24 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
24 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

This Technical Idiot Fixed His PC

by Steven Wagenheim
21 replies
  • OFF TOPIC
    • |
I am so freaking proud of myself that I am in tears right now.

My PC was close to death.

I had 2 problems.

1. CD Drive wouldn't open.

2. Program associations all gone and rundll32.exe was nowhere to be found.

Well, I got desperate. I figured at this stage of the game I had little to lose.

I found my XP CD so I next had to figure out how to open the CD ROM
drive.

So I went to my friend Google (who says Google sucks) and I typed in.

CD drive won't open

I found this site with some suggestions.

My cd drive won't open!! when i push eject button in cd rom. what should i do? - Yahoo! Answers

Even though these are just regular Joe's like me, I figured what the heck.

So I got out a tiny screwdriver, stuck it in the hole, and slammed the
top of the cabinet (ouch) and the drive opened.

I then inserted the XP OS disk.

I went through the recovery console and did a repair that I learned a
while back but it didn't work.

So then I went back to Google and typed in:

rundll32.exe not found

and found this site:

C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe Application not found - Windows XP Support

I then found this site:

Troubleshooting Windows XP, Tweaks and Fixes for Windows XP

I went down to number 12, copied and pasted the registry code into my
Ultra Edit editor, ran it, restarted my PC and...

I am back to where I was at about 1 PM this afternoon.

And I did it ALL BY MYSELF

This was of course after I was stupid enough to get myself infected
with XP Defender and then run a system restore that TOTALLY fubar
everything.

But I did it.

Me...the technical moron.

I can't stop crying I'm so happy.

I am now going to go out, get myself rip roaring drunk on my ass, and
celebrate my new found competence.
  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    Steve - I fully understand.

    Tech geeks just don't understand what a thrill it is when a non-tech person actually solves a tech problem.

    Better than christmas!

    kay
    Signature
    Saving one dog will not change the world - but the world changes forever for that one dog
    ***
    Live life like someone left the gate open
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1939725].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

      Steve - I fully understand.

      Tech geeks just don't understand what a thrill it is when a non-tech person actually solves a tech problem.

      Better than christmas!

      kay
      Isn't it? This is the freaking happiest I've been since the first time I got la...
      um...never mind.
      Signature
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1939735].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    KAY, You are right. When I was a LITTLE kid, like even 6yo, I read the schematics of ALL electronic stuff I got. Back then, perhaps EVERYTHING came with schematics! I once took a uhf/vhf splitter apart, and traced the circuitboard to figure out how it worked. It was a RIDICULOUSLY simple circuit, but the PC board looked like a MAZE, LITERALLY! To this day, I don't know why. Anyway, I actually made splitters, and gave them to people as gifts. HEY, they cost like $5.00 in the stores, and I could build them from JUNK, or about $0.20 retail parts. Back then, ANYONE could appreciate it. Without such a device, you only had only about 7 channels. WITH the device, you could have DOZENS.

    Anyway, I can't understand how people can't hook up a few cables to a cable box, etc... Just today I was wondering... If those that depended on me found that I wasn't there, and they had NOBODY else, what would they do:

    1. Suffer?
    2. Look ALL OVER for help?
    3. Do it THEMSELVES?
    4. Something else?

    Seriously, I wonder. Some definitely CAN, and even HAVE, done #3. But what about the REST?

    Steve
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1939775].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author David Maschke
    ...p dance
    Signature

    I

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1939778].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author KimW
    Well, you went around your elbow to get to your knee (or thumb, depending who you listen to) but sounds like your up and running now. Congrats.
    Signature

    Read A Post.
    Subscribe to a Newsletter
    KimWinfrey.Com

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1939858].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by KimW View Post

      Well, you went around your elbow to get to your knee (or thumb, depending who you listen to) but sounds like your up and running now. Congrats.
      Yeah, I know. If I has as much PC smarts as music smarts, this would
      have been fixed in about 15 minutes instead of 6 hours.
      Signature
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1939872].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author birdfood
    how about the update where you tell us that your repair job was temporary, your PC died beyond recovery the next day and you threw it through your window in a fit of righteous rage!?!
    Signature

