The other day I started complaining in the shout box about a problem that I was having with my workstation computer.  Suddenly, for no reason that I could determine, I could nolonger boot into Windows and latter I learned that included Dos as well.  The boot manager seemed fine but the computer would lockup when the boot manager hands off to the DOS/Windows boot strap code.  Meanwhile Linux worked fine.  The loss of DOS and Windows meant two things: Games written to run under those operating system would be unabailable; Programs like Poser, terragen, etc would be unavailable as well.

It seemed to make no sense and yet the situation kept getting worse, mostly from my efforts to correct the situation.  Shortly after my last posting the other evening, things got even stranger. For no reason the computer could not boot into any OS anymore, not just Windows.

The mother board contains a controller to support four IDE harddrives or ATAPI devices. That controller is limited to harddrives of 8Gigs or less. My main harddrive is 200 Gigs, so I have disabled the onboard controller and use a controller card that can support harddrives of that size. I discovered by booting a rescue session from other media that the harddrive was being seen as the fifth drive rather then the first drive.  In Linux terminology as "/dev/hde" rather than "/dev/hda", in DOS and Windows terminology "G:" instead of "C:".

Try as I might, I was unable to correct this situation.

I replaced the card with one that I had in storage, but the replacement card was a poor fit for the job. The replacement worked and the first drive was again the first drive, but I discovered that it was limited to around 60Gigs. That was fine for Windows, but no good for the rest. And I was still stuck offline.  For much of yesterday was trying to get it working to no avail.

At one point I was able to get Windows to boot, but no Linux; meaning that I had games and most of my artistic software back.  But everything else including internet access was not available.  Also unavailable was most of the content that I have downloaded or created.

The last thing that I tried was an attept to make the broken card work correctly again. It did not work. So I switched to using the replacement card, again, with no other alterations.

I had three courses of actions available, but each one would require a purchase. Today, after regular Sunday things to do, I went to some local computer stores and came out empty handed, they had nothing of what I needed for any of my plans to work.. For my efforts, I got nothing, tangible.

Although I did get insulted by some of the most stupid salesmen I have ever encountered.  They had no understanding of anything that I was looking, none of them had any idea what a IDE or harddrive controller card is.  Another did not know the difference between a ISA and a PCI card.

One option that I considered but did not relish was buying or building a new computer and install my existing harddrive as a second HD in that box to transfer its contents and rebuild my working environment in that box.  I was not looking for the hotest and latest machine with all the bells and whistle attached, I was looking for a solid basic computer, more modern but in the style of what I am used to.  I located one that was still too over the top, but not too bad, as long as I could fit my current HD into it.  So not seeing drive bays listed on the placard, I asked a salesman, if he knew it how many additional drives that machine could support, and were its drive IDE ro SCSI.  I was clear that he had no idea what I was talking about.  I asked to see a copy of the machine's specs or manual; or at least see the insides of the machine.  I was refused on all three requests.  When that sales man walked away another asked him what my problem was.  He told him that i was a fool who knew nothing about computers.  They were still barely in earshot but thought I could not hear them.  I let them think what they wanted as I moved on.

In another store, a salesman also commented to another one about me. "He's just a crazy old man."  Ok, I am older than most of those idiots, but I am certainly not an old man, yet!

Although, I was referred to as an old greybeard a few years ago while I was browsing in the clearance section of a software store.  (Salesman on the telephone talking to someone, "No, no customers here either, just a couple of old greybeards poking around in the junk.  I bet they don't know what they are looking at.  I bet they can't even rememebr their names.") That day I fixed him.   I gathered together one copy of the various of their most expensive software (all of them the latest games),  I built three stacks (or was it four? ) from counter height to over head height.  He rang it all up (in that store they are paid on a "base plus commission" basis), then when he requested my payment I said, "I don't carry that kind of cash, I do have a credit card, but I can remember my name, so I don't know if it is mine and I would not want to spend money that is not mine."  and I departed.

The next time I was in that store, the same salesman spotted me and started to make a fuss, but his manager was there and wanted to know what was happening.  He told her what I had done last time.  She asked me why I did it.  I told her.  Then she really told him.  I told her, the be careful in talking to him like that, after all he is the store's manager.  She stoped and looked at me, and asked, "Did he say that?".  I told her yes, and it was true, he had said it on that other day, and repeated it that day too, jsut before she got involved.  I never saw him again, but she told me latter that he was reassigned to the dock, and that he was not happy about it.

Back to today:

Afer returning home, I needed to relax and to think of what to try next. So, went to bed as though I was going to take a nap, although I had no plans to nap.  I normally do theose sort of brain stoming sessions sitting down but today I was tired.

