Reformatting....it Really Sucks

I dont really care if you guys want to read this or care about it but I need to vent

Last night I happily aquired copies of OSX panther. I did the Pear PC thing, tried to boot the partition and it crashed. I eventually found out that you can't burn CD's of the panther discs unless you do it in a special way, which I didn't. Not long after I found a build with a bypass for the wrong cd so I started up Pear again and saw 2 bootable partitions! I tried to boot the first and it crashed. Thinking it might be my computer (since I hadn't restarted for almost 2 weeks) I decided to restart. Low and behold (this was not pear pc's fault, or, if it was, I have no idea why) I get an error that says 'blah blah blah missing from logon.exe". I clicked OK thinking it was just another one of xp's stupid errors that dont mean anything. Another message "the system file whateveritsnamewas.dll has been removed or modified. Please contact your system administrator." The only option was to Restart. I couldnt close the message. I restarted.

Same thing. I restarted in safe mode with networking (so I could go dl the missing file). Same message. I restarted in regular safe mode. Same thing. At this point I was getting really pissed and it didn't help that it was 2 in the morning. I shut off my computer, thinking I might think of something in the morning. I woke up and tried messing with the BIOS. No change. At a last effort I booted into the command prompt to at least move my files onto my iPod. It wouldnt start.

So I reformatted, lost over half of my downloaded music collection (legally) and all of my ripped movies (legally) as well as all of my pictures and of course, all of my customizing stuff. 4 reformats later (BIOS had to be reset manually and I couldnt think of the original values) my computer was running again. I downloaded all the customizing apps and icons etc. I just recently (5 mins ago) dled iTunes and the iPod firmware. I started iTunes with the presumption that I would access my iPods files and drag them back into iTunes library, my iPod contained the other half of my music.

iPod was synced. With a blank library. All my songs were now gone.

That was the point when I ripped the cord out of my computer and screamed so loud the neighbors came over and rang the doorbell.

How fun! I hope you guys have as much fun with your computers!

#174299

I do, 2 days ago YzDock crashed every time I tried to change the icon so I removed the entire thing, except icons and tried downloading it again but when I ran it, it didnt work. Also my computer was pretty messy so I redid everything but saved a bunch of stuff on cds, oh yea, save ur old cds as well becuase they can be very helpful even if you don't think they will. At least for me.

#174308

I used to have to re-format my machine every 2-3 weeks because I was always messing around with .dlls and system files.

The thing is - as soon as I purchased a second harddrive onto which ALL my important files are saved - my computer hasn't died once !

#174316

I also formatted my pc yesterday, but only the partition with winxp. all the other ones with all my stuff on them (music, videos, isos..) weren't touched at all here is how my disk looks like

#174321

i reformat often, not my choice, but not because something is wrong either. the school may want to push a new image, and i am lost. so actually the other day, i went through like 20 cds, and i found lots of stuff i did a LONG time ago, and its very cool because its like the first things i ever did in photoshop...it was really cool to see them.

// Lou

#174324

get a mac, you will then look at this thread in laughter and disbelief

#174328

Originally posted by Goku@Jun 8 2004, 04:26 PM

get a mac, you will then look at this thread in laughter and disbelief

/me nods with approval

Listen to him

#174332

Yeah, you'll never have to reformat your Mac because you'll never do anything to your Mac. You just kind of share the experience... with the Mac...

#174335

don`t get me started on that

#174336

Originally posted by Goku@Jun 8 2004, 09:26 PM

get a mac, you will then look at this thread in laughter and disbelief

Uh, yeah, because if something were to go wrong with a Mac, the entire thing would probably be shot, and you'd have to shell out another 3000 bucks for such a bargain computer.

Way to be a presumptuous ass! :puke:

#174371

errr

#174379

i have no idea why. but SOMETHING was wrong with windows... like it froze if i remeber correctly, it had somethning to do with me unistalling the osx boot thing that tom lap made(remeber him

#174380

Originally posted by pst9er@Jun 8 2004, 07:00 PM

Uh, yeah, because if something were to go wrong with a Mac, the entire thing would probably be shot, and you'd have to shell out another 3000 bucks for such a bargain computer.

Way to be a presumptuous ass! :puke:

1. if somthing does go wrong with your mac, they will replace it if it is still in its three year warrenty. and i have NEVER had a mac crash on me. my iPod has crashed once.