    Marketing Laser Glasses

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1940619].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Sue McDonald
    Hey Steven

    Do a drive image in case this happens again. Now, I am not a tech but fortunately my husband is. He is always going on at me because I am lazy doing backups some times. But I learnt my lesson from that one, once and try and do them regularly. Congratulations on getting the job done.
    Signature
    Let's Learn Wordpress
    How to Build Effective Sales Funnels
    My Blog - Follow my journey online.
    My interest - Alternative Therapies.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1940654].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Michael Motley
    Be careful Steven. Any time you mess with the registry, you want to make a backup copy of it. If you dont copy that line right or if the guy who put the line up for you to copy was wrong, copy and pasting the wrong reg. key into the registry can turn your computer into a brick.

    Like Sue said, an image is an excellent idea. I also highly recommend an external backup drive. They are so cheap now that youll kick yourself if you dont buy one for just such a purpose
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1941239].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Thanks for all the suggestions.

      For the record, as far as backups and redundancy, I have the following:

      Raided Duel Drives
      External Hard Drive
      Carbonite Online Backup

      So I am covered there in spades. I wasn't worried about losing my data. I
      just didn't want to go through the hassle of having to reinstall XP again
      and have to reinstall all my programs. I have a lot of stuff that I use and
      it's very time consuming to have to set everything up again.

      Yeah, I know...eventually every PC either crashes or simply has to be
      upgraded, but so far, nobody has invented a painless way to do that.
      Signature
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1941376].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Michael Motley
    What raid do you have?

    And if you do an image like was suggested, you cut reinstallation time down from about 3+ hours to around 30 mins. If you reinstall your machine once, set it up with all the programs you want and know you use, then do an image of that, if catastrophic damage happens you're good to go just like the day you ghosted in about 30 or so mins. After that you can do incremental backups, so only the files that are added or changed are backed up and no matter what, you always only about 10-20 minutes behind wherever you were when the problem struck
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1941418].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by Michael Motley View Post

      What raid do you have?

      And if you do an image like was suggested, you cut reinstallation time down from about 3+ hours to around 30 mins. If you reinstall your machine once, set it up with all the programs you want and know you use, then do an image of that, if catastrophic damage happens you're good to go just like the day you ghosted in about 30 or so mins. After that you can do incremental backups, so only the files that are added or changed are backed up and no matter what, you always only about 10-20 minutes behind wherever you were when the problem struck
      Michael that's what I don't understand about raided drives, even though I
      was told to get them.

      How does having a copy of what's on my C drive on my D drive cut down
      on reinstall time? Doesn't the operating system from the C drive get copied
      to the D drive as well, and if so, if it gets corrupted, how can you boot
      off the D drive? I assume that's what you do?

      Like I said, I'm a technical idiot and don't understand this stuff even
      though I have it.
      Signature
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1941441].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author seasoned
        Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

        Michael that's what I don't understand about raided drives, even though I
        was told to get them.

        How does having a copy of what's on my C drive on my D drive cut down
        on reinstall time? Doesn't the operating system from the C drive get copied
        to the D drive as well, and if so, if it gets corrupted, how can you boot
        off the D drive? I assume that's what you do?

        Like I said, I'm a technical idiot and don't understand this stuff even
        though I have it.
        Steven,

        Raid 3,5, etc... may be called RAID, provides NO total backup, and speeds things up! Raid 1 provides an IDENTICAL copy, and may be called mirroring. Raid 0 can be simply to speed things up.

        So they all provide more safety, except maybe raid 0, and, hopefully can be recovered, but only Raid 1 provides a way to easily get an immediate working copy that can work by itself. RAID 1 can actually be slower than the others though.

        As for the C:/D:, on a raided system, it is one physical drive, though it can look like several, due to partitioning. USUALLY people try to have one drive allocated to the O/S and maybe related programs, and others dedicated to things like data. THAT way you can wipe out the system, reinstall, etc... and your data is still there. ALSO, data is easier to backup because it is all in one place away from programs, and the system is easier to backup because IT is so seperate. BESIDES, the best way to backup data is files, because it provides the best safety, and can provide partial restores. A lot of OS stuff can't be restored from a file backup, though you should keep periodic file backups, for things like the rundll problem you had.

