[Vanity] (Much to simple) computer question that I'm confused about...Help please!

February 4, 2003 | S_S29

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

Thanks so much!

:*)

[Xenalyte]

Best idea: get a computer-savvy friend who has an extra hard drive. Have him hook up a cable to your hard drive and one to his, and dump all the data directly onto the extra. Install the extra hard drive in your PC, then get Norton AntiVirus. When you put in the CD, tell it you want emergency virus repair.

[Servant of the Nine]

A better guess is that power surges are destroying your computer. Surge protectors burn out if they take a big hit and have to be replaced. Get a new surge protector, an expensive one, not junk.

I do not beieve there is any software method of destroying a hard drive or motherboard. It is possible to program a video card to destroy a monitor.

So9

[drjoe]

Better still; get a Mac - we don't get viri. It just doesn't happens. Have been using them since December of 1984. Gotten one virus. nVir, I think in the summer of 1994. End of problem.

drjoe

[JennysCool]

As for backing up stuff, I hope you have a CD burner or zip drive -- that will enable you to copy all your programs, files, etc. onto high-capacity media just in case (God forbid) something like this happens again.

[KriegerGeist]

I back up data on an Iomega Zip 250 drive. Each floppy (if they could be referred to that) hold 250 MB (mega-bites) of data.
The Zip Drive comes with it's own back-up software for periodical, schedueled data back-ups to save all data or ust important files.

Another form of data back-up is a CD-R / CD-RW burner drive that you can burn many mega-bites of data on discs that run about $1.00 or less a piece.

There are also external (or removable) hard drives that are more expensive, but can have your data downloaded on to and then disconnected from the computer to isolate it.

Just a suggestion.

[joebuck]

I always create a seperate partition on a new hard drive for data only - and that's where I store all of my data. I burn a copy of this partition to a CD-R every week or two. My music and video files are burned onto CD-R immediately after I have saved them to the hard disk. (I create a seperate partition for video and music also)

[wbill]

You're right about the surge protector. Urban legends aside, there are no viruses in the wild that can destroy a motherboard.

If you have a modem, be sure that the surge suppressor includes a phone jack and plug your modem into it. Almost all of the surge related damage that I've seen has been caused by lightning running in on the phone lines.

Depending on the size of your hard drive, I'd suggest a tape backup. It's the cheapest way to archive large amounts of data. Burnable DVDs would work as well, but hey're still pretty expensive.

[Ramius]

I think SOT9 is right. This doesn't sound like a virus, but some other hardware issue like a flaky power supply or a fried motherboard... something mechanical as opposed to software. Power is a good place to start.

That computer needs attention from a technician.

Backups are easy to do just by writing whatever you want to keep to a CD. Methods will depend on what OS you're using.

[BushCountry]

If you want to have a really cool backup system that will restore your computer to working condition with all applications installed in 15 minutes this is it.

Two hards drives, a slave and a master (about the same size). Install all software (e.g. Operating system and apps), then use software that will clone your harddrive to the extra one. Remove extra harddrive and install a removable harddrive kit, cost around $20.00. Now you need to backup whatever you create and/or download at least once a week, this requires good file management. Just use your cd burner, a backup would cost you less than 10 cents.

Now your harddrive crashes, you yank out the old harddrive and replace it with the new one (less than 5 minutes if you didn't have two harddrive cases). Copy your lastest backup CD to your harddrive and you are rocking and rolling. If the old harddrive crashed because of OS problems (Microsoft blue screens, installing software or virues) just wipe and re-clone when you feel like it.

[JustAnAmerican]

"You're right about the surge protector. Urban legends aside, there are no viruses in the wild that can destroy a motherboard.

Well actually you are right and wrong. No there are no viruses that I know of that have the ability to destroy a Motherboard by force, however there are quite a few that will reprogram your EEProm, CMOS insert their own code and stop your motherboard from functioning,wipe every hard drive you install and just cause general weird problems

A little advice from a tech that has learned the hard way these many years,>>>>Legal mumbo jumbo(I am in no way endorsing the repair of any system by a non qualified tech)<<<< Before you replace that MB try disconnecting all drives except for the floppy, boot the machine using a write protected disk and reburn the EEprom, CMOS. Check with the manufacture for the program-disk to do this with. I have even seen malicious code in Video card EEproms before. Intelligence + Commonsense = Unbeatable logic.

[roadcat]

Cloning is indeed the fastest way to back up your hard drive. I've done that, between 2 computers on a small network hub. Ghost (clone) one computer into a file on the 2nd computer. It creates an exact image of all data on the hard drive into that file. Then for extra protection burn the file to a DVD-RW (burners are getting cheaper). Depending on the size of your hard drive, cloning can take 10 minutes to 50 minutes or so.

Here's another cool idea. I bought an Archos Jukebox Recorder 20 handheld mp3 device for storing 20gigabytes of music. Can record hundreds of cd albums. Cost me $220. It comes with a USB cable (superfast USB 2.0). Connect it to your Windows 2000 PC and drag-n-drop data files to the Jukebox. I've used it to transport gigabytes of data between PC's, very easy to use.

