The Virtual Pub

Come Inside... => The Computer Room => Topic started by: The Moan Ranger on December 14, 2007, 09:59:49 AM

Title: Ooops
Post by: The Moan Ranger on December 14, 2007, 09:59:49 AM
Following a regular monthly profile refresh, it appears I have killed the MD's laptop. Redundancy may come sooner than anticipated.  scared2:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Nick on December 14, 2007, 10:01:22 AM
Give it to a technician to sort out.............






















 evil:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Barman on December 14, 2007, 10:03:34 AM
Computers are the work of the devil...  evil:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Bar Wench on December 14, 2007, 10:08:26 AM
 point:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Grumpmeister on December 14, 2007, 10:20:14 AM
Did you make a backup of the drive or does the MD have all the important stuff on a network drive.

If all else fails how old is tha laptop, you could always claim catastrophic hardware failure...  whistle:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Barman on December 14, 2007, 10:21:57 AM
Did you make a backup of the drive or does the MD have all the important stuff on a network drive.

If all else fails how old is tha laptop, you could always claim catastrophic hardware failure...  whistle:
Or tell him you found some kiddy porn on the hard drive...  whistle:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Bar Wench on December 14, 2007, 10:26:13 AM
 point:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Grumpmeister on December 14, 2007, 10:29:59 AM
Dont forget the effect of Karma Wenchy, when your next computer problem occurs TMR is probably going to be laughing himself hoarse  point:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Bar Wench on December 14, 2007, 10:32:59 AM
 redface: eeek: redface:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: The Moan Ranger on December 14, 2007, 10:56:24 AM
Did you make a backup of the drive or does the MD have all the important stuff on a network drive.

If all else fails how old is tha laptop, you could always claim catastrophic hardware failure...  whistle:

It's a Fujitsu Siemens LifeBook E series - gotta be over five yeard old. I did not make a backup as the profile refresh very, very rarely causes any problems. I hope most of his stuff is on the network, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if there's "stuff" on the hard drive too. I have warned all laptop users of the risks associated with this. He's bringing it in on Tuesday, so I have a few days to think of some excuses!
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Snoopy on December 14, 2007, 11:18:43 AM
Did you make a backup of the drive or does the MD have all the important stuff on a network drive.

If all else fails how old is tha laptop, you could always claim catastrophic hardware failure...  whistle:

It's a Fujitsu Siemens LifeBook E series - gotta be over five yeard old. I did not make a backup as the profile refresh very, very rarely causes any problems. I hope most of his stuff is on the network, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if there's "stuff" on the hard drive too. I have warned all laptop users of the risks associated with this. He's bringing it in on Tuesday, so I have a few days to think of some excuses!

Or write a polite letter of resignation.  ;)
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: The Moan Ranger on December 14, 2007, 11:25:54 AM
Did you make a backup of the drive or does the MD have all the important stuff on a network drive.

If all else fails how old is tha laptop, you could always claim catastrophic hardware failure...  whistle:

It's a Fujitsu Siemens LifeBook E series - gotta be over five yeard old. I did not make a backup as the profile refresh very, very rarely causes any problems. I hope most of his stuff is on the network, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if there's "stuff" on the hard drive too. I have warned all laptop users of the risks associated with this. He's bringing it in on Tuesday, so I have a few days to think of some excuses!

Or write a polite letter of resignation.  ;)

Nah!   He's going before I am and I'm sure in this season of goodwill, he will accept that it's "just one of those things". Probably.
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: The Moan Ranger on December 17, 2007, 09:39:28 AM
Did you make a backup of the drive or does the MD have all the important stuff on a network drive.

If all else fails how old is tha laptop, you could always claim catastrophic hardware failure...  whistle:

The MD has just sent me an e-mail, detailing the problem...

"We apologise….Windows did not start successfully.A recent hardware or software change may have caused this. If your…..

Options – open in safe mode
Last known configuration etc


Etc."

I'll get my coat...
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Barman on December 17, 2007, 09:41:19 AM
Did you make a backup of the drive or does the MD have all the important stuff on a network drive.

