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Somebody’s going to emergency, somebody’s going to jail…………..

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I have a freshly installed, fully updated and tweaked copy of Windows running in a virtual machine on a fast computer. Let the testing begin! (again)

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I won’t go into the backstory on this, because it would take too long. Basically, the hard drive where I have Linux and Windows dual-installed will not boot at the moment. I think a BIOS update will fix this.

Rather than fight with the friggin thing, I swapped that hard drive with another drive that I had inside of an IDE-to-USB enclosure and installed Windows on it. I can just plug my former hard drive into a USB port and get at the files that are on it. This is just temporary. I had other things to do than fight with an obstinate motherboard.

One problem - I went and made my ‘\Documents and Settings\Mike\’ directory “private”, just before taking it to the repair shop. When I plugged it into the USB port, Windows wouldn’t let me access that folder! Talk about Murphy’s Law.

Anyway, I searched around for a while for an an answer to this problem and it turns out to be ridiculously simple to fix.

1) Log into an administrator’s account
2) Go to Folder Options and turn off “use simple file sharing”
3) Right-click the protected folder, click “properties” and click the security tab
4) Take over ownership of the folder and all subobjects

Problem solved. If only my booting problem were that easy to fix….

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One of these days, I’m just going to turn off that email server….

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I took my computer to a local repair shop to have the motherboard replaced. I don’t have a clue about hardware, so I wanted professionals to do the replacement. If only I’d found some…

The place where I normally take the computer for hardware issues has gone out of business, which left me with exactly one other repair shop. This is a small town. I am less than impressed by this company.

STRIKE ONE: I brought the damn thing in last Wednesday. It is now Monday and it is still in the shop.

STRIKE TWO: I got a call from one of the techs about an hour ago. I don’t even remember why he called now, but at one point he mentions something about “fixing the bootloader”.

“Fixing the bootloader? Back up…. Why are… What’s wrong with the bootloader??”

Somehow, the bootloader has stopped working. I have no idea what they’ve done, but the tech says all they get when they boot it up is some kind of bootloader warning.

Remember, this was a motherboard replacement. The replacement motherboard is the exact same model as the one it is replacing. That should not effect the bootloader. The computer booted just fine when I walked it out my front door.

What I think happened is that they misunderstood the work order and have screwed up the bootloader themselves. When I brought it in, I told the receptionist that “this has two operating systems. If they need to boot it up to test anything, tell them to go to Windows, not the other one.”. I have no idea what she wrote down, but I am convinced they think I told them to CHANGE the bootloader so that it boots up Windows.

I explained to him, through clenched teeth, that the bootloader is supposed to boot Linux, with Windows as an option. They said they would try to fix it so it does that.

I have no idea what they’re doing to it now, just that he said he’d call back.

I swear to God, if either operating system is screwed up when I get that thing home, there is going to be HELL to pay.

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