my CD Rom is bad. I buy a new CD Rom, put it in, plug it in. The light is on. But, I can't load the disc for the new hard drive because I don't have windows installed. I can't load windows becahse the cd rom won't yet work.

When I put the CD Rom disc in it says Secondayr drive 0 and 1 not found. When I hit F1 it says no boot device available

I've got only one thing to say.

HELP.
_________________
heavily medicated for your safety

Wiz Feinberg · From: Mid-Michigan, USA

Ken;
Why, despite my advice to leave well enuf alone, did you run the restore of your old hard drive from the saved image? My recommendation was to leave the new installation alone, optimize it, then save a new fresh image of the reinstalled, good working computer.

Ok, what's done is done. The computer will not boot. Something is wrong with the hardware devices on your motherboard, or in the case, or the cables connecting them. Let's troubleshoot a bit.

LOOSE CONNECTIONS

Loose connections can occur over time, from heat build-up and fan vibrations, or accidentally, from adding or removing components. They are known causes of failures to boot, or sudden shutdowns.

Remove the power cord and all other cables outside the case, then remove the side cover from the case. Vacuum out all visible dust bunnies. Grab a good light and magnifying glass. Check the electrolytic capacitors around the CPU for bulging and/or leakage. If you find any the motherboard is next to useless.

If there is no leakage from capacitors, press down on all plugged in cards and cables, to ensure that they are firmly seated. You may need to unscrew any metal screws that secure add-on cards (audio, video, LAN, modem), which are plugged in long sockets.

Also, push down on your RAM modules, on the sides, and make sure the side clips are fastened into the notches on the sides of the RAM.

Make sure that all signal and power cables are firmly seated into the receptacles on the disk drives. Make sure that the power supply connectors are tight in the motherboard sockets.

DUST

Overheating is also a common cause of boot and shutdown problems. Often, overheating is caused by dust build-up inside the vents, fan blades and heatsinks inside the case and power supply, and on the motherboard and plug-in cards.

Vacuum out as much dust as possible from the power supply and its fans. Test the power plugs afterward to make sure they aren't loosened from contact.

Using a soft bristle brush attachment on a vacuum hose, touch the case with one hand to discharge static, then run the soft bristles over the CPU fan and heatsink and any other fans and heatsinks you can access. If there is a lot of dust under the CPU fan, remove the four screws that attach the fan to the heatsink, then vacuum out the dust from the fins.

Lightly touch the heatsink and see if it is loose in its mounting bracket. Don't force it, but twist ever so lightly. If the heatsink lifts or moves freely, it is not making goo thermal contact with the top of the CPU.

If the CPU heatsink is not loose, reinstall the fan and plug it into the motherboard socket, if it was removed.

BAD COMPONENTS

Sometimes parts wear out inside computers. Power supplies go bad. Chipsets overheat. Capacitors leak, motherboards can even warp from heat. Last, but definitely not least, RAM can go bad and fail intermittently. Have your RAM tested at a computer store. If it gives any errors it should be replaced.

RAM

If a test shows errors in any of your RAM modules, and have more than one module installed, try to replace all of them with new ones bearing the same brand and part number from their manufacturer. If you only have two RAM chips, try to buy a matched pair. For 32 bit OSes, install at between 2 and 4 gigs of matched RAM, of the highest clock rating supported by your motherboard. You can order online from Crucial, which I use and promote. Their home page has a "Memory Advisor" look-up tool to find the exact part numbers that work best with your computer, or motherboard.

The Crucial Memory Advisor will tell you what clock speeds are supported by your motherboard. Buy matched part numbers of the highest supported clock speed, or speed rating.

BAD IDE CONTROLLERS

Sometimes IDE controller chips go bad and your disk drives cannot be detected. Othertimes, corruption of Windows causes the drivers for those controllers to fail. This leads to yellow exclamation points in your Device Manager, under the IDE category.

If the chipsets on your motherboard go bad the entire board must be replaced. If the PC was built more than two years ago your only recourse may be to purchase a replacement on eBay. That is, unless you can find a nearby store that has older unused mainboards in stock (NOS).

If you change your motherboard you will have to call Microsoft to reacivate Windows. Your previous activation code will become invalid due to swapping out the mainboard. This can also happen if you change your CPU.

BAD CD DRIVES

These are laser operated devices and they do fail eventually. This can happen due to dirt, dust, or grease getting on the laser pickup point, or from bearings wearing out. Electronics also wears out from heat build-up. Try replacing the CD/DVD drive and the signal cable.