If all else fails how old is tha laptop, you could always claim catastrophic hardware failure...  whistle:

The MD has just sent me an e-mail, detailing the problem...

"We apologise….Windows did not start successfully.A recent hardware or software change may have caused this. If your…..

Options – open in safe mode
Last known configuration etc


Etc."

I'll get my coat...

Tell him he's lucky that his e-mail works...  whistle:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Nick on December 17, 2007, 09:52:34 AM
This is getting interesting. I wonder when we will get the next instalment?
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: The Moan Ranger on December 17, 2007, 10:26:47 AM
Did you make a backup of the drive or does the MD have all the important stuff on a network drive.

If all else fails how old is tha laptop, you could always claim catastrophic hardware failure...  whistle:

The MD has just sent me an e-mail, detailing the problem...

"We apologise….Windows did not start successfully.A recent hardware or software change may have caused this. If your…..

Options – open in safe mode
Last known configuration etc


Etc."

I'll get my coat...

Tell him he's lucky that his e-mail works...  whistle:

He has a laptop and a desktop you ridiculous baldy Barman. He is the MD after all
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Barman on December 17, 2007, 10:28:59 AM
Did you make a backup of the drive or does the MD have all the important stuff on a network drive.

If all else fails how old is tha laptop, you could always claim catastrophic hardware failure...  whistle:

The MD has just sent me an e-mail, detailing the problem...

"We apologise….Windows did not start successfully.A recent hardware or software change may have caused this. If your…..

Options – open in safe mode
Last known configuration etc


Etc."

I'll get my coat...

Tell him he's lucky that his e-mail works...  whistle:

He has a laptop and a desktop you ridiculous baldy Barman. He is the MD after all
No problemo then...  whistle:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: tel on December 17, 2007, 10:29:31 AM
Did you make a backup of the drive or does the MD have all the important stuff on a network drive.

If all else fails how old is tha laptop, you could always claim catastrophic hardware failure...  whistle:

The MD has just sent me an e-mail, detailing the problem...

"We apologise….Windows did not start successfully.A recent hardware or software change may have caused this. If your…..

Options – open in safe mode
Last known configuration etc


Etc."

I'll get my coat...

Tell him he's lucky that his e-mail works...  whistle:

He has a laptop and a desktop you ridiculous baldy Barman. He is the MD after all
No problemo then...  whistle:

Famous last words!
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: The Moan Ranger on December 17, 2007, 04:37:57 PM
Stand by your phone/PC tomorrow Tel. My redundancy check may depend on it  scared2:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Nick on December 17, 2007, 04:38:37 PM
 scared2:

Vindictive type, is he. My last one was too. I enjoyed e mailing her to congratulate her on her enforced "early retirement." eveilgrin:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: tel on December 17, 2007, 04:43:34 PM
Stand by your phone/PC tomorrow Tel. My redundancy check may depend on it  scared2:

Off tomorrow, hopefully.
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Nick on December 17, 2007, 04:43:54 PM
 point:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Grumpmeister on December 17, 2007, 04:52:14 PM
Claim it is down to a virus and take credit for patching the network so that a minimum of computers were affected.  eyes:


Just a thought but you should in theory be able to retrieve the data on the disk by attaching it as an extra drive on another computer. At least as long as the drive itself hasnt been totally buggered
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Nick on December 17, 2007, 05:01:44 PM
Quote
At least as long as the drive itself hasnt been totally buggered
rubschin:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Grumpmeister on December 17, 2007, 05:03:13 PM
Well as there (hopefully) hasnt been exposure to Nick-o-rays there should be some hope for it.  whistle:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: The Moan Ranger on December 17, 2007, 05:13:31 PM
No Young's for you tonight then, Yoda :-(
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: The Moan Ranger on December 18, 2007, 10:10:01 AM
UNMOUNTABLE BOOT VOLUME   cussing:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Nick on December 18, 2007, 10:11:09 AM
Is that bad? rubschin:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Snoopy on December 18, 2007, 10:15:56 AM
Sounds very nasty  whistle:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Grumpmeister on December 18, 2007, 10:17:17 AM
Is that bad? rubschin:

Does Wenchy like chocolate, is Nick a magnet for cataclysmic events.






