 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Booting, not panicking Tom Coleman |
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I had a flat tyre just a few days ago. First one for maybe three or four years. A nail. The luck of the draw I guess.
It set me thinking. Flat tyres are pretty rare these days. Seems I had more of them when I was younger. Is that because tyres are better made or the roads have less nails on them? I don't really know but I would never leave home without a spare wheel and I check the spare each time I check the tyres on the ground. It's routine. I don't think about it. Most motorists are the same.
It's hard to sympathise with someone who has a flat spare tyre or, worse still, leaves home without a spare.
Why is it that so many computer users do not have a floppy disk that fits in drive A: and which has the necessary files to boot their computer.
I suppose I get at least one Dial Help call a week that requires the use of a bootable floppy disk to get things going again, and very rarely does anyone have one.
I have had a call from a student who attended a Disaster Recovery course last year looking to clarify how to unhang their start up, but he didn't have a bootable floppy.
Please do not attend our courses if you only want to be entertained by the instructor.
My usual instructions to those who need, but do not have, a bootable floppy are, roughly
"Place a knife in the wrist, where the doctor feels your pulse. Draw it along the arm towards the elbow. Not across the wrist."
This does nothing for them but it makes me feel much better.
When you consider that the majority of computer problems are caused by something that either happened or did not happen at startup time, it seems prudent to pay attention to those events that are most vulnerable when starting.
Of course with Windows making everything easier, knowing how your computer starts has become harder. It has not changed. It is the same as it always was but it is more remote and mysterious.
(You do not have to dance naked in front of a crucified cat under the full moon prior to formatting a floppy disk with the /S parameter. Neither do you have to fast for seven days and undergo a cleansing ritual if you see the DOS prompt, without first killing a chicken.)
It just seems harder because these days most people use a computer without being involved with the nuts and bolts. This is the way the world is. Users are no longer computer literate. They can just use the application. The rest of it is voodoo.
It is very likely that a significant number of readers have never considered making up a Panic Disk, even a simple bootable floppy disk with nothing but the startup files as a safety precaution against the computer failing to boot.
If you are wondering what goes into a Panic Disk you should
- Attend a Command Line Computing Course
- Attend a Disaster Recovery Weekend
- Read my article in the May 1993 PC Update (there are copies in the foyer at the office)
- Keep reading PC Update as I plan to discuss this again in future issues.
- Find a floppy disk that will fit in drive A:
- Put the disk in drive A: and at the DOS prompt type
FORMAT A: /S
then press Enter. - Follow the prompts.
It might be a good idea to put it in the same place as a hard copy of your CMOS screens.
Come to think of it, why don't you make up a box with a red cross on a white background and store your antiviral software in there with it, too.
Don't depend on the antiviral software on your hard disk because if the virus trashes your start up files you will be in the position of leaving your spare tyre with your mechanic because he knows how to fit tyres best.
It seems a shame to leave more than a megabyte of this recently formatted disk blank, so give some thought to adding other goodies on there too.
How about:
- A copy of your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT
- If you use disk compression you should have the required compression startup files.
- Similarly if you use security software you should have the required keys on the floppy.
- CMOS_RAM is a program that records your CMOS settings in a rewritable file. Beats the hell out of rekeying it.
- DOS 6 does not have MIRROR but the DOS 5 version works just fine in DOS 6. You can use it to save copies of your partition table and FAT. (Don't ask what they are. You need to spend 13 years on the lower slopes of the Himalayas meditating in front of a yak-dung fire before you are initiated into the FAT sect and allowed to partake at their partition table. Alternatively you can do a Melb PC training course.)
- If something sad happens to your RASH startup files a few DOS programs might help. Programs like SYS, FORMAT, ATTRIB and so on. EDIT requires QBASIC to run so it is a bit fat - no, not the start up FAT - a slimmer editor will do just as well.
- Maybe you could add some of your favourite utilities.
Now it is quite probable that much of the foregoing is gobbledegook to some of you. Don't worry. Just fly this article past whomever usually holds your hand when you get into trouble and let them sort it out for you. If they decide that you don't need it then you can blame them when it takes two days to get your computer up and running again instead of two minutes.
Of course you can take control of your own life and read a book or do a Melb PC training course.
If you are not sure what to do, phone me, I am sociable. I care enough to work up new instructions on how to get the shotgun muzzle in your mouth without chipping a tooth.
Have a joyous disk crash.
Reprinted from the July 1995 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
