The Briefing Room
General Category => Science, Technology and Knowledge => Computers => Topic started by: sneakypete on March 24, 2020, 11:55:52 pm
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Ok,so I kinda,sorta,figured out how to create a boot disc,which in my case was a boot thumb drive.
It's been running for about 90 minutes now and still seems to be occasionally running.
Is there such a critter as a typical run time for boot repair?
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I thought you picked up a new machine? Are you trying to repair and boot your old boot drive?
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I thought you picked up a new machine? Are you trying to repair and boot your old boot drive?
@Elderberry
I did and I am. My desktop was a great computer until the software farted.
I can't begin to describe how much fun it was for a non-computer guy (never took a class in my life on computers) to remember the words "boot disc" and then make one while operating with chemo brain.
PLEASE don't ask me what I did. All I know is the damn thing is running,and occasionally making the hard drive blink at me.
BTW,it has been blinking off and on for about 2 hours now,but the hard drive light hasn't blinked in a while,and neither has the thumb drive light.
Would it hurt anything to try to reboot it?
btw,while I am asking questions,would it hurt anything to use the charger from this computer to charge the first new laptop I bought a few weeks ago when the chemo brain was even worse?
I put the cord away somewhere so it wouldn't get lost/stolen & hidden by a cat and haven't been able to find the damn thing since.
Couldn't buy a new one from HP because they were sold out,and wouldn't have bought one anyhow because they wanted 116 bucks
plus shipping.
As luck would have it,I forgot I had bought the first new laptop,and got pissed at trying to get the desktop going,and went to town and bought another new one. The second new one has the same size plug and the first new one. Would it hurt anything to charge the first one with the charger from this one?
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Did it send anything to the monitor?
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Since you are talking a laptop charger cord that fits 2 laptops, I'd give it a shot.
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There is no such thing as a particular time for a boot repair... The repair disk does several functions automatically, And if you have a hard drive failure (as I said before that I suspect), it could be many hours trying to fix what is probably not fixable.
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So you downloaded the win media creation tool and now you're running it to reinstall win10? I do seem to remember that taking hours not minutes on my old i7. Not too surprising when you consider the ridiculously long time it takes to write out a 14GB recovery drive. I don't know why MS can't provide any indication of progress on some of these long-running tools...
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So you downloaded the win media creation tool and now you're running it to reinstall win10? I do seem to remember that taking hours not minutes on my old i7. Not too surprising when you consider the ridiculously long time it takes to write out a 14GB recovery drive. I don't know why MS can't provide any indication of progress on some of these long-running tools...
No, he;s running a boot repair disk - Which you can make from within Win 7-10
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So you downloaded the win media creation tool and now you're running it to reinstall win10?
I THINK that's what it is. The description said it could repair bad boot sections as well as load Win 10,IIRC.
I probably don't RC. It's been several hours since I downloaded it.
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No, he;s running a boot repair disk - Which you can make from within Win 7-10
@roamer_1
That is a different thing than what he wrote about?
BTW,either way,would it hurt anything to try to reboot the desktop and see if it boots?
If I do try to reboot to see if it will,should I take the thumb drive out first,or leave it in?
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@roamer_1
That is a different thing than what he wrote about?
BTW,either way,would it hurt anything to try to reboot the desktop and see if it boots?
Ya. You are running a repair I think.
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@roamer_1
That is a different thing than what he wrote about?
BTW,either way,would it hurt anything to try to reboot the desktop and see if it boots?
If I do try to reboot to see if it will,should I take the thumb drive out first,or leave it in?
Leave it be for a couple more hours. If it ain't doing anything hold in the pwr button till it shuts off.
remove the thumb and turn it on to see.
I have no faith in it.
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Here is the link I worked from.
https://www.techworm.net/2016/12/create-bootable-windows-10-usb-installation-disk.html (https://www.techworm.net/2016/12/create-bootable-windows-10-usb-installation-disk.html)
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D00d. For what you got in it, you could have boxed the dang thing up, sent it here, got it fixed, and got it back for way less than half the money.
You need to find you a geek down there, and take that desktop in. It's probably a hard drive and a reload... A couple hundred bucks, tops...