The answer would be yes Nick.
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Nick on December 18, 2007, 10:20:54 AM
So the laptop is knackered then.
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Snoopy on December 18, 2007, 10:30:12 AM
No ~ the lap-top isn't knackered .... but it will need some new parts to replace the non-functioning ones and then it will be fine. As my man with the bag of virtual spanners told me only yesterday. "Anything can be fixed ~ why replace the whole thing when all you need is a new hard drive?" Difference in cost using his philosophy ...... 'bout £500  whistle:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: The Moan Ranger on December 18, 2007, 10:33:25 AM
Erm... scared2:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Snoopy on December 18, 2007, 10:37:48 AM
Whaddya care .... you or he ? ~ the company is paying ~ buy a new one. You both know he plans to nick it when he gets the push anyway.
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Nick on December 18, 2007, 10:38:18 AM
Erm... scared2:

That bad, eh?
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Grumpmeister on December 18, 2007, 10:43:19 AM
Grumpmeister comes to the rescue:

http://www.data-recovery.net/ (http://www.data-recovery.net/)

Tell him that its a total failure of something within the hard disk and that the data can hopefully be retrieved but it will need to be sent away.

As long as you make it look like you are being proactive you can probably blag it from there.
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Darwins Selection on December 18, 2007, 11:16:02 AM
...... 'bout £500  whistle:
Which way?
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Snoopy on December 18, 2007, 11:18:49 AM
...... 'bout £500  whistle:
Which way?

In my favour in the case of my PC
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Barman on December 18, 2007, 12:41:25 PM
UNMOUNTABLE BOOT VOLUME   cussing:
No problemo...  whistle:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: tel on December 18, 2007, 01:00:53 PM
You need to see if it needs windows re-loading - leaves data intact on re-install - this assumes you do not have a bootable cd to hand.
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Snoopy on December 18, 2007, 01:11:31 PM
You need to see if it needs windows re-loading - leaves data intact on re-install - this assumes you do not have a bootable cd to hand.

That's what I had to do ~ reload XP (which process automatically erases the old version) ..... but it lost all the saved data, address books, favourites etc etc. We thought we had saved them to a "stick" during the process but when we came to put them back in all it held were the headings/file names etc. Contents all gone.
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Bar Wench on December 18, 2007, 01:16:58 PM
 point:

External hard drive that mirrors the pc and is backed up every weekend!
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: tel on December 18, 2007, 01:25:44 PM
When re-loading windows there is an option to create a new version leaving old version and all other folders intact.
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: tel on December 18, 2007, 01:27:30 PM
point:

External hard drive that mirrors the pc and is backed up every weekend!

Do you use Ghost or such similar software?
Have you ever tested it - that's when the fun really begins.
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Bar Wench on December 18, 2007, 01:28:59 PM
 shrugs:

Brother Wench told me what buttons to press and that is what I do.  cloud9:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Grumpmeister on December 18, 2007, 01:31:30 PM
Just out of interest Wenchy, does brother Wench have an evil sense of humour........  whistle:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: tel on December 18, 2007, 01:31:49 PM
shrugs:

Brother Wench told me what buttons to press and that is what I do.  cloud9:

Not sure that answers the question.
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Bar Wench on December 18, 2007, 01:32:32 PM
It does! It says I dunno I does as I is told.


Brother Wench is an evil bastard!  scared2:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Snoopy on December 18, 2007, 01:35:35 PM
 point:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Nick on December 18, 2007, 01:36:11 PM
He's a monk? rubschin:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Bar Wench on December 18, 2007, 01:39:09 PM
 happy001
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Grumpmeister on December 18, 2007, 02:01:45 PM
It does! It says I dunno I does as I is told.


Brother Wench is an evil bastard!  scared2:

 point:

So you havent tried to restore a backup yet then  happy001
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: The Moan Ranger on December 18, 2007, 02:20:38 PM
Initial reports from his secretary are that there are NO files stored on the local drive - all on the network.

