Friend, a blond, drops computer 'to make it better.'

[Loose rivets]

She has purchased a new one, but her old HP 6000 sexy white edition holds her multi-thousand photos.


It starts to boot, but only goes to Window's fag-waving stage. 'It will do that for a couple of hours.'

What's the best course of action for this - mostly harmless - charming lady?



Oh, boolox. Not fag waving. Hag-waving, shirley?

Anyway, that waving flag is the only clue I have to the OS ver. That and it's a 6000.





,

[MG23]

If she dropped it, sounds like she probably broke the hard drive and it can't read some file required to boot Windows. I'd put it in an external enclosure, plug it into another PC and see if you can copy the files from it.

[mixture]

What's the best course of action for this - mostly harmless - charming lady?

Go buy her a Panasonic Toughbook, three external hard drives and teach her how to back up.

[finncapt]

If it doesn't work with MG23 suggestion try the same with a linux system.

You don't have to install linux just run it off an usb stick.

I've found that linux often reaches the other parts that a windows system cannot.

[lomapaseo]

If it doesn't work with MG23 suggestion try the same with a linux system.

You don't have to install linux just run it off an usb stick.

I've found that linux often reaches the other parts that a windows system cannot.

A Linux USB stix bailed me out this week when my Win 7 refused to fix screwed up hardrives

[cattletruck]

Friend, a blond, drops computer 'to make it better.'

Just turn it the other way around and drop it again to put it all back to how it was. Sheesh, any blonde knows that.

Does windows still have boot.log, could be a peripheral gone bung inside the laptop and the driver for it is hanging during the boot strap.

[Loose rivets]

Haven't laid hands on it yet. I'd rather gathered the dropping was to cure this particular fault. Not sure now 'you' mention it.


I'd like a stick dedicated to Ubutu, and I see it doesn't have to be empty, which surprises me. One will read up, but I only have one stick that's big enough, so don't want to risk the data on it. I guess I could make her buy a stick, but she'd probably throw it against a wall to make it go.:p

[Mac the Knife]

Unlikely she broke the HDD (laptop HDDs are quite tough, 'specially when still inside the laptop) or it wouldn't even start to boot.

Pull the drive and (unless it's encrypted) it should be accessible through Windows or *nix.

Just don't do anything that might write to the drive...

:suspect:

[EEngr]

Smacking old tube-equipped TV sets used to be one approach to getting them to work. The vibration would re-seat dirty or oxidized tube pins. Perhaps some blond figure their laptop's tubes need to be jiggled.;)

[ExSp33db1rd]

Perhaps some blond figure their laptop's tubes need to be jiggled

Jiggling a blondes' tubes ?? Now there's an idea !

[vulcanised]

Back in the days of the Atari ST, dropping them (ooer missus) was indeed the favoured method of fixing them.

The chips were socketed and had a tendency to ride up out of the socket. Holding the computer level about a foot above the bench and then dropping it frequently resulted in a 'fixed' computer.

Ching! £30 for nowt.

[Pelikal]

Perhaps some blond figure their laptop's tubes need to be jiggled Jiggling a blondes' tubes ?? Now there's an idea ! Ex, you naughty person. :ok:

[Loose rivets]

Well, I downloaded Ubuntu 386 saucy something and am into the HP. But, I can only find a few photos.

I admit I haven't spent all that long learning to drive this OS, but the lady's initials are on one folder loud and clear. No other folder seems to hold the treasured files.

As a quick thought, am I missing the obvious here?

Like, not installing Ubuntu but just running it from a stick?

Frustrating. So near and yet so far.




.

[Loose rivets]

Got it under vague control, but really strugling with the feeling of being lost in a vast town with no map.

Anyway, thousands of photos taken from disc, but the (probably unpaid) time has been horrendous.

What is the best copy of Ubuntu to download for a permanent dual boot? One seems okay, but the one I put on a slow old DVD is better.

It also seemed to be warning of messing with the partitions if I did a real instal. Can't risc that as I don't have all the pics yet, but heck, it would be soooo much faster not having to go to DVD.