        Steve
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1941495].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
          Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

          Steven,

          Raid 3,5, etc... may be called RAID, provides NO total backup, and speeds things up! Raid 1 provides an IDENTICAL copy, and may be called mirroring. Raid 0 can be simply to speed things up.

          So they all provide more safety, except maybe raid 0, and, hopefully can be recovered, but only Raid 1 provides a way to easily get an immediate working copy that can work by itself. RAID 1 can actually be slower than the others though.

          As for the C:/D:, on a raided system, it is one physical drive, though it can look like several, due to partitioning. USUALLY people try to have one drive allocated to the O/S and maybe related programs, and others dedicated to things like data. THAT way you can wipe out the system, reinstall, etc... and your data is still there. ALSO, data is easier to backup because it is all in one place away from programs, and the system is easier to backup because IT is so seperate. BESIDES, the best way to backup data is files, because it provides the best safety, and can provide partial restores. A lot of OS stuff can't be restored from a file backup, though you should keep periodic file backups, for things like the rundll problem you had.

          Steve

          Thanks Steve. Just for the record, I do actually have 2 physical hard
          drives in my PC. They are each 180 gig.

          So if my C drive OS goes down, will my D drive still work or will that OS
          be hosed as well?

          Sorry for all the questions, but this stuff confuses the hell out of me.
          Signature
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1941546].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Michael Motley
        Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

        Michael that's what I don't understand about raided drives, even though I
        was told to get them.

        How does having a copy of what's on my C drive on my D drive cut down
        on reinstall time? Doesn't the operating system from the C drive get copied
        to the D drive as well, and if so, if it gets corrupted, how can you boot
        off the D drive? I assume that's what you do?

        Like I said, I'm a technical idiot and don't understand this stuff even
        though I have it.
        Raids come in different levels. Raid 0 is called 'striping'. Its best explained as the computer seeing two physical drives as 1 theortical drive. If you have say (2) 150 gig hard drives set to raid 0, the computer sees it as 1 300 gig hard drive and data is written in 'stripes across both drives. This makes access time faster but if one drive goes down, all data is lost.

        If you have a raid 1 config, then you have mirrored drives. With those same 150 gig drives, the computer writes to 1 drive and the second drive mirrors what is written. This is mainly used for redundancy. If one drive fails, the other drive kicks in. You can then swap out the bad drive and the raid will rebuild the redundant image back to that drive.

        The bad thing is with raid 1, if the drive gets bad sectors making the operating system go corrupt, or a particulary nasty virus usually that will get copied to the second drive as well, so you still end up with a hosed operating system.

        There are a wide array of raid setups but those are probably the two most used.

        An image is something totally different. If you load your o.s. and programs, there are other things that go along with it, such as paths and registry keys that are important to the operation of the software and the operating system. When you make an image its like a 'snapshot' of the hard drive in pristine condition. Registry keys, paths, serial numbers, product id keys..everything. So instead of you having to dig through disks, put in software keys, trying to remember everything you wanted on there, all you're doing is transferring information for the image. Its not only handy for catastrophic hardware failure, its also pretty handy for theft or heavy virus infection
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1941504].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
          Originally Posted by Michael Motley View Post

          Raids come in different levels. Raid 0 is called 'striping'. Its best explained as the computer seeing two physical drives as 1 theortical drive. If you have say (2) 150 gig hard drives set to raid 0, the computer sees it as 1 300 gig hard drive and data is written in 'stripes across both drives. This makes access time faster but if one drive goes down, all data is lost.

          If you have a raid 1 config, then you have mirrored drives. With those same 150 gig drives, the computer writes to 1 drive and the second drive mirrors what is written. This is mainly used for redundancy. If one drive fails, the other drive kicks in. You can then swap out the bad drive and the raid will rebuild the redundant image back to that drive.

          The bad thing is with raid 1, if the drive gets bad sectors making the operating system go corrupt, or a particulary nasty virus usually that will get copied to the second drive as well, so you still end up with a hosed operating system.

          There are a wide array of raid setups but those are probably the two most used.

