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Fixing Windows Boxes that Crash After Blackouts?
UnseenTomorrow asks: "Everytime there's a power outage in my house, my Gateway computer crashes. It's only 2.5 yrs old. After the crash the computer just will not allow Windows to boot (yes, this includes "Safe Mode" and every other boot option in that menu). Should I explicitly say that I'm tired of rebuilding or restoring the image everytime? Does anyone have any idea of what could be the problem. I've other computers running fine after the power outage with the same OS but different hardware manufacturer. Any clues or suggestions would be greatly appreciated."
That's why God invented the UPS. The last one I bought was $90, but you can get them for much less, use the networking connections, and install the software that'll automatically shut down the system.
I don't use a huge UPS (actually I have two). I've noticed that if we get a power outage that's more than a flicker (i.e. lasting longer than 2 minutes, while circuits reset), that it'll likely be out for 45 minutes or more. So I don't worry about keeping my systems going for longer than 5 minutes (which is the 2 minutes plus 3 to shut them down -- which will change when I finally have time to set them up to communicate with the UPS).
Yeah, it sucks and all and that kind of thing can tend to happen with a hard shutdown... But you know, it could all be avoided with a reasonable backup power supply unit. Either one big one for all of them or several small ones. YOu just need enough time for them to shut down gracefully. If you're running Windows they often come with software that will instruct the systems ot safely shutdown after the outage is detected and before the juice runs out.
Sure, they're not free or cheap, but figure if you make $30-$40/hr and if you spend eight hours rebuilding a bunch of boxes, you might as well have just spent a few hundred on a nice power supply...
...Or you could just go with Linux.
Install Ubuntu in Android
Is something running on that computer that isn't running on others? I'm wondering if an important boot file is being left 'open' and never successfully closes unless Windows shuts down. Since you mentioned it being a Gateway computer, I would look closely at this. Maybe they have a recovery app that's shadow-copying your boot stuff so you can recover it later. (Maybe even the Windows save state for system files...?)
On a different topic, years ago I had a problem where Windows 98 would hose itself if you shut it down. It'd actually wipe out the FAT table. Why? The HD was new with a bigger cache than most discs had at the time. Windows would shut the power off to the drive before the disc was done writing data from the cache. I don't have high hopes that this has anything to do with your computer, but if I had nothing else to try in your situation, I'd see if the problem happens with a different HD.
"Derp de derp."
You could get a treadmill and start running during the power outage. You have to be quick to start running though; I hear power drains from the circuits pretty fast!
Also, have you looked into purchasing a UPS? They are pretty cheap now (less than $100). You would have enough time to shut down your machine safely if there was a power outage.
Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
About a quarter of the Dells in our computer labs forget all their BIOS settings after being without power for a few hours. That's the sort of place I'd look for your problems.
Everytime there's a power outage in my house, my Gateway
Well, there's your problem right there! Buy yourself a new computer and quit bothering us.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
Does your system hard drive have write caching enabled? If you don't want to splurge for an uninterruptable power supply, you might want to try turning write caching off and see if that helps with your problem.
I've seen many problems in the past with write caching-enabled hard drives that become heavily corrupted when an unexpected power outage occurs, which we usually attributed to cached data being lost before it could be written to the hard drive. Granted newer hard drives and operating systems are more dependable when it comes to write caching, I still don't trust it enough in ye ole generic workstation to enable it (especially when the performance boost is virtually unnoticable to Joe User on newer machines when running generic desktop applications).
Let's salvage this story with something useful. I'm going to explain what an open mind is, and what a closed mind is. Most people don't know know what these terms actually mean. For example, some people think an open mind is one that accepts things without skepticism, such as the existence of UFO's, or Bigfoot. Some think an open mind is an Art Bell fan. Not So!
We'll use your statement - "I can't believe this was posted" - to illustrate both an open mind and a closed mind. Now, I understand that your statement was rhetorical, but suppose that it wasn't. Suppose that you really did NOT believe that this was posted, and you had to find out the truth. You could easily determine the truth, by looking at the story.
1) An open mind would thus SEE the story, and then accept the conclusion that this piece of drivel was actually posted.