These are all mechanical or fundamental chipset issues I have listed. It may turn out that a combination of loose parts and connectors is responsible. A loose CPU/heatsink can be fixed by disassembling it, cleaning off the old silicon goop with the proper cleaner (sold at computer shops), and applying a thin coat of thermal coupling solution. Fasten down the heatsink properly after twisting it right and left to distribute the thermal solution, attach and plug in the fan, and you should be good to go.

CPU thermal coupling replacement kits are available with a jar or tube of cleaner and polisher, plus a new tube of silicon solution, sometimes for a low as $12 or $15.

I hope this helps you track down your problem. If not, you have eliminated these suspects and can move on to a bad saved image, or bad replacement hard drive as the culprit.
_________________
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog

Ken Lang · From: Simi Valley, Ca

Wiz. I appreciate your help. You have done a lot to explain things and I will save your comments so I can have them for the future. They may apply now, but first the history so far:

1. I bought a new hard drive and a Windows OEM disk.
2. XP woukd not load. apparently the CD drive could not read some things.
3. Took it to Best Buy. They got XP loaded somehow.
4. At home, tried to get my files back from Acronis. If not, all those files saved from my C drive would be lost forever.
5. It wrecked XP, but I did see a partition that had about the right amount for the saved files.
6. Tried to get XP back on another partition, but the CD drive wouldn't load some files. Earlier, the conclusion was the CD drive was bad.
7. Bought a new CD Drive this morning. Put the jumper on cable only and put it in the computer.
It says, invalid partition table. It may be some of the things you mentioned and if so, this Dell is trash.
Called my son to come over. He knows more than I. If he can't fix it, it's gone.

I know it is difficult to diagnose from a distance and I appreciate Your help and Jacks help.

PS. I thought the whole purpose of Acronis was to restore your files when your hard drive went down.
_________________
heavily medicated for your safety

John Cipriano · From: San Francisco

First things first. Is your CD-ROM drive on the end of the cable? Then put the jumper to Master. If you want the jumper on Cable Select then it should be in the middle of the cable. Check that before you read the rest of this.

----

Ken, your mention of "cable only" isn't clear. There are typically three settings: Master, Slave, Cable Select (M, S, CS). I'm guessing you meant CS but I don't want to guess about this part since it may be what's causing the issue.

The typical desktop maybe five years old has two IDE channels, a primary and a secondary. Each channels takes a master and a slave (or as your board is calling them, drive 0 and drive 1). If both drives are jumpered to "cable select" then the one connected to the middle of the ribbon cable is the master, the one on the end is the slave. So there is a primary master, a primary slave, a secondary master, a secondary slave. For speed reasons the hard drive with the OS is always the primary master. Typically the CD-ROM is the secondary master.

Now identify your primary IDE channel on the board (it has the cable leading to the hard drive) and make note of where it is, and where the secondary channel is. Make sure everything is connected properly. No bent pins, connectors are not loose or crooked, or upside down. Sometimes the drives themselves are not keyed so it is possible to put the cable in upside down.

The way to make sure nothing is upside down is to look at the connectors on the board. They will have a little "1" or arrow next to pin 1. So will the connector on the drive. And the IDE cable will have a stripe going down the wire that corresponds to pin 1. Go into the BIOS and take a look at the drives. If both of your IDE channels are being used, then the secondary should have at least a "drive 0" on it.

Still no dice? Next what I would do is this. Take the cable that connects to the hard drive(s) and unplug the end that's connected to the motherboard. Then plug the CD-ROM drive into that port, with the jumper set to M or CS. In short, make the CD-ROM drive the primary master, and make sure no other drives are hooked up.

You should now be able to go into the BIOS and somewhere in there you will see "such and such brand IDE CD-ROM" listed as the primary master. If that works, try to boot from it. If that doesn't work, use another cable. Or use the other channel. Etc. The goal is to systematically eliminate every variable.

If it does work, put the CD-ROM back on the secondary channel, and the hard drive back on the first, and cross your fingers.

Anyway I'm late to the party and you said your son was going to look at it, so you may not need this anyway. But good luck. Someone at Best Buy might be able to figure out what's going on as well. You just need some spare cables and everything has to be test one thing at a time.

If it does turn out that the secondary IDE channel is busted, you can get a RAID card with IDE slots for 20 bucks or so, provided you are willing to configure it or know someone who can.