Yes, the stick is quicker, but tricky when using that media to convey the files to my own laptop.

I just didn't realize when I took this on. Some 60 Gb of jpg files to save. Just what would she have been charged with a 'normal' company?

[Guest 112233]

The Dual install depends on the version of windows - XP Pro + Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 32 Bit has worked for the last 3 years without probs - Dual boot using grub (now old fashioned) (And yes it warns you about installing a EXT3 partition).

Ubuntu can also be installed using something call wubi - where the Unix Sys exists as an application in the Windows partition - Its not as resilient to failures as a separate install. - I have no direct experience of using this. Not to be used under Windows 8.

Now for the gutya's I'm not sure about installing a second partition under windows 7 and definitely Windows 8 - Microsoft has introduced a system of protecting the boot system called secure boot that prevents alteration to the boot record.

From Wikipedia

"Windows 8 supports a feature of the UEFI (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface) specification known as "Secure boot", which uses a public-key infrastructure (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_infrastructure) to verify the integrity of the operating system and prevent unauthorized programs such as bootkits (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootkit) from infecting the device" - wubi gets around this according to Ubuntu"

Booting Ubuntu (there are other Linux operating systems) from USB seems a good idea.

Edit: *** Warning *** Wubi is not supported after Ubuntu 12.04 - sorry about that.

CAT III

[Guest 112233]

I would imagine a couple of hundred quid.

CAT III

[Loose rivets]

Yes, I imagined that as well when I was on about the fifth hour of messin' with copying files. (using the DVD Ubuntu so had to copy to a rather limited stick [which got warm] )


However, I imagine a pub-type response to calls for large sums of money. The lovely lady's cries of, 'Oh, F:mad:k OFF!' have nearly got us thrown out of the non-swearing pub more than once. We call back to the barman saying, 'It's alright, she's Australian.' Her huge smile usually convinces them she should stay.

[Guest 112233]

Been there - Worn the Wet tea Shirt.

People do not actually realise how much A'Ache recovery actually requires - PS I forgot a gotya - Under Linux, you can reliably read from NTFS (windows) and write to FAT32 (like a USB stick) writing back to NTFS formatted drives can be problematic.

I do not think this is "Folk Law" - to be confirmed,but you can get big 32 Gb USB's I got a 16 GB and you can get 64 GB ones for £25.00 Quid.

CAT III

Edit: If you are felling brave ? Install NTFS Configuration Tool and Read/Write on NTFS Drivers (Ubuntu/Linux Mint) - Noobs on Ubuntu, Mint and Debian, HD Wallpapers, Tutorials (http://www.noobslab.com/2011/12/install-ntfs-configuration-tool-and.html)

[Loose rivets]

Huh! Having copied 50Gb of pictures onto my laptop and then to DVDs, I risked putting in my Sony (dual boot) Visa backup disk (first one of two only) and went through a quick repair of the OS. It worked. It would have been so much easier to have done that in the first place, but then, 4,000 photos at risk, I guess I did the right thing.

Now, here's another thing. I now don't need her password to get into the computer. It can't be that easy . . . can it?

The Centrino Visa combination is a trial of patience anyway, but with over 4Gb - yes, gigabytes of cookies and stuff, it was difficult to download CCleaner.

I see CC now has an intelligent search for most used applications, so it saved some of the cookies. How clever is that? Well, unless there's an ulterior motive.:suspect:

Time to make some recover disks. Any tips on the best way, and can they be made to not go back to a virgin setup?

[Loose rivets]

The photos are now on two computers and 8 DVDs. What is the best way I can send these to the lovely lady in Aus?

50Gb seems to be about right, and I feel there must be a way to do this as we often receive large upgrade downloads. However, said lady is not a computer expert by any means. She would need a reasonably easy way to flow them into her kit as .jpg files.

She is willing to buy a USB drive, but would USB memory sticks be stable/reliable, given the drive would have to be bubble wrapped?

What think you?

[OFSO]

What is the best copy of Ubuntu to download for a permanent dual boot?

It isn't, but Linux Mint looks good. It's going on my next PC.