2) A closed mind would SEE the story, and continue to deny that the story actually exists, and maintain a belief that this absurd story about a POS Gateway was not ever posted. This is a comfortable belief, because a universe in which this story was never posted would be a better one. But, the truth is not always comfortable!
There's another category of mind - the *credulous* mind, which some people mistake for an open mind. The credulous mind is sort of HYPER-open, so that any crap idea can get right into a person's head because their brain has fallen out.
3) A credulous mind would have never heard of Slashdot, but if Art Bell mentioned that a lamer posted a story about a crashing POS Gateway on Slashdot, they would believe it in an instant, without question, without ever checking Slashdot to see if there ever was such a story posted.
OK, I hope that little lesson made you all better people. I know that it certainly warmed my cockles to relate it to you.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
"My machine won't work. Here's no relevant details. What's wrong, and how can I fix it?"
Cliff, if this is the best you could find for an Ask Slashdot, it's time to decommission the category.
The only answer this deserves is this. Why don't you read it too, Cliff?
Ok, here's your answer. I'm guessing your Gateway has GoBack on it. GoBack does not play well with other software or hardware, and likes to shit itself^H^H^H^H^H and can cause data inconsistencies when you pull the plug.
/. are telling you to do, and get a UPS and plug a new computer into it.
Basically, what it takes to fix it is get rid of the problem (GoBack) This will require, when you boot up, hit the space bar and turn GoBack off. Leave it off. Then, do what all the other nice people on
To the editors: ARE YOU SERIOUS?? What, today is 'any old story will do' day?
Don't use the Troll mod just because you disagree with me.
1) Reset your BIOS to the default settings.
2) Check your hard disk(s) and make sure that they are spinning up OK by the time the BIOS finishes.
3) Check for services starting which address programs or hardware which may have been removed.
4) Swap the power supply.
5) Wipe the hard disk and (if you must use MS Windows) reinstall from scratch. I've seen machines from big manufacturers that had all sorts of weird problems which went away with a default install.
The above checks cost nothing but your time, but then there's option #6.
6) Buy a UPS.
The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws. - Tacitus, 56-120 A.D.
Looks like your system crashed during a write and NTFS is unclean. Boot off a Windows CD. Press "R" to run the recovery console, log in, and type "chkdsk /f c:".
9 out of 10 times, chkdsk will be able to restore FS consistency. If not, do a "repair" operation to put down fresh OS files. Unplug the net until you enable the firewall, though.
I have a computer. I got it at a flea market for 20 dollars. It doesn't work. Anyone have any idea why? How do I fix it? I've tried everything I know. HELP!
WTF is slashdot posting this for? What kind of news is this? This has to be the stupidest "story" I've ever seen on the front page of slashdot. Please for the love of geekdom, put in a story moderation system.
Though I will say, judging by some stories that make the front page of Digg, it won't help a whole lot. Maybe you could make it +/- mods...not just + mods. I think that would actually make it better than Digg. Right now you either "Digg" a story or you don't. If enough people digg it then it makes the front page. You should be allowed to give negative mod points to the story as well. Please give us Negative Mod points for "news" stories on Slashdot. This "ask slashdot" should have never made front page.
At least give the subscribed users story mod points or something. If we are this desperate for "stories", I'll come up with a nice question like "I installed Linux now I can't find windows, what do I do?".
Beer! It's what's for breakfast!
Could it be that hard-disk write-caching is enabled on the dying computer, and disabled (or less aggressive) on the others? Check your IDE driver's settings and disable write caching if it's enabled.
Oh, and like eleventy-billion other people said: Get a UPS.
--Joe
Program Intellivision!
It could be the fact that its a Gateway. Cheap powersupply, motherboard, hard drive. My guess is that something is not behaving properly during the low power condition. I believe the PS should shut off completely when its not able to maintain 5/12V, but due to a design flaw or defect, yours may still be outputting, leading to unknown states in various components of your system.
Easiest answer: UPS.
Otherwise, a fresh, clean install of Windows; swap power supplies; swap hard drives; swap motherboard, etc.