Sorry for the long post. It used to be much worse before plug & play! The nice thing about getting a new computer is you won't have to deal with IDE/ATA. SATA is much nicer...easier to hook up physically as well as more straightforward to set up. Each drive gets its own channel, or at least appears that way, and there's no jumpering or folding cables to get them to fit.

Ken Lang · From: Simi Valley, Ca

John, thanks. Every little bit of info I get makes me that much smarter. I'll sort out the things in your post and see if It will help.
At this moment I have the new CD Drive in the machine. The windows setup disc is running, loading files. I hit windows setup. It says chose:
Unpartitioned space 8MG
D: partitioned2 114416 MB
c: partition1 839435 MB
Unpartioned space 8MB

I chose C: I press enter,
It asks if I want to format the partition. I have done that. I say no, press enter.
I say save the folder and delete the existing installation.

It says it is now copying files to put in the installation folder.
It stops, says it can't copy: vdmindce.sys
I skip, move on, then it's another and another I stop.

Thats exactly what happened on a dozen other tries, with several install discs and two CD Rom drives.
Something else has to be wrong. And yet-Once I got it to work.

BY the way. I have changed none of the cabling. It is as the computer came.
**************************************************

No sense spending any more time on this thread. I will either gut it and start over or buy a new one.
Thanks guys,
Ken.
_________________
heavily medicated for your safety

Wiz Feinberg · From: Mid-Michigan, USA

Ken;
STOP work on this computer now. Since you have replaced the CD drive and are having problems reading the XP CD, there are only a few explanations left.

The OEM CD has bad sectors or corrupted data. Is it a legitimate Microsoft produced CD? Or, was it a copy burned for you by a store? Are there any visible scratches on the data side, or top side? Any smudges on the data side?
The IDE bus chipset to which the CD is connected has gone bad on the motherboard
The signal cable connecting the CD to the motherboard is bad, or is not properly seated in its sockets
You have BAD RAM! Take the RAM modules out and have them tested at a computer repair shop equipped to test RAM for read/write errors, under heat and stress. Try swapping out your RAM for new Crucial RAM, in a matched pair.
You CPU is overheating due to loose contact with the heatsink, or the heatsink is clogged. Follow my instructions to see if this is true.
Did you check for leaking capacitors? They will cause data corruption, as well as sudden shutdowns.
You may have bought a defective CD unit! Return it for another unit.

_________________
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog

Ken Lang · From: Simi Valley, Ca

Hey Wiz. Here is what I have decided to do.
I am going to take the computer back to Best Buy to have them put XP back on. They did it once, and if they have problems, I'll let them find it. Both they, and I, have loaded XP once with the CD. It they can do it again, and tell me what they did, I'll leave it alone.

I will, after testing the new CD Drive on another computer that needs it, either keep it or take it back.

As far as your suggestions for other problems it may be, they are good ones, but beyond my interest in doing. I would rather just buy another computer than keep one that's 5 years old and dying.
I will post again on the results of all this, just to share the resolution of the problem.
Thanks.
Ken
_________________
heavily medicated for your safety

Robin Archer · From: Califon, , USA

The "overhead" required to run either Norton or McAfee has gotten a little less but they still slow everything down.
Do yourselves a favor and download AVAST...it's free for home use and does and excellent job of keeping the bad guys away.
->R
_________________
That's a Gibson Electra Harp; four pedals, 8 string, C6th

Wiz Feinberg · From: Mid-Michigan, USA

Free anti virus can never give the same level of protection against current threats as paid versions do. They usually only schedule one daily check for updates, where paid security programs may check for and receive hourly updates, via in-the-cloud definitions and rotating on-board databases (Outdated defs out - new defs in).

Malware is changed at such a fast rate that definitions for many identified threats in the wild only have a shelf life of 24 hours. It is of utmost importance to get actual current definitions pushed out to paying customers as fast and often as possible.

Free anti virus programs have no such urgency.
_________________
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog

Robin Archer · From: Califon, , USA

Wrong...AVAST rates right up there with the best...update itself at least daily and is constantly scanning realtime.
I run 65 PCs all using AVAST Professional and rarely have problems with Trojans, Virus etc.
Only when the used accepts email and opens the attachment do we have to manually scan files to catch the bad guy.
The free version does just as well but should only be used for home use.
->R
_________________
That's a Gibson Electra Harp; four pedals, 8 string, C6th

Ken Lang · From: Simi Valley, Ca

Robin. Now you tell me about AVAST after I just bought McAfee downloads for 4 computers.