[Varmint Al]

This might sound too complicated, but it really isn't.

I use Norton SystemWorks Pro 2001 and it comes with the Ghost program (Ghost doesn’t come with the standard version). I think all of the versions of Norton SystemWorks Pro, 2002, and 2003 also contain the Ghost program.

I have installed a CD-Writer (CD-Burner) and it works easily with Ghost. All you have to do is create a Ghost boot disk from the Ghost menu button and it will include CD-Writer support. It is very easy to do from the Norton SystemWorks main screen. Then booting from that disk fires up Ghost and allows you to save each partition of your Hard Drive to CD-R's.

I add the GDISK.EXE program to the boot disk and make another bare bones boot disk and add FORMAT and GDISK.EXE to it also.

You can take those CD's you created and the Ghost boot disk and load your complete system back onto a new Hard Drive once the new Hard Drive is formatted. I use the Norton GDISK.EXE program for creating the partitions and formatting them. All the info necessary to run GDISK is given to you when you type GDISK /? In the DOS Box.

Another beauty of the Ghost program is that it highly compresses the files so you can get a lot of data on just a few CD's. Also once you have the CD's you can read many files or even an individual file from them if needed by using the Ghost Editor.

I save my complete system off on CD's about once a month. I recently got a new and faster HD and it took about 2 hrs total to have my complete system C: D: E: F: and G: partitions (including my complete web page folder) onto the new HD and it worked without a glitch. Often, I have found that many backup programs go into minute detail on how to backup, but then give you practically no info on how to restore the data.

Good Data Backup... from Varmint Al

[ThePythonicCow]

Backups are a pain, and will cost you at least one of money, time or more pain for being inadequate.

At various times, I've used probably 10 or 20 different backup software programs, to perhaps a dozen various tape, cd, floppy, disk, or network media. Seldom do I find a solution that I really like for long.

Currently, I am quite happy with SystemSafe, by NetMass. I use them to backup a few critical files (my wife's business accounting files in particular), over the web. Their windows client is remarkably trouble free, and its well worth the monthly fee.

For my main system, I use tape backup to an OnStream tape drive - but that costs well over a thousand dollars.

I setup my father-in-laws system so he could backup the one critical document (a book he's writing) to floppies.

Here are some links to websites discussing these issues more:

• PC Handyman's Tip: Backup, backup, backup!
• Rescuing the Drowning Computer
• Methods of Performing Backups
• Have you left your front door open?
• Practical PC: The Art of Backup

[ThePythonicCow]

Software typically won't destroy a motherboard, but it could modify the eprom (bios settings) - making the motherboard behave as if destroyed, unless you know how to fix it.

[Focault's Pendulum]

What were you using as your old system. What is your new system.

Everyone's answers here were pretty much on target. But we can help you even better, if we know under what parameters you were operating.

It doesn't appear that you're a comp geek like many of us claim to be. Just try to give us the information in your own best words.

BTW motherboards are notoriously hard to destroy....I have to agree with JustAnAmerican about it being re programmed.

Also...what did you do with your old system...I have a reason for asking.

[Focault's Pendulum]

BTW....I can't believe I didn't answer your question...humorously...the meds must be working.....damn!!!

[KeyWest]

Does not sound like a virus. If the symptoms were that you could not boot up, it could have been a bad battery. If so, the computer is still good as are the hard drives.

But, if there was a bad motherboard, it would look like the drives were bad, so the old drives may still be good too.

In any case, use zone alarm (free at zone labs) and a good av program like norton antivirus. And a good spyware catcher like spybot or adaware.

A fairly cheap backup system is a cdr burner and backup program (many of which come with the burner- check the software that comes with the burners). The cdr drives will be from $100 down for an excellent burner. Then backup everything about twice a year (or whenever you make a major change to your system) and your changing files every week (word documents, email, etc.). You can do the weekly ones by not closing the cdr or backup to a cdrw, but I prefer not closing a cdr and backing up incrementally to it.

If you want to go really cheap, take one of those hard drives from the old computer and install it in the new one. You will need a little help (there are plenty of tutorials on the internet) but Fdisk the old drive, format it and then copy ( get the copy program from the drive manufacturers website- usually free) everything from the new drive to the old one. Instant backup and you have everything. Then copy the changing files to the old drive weekly, and monthly recopy the entire drive.

Good luck and God bless.

[tubebender]

I don't play a geek on TV but...Could you have a wiring problem within the house or the utility company from the pole to your house. Do your lights flicker from time to time. The voltage should be checked at the outlet and also the grounding of the plug. Do you have lighting in your area. A GOOD surge protector is a must and they cost more than $9.95.

Did you ever get a positive ID of the snake under your foot a few months back?

[Servant of the Nine]

If you have a modem, be sure that the surge suppressor includes a phone jack and plug your modem into it. Almost all of the surge related damage that I've seen has been caused by lightning running in on the phone lines.

Yes. If the power supply and monitor are not damaged, then the surge is most likely on the phone line, or over the cable if you have a cable modem.

SO9