I agree. gr8-1, I'd just start again by formatting/nuking that hard drive. ------------------ "It doesn't matter. If it's the Lakers or the Spurs, I'm going to kill them." -- Cuttino "Jack" Mobley on possible playoff opponents.
kbm If you remove your partitions, you MUST add them back before you can use your hard drive again. If you add your partitions back, you MUST format the partitions. If you format your hard drive, you remove all viruses. You also remove any corrupted dll's and any other program files that may have been written back to the HD incorrectly. If you want to fix a PC that's acting like gr8-1's without spending days...possibly weeks...trying to track down the root cause, then you give that PC an enema. My response stays the same: F-disk ------------------ stop posting my damn signature
Pole, Let me ask you something, do you know what a debug is? If you did, you would understand that I am not disagreeing with what you said. I am only adding to the process so that everything that can be done to get rid of a virus is done. FYI, debugging takes all of about five minutes to complete and it removes all of the "hidden" information on the drive that f-disking and formating can't get to. Viruses can be hidden on the drive. Tell me why you would not invest five minutes to know for sure? ------------------ I am an invisible man.
Here Pole, if you don't believe me that your process won't remove everything, read this: www.windrivers.com/hd/debug.htm ------------------ I am an invisible man. [This message has been edited by kbm (edited March 22, 2001).]
The "debug" scripts he's referring to are usually assembly code instructions run to completely wipe out the hard drive. If you guys remember the old days, you'll know what typing "debug" and hitting <ENTER> at your DOS prompt does. A lot of times boot manager-type programs like OnTrack's Disk Manager (aka Disk Mangler, lol) remain after a format. What a debug script can do is help wipe out viruses that affect the master boot record of a hard drive. The KAK worm he has is not one of these. Usually a debug script is only used when fdisk fails to wipe the drive of utilities such as Boot Mangler or MBR-viruses. The best place to use a debug script is when you're trying to wipe out non-DOS partitions that fdisk can't deal with. A debug script can be used to do what "fdisk /MBR" won't. The /MBR switch should wipe that MBR clean, but doesn't always. For those of you interested in "debugging" a hard drive, it's also known as doing a "low level format". What most of us call "formatting" is called a "high level format". Anywho.... my bet is the formatting/fdisk'ing of the hard drive ought to be enough for gr8-1, but hey... if you want to debug as well, have at it. Just make sure you have someone knowledgeable doing it as it can completely destroy your drive. ------------------ "It doesn't matter. If it's the Lakers or the Spurs, I'm going to kill them." -- Cuttino "Jack" Mobley on possible playoff opponents. [This message has been edited by Dr of Dunk (edited March 22, 2001).]
Or he can be sure and just buy a new hard drive... hehe. j/k gr8-1! ------------------ "It doesn't matter. If it's the Lakers or the Spurs, I'm going to kill them." -- Cuttino "Jack" Mobley on possible playoff opponents.
well it happened again. Somehow, my ethernet card got kicked off or however you want to put it. The next time I get a "fatal exception" error, I'm calling Dell and not road runner. What's F-disk ? How do I do it ? Thanks for the help guys. ------------------ "norm, would you like to buy an indian scalp ? This deal isn't gonna make or break me Norm, so don't jerk me around." Harry Carey "Norm, if I had a mohawk scalp, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you."
fdisk is a formatting tool used on a specific drive. Just make sure that you're ready to do it before you start. I didn't read too much of this sleeper ( ), but you should be able to get it off of your current machine or have your machine make you a copy of fdisk. Click F1 on the desktop and it should tell you how to create the disk. You could always just download a copy from somewhere too. ------------------ (===)
If you don't know what it is, don't use it! It's not exactly among the friendliest of utilities out there. Call Dell! You'll save yourself some headaches. ------------------ "It doesn't matter. If it's the Lakers or the Spurs, I'm going to kill them." -- Cuttino "Jack" Mobley on possible playoff opponents.
Gr8-1, F-disking is used to remove partitions on your harddrive such as C:. It will wipe out the whole harddrive. Anything that isn't backed up will be lost. I would call Dell before you do this because tech support is free and you will need all of your drivers to reinstall windows 98. They will help. I used to work there, and for the most part they're great. But you will lose your information!!!! ------------------ I am an invisible man. [This message has been edited by kbm (edited March 22, 2001).]
