Had the worst weekend ever. Vista crashed (Gave BSOD) on Friday evening and I could do nothing. Tried to find the OEM DVD for restore but realized that I misplaced it OR lost it. I had a SAS project to submit on Monday and switched to panic mode. Got hold of an ubuntu live disc and tried to boot off from it without any results. Then I went to isohunt and downloaded a bootlegged copy of vista (I still had a valid serial number and thought I’d activate using it). Download took 4 hours and finally burned the data to a DVD just to find out that I still got a BSOD.
Exhausted, I went to sleep at 4 AM in the morning just to be woken up at 7 AM by a junior (in India) who still has not figured out that you don’t call people at 7 AM on a weekend in USA. Finally got up at 9 AM because I had to attend an AAPI (American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin) meeting regarding residency preps in Newark. Got dressed up and was off to Newark with Ankit who was driving. The meeting was OK, learned a few new things and was on the train back to philly at 7 PM.
To make things worse – it started snowing. Just my luck; I forgot to take my coat and umbrella today. Had to take a cab from 30th street station and finally crashed in at home @ 8:15 PM. Time for some trouble-shooting:
- Reset the BIOS to failsafe: No results.
- Removed the HDD and booted from vista setup DVD/ubuntu live DVD: No results. I figured the problem was not vista but the Hardware
- Ran Vista memory diagnostic tool: Said problem with hardware.
- Opened up case and removed each component to clean dust and put it back in: No results.
- Tried using on-board GPU instead of PCI-e: Didn’t have the VGA cable (I’m using DVI): Skip.
- Tried removing a few RAM sticks and re-insert different combination: Problem found.
One of my 1 GB RAM sticks (the OCZ Reapers) was blown or went corrupt in some way. Filled up a RMA request on OCZ’s website and currently running the PC with a reduced 2 GB RAM speed – not a good experience at all.
Need to take a break now, nothing better than watching episodes of Ghost Hunters. The exam assignment can wait till tomorrow morning.
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