#174388

Originally posted by grim53@Jun 8 2004, 06:27 PM

i have no idea why. but SOMETHING was wrong with windows... like it froze if i remeber correctly, it had somethning to do with me unistalling the osx boot thing that tom lap made(remeber him

Yeah....backing up IS a good idea, that is why I had the music on my iPod. You heard what happened to that :rant:

Aannnnnyyway, the reason I dont back stuff up is that I believe I am computer literate enough to fix any problem that comes my way. If I had a project on my computer or something I COULD NOT LOSE! I would have taken out the HD, hooked it up as a slave on another computer, transferred my files, burned them (or iPoded em) and then I would have been OK. My computer is basically how it was now (a day of restoring) and much faster! Get rid of the that useless crap eh?

#174391

Originally posted by bryantm3@Jun 9 2004, 12:40 AM

1. if somthing does go wrong with your mac, they will replace it if it is still in its three year warrenty. and i have NEVER had a mac crash on me. my iPod has crashed once.

1. Which matters, since there are no PC's available with a three year warrenty.

2. I have never had a problem with any PC I've used from a non-hardware/non-virus related issue. I'm confident enough to say that any problem I've had with a PC would have crippled a Mac with a similar situation. So that doesn't really make Macs particularly special, unless Mac hardware never fails. I can give you that Macs don't frequently have virus issues, but everyone knows why that is.

So in conclusion, Macs are nice, but get over thinking that you (Mac users) are super-geniuses who are in on something that we're too stupid or stubborn to discover.

#174394

erm... stay.... on... topic...

mac vs. pc? again?!?!?

please...

#174418

yeah... you fools should be using linux

#174424

@juno I think ipodlounge.com has a program for retrieving lost songs on an ipod for people that do the same thing u did sink to an empty library I did it once too

#174432

sorry to hear about your troubles, but hopefully things will be better from now on.

#174434

Fissy: , i've never had to reformat my arch computer ever since i installed it. Anything that happens wrong i can fix through the terminal. And there are no such things as virus's.

#174436

buy a maxtor one-touch external drive. The thing is golden in the times of sorrow.

I have to reformat alot, since i fix computers. All i do is backup all their "safe" data and copy it right back over to their new, fresh install. The awesome thing is i only have to touch one button!

#174441

I used to re-format my comp every 2 months back when I had win98 (windowblinds 1.x ughh argh!)...I learned early on to back up data that I will never see again if something did happen....

Now I have WinXP, never had to re-format once, but I still burn all my data at least once per week. I'd rather fork down 10 bux for 50 cd-rw's for a little peace of mind.

I empathize with ya buddy, I hope you can recover as much as humanly possible.

#174448

Originally posted by puckchump@Jun 8 2004, 07:28 PM

@juno I think ipodlounge.com has  a program for retrieving lost songs on an ipod for people that do the same thing u did sink to an empty library I did it once too

All it does is get at the files that are in a hidden folder.

Tools>Folder Opttions>uncheck hide folders

Ohhhh that was hard.

#174453

Originally posted by pst9er@Jun 8 2004, 07:00 PM

Uh, yeah, because if something were to go wrong with a Mac, the entire thing would probably be shot, and you'd have to shell out another 3000 bucks for such a bargain computer.

Way to be a presumptuous ass! :puke:

Respect your "elders"... <_<

#174463

I get an error that says 'blah blah blah missing from logon.exe". I clicked OK thinking it was just another one of xp's stupid errors that dont mean anything. Another message "the system file whateveritsnamewas.dll has been removed or modified. Please contact your system administrator." The only option was to Restart. I couldnt close the message. I restarted.

Same thing. I restarted in safe mode with networking (so I could go dl the missing file). Same message. I restarted in regular safe mode. Same thing. At this point I was getting really pissed and it didn't help that it was 2 in the morning. I shut off my computer, thinking I might think of something in the morning. I woke up and tried messing with the BIOS. No change. At a last effort I booted into the command prompt to at least move my files onto my iPod. It wouldnt start.

So I reformatted, lost over half of my downloaded music collection (legally) and all of my ripped movies (legally) as well as all of my pictures and of course, all of my customizing stuff. 4 reformats later (BIOS had to be reset manually and I couldnt think of the original values) my computer was running again.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but couldn't you have booted from your Win XP CD (assuming you have one! ), and repaired your XP installation, whilst leaving everything else in-tact? That would have fixed/replaced the .dll, allowing you to log on... >.

#174551