My Windows installation took a nosedive for some unknown reason early this morning. Since I returned home I’ve gotten back into the habit of leaving my computer running at night since I don’t have to listen to it when I sleep. Well, on this particular morning when I “woke” it up I was greeted with a disconcerting message from Windows stating that one of my directories was corrupted.
My first reaction was to run chkdsk, which subsequently reported errors as expected. The directory was on my system drive and chkdsk reported that the errors cannot be repaired while Windows is running. So I schedule chkdsk to run before Windows starts on the next reboot and procede to reboot the machine. Upon reboot, instead of the friendly Windows banner on black, I’m greeted with this error:
Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
WINDOWS\system32\hal.dll
As I’m reading this it dawns on me that I left all the CDs necessary for a legitimate clean install in Atlanta. I’ve never had much luck with the Windows restore tools so I wasn’t terribly optimistic this time either.
Luckily, I did have a spare illicit copy of XP lying around which I was able to use to boot into a recovery console. From here I was able to run chkdsk on my system drive and I also tried the technique described on this page to work around the aforementioned error message. I don’t know which one did the trick but Windows started without complaint on the next boot and proceeded to run chkdsk as I had originally planned an hour before. Things have run smoothly since but I could do with less computer-related drama in my life.
I did find time to accomplish my original goals for the day, which were to give my poor car a much-needed wash and do some belated Mother’s Day shopping. I also went on a small excursion around town with my mother. Mom picked out a Mother’s Day present for my grandmother at Pier 1 and I discovered Strawberries & Creme IBC soda at Super Wal-Mart.
Georgia Tech released final grades for the Spring 2003 semester today. I was pleased with my results. I got two A’s and two B’s for an overall GPA of 3.57, making it my second best semester since I started.
Description
This desktop showcases a couple of the applications in the suite of customization tools known as the Y’z tools. Y’z Dock is basically what you’d expect, a reasonable PC fascimile of the OS X dock. It doesn’t look good or work as well as the Mac dock but it does do a reasonable job and it looks quite cool. Y’z Toolbar is another interesting, if more subtle feature. It basically changes the images used on the Explorer toolbars to match the theme of your choice. This extends to Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer. Finally, the transparent taskbar was accomplished using nView which comes standard with the latest NVIDIA display drivers.
The choice of wallpaper was directly inspired by a “You’re Under Arrest!” marathon that Titus and I engaged in throughout the past week. It’s written by the creator of another excellent anime series, “Ah! My Goddess,” and comes with my recommendations.
Credits
- Wallpaper - You’re Under Arrest by Red
- Visual Style - Classix by gigatexel and unr3al
- Y’z Toolbar - Chimera by deadzombie
I got up at 4:00 a.m. CST to prepare for the first day of my second term as a summer student at Plant Farley. After some stumbling around in the dark, a nice shower, and a cold breakfast I was almost ready to go. I managed to create a nice souvenir for the first day when I split my right index finger between the skin and the nail while tucking in my shirt. It felt, and still feels, like a splinter has taken up residence between my finger and nail.
Things went a little better over the remainder of the day. I got my clearance badge back and my computer account set up. Work was pretty light with it being the first day back and all. My boss and a couple of my co-workers were out so I didn’t get any big assignments. I mostly spent my time catching up with various co-workers and running around trying to do odds and ends. I had a hot dog and popcorn for lunch. After my dad got home we all went out to dinner at La Bamba, the local favorite for Mexican cuisine. It didn’t occur to me until afterward that it was also Cinco de Mayo.
On the way home, my mom informed me of an alarming proposal (See “Designers Collide with Pedestrians,” Car and Driver, June 2003) by the European Commision to turn sleek, sexy European automobiles into oversized bricks in the interest of pedestrian safety. I think it’s a terrible idea and it seems like they’re only skirting the issue. Why not think of ways to reduce the number of pedestrians that are hit rather than reducing the damage done when they are hit? I dread to think of the implications in the sports car segment.