          An image is something totally different. If you load your o.s. and programs, there are other things that go along with it, such as paths and registry keys that are important to the operation of the software and the operating system. When you make an image its like a 'snapshot' of the hard drive in pristine condition. Registry keys, paths, serial numbers, product id keys..everything. So instead of you having to dig through disks, put in software keys, trying to remember everything you wanted on there, all you're doing is transferring information for the image. Its not only handy for catastrophic hardware failure, its also pretty handy for theft or heavy virus infection

          Thanks Michael. I have RAID 1. In fact, my drives are mirroring right now.

          But what you said is pretty much what I figured. If my OS on my C drive
          gets messed up, that same OS is messed up on my D drive, so what's
          the difference?

          Don't I still have to do a complete reinstall of my OS and programs as if
          I only had 1 hard drive?
          Signature
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1941533].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author Michael Motley
            Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

            Thanks Michael. I have RAID 1. In fact, my drives are mirroring right now.

            But what you said is pretty much what I figured. If my OS on my C drive
            gets messed up, that same OS is messed up on my D drive, so what's
            the difference?

            Don't I still have to do a complete reinstall of my OS and programs as if
            I only had 1 hard drive?
            Well raid 1 is more for catastrophic failure. Like if a hard drive just straight dies, house catches fire and burns pc, theft..etc. Most raids are even hot swappable so you dont even technically have to turn off the machine (though it is advised). But while raid is for redundancy, it isnt a backup. Corruption of the O.S. or bad sectors can still render mirroring a moot point because all the garbage that is generated by a corrupt o.s. or bad sector gets copied to the mirrored drive too, making it just as useless as the main drive.

            The difference would probably be best seen if that happens and you have to reinstall completely. By hand, you have to format (20-30 mins) install (45 mins on most xp installs) and then do drivers and last time i checked on an xp install there are about 130+ ms updates. You'll have 2-3 hours invested in reinstalling just the O.S. that doesnt count the programs you use and then still have to mirror the drive. With an image, your initial reinstall time will be 20-30 mins, and then your ready to let the raid mirror the image. So 2-3 hours (maybe 4 depending on your machine) of reinstalling gets cut down to more like an hour before you are up and rolling again.
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1941575].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    Mike,

    Bad sectors won't get copied, true mirroring basically writes to two drives at once, from the SAME source. BOTH drives are independent. A virus will affect ALL raid systems!

    Steve
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1941529].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    I mispoke, when I said one physical drive, I meant treated as one by the interface.

    With RAID 0, if one drive goes down, your other is gone as well, if they are both part of the same raid 0 array. With Raid 1, if one drive goes down, it can remain up, WITH the other, since each drive is a copy. BTW with 2 180GB drives, on Raid 1 you will appear to have 180GB TOTAL! On raid 0, you will have close to 360GB.

    The reason is because Raid 0 stripes. Each data unit is split up and half is written to each drive. It makes things faster, and gives you more continguous space. Raid 1 MIRRORS. Each data unit is written to both drives. It means you are always backed up. Raid 3 is like Raid 0, but you only get 66% of the data, and one drive can go bad and you don't lose anything, so you get the benefits of 0 AND 1. Raid 4 and 5 are like 3, but you can use more space. Raid 6 allows 2 drives to fail without losing anything. Of course, 3-6 require more drives.

    Steve
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1941612].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author chanchalseo
      It is absolutely nice discussion on the PC! Nowadays the pc smart is much popular in the technologies market.

      Thanks for the thread.
      Signature

      Best Regards,

      GPS Navigation | Body worn cameras

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1955755].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author jlxsolutions
        I wish there were more ppls like you the reasons similar to yours is the reason why i quit my remote repair business.
        Sure 50$ is a nice sum for doing almost nothing but GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH.
        When your over computer nerdy and have to listen to my cd rom dosent come out my pc wont startr (and they dont have it plugged in)
        etc etc in the end you loose your mind.
        And also having to invent non tech terms for normal computer thingys.
        Oh well adsense is my new income and i got another person doing the keywords number crunshing (as me+numbers =WTF)
        My motto is= Do it yourself IF you cant L2TDI(Learn To Do It)
        sure if your a newb you dont learn programming or advanced configurations but most of computer related issues are nubcake lvl
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1956591].message }}

Trending Topics