My PC's back!

My PC is finally back!! It started going cranky on me since last week... the
PC kept restarting after a few minutes no matter what I was doing (or not
doing) until Windows finally gave up on me and gave me the blue screen of
death (which I suppose is its equivalent to the finger). On the advice of a
friend who said it might be a BIOS problem, I sent the PC to a computer
dealer (one which I commonly frequented, because they know me, and I trust
them) who said that the power supply was shot and changed it for me and also
reformatted my hard disk - after backing up my data (very important!!!), of
course. However my emails were all lost because he didn't know where it was
kept... seems like I'm one of the rare few weirdos who actually know where
the Outlook Express folders are kept... *sigh*

Anyway, after a couple of days being computerless at home, upon getting my
PC back (which was now a stranger to me, after losing all my programs and
customizations. But fortunately I'm IT-savvy enough to know how to
reconfigure it, hehehe) I tried to reinstall my programs... and to my
dismay, after merely installing 3 software and trying repeatedly to get the
network card recognised (because for some strange reason, the guy at the
computer store unknowingly didn't get it recognised) my computer refused
cooperating with me anymore and Windows froze everytime I started up; I
could only get in at Safe Mode (which is completely useless), no matter how
many System Recoveries I did. I panicked again, because I didn't want the
danger of losing my data again (40GB!!!) and so decided to reformat
the hard disk myself. It is no biggie to me to reformat the hard disk. The
problem was, I needed to back my files up. I could've sent the PC back to
the store, but being rather of a control freak when it comes to my digital
technology, I'd rather do it myself because I would have complete control of
what was actually being installed and what is happening to my computer. The
guy at the store installed a Windows XP SP2 which caused mayhem on my
computer; I didn't know what he actually did, and it made me feel as if I've
lost control over my PC. Yes, yes, I am a control freak, I've already
admitted that earlier :þ

My friend reiterated that it could be a BIOS problem, and said I could
update it myself. Not a problem, really; I knew where to look, because I
have been searching for BIOS updates for months for another friend's
computer which I was trying to patch up a few weeks back. Anyway, for the
sake of my data, I went and bought a new hard disk (was tempted to get a
200GB one, but $$$ rules over desire so I settled for a mere 80GB) and in
Safe Mode, managed to copy everything over. Then I tried to reformat the old
hard disk and problems arose all over again. Over the course of two days I
tried many different CDs - WinXP SP1, WinXP SP2, Win2K but none of them
worked. The computer always froze about the same place - I could never get
past installation at a particular point. Using my brother's PC I managed to
get the latest BIOS update for my computer, and even that had a bit of
problem updating. I followed the website's instructions but it didn't work;
it was supposed to be a bootable floppy disk but my computer refused to boot
from it. Fortunately I knew enough about DOS to work around it (it wouldn't
read the DOS version which was FreeDOS; I had to make a Startup disk from
another PC to load DOS, and after several trials-and-errors managed to run
the EXE file) and updated my BIOS; but to my utter dismay the problem was
not solved.

Trying another approach, I installed Windows 98 and it installed and worked
beautifully; but I've gone beyond the point of settling for a faulty ol'
piece of 7-year-old junky technology, especially when I'm running on a newer
(but getting obsolete) Intel Pentium 4 HT, but the point of the exercise was
to test if my computer would accept any installation to begin with. It did,
so I tried firstly to replace Windows 98 with Windows XP; then just tried to
update it to Windows XP, but both times it failed; and when I tried to
reformat the hard disk (I hated the thought of using FAT32 system instead of
NTFS), nothing worked. It failed at the exact same spots as it did before.
All my work - wasted!

I was just about ready to throw the PC into the can when a thought seized
me... I might be requiring too many drivers. I had added on at least three
additional cards: a network card, a video capture card, and an IEEE card.
Taking out a handy screwdriver (never leave home without it - although in
this came, I AM at home) I took out all the additional items and
tried the Windows XP CD again... and... IT FINALLY WORKED!!!!!!!! So that
was the bloody problem all along!

The reformatting using NTFS and Windows installation finally completed, I
added back the cards together with my new hard disk, and now everything's
golden. Except that I've misplaced my MS Office CD, and I haven't had time
to install anything else other than the vital anti-virus and Internet
connection software. It's 1.10am on a very early Monday morning and I have
to get up for school in little more than 5 hours. I'm so going to die
tomorrow, what more when I've got this PC and the things I have to reinstall
in it haunting my brain.

I wonder how many readers have completely tuned out when reading this entry. Or rather, how many readers finished reading this entry. By the way, special thanks to Ik Choon for his many suggestions and his patience for both answering my frustrated enquiries and listening to my whining gripes - it ain't fun doin' tech support during your off-time, I know :)