Wiz. I talked to the guy at Best buy who first worked on my computer. He said my brand new 1 Terrabyte drive was bad and they had to replace it. He didn't know if they used my disc for XP but I'm thinking not, and it's bad. I will send it back.
My downloading my Acronus did screw up the the boot up. He's reloading XP.

Now, I have my old C drive saved in an Acronis file on an external drive. How do I get that information on to my new C drive?

I'm beginning to realize how important that may be. Some of my Cakewalk files are not bundled up, and I need that info to get the wav files.
_________________
heavily medicated for your safety

Mitch Drumm · From: Frostbite Falls, hard by Veronica Lake

Ken:

I haven't followed this thread very well, but as I understand it, Best Buy is putting on a known good copy of XP back onto your PC.

If that is correct and you then put your Acronis image back on your PC, you would be replacing the known good copy of XP with the Acronis image. Why would you do that? You would just be defeating Best Buy's work and erasing the known good copy of XP.

You may mean that you want to get your personal stuff out of that Acronis file--pictures, emails, Word documents, mp3s, etc.

If that is what you mean, that's another story entirely. You would have to go inside that Acronis image and copy ONLY the specific files and folders you are interested in back to the location of your choice on the XP system that Best Buy is preparing for you.

As far as I know, Acronis will let you do that--rather than restoring the entire Acronis image. You should be able to drill into the Acronis file and see an ordinary looking folder tree. It would then just be a matter of finding your personal stuff and dragging it to the Best Buy XP system.

You would first have to install Acronis on your new XP system and then run it and figure out how to drill into an image on your external drive.

When the smoke clears, you might consider another way to back up your personal stuff--some way that does not lock you in to an image file. That may be as simple as manually copying certain folders from your XP system to your external drive. Or you can use an application that automates the process. The key point is that this is backup on a file by file basis, not as an image. A lot of people use both methods. I have always preferred to use imaging products like Acronis for operating systems and file by file backups for personal data.

The larger point is that it is useless to walk around thinking you have stuff covered when in fact you don't. It's like thinking you are insured only to find out that you really aren't. You have to know what the products do and don't do, whether you can personally operate them, and whether you should place any confidence in them.

Ken Lang · From: Simi Valley, Ca

Mitch, you are correct in that I want to restore my files. I did realize I could do what you said and dig into the fils to get to the individual files. In fact I have done that on occasion just to make sure it backed up correctly. I understand now, that I have no choice but to do it that way.

What I had thought Acronis was capable of doing was to restore the whole drive, including programs and the lot. Fortunately I saved a copy of was installed programs in another drive. There are approx 120 programs I had in the old C drive. That means if I want to keep them all, I'll have to re-install all of them myself, one at a time.
And all of my files. one at a time.
That is a lot of work. Let alone money if I have to buy programs again.
I guess I was under the impression Acronis would do that for me, and that is what it says in the options, restore from xx file.

I can do all that, if fact I can no doubt clean things up some.

Still, is that not what Acronis is about? Bulk restore?
_________________
heavily medicated for your safety

Mitch Drumm · From: Frostbite Falls, hard by Veronica Lake

Ken:

Acronis is typically used to restore entire partitions, molecule for molecule. I am guessing you have a single internal hard drive and a single partition (C) on that hard drive.

If that is the case, then Acronis should certainly be able to restore all of it, including your personal data and installed applications.

For whatever reason, it went bad in this case and Best Buy is going to present you with a new C drive, but it will have no installed applications and none of your personal data.

So, yes, you will have to reinstall applications and drill into your Acronis image to get your personal stuff back.

You learned two things:

1: At least you have a backup of your personal data and applications sitting on your external drive and can recover--although that will take time and some aggravation. Be grateful you had the sense to back up at all.

2: Backup procedures are subject to failure, confusion, misunderstanding, human error, mechanical error, etc. It's dangerous to rely on a single method.

Personally, I haven't used imaging in several years.

I decided the false sense of security they provide was dangerous--you think your are doing the right thing, have it all covered, and then they may not bail you out for whatever reason when you most need it.

I am willing to be forced to reinstall my operating system and applications manually once in a while if I have a drive failure or major issue of some kind. It takes several hours. Better that than having a false sense of security.

I back up my personal data on a file by file basis in several ways that have nothing to do with making an image.

Your mileage may vary, but that is what I have decided to do.

Ken Lang · From: Simi Valley, Ca

Too soon old, too late smart. Story of my life.
_________________
heavily medicated for your safety

Forum Index > Computers	Goto page 1, 2 Next	Next oldest topic :: Next newest topic