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Here is the link I worked from.
https://www.techworm.net/2016/12/create-bootable-windows-10-usb-installation-disk.html (https://www.techworm.net/2016/12/create-bootable-windows-10-usb-installation-disk.html)
NOPE. I was wrong. That is an installation disk. :beer:
Now its whether you are doing a repair installation or a repair... And I don't know.
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:2popcorn:
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NOPE. I was wrong. That is an installation disk. :beer:
Now its whether you are doing a repair installation or a repair... And I don't know.
@roamer_1
IIRC,repair installation is the route I am working on. Evidentially the damn thing is still seeking out and destroying bad stuff because I just saw the hdd light blink a few times.
What happens if I try to reboot it now?
If I don't,what is supposed to happen? Am I supposed to get a "good boy,now reboot" screen,or what?
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@roamer_1
IIRC,repair installation is the route I am working on. Evidentially the damn thing is still seeking out and destroying bad stuff because I just saw the hdd light blink a few times.
What happens if I try to reboot it now?
@sneakypete
It'll prolly crap it's pants. But that's alright - you can do a full installation. But i would bet you money you need a hard drive before you give it another whirl.
That ain't a thing - I just did an install - Left the whole old install alone, and went and bought a 120g SSD drive for 20 bucks and installed on that... Later on I will remove the old system partition and expand the old drive to a single partition and use it for storage (it's still good)
TWENTY BUCKS at the Best Buy, and disconnect the old drive, hooking up the new instead, and use that thumb to do a full install...
If I don't,what is supposed to happen? Am I supposed to get a "good boy,now reboot" screen,or what?
Yeah, if it DOES fix it, it will get pretty verbose during the finalizing. You will know it's happening.
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@sneakypete
It'll prolly crap it's pants. But that's alright - you can do a full installation. But i would bet you money you need a hard drive before you give it another whirl.
That ain't a thing - I just did an install - Left the whole old install alone, and went and bought a 120g SSD drive for 20 bucks and installed on that... Later on I will remove the old system partition and expand the old drive to a single partition and use it for storage (it's still good)
TWENTY BUCKS at the Best Buy, and disconnect the old drive, hooking up the new instead, and use that thumb to do a full install...
Yeah, if it DOES fix it, it will get pretty verbose during the finalizing. You will know it's happening.
@roamer_1
Thanks! I was thinking 150 bucks or so. Been a long time since I bought a hdd. Been hesitating to even price one because I hated the idea of duplicating all the passwords and screennames everywhere,and yes,I DO have different passwords for every account,and a lot of different user names.
The thing is I have mostly already recovered or replaced them all already on this computer,so it's not that big a deal anymore. I like to keep one computer on hand that is not and never gets connected to the internet so I have a secure place to store all this that isn't likely to just disappear. Was using a laptop somewhere between 10 and 15 years old,but don't want to buy another battery for it or go through the hassle of updating the software on something that slow.
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If all you are using a second computer for is storage, why don't you consider just using external hard drives?
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@roamer_1
Thanks! I was thinking 150 bucks or so. Been a long time since I bought a hdd. Been hesitating to even price one because I hated the idea of duplicating all the passwords and screennames everywhere,and yes,I DO have different passwords for every account,and a lot of different user names.
The thing is I have mostly already recovered or replaced them all already on this computer,so it's not that big a deal anymore. I like to keep one computer on hand that is not and never gets connected to the internet so I have a secure place to store all this that isn't likely to just disappear. Was using a laptop somewhere between 10 and 15 years old,but don't want to buy another battery for it or go through the hassle of updating the software on something that slow.
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@sneakypete
Your thinking was right - A drive of size, say 2Tb and up, will cost you right around that... And I would get something like that if I were you. with the intention of making that desktop an 'always on' backup spot for everything else... But doin as I say now, you can invest in a larger drive at your leisure, and you can use the box now. An absolutely painless solution.
For now, what I am recommending is a system drive - A smallish drive just for Windows to live in, making it different than any storage drive you might have later. Which means other drives can come and go painlessly. Since I do a lot of data, I learned that long ago...
And since the drive is small, and an SSD instead of standard, Windows will be super quick. You will notice the difference.
It is a win, all the way around. And all it will cost you to find out is around 20 bucks.
