Computer Upgrade

It booted fine this a.m. despite the fact that Beatrice got her paw in before I got there, and tried to log onto Windows with her ultra-long password again! (Apparently Windows had restarted after an update, which was encouraging because it showed that the Startup Repair wizard appeared to have worked).

I’ve done quite a bit on it today, including finding and downloading a display driver which has definitely improved performance sufficiently to run my new video editor, which was hanging every time I opened it.

However... still major booting problems. It takes simply aaaages... between 5 and 10 minutes? Fortunately I’ve got the other laptop and have been exploring loads of forums trying to find an explanation for this. Another weird thing is that after it’s taken a long time, my 2nd hard drive is not visible from within Windows. I’ve been in the BIOS and horror of horrors, it told me the 1st hard drive needed replacing, and that it had “no data” on it! Then the weirdness increased as I exited the BIOS and the computer booted as normal – nice and fast, and there was the 2nd hard drive visible again, and obviously Windows, and all my progs and data, were safe and sound on drive C after all! I do not begin to understand any of this...

I’m phoning Kevin the computer man in the morning. My hubby’s huffing and puffing because he may have to drive me over to Plymouth with the computer if something really serious is going on, that Kevin can’t fix over the phone. If the 1st hard drive is indeed faulty, that means I’m going to have to start the whole reinstalling of Windows and all my stuff all over again...

The worst of it is, when I put Windows 7 onto my small laptop as a clean install, it went in like a dream, and the whole thing was done in an afternoon, including putting all my progs and data back. That laptop is an older computer than the big one too. I can only think that it is a hardware problem, which I probably won’t be able to sort on my own.

Not sure if I can actually go into Plymouth with my hubby because I’m expecting a parcel which I’ve got to be here to receive. Also it’s going to be pouring with rain in the morning apparently... However, if I can talk to Kevin, and then send my hubby off with the computer and a comprehensive report of what’s been happening and what I’ve done to try and correct it, that might be enough.

This has turned into a major bore. At least I’m not panicking, as I would have done a few years ago if this had happened. I’ve got all my stuff backed up, and if we can get to the bottom of this, I won’t have any problem reinstalling it all again. I'd just rather be doing something else by now!!