Monday, March 24, 2008

Computer troubles!

I will say this: I have always had an interest in Linux. its something new that I dont really know at all, and would like to know better. Well, since I downloaded one of the distributions (the one called Ubuntu) everything seemed to go pretty well at first. I had wireless, I had a speedy system, and a new Operating System to play with. However....shortly afterwards, my wireless device cuts out, and Im left in the cold without internet. 'oh...well it just needs a driver...' I thought to myself and tried to bring the device back online; what a joke that was. the device wasnt even LISTED inside of the OS! it was completely removed! With that, I high tailed it back to Windows...just to find the same thing!
My wireless internet device was GONE! from both OSes! I couldn't believe my eyes, and I tried frantically to install a driver to make it work; but to no avail. After I would install a driver, it would give me Code 10: Device Cannot Start. and without an Internet, I couldn't find out how to make it work. So, in a fit of irrational thinking, I deleted the section of my hard drive where Ubuntu was located, which I thought was a good idea at the time...until I rebooted my machine...

Thats when more problems came knocking on my door. When Ubuntu installs, it also includes a program called GRUB. GRUB is a boot program that detects the different OSes on the machine and lets you choose between one or the other. With Ubuntu gone, GRUB couldn't find the proper files to boot up. It returns Code 17 and wont boot past GRUB and it just sits there...

So, how amazed I was this morning when I booted my machine into Windows after doing a System Restore and finding everything working! I downloaded a program called VistaBoot Pro to clean my system of GRUB, and I thought I had taken care of it, so I deleted the Ubuntu section of the hard drive again, and after doing a restart...guess what pops up again? You guessed it: GRUB! so now...the only thing to do is install Ubuntu again to get back to Windows to back up all of my documents and programs and create Recovery DVDs and restore this computer back to the factory settings...meaning all the customization I did to this system will be lost and I will have to download SP1 for Vista and all kinds of Codecs for making AMVs and all of my music too...

So! Moral of the story? If you want to experiment with Linux, in any flavor, go to Goodwill and pick up a junker of a computer and install it there. DO NOT do a dual-boot system with any other OS. Especially if you have no idea what you are doing in Linux(like me: nOOb)

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