And it just so happens that I've sourced a replacement laptop - identical - which he is currently testing. I may yet get out of this pickle...
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Grumpmeister on December 18, 2007, 02:32:09 PM
You do realise that if his old laptop is junked you could always replace the hard drive and  ebay it  whistle:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Barman on December 18, 2007, 02:58:16 PM
shrugs:

Brother Wench told me what buttons to press and that is what I do.  cloud9:
eeek:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Snoopy on December 18, 2007, 04:09:23 PM
shrugs:

Brother Wench told me what buttons to press and that is what I do.  cloud9:
eeek:

Works for me BM works for me.














Vice may be nice but they do say incest is best.
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: tel on December 18, 2007, 04:35:05 PM
Wench - you do need to test your backup, otherwise you are wasting your time, and effort.
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Bar Wench on December 18, 2007, 04:41:00 PM
 angry041:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: tel on December 18, 2007, 04:48:46 PM
It's like having a spare wheel. Comforting until you have an emergency and you find it is either flat, perished or the wrong size.

You will find yourself stranded in hell.
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Bar Wench on December 18, 2007, 04:56:56 PM
Bro is dropping by on his way to the airport Saturday.

I am in trouble for not checking it was working sooner.  redface:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: The Moan Ranger on December 23, 2007, 02:23:57 PM
Just received an e-mail from the MD saying that Outlook doesn't work on the replacement laptop I gave him. Banghead!
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Darwins Selection on December 23, 2007, 04:00:37 PM
Just received an e-mail from the MD saying that Outlook doesn't work on the replacement laptop I gave him. Banghead!
How did he send the e-mail if Outlook isn't working?
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: The Moan Ranger on December 23, 2007, 07:21:59 PM
It's not working on the laptop - he had to drive to the office today to send an Outlook via his desktop PC...
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Darwins Selection on December 23, 2007, 07:53:35 PM
It's not working on the laptop - he had to drive to the office today to send an Outlook via his desktop PC...
Oops.  cry: surrender:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: The Moan Ranger on December 23, 2007, 09:11:14 PM
It's not working on the laptop - he had to drive to the office today to send an Outlook via his desktop PC...
Oops.  cry: surrender:

Indeed. He lives near Reading and had to drive to Sutton to do it. Still, it might have been an excuse to avoid the last minute shopping ;D
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Barman on December 24, 2007, 06:52:28 AM
It's not working on the laptop - he had to drive to the office today to send an Outlook via his desktop PC...
Oops.  cry: surrender:

Indeed. He lives near Reading and had to drive to Sutton to do it. Still, it might have been an excuse to avoid the last minute shopping ;D
And this idiot is the boss?  ::)
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Darwins Selection on December 24, 2007, 09:12:04 AM
It's not working on the laptop - he had to drive to the office today to send an Outlook via his desktop PC...
Oops.  cry: surrender:

Indeed. He lives near Reading and had to drive to Sutton to do it. Still, it might have been an excuse to avoid the last minute shopping ;D
And this idiot is the boss?  ::)

Boss, chairman, mayor, landlord.

All tarred with the silly brush in my experience. whistle:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Barman on December 24, 2007, 09:20:21 AM
It's not working on the laptop - he had to drive to the office today to send an Outlook via his desktop PC...
Oops.  cry: surrender:

Indeed. He lives near Reading and had to drive to Sutton to do it. Still, it might have been an excuse to avoid the last minute shopping ;D
And this idiot is the boss?  ::)

Boss, chairman, mayor, landlord.