As it was, I did almost doze off at one point when a thought struck me. "Put the broken card back into the computer and it will work." My logical side said, no, it would not work. But I could not shake the feeling that it would work, so just to settle the issue and move on to other solutions., I installed the broken controller. And it did work perfectly and is still working even now.
Why it started working again, I don't know, but it did and I am happy.

The machine is mostly back to what it was before, although there is a new problem, the speaker nolonger functions.  I have disassembled and reassembled this box more than a few times.  The last time, I accidently detached the speaker wires from the motherboard.  The connector is in a difficule location to reach without fully disassembling the machine.  I just got it working again, I am not going to worry about PC speaker, I would rather live without the beeps than to risk breaking a now working well enough machine.

Pangor

     What a mess... It should be something wrong somewhere pangor... maybe a false contact, try to clean very well the card and the board, I uses an air compressor   because the dust like a lot the place...

About the salesmen, I buy what I need online at ebay, they usually know exactly what are they selling and if you look there you'll find what you need. I think that the feedback system is a good way to know the person who is selling you something...

Actually I'm trying to buy a barebone PC for my mom (so when I'm there I can still use the net       ) and I hope to buy a complet 2.8 ghz system for less tha 200 € if I'm lucky...

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When I disassembled the machine I did a lot of cleaning.  But between the last time that it didn't work and when it started working again, there was no more cleaning or other changes.  The only thing that I can think of is that the contact on the motherboard were the card plugs into or the contanct on the card were slightly corroded and the repeated removing and inserting of the cards pollished the contacts and so removed the non-conductive corrosion.

Years ago there was an electronics and computer store some distance from my home, far enough that leaving home in the early morning will arrive there by noon and after a little shopping there and a stop off for a little meal and perhaps a stop off at anoter store on the way back, I could make it back home just before evening.  The company had some fame as a mailorder firm as well, but I chose to go there in person, because of one of the salesmen who worked there.

He was courtious and friendly, and could always answer you questions about the merchandise, if he did not know the answer he would consult the documentation, or examine the marchandise along with the customer or he would telephone the manufacturer right then and there for the information.  When you bought something that could have quality problem, such as a video monitor he would hook it up to one of their machines to verify that it looks good, if not he would get another one if the same model from stock and test it, and then sell the one that is acceptable.  The unacceptable one were shipped back to the manufacturer as inferrior merchandise.

During the time he was there, the store and company prospered.  Then one day, when I went there and asked for him, I was told that he no longer works there.  The other salesmen had only unkind things to say about him.  There was a item that I wanted to purchase, but I needed some more information about it first.  I asked my questions and was told to look it up in the catalog.  I has seen the catalog entry before I left home, so that did not help, I mentioned this to the four salesmen and three saleswomen there, since I was the only customer there at the moment (first time I ever had seen that situation in that store) I had all of their attenetions.  None were willing to help me find my answer.  So, I left.

After that day, anytime that I went there, my Mom would come in and ask for that salesman.  When told that he was nolonger working there and when they started bad mouthing him, she would start to praise him and tell those doing the bad mouthing that they were the bad ones, and they way that the store was failing was proof of that and that he was the one who had made the store popular.  Even when we were jsut passing by for other reason, she would want us to stop off for a moment so that she would be able to talk to them again.

Shortly after that day, the store moved to a new location a smaller store front with only about one third the floor space, just two door away from their prior location in the same property.  They claimed that was proof of growth, the new size permitted them to focus more on their core business computers and shed the electronic components lines.  I don't know if they really believed it, but a few years latter they moved again, to an area that was too remote for me, but from what I have heard, and even smaller again.


That would be great! Will we be meeting your mom here at PF?  

Pangor

My mom   ? I think yes. I just bought an adsl line to my parent's phone (it's free till the end of june   ) with a "pay only if you connect" contract in order to use it when I'm there and to show my mom   how to go to internet.

I'm trying to buy that barebone machine ( The PC that Tormie is trying to buy for his Mom) but I don't think to win because I offered 200 € , 7 days remaining and now the price is at 141 €... I don't want to spend more than 200 €...

Interesting thing about that salesman... I have known some people like that one, they use to disappear suddenly leving the place for the bad ones   ...

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Tell me more about your mother. Therefore you are. I thought so too. Who told you?

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I won the Loebner prize !

    

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I knew several good salesmen.  That is why I find it all the more troublesome dealing with these modern ones.

When I was working in retail, I used to be a stickler about the sales people providing real customer service.  Some didn't like it but some others did learn in time.  Although I didn't work on the sales floor, when passing through, customers would sometimes ask for my assistance.  If I could provide it, I did.  If I could not, I would locate someone who could, even if that meant that I had to send the customer to another branch. If what they were seeking was not carried by us, I would direct them to another store even a competitor's store and I would phone ahead for the customer to verify that they had the item in stock.  The customers so treated almost always became loyal customers of our store, until mistreated by a clerk who would not learn.

Pangor