Tuesday, December 27, 2005

The Gateway I was working on on Monday is working fine. That poor machine was loaded with problems and after four or five hours of work it seems to be running fine. The hardest part was removing Zone Alarm from the system (which is not completely gone yet). I was in the registry deleting. I removed half a dozen files relating to Zone Alarm. I searched and searched some more and could not find anything else to delete. I decided to try installing Zone Alarm again - no - did not work - got the same error "Validation failed for C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VSINIT.DLL". Since the machine was hooked up to my DSL connection -sitting there online waiting to get infected I found a way around the Zone Alarm issue (see -- Monday, December 19, 2005), I was able to install Outpost Personal Firewall. Sure, it's a trial version but it will keep the "bad guys" out for 30 days!! Beyond that, the machine is running smoothly! The client will be more than happy!



In regards to Windows 98 - CRX model. Last night I connected the machine to my phone line, booted and noticed Net Zero on the desktop. Guessing that this was the service the client was using to "try" to get online I ran the application. Once I got to the final screen and was about to attempt a login to the network - CRASH!!!! The machine reset itself!! I waited calmly. The monitor screen remained black, the only words on it told me that the monitor was working but to check the cable. I knew that the cable wasn't the issue! I tried rebooting - not a chance!!! The poor machine lie dead in my shop, the fans humming but not boot beeps, nor sound of the hard drive. I unplugged the machine and sat dowh to think.

Did the hard drive just die?? Should I try another monitor? Do I really have to remove hardware one piece at a time until I figure out what is causing this death?? If so, the first piece I will look at is the modem! It was clinking and clanking around in the tower. Maybe it's causing the system not to boot. That would be okay! I would simply replace the modem. But, if it is the hard drive or something else?? I don't think that this client wants to put much money into this old computer. At this point we are looking at about $100. You start adding hardware plus my time and soon you could buy a new computer!!

Hopefully I will pull the machine apart, take out the modem and the machine will boot! If not, it's time to call the client!

I'll try to keep you posted!