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dean1484
dean1484 SuperDork
12/25/11 12:43 p.m.

[rant]

I am so mad at the moment.

My almost 2 year old ($1200) laptop died this am. It looks like the hard drive is corrupted. Yes I can get another hard drive. Yes I can fix it. (I am betting it has a Hitachi "death star" in it) I have been seeing a lot of these going bad lately.

However after I purchased the OS, do the install of the HD formatting and OS install it will probably be cheaper to just purchased a new one laptop.

Then there is the cost of software. It is going to cost way more than a new computer. Because I did not un install my software I will not be able to use the copies I have with out paying for another licence. MS does not give a "you know what" if your HD crashes. No un install you get to purchase new period end of game. And then there is AutoCAD Have you shopped this lately? That one really hurts.

I bet this is going to cost me well over 4K when I am done. And then there is the time to set it up and install everything.

Merry E36 M3 Christmas to me

[/rant]

Ok a feel a little better now.

Duke
Duke SuperDork
12/25/11 12:46 p.m.

Call AutoDesk. They will DEFINITELY be able to cancel the previous license and issue you a new one. This just happened to my boss.

As for M$, I got nuthin.

92CelicaHalfTrac
92CelicaHalfTrac SuperDork
12/25/11 1:01 p.m.

If you already paid for autocad you have to pay for it again?

Strike_Zero
Strike_Zero Dork
12/25/11 1:29 p.m.

I have run into many issues where a customer's HD died and was able to install the OS on the new one. Only annoyance was I had to call MS hotline to activate it. As long as your COA is good, MS "SHOULD" activate it.

dean1484
dean1484 SuperDork
12/25/11 1:35 p.m.

If I can get Autodesk to take care of it I would be quite pleased.

I have not had good luck with MS in the past.

dean1484
dean1484 SuperDork
12/25/11 1:41 p.m.

Regarding the OS. I am pretty much screwed. The Laptop did not come with any disks. The OS was preinstalled and I upgraded it to win7 pro (downloaded the upgrade from MS direct) So again no disk. If I remember there was a screen when I first booted it asking if I wanted them sent to me for $$$$.

Is this standard practice with the OS now? I got the laptop from Microcenter in Cambridge ma and they have been pretty good about things in the past. There is a Win 7 licence sticker on the machine so it looks legit.

dean1484
dean1484 SuperDork
12/25/11 1:46 p.m.

So I pulled the drive and plugged it in my remote drive adaptor. The OS partition is screwed. However the data partition seems to be intact so I am backing it up to my server.

AND for the record it is a Hitachi "death Star". I know that the old IBM's deckstars were really bad but I thought that when Hitachi started making them that they were supposed to be ok. This is the third one of these I have seen go bad in the last 2 months.

JoeyM
JoeyM SuperDork
12/25/11 2:16 p.m.
dean1484 wrote: So I pulled the drive and plugged it in my remote drive adaptor. The OS partition is screwed. However the data partition seems to be intact so I am backing it up to my server.

Thank goodness you're getting your data...that's more important than the OS for most people.

mad_machine
mad_machine SuperDork
12/25/11 4:29 p.m.

you got no OS disks at all? you shouold have gotten a "back up" disk when you got the computer

As for getting a fresh copy of the OS.. I know with Win XP, you could get a brand new OEM copy for about $50 from NewEgg if you also bought some internal hardware from them. It was part of the licensing agreement. Look into buying a new HD and I bet they can hook you up with a cheap (legal) copy of Win7

02Pilot
02Pilot Reader
12/25/11 4:32 p.m.

There are some free Linux dedicated recovery operating systems out there. You might be able to run one of those from a flash drive or CD and see if you can fix whatever went wrong in the OS partition.

Streetwiseguy
Streetwiseguy Dork
12/25/11 4:40 p.m.

First thing you are supposed to do these days is create your own OS backup discs...But I guess its a bit late for that.

joey48442
joey48442 SuperDork
12/25/11 5:04 p.m.
Streetwiseguy wrote: First thing you are supposed to do these days is create your own OS backup discs...But I guess its a bit late for that.

As a complete computer idiot... How would I go about this?

Joey

pinchvalve
pinchvalve SuperDork
12/25/11 5:28 p.m.

