Re: [tlug] Computer fails to boot

[Curt Sampson <cjs@example.com>]

On 2009-01-01 10:12 +0900 (Thu), David Bernat wrote:

> All this would be fine if the machine weren't one I use to make a living.
> 
> I am pretty much out of luxury time to devote to anything other than
> getting the machine back into working order by this afternoon. Three
> days of ineffective attempts to get back to where I was on Sunday
> afternoon mean that intellectual pursuits have to be delayed until later.

I have two points I'd like to share, if I may. The first is direct advice
to benefit you now; the second you may want to put aside to contemplate after
this is all over, since, though it's important and useful, you probably
don't want to be spending time on it at this moment.

In terms of getting your machine back up and running, you have several
choices:

    1. Re-install on the current disk, and restore any lost information
    from backups. This only works if you have backups, of course. (Well,
    there's a reasonable chance you could just re-install and still have
    your data, actually; but it's your decision if you want to risk
    losing it.)

    2. Buy a new disk, either a large flash memory or an external hard
    drive (assuming your computer can boot from these), install a new OS
    there, boot it, and then mount your old internal disk and pull the
    data from it. Or this can be done with a new internal disk, too, if
    your computer can take more than one (i.e., isn't a laptop).

    3. If you really need to get the current system back up and running,
    seek personal help. As in, get someone who knows what he's doing to
    put his hands on the machine and do his thing. Your main problem
    with fixing it with e-mail support, or any other non-hands-on
    support, for that matter, from what I've seen in this conversation,
    is that you just happen to be lacking about twenty years of
    experience with all the silly little cultural things that make
    programmers make software the way that they do. And that gap is
    what's frustrating both you and the folks helping you.

    This is not particularly my line of work, but if you can't find
    someone else, and you can get your machine down to Nishi-shinjuku,
    I can try to arrange to get this thing fixed for you, though I will
    charge you as much as anybody else, and I can't guarantee that I
    could get to it before Monday. Send me e-mail if it gets bad enough
    that you want to take this course.

As far as the "intellectual pursuits" go, the reason people are pushing
you this way is that they'd like to help you develop the tools to solve
this problem yourself. (See, "understanding the programmer (so-called)
mind," above.) Without these sorts of cognitive tools, solving this kind
of problem is bound to be very frustrating, and probably in the end a
matter of chance. I can't really say, because I don't know your business
situation, but in the long run developing them may be a worthwhile
investment. But, as with learning a language, it's not a quick process,
and thus, you may want to leave it for the moment. But if you're going
to learn this stuff, don't put it off until the next crisis; put in a
bit of time every week when you don't need the skills, in the hope that
the next crisis is far enough away that by the time you reach it, you'll
have developed what you need to be able to deal with it.

Oh, and as a guy who's built ISPs and so on, let me share with you my
trick. This stuff always happens to everybody, no matter how much of a
technical wizard you are. So buy a second computer, and keep both in
working order, and make sure your data are on both. Then, when one blows
up, you've at least still got one working. This saved my butt in what
looked like a trivial upgrade from Ubuntu 8.04 to 8.10 a week ago. (I'm
still using my 8.04 machine, if it's any comfort.)

cjs
-- 
Curt Sampson       <cjs@example.com>        +81 90 7737 2974
           Functional programming in all senses of the word:
                   http://www.starling-software.com