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If all you are using a second computer for is storage, why don't you consider just using external hard drives?
@Elderberry
I can't speak for anyone else,but I couldn't see spending the money when I had a old computer that already had the info on it. Plus,the old computer could serve as a stand-by in case something happened to the newer one.
Plus,if push came to shove,I could possibly use parts from the old one to fix the new one.
If you grew up as poor as I did,you wouldn't have to ask that question. I spent most of my life trying to buy "new" used cars or trucks with the same drive trains as the older car or truck I was retiring in case I needed parts. Sometimes I would run across a deal too good to turn down and switch brands,but I always stayed with brands easy to find parts for. No such thing as taking one to a garage for me. I either fixed it or hitchhiked.
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@sneakypete
Your thinking was right - A drive of size, say 2Tb and up, will cost you right around that... And I would get something like that if I were you. with the intention of making that desktop an 'always on' backup spot for everything else... But doin as I say now, you can invest in a larger drive at your leisure, and you can use the box now. An absolutely painless solution.
For now, what I am recommending is a system drive - A smallish drive just for Windows to live in, making it different than any storage drive you might have later. Which means other drives can come and go painlessly. Since I do a lot of data, I learned that long ago...
And since the drive is small, and an SSD instead of standard, Windows will be super quick. You will notice the difference.
It is a win, all the way around. And all it will cost you to find out is around 20 bucks.
@roamer_1
I still have chemo brain that comes and goes. Better some days,and I am a mindless twit on others. I am not sure I understand what you are telling me. Could you post a link to what you are writing about so I can roll it around in my mind?
Thanks in advance!
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@roamer_1
I still have chemo brain that comes and goes. Better some days,and I am a mindless twit on others. I am not sure I understand what you are telling me. Could you post a link to what you are writing about so I can roll it around in my mind?
Thanks in advance!
@sneakypete
Nope. Simple concept. I am recommending a drive (more or less) for windows to live in. It is probably too small for most folks, what with pics and movie libraries and such.... Shoot, even a few movies saved down electronically will burn up a couple terrabytes, easy... My movie library sure does.
Not important now.
120g ought to be enough for windows and your user to live in... Unless you have a butt-ton of programs, or you are a fat user for some reason, but for the average joe, something between 120 and 512g is fine. If you feel like you can't live on 120g, then spend twice the money and get a 256g.
But I live comfortably in a 120g drive... and most people do. That's Winders, your programs, and your user. That is the concept. That is what a system drive is.
And because it is small, it can be an SSD - A flash technology drive - Sooper fast. Way, way faster than a standard drive.
That is what you need to concentrate on now... How big a drive do you need for JUST you to live in.
A 120g SSD is 20 bucks. I just bought two of em yesterday down to the Best Buy.
If you figger you need more than that, a 256g SSD will be twice that, around 40 bucks.
And a 512g will be twice that, at $80/90...
But me and Windows live just fine on 120g.
But lets say down the road a mite, you turn into a moviephile, and decide you need to park a digital movie collection... That ain't gonna fit on that itty bitty drive I told you to get.
S'alright though... Just buy one of those big lunker drives when you need it, and put that puppy behind that system drive as a secondary in that box. No fault no foul. And in the mean time, and for all time, you get the benefit of that super quick performance that little SSD drive gives you. There ain't a downside.
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@sneakypete
Nope. Simple concept. I am recommending a drive (more or less) for windows to live in. It is probably too small for most folks, what with pics and movie libraries and such.... Shoot, even a few movies saved down electronically will burn up a couple terrabytes, easy... My movie library sure does.
Not important now.
120g ought to be enough for windows and your user to live in... Unless you have a butt-ton of programs, or you are a fat user for some reason, but for the average joe, something between 120 and 512g is fine. If you feel like you can't live on 120g, then spend twice the money and get a 256g.
But I live comfortably in a 120g drive... and most people do. That's Winders, your programs, and your user. That is the concept. That is what a system drive is.
And because it is small, it can be an SSD - A flash technology drive - Sooper fast. Way, way faster than a standard drive.
That is what you need to concentrate on now... How big a drive do you need for JUST you to live in.