Look above the keyboard. If it does not say MacBook Pro, you will have issues.

mad_machine
mad_machine SuperDork
12/25/11 5:36 p.m.

lets not turn this into a Mac vs PC thing

Dr. Hess
Dr. Hess SuperDork
12/25/11 5:47 p.m.

A call to M$ should get your system working. Oh, it will cost you a couple bucks shipping and a bit of phone time, but they'll get a disk to you. Just tell them your box came with no disks and the drive failed. They are actually fairly understanding.

RealMiniDriver
RealMiniDriver Dork
12/25/11 6:20 p.m.
joey48442 wrote:
Streetwiseguy wrote: First thing you are supposed to do these days is create your own OS backup discs...But I guess its a bit late for that.
As a complete computer idiot... How would I go about this? Joey

Start>Control Panel>System and Security>Backup and Restore>Create System Repair Disc

I just got a new lappy, so I keep getting a pop-up, advising me to do that.

dean1484
dean1484 SuperDork
12/25/11 9:24 p.m.

Well I dug deep in to the box that the laptop came in and I found them!!!!!! They were wraped in a plastic opaque thing that I just assumed was one of the manuals that came with this thing.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

So I ran scan disk on the HDD (both partishions and things cheacked out) I also backed up all the data off the D drive and as much as I could get from c drive. I should probibly considder a complete reformat of the drive (at least C partishion). I think I may just pull the drive and get a new one with a fresh copy of Win7 ultimate as the computer came with home edition and it does not suport remote desktop that I use alot. I will have to see if by chance I have disks for the upgrate to win7Pro or if it was a download. I am not really sure at the moment.

As for back up I wrote a simple bat file that lets me back up to the server in my house. I also back up to the server at the office about once a week. I have learned the hard way about backing up data.

Anyway I then restored the OS and the computer is back to "like new" And this really sucks as I now have many hours infrount of me installing all the software and setting up things on this machien. The biggest anoyance is I think since I did not uninstall Office I will have to go purchas another copy. I actually have an older version of AutoCAD that I can use if I have to. (2000 I think) The biggest pain is all the small little programs and customizations I had set up. I also probibly had 10-20 small paid for programs ($19.99-$39.99) that are gone since most were downloaded off the web and quite ohnestly I don't rember where I got most of them.

Anyway I am so anoyed with this thing that I may just go get another one as I am not sure I an trust this HDD

jstand
jstand New Reader
12/25/11 9:25 p.m.

Some manufacturer's let you order recovery CD's with the OS and all the drivers.

I did this recently on my in-laws Toshiba when the HD failed and the recovary disks hadn't been created. The cost was reasonable and the DVD/CD arrived in less than a week.

dean1484
dean1484 SuperDork
12/26/11 6:40 a.m.

My first post from the revived computer!!!!

So if you were to set your computer up from scratch again what would you do different?

I know for one that I will be installing all my programs on to my data drive and keeping only os on the C drive.

I will also be installing all the integration features first before installing the 32 bit programs (this is a 64 bit computer) I had to run a virtual xp machine in order to make several of my programs work properly. If I can get my MS Office to reinstall with out having to purchase another copy I may go out and purchase newer versions of the older software that should be compatible with the 64 bit processor. This was my biggest problem when I got this machine. There was an update a while back that seemed to help / correct this problem. I am hoping that by installing all the MS OS updates that this problem will be mitigated.

JoeyM
JoeyM SuperDork
12/26/11 7:55 a.m.

Ghost/back up the whole thing for easy recovery

Rusted_Busted_Spit
Rusted_Busted_Spit SuperDork
12/27/11 9:46 a.m.
JoeyM wrote: Ghost/back up the whole thing for easy recovery

This. It will make things much easier "next time".

1988RedT2
1988RedT2 SuperDork
12/27/11 11:13 a.m.

Consumer electronics are carefully engineered to explode a few hours after the warranty runs out in the hopes that you will buy a new one.

Sultan
Sultan Reader
12/27/11 11:19 a.m.

dean1484, I work for MS. PM me if you think you need help. Thanks. RS

Grtechguy
Grtechguy SuperDork
12/27/11 12:05 p.m.

the software recovery CD's cost $20-$25 from the manufactor. why would you buy the OS you already own again?

pinchvalve
pinchvalve SuperDork
12/27/11 12:07 p.m.
mad_machine wrote: lets not turn this into a Mac vs PC thing

You're right, a dead laptop sucks regardless of who made it.

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