How *not* to get a new computer going

Eric • 27th Jul 2006 • Uncategorized

Well, I got my new computer on Monday and, believe it or not, I didn’t play with it ’til last night. On my old computer, I cleaned up some stuff, did a full backup, then yanked it out & put in the new one. Advice: don’t do that.

The new one isn’t really working right, so now I’m on my laptop, logged-in to my old computer (which is sitting somewhere behind me), and my new computer is running a diagnostic test on itself. I think I have a bad hard drive, as it sounded like it physically crashed last night (like, head hitting the disk). So, the move to my new system didn’t work as well as Laura’s move to her new system.

Here’s the specs on what I’m trying to get working:

• Systemax VentureÂ? B517 Intel® Pentium® 4 XP Professional Based Build-to-Order Desktop PC
• Black Venture Label
• Mid-Tower ATX Chassis w/350W PS P4M800-M7 Board
• NTFS File System
• Windows XP Professional
• Intel P4 CPU 524 3.06GHz/533FSB/1M
• 2GB DDR400 PC3200 Memory (1GB x 2)
• 160GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
• Integrated 6 Channel Audio
• Integrated S3 Unichrome Pro Graphics
• 9-in-1 Card Reader Black
• Integrated 10/100 Network Adapter
• 3-Port Firewire PCI Card
• 52x32x52/16x Combo Drive w/Cyberlink Software
• Microsoft Optical Wheel Mouse
• Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard PS/2
• Microsoft Office Pro 2003

Probably have to send the drive back and get a new one; hopefully not. If that’s the case, I guess I’ll be working via my laptop for a while, as I really don’t want to hook up my desktop again. All those cables… and booting it up takes literally 10 minutes (for all the extensions to load).

On a completely unrelated note, I’m on an all-liquid diet today in preparation for a test tomorrow. Last night I weighed in at 170.6. I’ll give an update tomorrow AM before I go to the hospital with my total weight loss.