A 120g SSD is 20 bucks. I just bought two of em yesterday down to the Best Buy.
If you figger you need more than that, a 256g SSD will be twice that, around 40 bucks.
And a 512g will be twice that, at $80/90...
But me and Windows live just fine on 120g.
But lets say down the road a mite, you turn into a moviephile, and decide you need to park a digital movie collection... That ain't gonna fit on that itty bitty drive I told you to get.
S'alright though... Just buy one of those big lunker drives when you need it, and put that puppy behind that system drive as a secondary in that box. No fault no foul. And in the mean time, and for all time, you get the benefit of that super quick performance that little SSD drive gives you. There ain't a downside.
@roamer_1
All that is fine for someone fluent in that foreign language,but what I need is a LINK I can click on so I can go look at it and see and read about it.
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@roamer_1
All that is fine for someone fluent in that foreign language,but what I need is a LINK I can click on so I can go look at it and see and read about it.
@sneakypete
There ain't no link. It is just a way.
If you can live with a 120g SSD drive, they are 20 bucks at the best buy.
Get that, install it where the current drive is.
Load winders in it with that thumb you have.
That is all.
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Is this your new HP Laptop @sneakypete if so I'm sure HP provided some preloaded software (instead of using the Windoze option) to create a boot disk. Look under HP in the Program file list.
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Is this your new HP Laptop @sneakypete if so I'm sure HP provided some preloaded software (instead of using the Windoze option) to create a boot disk. Look under HP in the Program file list.
@corbe
No. Neither of my new laptops are giving me any trouble. I am trying to save my 3 year old desktop,and my 10-15 year old laptop that I have been using for file storage.
Now all I have to do is figure out what a "120g SSD drive" looks like so I can see my options. No Best Buy within 50 miles of me,so I have to order online.
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Now all I have to do is figure out what a "120g SSD drive" looks like so I can see my options. No Best Buy within 50 miles of me,so I have to order online.
@sneakypete
This is the one I got right here:
https://www.amazon.com/PNY-CS900-120GB-Internal-Solid/dp/B0722XPTL6/ref=sr_1_15?keywords=120g+ssd+hdd&link_code=qs&qid=1585172878&sourceid=Mozilla-search&sr=8-15 (https://www.amazon.com/PNY-CS900-120GB-Internal-Solid/dp/B0722XPTL6/ref=sr_1_15?keywords=120g+ssd+hdd&link_code=qs&qid=1585172878&sourceid=Mozilla-search&sr=8-15)
Any reasonable name brand will do.
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@sneakypete
This is the one I got right here:
https://www.amazon.com/PNY-CS900-120GB-Internal-Solid/dp/B0722XPTL6/ref=sr_1_15?keywords=120g+ssd+hdd&link_code=qs&qid=1585172878&sourceid=Mozilla-search&sr=8-15 (https://www.amazon.com/PNY-CS900-120GB-Internal-Solid/dp/B0722XPTL6/ref=sr_1_15?keywords=120g+ssd+hdd&link_code=qs&qid=1585172878&sourceid=Mozilla-search&sr=8-15)
Any reasonable name brand will do.
Can they be ported to an IDE controller?
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Can they be ported to an IDE controller?
For an external HD box? They interface just like any other SATA III hard drive. Just a whole lot faster.
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For an external HD box? They interface just like any other SATA III hard drive. Just a whole lot faster.
I was thinking about what would likely be in @sneakypete's old desktop unit.
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Can they be ported to an IDE controller?
PATA? I am sure someone has a connector, but no, you wouldn't get SATA speeds. Kinda pointless.
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I was thinking about what would likely be in @sneakypete's old desktop unit.
It's only 3 years old. It's SATA for sure.
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@sneakypete
This is the one I got right here:
https://www.amazon.com/PNY-CS900-120GB-Internal-Solid/dp/B0722XPTL6/ref=sr_1_15?keywords=120g+ssd+hdd&link_code=qs&qid=1585172878&sourceid=Mozilla-search&sr=8-15 (https://www.amazon.com/PNY-CS900-120GB-Internal-Solid/dp/B0722XPTL6/ref=sr_1_15?keywords=120g+ssd+hdd&link_code=qs&qid=1585172878&sourceid=Mozilla-search&sr=8-15)
Any reasonable name brand will do.
