Clean Install = No Fun

Well, that was not fun! For some reason,  the computer decided overnight it wasn't going to start this morning, so it "sent" me a text:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
(Windows root)\system32\hal.dll
Please re-install a copy of the above file.

Sounds simple enough. You know me -- I'm always up for a troubleshooting challenge. I even found the XP reinstallation CD that came with the computer five years ago, so I was feeling pretty good.

A few words of wisdom from a couple of computer experts (it's good to have a second computer around to help you with the answers), a few attempts at reinstallation, and suddenly it was one o'clock. Figuring it's time for desperate measures, I begin a clean reinstall. But then I got cold feet -- did I really want to risk obliviating the half of my data files that I haven't gotten around to backing up properly? Time to call a real expert.

"Hello, Dell? I have a problem."

Roughly three hours and $135 later, Sachin came back on the speaker phone (he had been reworking my files remotely from who knows where, although I have a guess) and said all I had to do was wait for the file cleanup operation to finish, then restart the computer. Quite a relief to see that my precious data seemed to have weathered the storm.

Then reality set in. Yes, you've got your data. However, you're otherwise starting from scratch. Go get all your other program CDs and get comfortable, because a clean install is just that. Time to rebuild.

The moral of this story: I am going to figure out a backup strategy, and I am going to do it. Enough of this halfway, haphazard stuff. And maybe, just maybe, it might have something to do with "the cloud."

Stay tuned, particularly if you like to learn from other people's mistakes.