Hey Dod, That is great advice. I am one who just trys to do everything before-hand so that I don't have to go back and do it again. I agree there is more risk invovled in doing a low-level format but I really haven't had much trouble myself. Before I forget, let me get your opinion on low-level formats. Do you think that they tend to wear out harddrives faster if you do enough of them or no? For example, two harddrives one has been low-level formatted say five times the other has not been formatted at all. Will the one that hasn't been formatted last longer? If so, why? ------------------ I am an invisible man.
Dell is always rated as one of the best manufacturers when it comes to support give their toll free 800 number a call. ------------------ ~John~ If you make it idiot proof, they will make a better idiot.
Good question. I have no idea. Logically, I would say it wouldn't matter since your drives are getting hammered during daily use anyway. A low-level format, depending on how it's used and what it does, is essentially just writing and clearing more data from your hd as well. Most manufacturers recommend you don't low-level format a drive after buying it, but I've never understood why. It's low-level formatted at the factory, but like I said, low-level formatting is used to mark bad sectors and get rid of MBR viruses. Outside of that, there's really no need to do a low-level format. Heck, most modern drives will not even allow a low-level format to be done like "back in the old days". The old debug scripts would never work on the new drives. ------------------ "It doesn't matter. If it's the Lakers or the Spurs, I'm going to kill them." -- Cuttino "Jack" Mobley on possible playoff opponents.
DoD and Pole, F-disking the harddrive only removes the partition. Some viruses can remain. After you debug your system, you have to f-disk anyway to create the new partion. There is really no reason to just f-disk. Debuging takes about the same amount of time and then you are sure that no viruses are still on your harddrive. ------------------ I am an invisible man.
could i just go to the store and buy new drivers ? You can't imagine how primitive my computer looks with 16 colors. This is frustrating. The last service tech I talked to had no idea what to do, it was pathetic. Also, when I check my e-mail, it says POP error. why would that happen ? ------------------ "norm, would you like to buy an indian scalp ? This deal isn't gonna make or break me Norm, so don't jerk me around." Harry Carey "Norm, if I had a mohawk scalp, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you."
Dell also has a pretty good message board system that is fairly active. We use Dell's at work and I've had problems in the past, the message boards are great sources of info and the times I've used their tech support I've been very satisfied. Good luck gr8-1 rH ------------------ Homecourt will always be 'The Summit' to me!! Until we move downtown!! The Psychedelic Groove House of Rockets Basketball Love! Come and chat with us on game nights in CC.net chat! Chickety China, the Chinese Chicken. Have a drumstick and your brain starts clickin'
No. You will have to buy the hardware in order to get the drivers. Also, I'm not sure how old your components are, but you would not likely even find them in computer stores anymore. The best way to go about this installation is to download divers from the internet or e-mail. If you can't get your e-mail to work, you can instead ask the tech to give you the address. Your e-mail error is prolly do to some misconfiguration i.e. username and password. I would check those first. Remember roadrunner e-mail is case sensitive, so check carefully. If that doesn't work, here is a link to their web site, it shows you how to configure e-mail with various e-mail programs. Well, i was going to provide a link but the page looks to be down. I'd prolly confuse you if I went through every setting, you may have to call roadrunner here. Sorry ------------------ I am an invisible man.
Well, I can't install any drivers becuz I allegedly lost my drivers disks. I've talked to ten tech people, and most are nice, but not all are competent. Frustrating. ------------------ "norm, would you like to buy an indian scalp ? This deal isn't gonna make or break me Norm, so don't jerk me around." Harry Carey "Norm, if I had a mohawk scalp, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you."
gr8-1, Dell has every driver on their web site and every Dell technician has access to them. They should also know what type of hardware is in your system. With this information, they can send you all of the drivers through e-mail. What I would do is call them up again, tell the technicain that you lost your driver disk, then ask him to send you an e-mail copy of your modem driver and video card driver. Next copy those drivers to a floppy or zip disk. Then you can f-disk and format since you will be able to download the other drivers later. This will take a long time because you will have to talk to several technicans, but just make sure to tell each tech to log the next step so that the others will know what's up. ------------------ I am an invisible man.
