A little PC support excercise...
 

We have a number of members here that appear to be quite technically savvy and able to perform advanced debugging and problem solving.

So I figured we coiuld have a little contest. Not a contest of "who is the geekiest techno freak" - but rather, who can apply the simplest quickest solution to solve a problem at hand.

Think of it as a "in the real world do this" excercise.

(And yes - I know how to do it... I have got this type of "do it with no tools" thing down to a refined art - but I would like to see some other folks approaches to solving the same scenario)

The Scene
You re faced with replacing a hard drive on a 6 month old branded workstation. Let's use a Dell Dimension 2400 as the system in question.

It is in a home situation, no Active Directory present or other networked computers loacl - but has working Internet connection to a DSL router.

Currently has XP Pro installed, application A, B, C , D came pre-installed, E and F came on CD's with the package.

Application G and H are aftermarket add-ons.

The PC has a single 40GB harddrive, a DVD/CD reader, a 1.44 flopp, a modem, a network adapter, a decent video car and an attached HP printer. All function correctly and the system is usable as configured.

The Problem
The only problem is the hard drive causes BSOD's every now and again because of data corruption and needs to be replaced.

The end-user has requested you please save all the data and preserve configuraitons such as favourites and desktop layout etc.

Tools on hand
You have a phillips head screw driver to open the case and remove and replace the harddrive.

You also have access to all the OS and driver CD's that shipped with the Dell computer. You do not have the HP printer drivers on hand.

The system has functioning Internet access but no other computers hooked up locally. And you do not have a laptop or extra software.. ;)

Nothing else.. :D

Time Limit
3 hours

Your solution
How would YOU solve this?

do a virus scan/trojan scan/chkdsk. Finally a nice little defrag. Norton ghost to a new harddrive by hooking them both up through the ide interface with the new disk as slave. Ghost over.. Then swap the harddrives and store the original somewhere.

I cheat.. I use to work in a computer repair store..

You also used equipment software that isn't in the scenario... ;)

You may only use what is listed. :)

All you have is the new harddrive, the Dell CD's that shipped with the PC, a phillips screw driver and the original computer - thats it.

You may only use the existing hardware (and remember, factory assembled boxes only come with single conneciton IDE cables... ;)), the screw driver and the new harddrive. (and the Net for missing drivers)

So I cant use the net to download ghost?:)

You sure can - as long as you dont need a floppy disk or CD to burn it to use it.. ;)

"You sure can - as long as you dont need a floppy disk or CD to burn it to use it.."

One version doesnt require a floppy disk.. But then we are getting into warez instead of trial programs. (Some of the older versions of ghost were freeware witha trial program.. that being before norton became huge. The windows version came later. It doesnt require a floppy.. but it does require a key. lol

The question is thouhg, does Ghost work when the target is not a slave?

My solution, hit it with baseball bat untill it complies with my requests.
Nothing says "obey me" like a savage beating. :P

What I do is get Norton Ghost put in the new drive, clone the old one to it and Im done.

This about summarizes the simplest method using no extra software or hardware... but I would use the "User Profile/settings export/import" of Windows XP.

The power of keeping it simple... ;)

^^^^with this method a close second... :lol: ;)

And then call Dell tech support? Problem solved? :D

Or would the call magnify the problem 2-3x?

Burn it and buy a new one.

You could do what all my relatives use to do... Make me fix it.

And they wonder why I dont come by that often anymore.