The "I need to vent" thread

[Venneh]

Plus, she probably doesn't think that your mom will see them, knowing how some of my friends put those sorts of pictures up on FB even though their parents have FB accounts. Unless she has filters on who can see what, in which case, it's entirely possible that your mom won't see it.

But, I get where you're coming from.

[Stavros]

I know what a Hookah is but there still a little voice in my head asking why Yoda's sister is going to a bar serving prostitutes from Boston.

[Missy]

Plus, she probably doesn't think that your mom will see them, knowing how some of my friends put those sorts of pictures up on FB even though their parents have FB accounts. Unless she has filters on who can see what, in which case, it's entirely possible that your mom won't see it.

But, I get where you're coming from.

Trust me, she knows her mom (my stepmom) will see them. They're always butting heads.

[Venneh]

Ahh. She's just being like my littlest sister, then. I'm told they grow out of it at some point.

[Stavros]

Ahh. She's just being like my littlest sister, then. I'm told they grow out of it at some point.

Did you?

[Venneh]

See, I was actually never really like that. I drink (though that didn't start till college) and stuff that my parents don't agree with, but I don't throw the evidence of it in my parents' face. They know I do it, but we've just agreed to disagree (and yell at each other every once in a while about it).

[KnightWing]

There's a part of me, yes, that doesn't like seeing my underage sister doing such things, but it's more the lack of respect she's showing her mother that's got me upset.

She probably figures that she'll move out of the house if and when she gets in trouble for it. The sister of a friend of mine did the same thing this year.

[coolguy]

my dog just died

[SuaveStar]

I'm so sorry coolguy.

[coolguy]

i have had that dog since i was born so it was really hard to bury him today.

[dc20willsave]

One of my best friends is an alcoholic, let's call him Tony. I have let myself be talked out of this assertion on multiple occasions but he cemented it for me today. We were supposed to go to our comic book store's anniversary sale today. We were originally going to go yesterday but he decided to go to Columbus and watch football and drink instead. I decided to shrug it off since I worked until six last night and would have been rushing to get there and had no time to look. So, he says he'll be back around eleven or so this morning. It's about 2pm when I get a hold of him and Tony pretty much tells me he's in no condition to drive the hour back to Dayton. So, now I have no way of getting to get comics. I'm happy he at least has enough judgment to kill himself by driving impaired but I'm angry he doesn't have enough to realize he made a commitment and chose alcohol over a promise. I shouldn't get this worked up over it but I am and I don't know why. Fucking Tony Stark.

[Guest]

I'm ready to punch something.

So about a week ago I settle into the new place. I already have Verizon set up, ready to enjoy high speed of my own until the wee hours of the night. Of course, I hook everything up, and it doesn't work. This is a Friday night, and the help line is closed.

I call Saturday. They tell me there's an issue with the area I live in (which is bullshit since the people living downstairs from me are having no issues at all) and that it should be fixed by Monday.

So Monday comes along, after work I spend 4 hours on the phone with these people, they're finally going to send someone out and get the situation fixed. The guy comes into my place, hooks everything up, great, everything's finally fixed.

And then my computer dies. Windows is completely fucked and won't load, and since I've been moving so much, my Windows XP install disc is long gone. They don't sell Windows XP anymore.

12 gigs of music, gone.

2 gigs of writing, gone.

I have some of the more critical stuff backed up, but everything else is pretty much gone forever unless I can find an XP disc and do a repair install which will, in theory, recover my files. Oh, and now I'm paying for internet that I can't use.

I swear, this world is one cosmic fucking joke and I'm the only one not in on it.

[KnightWing]

They don't sell Windows XP anymore.

They do, actually.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116515&cm_re=windows_xp-_-32-116-515-_-Product

Still expensive, but if you're absolutely desperate, you can try it. Don't get the XP Home edition, though. Those tend to screw up more often than the Pro versions for some reason.

Alternatively, you could find a friend who has an XP disk and see if the system repair works. (it should)

Lastly, if you just need to get the data off the disk, then you can just move the hard drive from your current computer into a new one and copy the files over; they should still be completely intact.

[Guest]

Right now I'm going around asking everyone I know if they have their disc lying around. I really can't afford to drop over $100 on something I'm not even sure will work.

If that fails, I'm going to call Microsoft and see if they can send me a replacement. I still have the license number from the last TWO copies of XP I bought, so that should be proof enough that I'm legit.

If none of that works, I'll have to go about getting a new computer, which is something I don't even want to think about right now.

[KnightWing]

I've actually gone through this same process about four times.

If it really is a software issue and not a hardware issue, then you shouldn't need to buy a new computer.

But if you think the Windows install is a lost cause and you can't do a repair install, then...

A) Remove your hard drive and put it in another computer so you can transfer your files off of it.

B) Get an XP disk

C) Format your hard drive

D) Reinstall Windows XP on the drive and transfer your files back over to it.

[Guest]

So I found an XP disc. Of course, I then learn that a repair install is impossible. My hard drive is fucked.

So I go out and buy a new internal hard drive. Only problem is that I can't get the old one out. My computer is arranged in such a fashion that removal of the hard drive is pretty much impossible. I can't pull it out the back because the fan is in the way (and can't be moved). I also can't pull it out of the front because there's no bay there. I figure I can just put the new drive in and work with them both in there. Nope, I have to get an adapter to fit the new drive in there.

I go to the store, they have the adapter, but if I use it, it will treat the drive as if it were an external, which is the opposite of what I need it to do. The friendly Staples employee then lets me know that they can install my drive and transfer the data for the low low price of $200.