All tarred with the silly brush in my experience. whistle:
lol: ...  evil:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: The Moan Ranger on December 24, 2007, 10:09:08 AM
His replacement laptop arrived today - a lovely IBM ThinkPad. I fired it up - "Hard Drive Initialisation Error".  Banghead Banghead Banghead

Re-seated the hard drive and it works, no doubt the Couriers treated it like a football. So far so good. Only one minor problem (!) though, he will also need a new router configured to the MAC address on the new laptop and they didn't provide one  Banghead Banghead Banghead

Laptop will now be sent back so that the MD can pick both the new laptop and the new router up from Swindon on Friday
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Darwins Selection on December 24, 2007, 10:16:21 AM
Re-seated the hard drive
confused2: confused2: 
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Snoopy on December 24, 2007, 10:19:25 AM
Re-seated the hard drive
confused2: confused2: 

He's happy ~ let him play
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Darwins Selection on December 24, 2007, 11:19:25 AM
Re-seated the hard drive
confused2: confused2: 

He's happy ~ let him play

But I love jargon.

"Good evening Mr Hard Drive, perhaps you would prefer to sit over here, with a better view of the keyboard and screen?"
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: The Moan Ranger on December 24, 2007, 11:26:04 AM
Snoopy and DS. Kindly do me a favour...
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Snoopy on December 24, 2007, 11:46:35 AM
Off Piste I think DS
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: tel on December 24, 2007, 11:47:39 AM
Well. there are hardly any users in today, so lovely and peaceful.
Have been told to bugger orf at 12:30.
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: The Moan Ranger on December 24, 2007, 11:56:56 AM
1 o'clock for me.

I may be tempted to partake of some Young's.
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Barman on December 24, 2007, 11:58:10 AM
Well. there are hardly any users in today, so lovely and peaceful.
Have been told to bugger orf at 12:30.
System will crash at about 12:25 then?  whistle:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Darwins Selection on December 24, 2007, 12:02:04 PM
Off Piste I think DS
Sounds like it.  sad24:

All the youngsters will be getting legless shortly anyway.
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: tel on December 24, 2007, 12:03:12 PM
Well. there are hardly any users in today, so lovely and peaceful.
Have been told to bugger orf at 12:30.
System will crash at about 12:25 then?  whistle:

There probably won't be anyone here to notice, people have started exiting already.

So I shal whizz off and find a freindly pint of Youngs. ;D
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Marley's Ghost (Imbiber of Spirits) on December 24, 2007, 02:47:05 PM
Well. there are hardly any users in today, so lovely and peaceful.
Have been told to bugger orf at 12:30.
System will crash at about 12:25 then?  whistle:

There probably won't be anyone here to notice, people have started exiting already.

So I shal whizz off and find a freindly pint of Youngs. ;D

Judging by the errors in that post, you've already started!
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Nick on December 24, 2007, 08:45:58 PM
Too true!
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: The Moan Ranger on December 27, 2007, 04:37:17 PM
The MD's laptop has just been returned to my office, despite instructions to send it to Swindon! I may have to take the damn thing up personally tomorrow...grr!
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Snoopy on December 27, 2007, 04:39:20 PM
Only an hour's run and such a lovely place to visit at this time of the year. Say hello to the Oxford Hotel from me.
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: The Moan Ranger on December 28, 2007, 10:16:36 AM
Only an hour's run and such a lovely place to visit at this time of the year. Say hello to the Oxford Hotel from me.

An hour?!   From Sutton?!   Possibly on the motorbike, but my best ever was one hour to Membury Services and that was with some pretty regular 140+ stints. The best I've managed by car was 1 hour 27 minutes and even that was 95 all the way. Anyway, not necessary, the laptop was there first thing this morning.

I have just spoken to one of the carrot crunching IT guys up there and the MD has already collected the laptop. They are still working on the router. Fingers crossed  scared2:
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: Snoopy on December 28, 2007, 10:31:30 AM
I had assumed that you had easy (ie direct access to the M4)
Sorry but I hadn't realised you lived AND worked so far out of town.
Title: Re: Ooops
Post by: The Moan Ranger on December 28, 2007, 10:50:14 AM
It's 35 minutes to the office in SwineTown, once you've joined the M4 at Bracknell (A329M) at a steady 85(ish). Last time I went there were lots of point-to-point cameras near Reading, keeping you to 50mph. Although, obviously as they take the picture from the front, you can still hoon along like a mad thing on a motorbike  whistle:

Getting the A329(M) / M4 junction takes about an hour from Sutton, as long as the traffic is kind.