Wetlook World Forum

Current time: Fri 26/04/24 19:00:13 GMT

Translate page FROM -> TO

Translate page TO <- FROM

Message # 28129.6

Subject: Re: OT: I almost really screwed up my computer!

Date: Sat 24/03/07 01:47:25 GMT

Name: AnthonyX

Email: anthonyx@jowc.net

Website:

Report Abuse or Problem to Nigel at Minxmovies
If you enjoy this forum, then please make a small donation to help
with running costs: (you can change amount)

Windows is generally pretty robust. I think that part of your grief may have come from the way you attempted to recover from your mis-step with the power.

There are two possible problems which may occur as a result of an ill-timed power cycling:

One used to be a major problem - hard disk drives could be destroyed due the heads seeking onto the disk when it not spinning fast enough for the heads to fly properly. I don't think this has been a problem for many years due to the way drives are designed (and have been for a long time).

The other problem is very likely what you encountered. Files were still open and the system was busy writing back information when you pulled the power. This leaves the file system in an inconsistent state. Normally, the system will recover all by itself. The best thing to after an abrupt power-down like that is to simply boot the machine up and give it *lots* of time to stabilize. That means waiting for the flurry of disk activity to subside. Depending on the state the system has to recover from, the size of the disk(s) and amount of content on them, and the speed of the machine, it could take a while - 30 minutes or more. When it settles down, do a "proper" reboot (clean system shutdown/restart). Everything should come back fine at this point; if not, then consider more drastic action. I think you invoked "recovery" prematurely... had you allowed the system to restart normally instead of selecting recovery, you probably would have found everything back to normal.

It's quite likely that you were trying to use the system while it was still recovering and had the file system "frozen" while it was sorting things out. This is why most stuff wasn't working - almost every application will want to write something to the disk at some point. It's also why the things that did work were very slow - the system was busy with its recovery work.

I'm always careful (double and triple check) to make sure a system is "safe" before removing power. I have my systems all on UPS (battery back-up) to make sure there are never problems with unexpected power interruptions.

Of course one other option might be to switch to a laptop/notebook.

In reply to Message (28129)

OT: I almost really screwed up my computer!

By Desert Hawk - Fri 23/03/07 08:05:09 GMT

Website:

Today I made a very simple mistake that I thought was going to destroy my computer! I turned off the power on my power strip a few seconds before the computer had completely shut down! I realized what I had done as soon as I did it. I turned my compuer back on to see if there was any damage. There was! It would look like Windows was booting, but it would next best thing to freeze up after booting. AOL would not start. "My Pictures" would not start. In fact the only thing that would start was Solitaire, and it took a long time to start. AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was afraid I had totally ruined my computer with one stupid mistake. "Turn off computer" worked, so I shut it down again and then turned it on again and at the first boot screen I pressed F10 (system recovery). This went through a bunch of crap for literally half an hour. Then I had to go through the first time powerup crap (name the computer, do I want to sign up for this and that, etc). Then I had to click Internet Setup and reselect AOL as my default ISP. Then I had to wait for it to reset again. Then I was finally able to make AOL start and My Pictures start. I connected for about 2 minutes, then signed off and shut down the computer again and restarted it again to make sure everything works. Now I am back on. WHEW!!! My AOL account information is intact, and so are my pictures, although it did put thekm in a different order (alphabetical, I think). I think I will remember to not hit the power switch too soon again! WHY ARE PC'S SO SENSITIVE???!!!

Report Abuse or Problem to Nigel at Minxmovies
If you enjoy this forum, then please make a small donation to help with running costs: (you can change amount)