I swear, I want to take a hammer to this thing.

[JackFetch]

Is it 18 federally now for cigarettes? Or is that state-to-state?

And, technically, there's no legal age for hookahs. Which is why I was able to try it when I was sixteen.

It's state to state. In Alabama you have to be 19 to be a legal adult and buy tobacco. Hookahs fall under those laws also.

I'm not sure why it showed that post as the latest post. I reply and all the sudden there are 2 more pages to make me look stupid.

[KnightWing]

So I found an XP disc. Of course, I then learn that a repair install is impossible. My hard drive is fucked.

So I go out and buy a new internal hard drive. Only problem is that I can't get the old one out. My computer is arranged in such a fashion that removal of the hard drive is pretty much impossible. I can't pull it out the back because the fan is in the way (and can't be moved). I also can't pull it out of the front because there's no bay there. I figure I can just put the new drive in and work with them both in there. Nope, I have to get an adapter to fit the new drive in there.

There's always a way to get the drives out; it's just hidden sometimes.

See if the front panel pops off, and try to unscrew the fan (it has to unscrew somehow.)

Sometimes the panels are screwed on with a second metal sheet on the (to use nautical terms) "port-side" of inside of the case; see if that's it.

You might have to completely disassemble the case, but it should work.

[Guest]

I'm sure there's a screw somewhere that I'm missing, but I haven't found it yet. I've managed to get the second hard drive connected, just not sitting inside the case. My main problem now is that since the other is still hooked up, Windows won't let me install since the original broken drive is still considered the C drive, which has to be formatted before I can do anything with the new drive. Right now I'm looking for a way for the computer to treat the new drive as if it were the C.

[KnightWing]

I'm sure there's a screw somewhere that I'm missing, but I haven't found it yet. I've managed to get the second hard drive connected, just not sitting inside the case. My main problem now is that since the other is still hooked up, Windows won't let me install since the original broken drive is still considered the C drive, which has to be formatted before I can do anything with the new drive. Right now I'm looking for a way for the computer to treat the new drive as if it were the C.

Normally you'd need to mess with the jumper prongs on the back of the hard drives so that it'd let the computer know which drive is the master and which is the slave. That's very weird that it wouldn't just let you choose to install Windows on a different HDD, though. There should be an option on the Windows installer to choose the other drive.

Can you unplug the broken hard drive?

[Guest]

I'm sure there's a screw somewhere that I'm missing, but I haven't found it yet. I've managed to get the second hard drive connected, just not sitting inside the case. My main problem now is that since the other is still hooked up, Windows won't let me install since the original broken drive is still considered the C drive, which has to be formatted before I can do anything with the new drive. Right now I'm looking for a way for the computer to treat the new drive as if it were the C.

Normally you'd need to mess with the jumper prongs on the back of the hard drives so that it'd let the computer know which drive is the master and which is the slave. That's very weird that it wouldn't just let you choose to install Windows on a different HDD, though. There should be an option on the Windows installer to choose the other drive.

Can you unplug the broken hard drive?

Oh, I can choose the new drive, but since it's considered the D drive, and the old broken drive is the C drive, I can't install Windows without formating the C drive. I have the C drive set as the slave, but it doesn't matter, since the new drive is a SATA and doesn't mess with the whole slave/master thing. There's probably a workaround, but I haven't found it yet. I'm making progress, though.

[KnightWing]

Oh, I can choose the new drive, but since it's considered the D drive, and the old broken drive is the C drive, I can't install Windows without formating the C drive. I have the C drive set as the slave, but it doesn't matter, since the new drive is a SATA and doesn't mess with the whole slave/master thing. There's probably a workaround, but I haven't found it yet. I'm making progress, though.

Yeah, there is a workaround. I had to do that many years ago when I built my first computer. It involved having to use a floppy boot disk with MS-DOS on it and manually renaming the drive. It was very very tricky, and I don't remember exactly how it worked.

I think that probably the best thing to do would be to find a way to unplug the old hard drive from the motherboard.

[Guest]

Oh, I can choose the new drive, but since it's considered the D drive, and the old broken drive is the C drive, I can't install Windows without formating the C drive. I have the C drive set as the slave, but it doesn't matter, since the new drive is a SATA and doesn't mess with the whole slave/master thing. There's probably a workaround, but I haven't found it yet. I'm making progress, though.

Yeah, there is a workaround. I had to do that many years ago when I built my first computer. It involved having to use a floppy boot disk with MS-DOS on it and manually renaming the drive. It was very very tricky, and I don't remember exactly how it worked.

I think that probably the best thing to do would be to find a way to unplug the old hard drive from the motherboard.

Yeah, I found a way to get the old one unplugged. Those old IDE ribbons scare me though. They look so brittle. Right now I just need to get the drivers for the new drive so Windows can install. That in itself is always a pain in the ass, but it looks like I just might get the thing working again by the end of the week.

[dc20willsave]

So, I come home from hanging out with my neighbors to find out that my one roomies and his girlfriend have bought groceries and pulled a sitcom by writing their initials on all of their stuff. This is kinda insulting to me and the other roommate because we never use their stuff without asking and they even took the time to initial the milk which has always, up until now, been community property. Since I'm the only one who ever touches the dishes, debating on just doing what I use and then starting to hide my cooking utensils, see how long until someone cracks.

[Venneh]

I am a horrible person, and this will probably be more passive-agressive and not help solve anything, but...

DO IT!