James' bane

Just going to start off by saying that this is the second time I've written this blog entry. Microsoft Shitty Explorer (not using this by choice I might add) just erased my last entry due to its crap Popup blocking system. OK i should have saved a draft, so I guess it's my fault, but just give me a break here. Why is there a need to refresh automatically, surely it would have the same rules if I just had to click on what I wanted to open again and it would work. A pox on you Microsoft, you and your software.

So my entry went something like this. I have always found that over the years that through having a geekish interest in computors, I have found more and more ways to become frustrated with them. Despite an above average ability when it comes to computer related problems, I find that there are just new and different problems which the average user probably never encounters - nor would they want to.

My most recent anatagonism has come in form of trying to install Windoze XP on my brand new PC. Basically, the laptop that I hd borrowed to take to Uni slowly died, and so I needed a new computer. My Mac was getting on in years, and although I love Macs, I felt a PC might be a better all round option for me. At least until I have more money and can afford a beautiful, stable, excellent Mac once again.

Being reasonably confident, I decided to buy my components for my PC separately as it would enable me to end up with the kind of computer that I acutally wanted, as opposed to a cheap run around. So everything arrived, nice and shiny, and I couldn't wait to get everything working so I could play Half Life 2 online...I mean do some important Uni work!

Problem 1: Accidentally bought the wrong RAM. Schoolboy error, but it was no big deal as I had another 512mb that was compatible, so at least I could get up and running. A quick chat with the nice people at Novatech, and they told me to post it back and I'll get the suitable replacement. Ideal.

Problem 2: So I put everything together, power up and begin to install Windoze. Shouldn't be too dificult, the format goes fine, but I start getting error messages relating to the copying of files over to the installation folder. Well maybe they're not important file, I think, so I skip them and carry on.

Problem 3 I reach the installation stage, everything goes fine. Install is done and it's saving the settings. I get to the last minute of the install, and the system reboots. Hmm, I'm sure it wasn't supposed to do that. I'm dismayed to then find that my computer is locked in a perpetual loop of crashing and rebooting. So not the easy task I expected.

For the next two days I tried a variation of installation technique, tricks and clever things. None of which worked. In despair I finally concluded that it must just be the disk, as it's the same files every install that are failing to copy. So a quick call later and a very good friend of mine has another copy in the post for me.

So now I'm waiting for that to arrive. In fact it may already be at home waiting for me. But I've started reading various posts on Tech forums, all suggesting that there can be other reasons for this error arising. Motherboard problems, faulty RAM and doggy CD drives. Oh joy. So now I'm stressing that it could be something much worse, and all this is happening in the week before I have to hand in all my work, which is currently sat on a laptop hard drive that I need to plug into my new computer so I can get the data off it. I'm sure it'll all work, it's just a little worrying right now. How will this drama end? Possibly in burning flames with a PC through the window.

If only I had bought a Mac...