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DooMBoy

Computers Are Scary

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So, what was the scariest computer error that ever popped up across your monitor?

I don't know if this should be classified scary or not, but sometimes when I run Defrag, which is once in a very great while, it'll tell me there are errors that must be fixed. So I fix'em and go on with life, and run Defrag :)

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Warning: DRIVE C IS CORRUPTED. ALL DATA HAS BEEN ERASED. YOU MUST REFORMAT YOUR HARD DRIVE.

In my nightmares.

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I haven't had a data loss dream in a while, and no data loss in years. I love those UPS devices. Protect my hard drive so sweetly and tenderly.

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DooMBoy said:

I don't know if this should be classified scary or not, but sometimes when I run Defrag, which is once in a very great while, it'll tell me there are errors that must be fixed. So I fix'em and go on with life, and run Defrag :)

I believe those are just file errors, not surface errors. You'll notice that it tells you to run a standard scan, not a surface scan.

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This one is easy for me to answer:
C:\>dir
not recognized:\>

...or whatever the message was when I had accidentally used Norton Utilities' WIPEINFO command to erase all traces of any data on my hard disk (like putting the entire contents of a library through a shredder, and then nuking the whole building).

Fortunately, I had already transferred most of the important stuff onto the new computer that was replacing it. The WIPEINFO command was described in the help file as "Permanently erases deleted files, directories and data". I read the adjective "deleted" as applying to all three nouns, and thought it meant it just blanked out anything that had been deleted, and was therefore a sensible security measure before passing the computer to its new user.

I don't think I'd ever felt so sick in all my life. One directory I hadn't yet backed up? Yes: C:\DOOM2.

Lesson: never use any utilities when you don't have the full documentation for them.

This episode had a beneficial side-effect though. I made sure everyone knew about it, and suddenly I stopped getting bugged by people asking for help with their computer problems.

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That's probably the best way for an even semi-competent person to make the idiots go away: let them see you screw the pooch like a big dog.

DC

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DooMBoy said:

So, what was the scariest computer error that ever popped up across your monitor?

I don't know if this should be classified scary or not, but sometimes when I run Defrag, which is once in a very great while, it'll tell me there are errors that must be fixed. So I fix'em and go on with life, and run Defrag :)



Phillip's prank.

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lament said:

When an entire partition got fucked up thanks to Win98 and Unreal Tournament.

Was that due to some bug that was triggered if you installed it in any folder other than the default one? I heard about that with some version, and some other games too (which I can't remember).

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Nothing ever scared me more than hearing the computer try to connect to the net through my sound card. Seriously, that almost blew my speakers.

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I just installed the McAffe virus scanner. I reboot after the installation, and the program began scanning my HD as part of the Windows bootup. The virus scanner crashed. Every time I tried to reboot. I finally went in with step-by-step startup and bypassed the virus scan. It didn't do it again, thank goodness.

This computer has been starting up and shutting down very slowly of late. And if I give it a Restart command, it won't restart. It'd be easier if the idiots at Gateway had put a reset button on the tower...

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"An error has occurred. Windows must be reinstalled."

Luckily I rebooted and it fixed itself, whatever was wrong.

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Jack, just run Defrag. You might be suprised at the results; then again, you may be running low on memory or something.

Oh yeah, that reminds me, I remember trying to re-install Windows98 and it said something about a missing KERNEL32.DLL. I do know that this required to boot up Windows98 apparently, because the OS refused to continue with the installation.
Not suprising, shortly thereafter, I had to get a new hard drive. :(

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IMJack said:

And if I give it a Restart command, it won't restart. It'd be easier if the idiots at Gateway had put a reset button on the tower...

They did...it's called ctr-alt-del.

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IMJack said:

I just installed the McAffe virus scanner. ...

Damned virus scanners. I always disable the autoprotect (they complain a bit but do obey) and just have it set to protect automatically against Internet and e-mail viruses, and make an absolute point of running the virus checker manually over all and any incoming files.

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Easy.
Came home from school one day in 1993-4, booted up da PC, and sat down. To my idle suprise, Doom started loading straight away (that lovely growing line of dots).
All of a sudden, the dos4gw loader crashes, and is replaced by the message :

'Warning! All information on Drive C will be lost! Do you wish to continue? Y/N'

Like any panicky person, i smacked the 'N' key. Suddenly i got those horrible increasing percentage digits, and my panic turned to horror.

Imagine the look on my ugly mug when the format completed, and the capitalised word 'GOTCHA!' appeared below the drive label line.

My dad is the most bastardised prankster on the planet :P.

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fodders said:

They did...it's called ctr-alt-del.

When the machine bluescreens, or the standard keyboard drivers decide to go nite-nite, the Three-Finger Salute ain't much help. Sorry.

I defragged my system about a wek ago. Had to go into safe mode to do it. Cd_load kept accessing my HD, and if I try to close it, it locks up my comp. And now my Ctrl key is fubared. Fuck. Gotta reboot. The irony, huh?

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DooMBoy said:

Warning: DRIVE C IS CORRUPTED. ALL DATA HAS BEEN ERASED. YOU MUST REFORMAT YOUR HARD DRIVE.

In my nightmares.


My worst nightmare would be if command.com was corrupted. Your system would screw up and Windows would be unable to load when you reboot. Which means it would be FORMAT C: time.

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Woolie Wool said:

My worst nightmare would be if command.com was corrupted. Your system would screw up and Windows would be unable to load when you reboot. Which means it would be FORMAT C: time.

you are dumb

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Once in a while, when I open my computer, my HD starts to make piercing noises like if it's scratching the whole drive and I get the message "DISK BOOT FAILURE" error. I dunno why it's doing this but when I restart, it boots ok. The 1st time that happen I was scared that I scrapped the HD.

Should I be scared ?

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Woolie Wool said:
My worst nightmare would be if command.com was corrupted. Your system would screw up and Windows would be unable to load when you reboot. Which means it would be FORMAT C: time.

Joke, right?

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lament said:

you are dumb


Why? Because I didn't know ahead of time that ancient Compaq computers don't like less-ancient video cards? It's not my fault that the computer screwed me over when I installed a 32mb ATi chip exactly the way the instructions specified? It's not my fault the CD-ROM drive bay on the Compaq was too big to accept a standard-sized CD-ROM drive. Anyway, the Compaq's fussiness is irrelevant now because I threw the Compaq away and made sure never again to buy another Compaq computer.

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