@roamer_1
Thanks,that's what I needed!
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It's only 3 years old. It's SATA for sure.
OIC, gotcha.
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@roamer_1
Thanks,that's what I needed!
:beer:
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It's only 3 years old. It's SATA for sure.
@roamer_1
System: Intel i5-7400 3.0GHz Quad-Core | Intel B250 Express Chipset | 8GB DDR4 RAM | 2TB HDD | 16GB Intel Optane Memory Accelerator M.2 PCIe NVMe | Genuine Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 580 4GB Video Card | 1x HDMI | 2x DisplayPort
Connectivity: 6 x USB 3.1 | 2 x USB 2.0 | 1x RJ-45 Network Ethernet 10/100/1000 | Audio: 7.1 Channel | Keyboard and Mouse
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@roamer_1
System: Intel i5-7400 3.0GHz Quad-Core | Intel B250 Express Chipset | 8GB DDR4 RAM | 2TB HDD | 16GB Intel Optane Memory Accelerator M.2 PCIe NVMe | Genuine Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 580 4GB Video Card | 1x HDMI | 2x DisplayPort
Connectivity: 6 x USB 3.1 | 2 x USB 2.0 | 1x RJ-45 Network Ethernet 10/100/1000 | Audio: 7.1 Channel | Keyboard and Mouse
@sneakypete
I am sure it will work.
take the side off it, find the hard drive.
if the connectors look like this, it's SATA
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/SATA_connector_Slimline_CD-ROM.jpg)
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The PC described above is capable of SATA @sneakypete you may need an extra SATA DATA CABLE @$2. Here's the link @ BEST BUY.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/wd-blue-250gb-internal-sata-solid-state-drive/6025800.p?skuId=6025800 (https://www.bestbuy.com/site/wd-blue-250gb-internal-sata-solid-state-drive/6025800.p?skuId=6025800)
They are similar in size to a laptop hard drive, just half as thin. No moving parts (platters/heads) and very fast. Lay off on using the windoze defrag program on them, so I've heard.
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The PC described above is capable of SATA @sneakypete you may need an extra SATA DATA CABLE @$2. Here's the link @ BEST BUY.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/wd-blue-250gb-internal-sata-solid-state-drive/6025800.p?skuId=6025800 (https://www.bestbuy.com/site/wd-blue-250gb-internal-sata-solid-state-drive/6025800.p?skuId=6025800)
They are similar in size to a laptop hard drive, just half as thin. No moving parts (platters/heads) and very fast. Lay off on using the windoze defrag program on them, so I've heard.
@corbe
Thanks for the cable tip! I will order one tonight.
Not much to worry about when it comes to defrag because neither of my new laptops will do it.
As for the 10-15 year old laptop,it looks like it's time to pull the CD drive "just in case" and then crush and scrap it. It's refusing to be updated,and even though the battery is new,it's refusing to charge it. First laptop I ever bought,and it weighs a ton compared to the new ones.
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Talk about old heavy laptops. I have a couple of old Panasonic Toughbook laptops, a CF29 and a CF50. Each one weighs just a hair under 8 lbs.
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btw,what else am I going to need? Can I just download Win 10 for free after installation,or will I have to jump through circus hoops?
Never done this before,so I gotta ask.
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Is the old drive your gonna replace with the SSD, is it able to boot in Win7 now?
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Create Win10 Installation Disk.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10)
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Is the old drive your gonna replace with the SSD, is it able to boot in Win7 now?
@corbe
Both my old laptop that I am going to scrap,and my 3 year old desktop had Win10 on them.
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Create Win10 Installation Disk.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10)
@corbe
Ok,once I get the new drive in and install it,how do I download that to it? With a thumb drive?
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@corbe
Ok,once I get the new drive in and install it,how do I download that to it? With a thumb drive?
@sneakypete
You have already done that Pete.
What you have on your thumb right now is an installation.
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Talk about old heavy laptops. I have a couple of old Panasonic Toughbook laptops, a CF29 and a CF50. Each one weighs just a hair under 8 lbs.
Heavy, but from what I have heard dangnear bulletproof. I have seen them used on drill floors.