Weird Trick to Fix Computer

[grandsp5]

So about a week ago, my hard drive got corrupted when it didnt finish closing one of the sessions it uses to initialize windows. One of my neighbors showed me a neat trick that you can use to get around a corrupted session or data table. If you plug an ethernet cable into the computer at the right time and connect it to another, the computer can boot off of ethernet. In essence, you use the broken computers processor to run the hard drive of the computer you hooked it up to. Then you can go in an reformat the drive to fix the sessions. Evidently in the boot up chain, after floppy and cd, it can boot through ethernet. Now I don't have to go spend a 100 bucks on a new hard drive. :) :) :) :)

[kirupa]

That is very weird :)

[mlk]

nah quite normal - some PCs you even have the option when you start: 'boot on network' which means your comp won't be processing

[kirupa]

That is neat - I had no idea that was possible. I would have probably scrapped the HD if that had happened to me.

[grandsp5]

yeah actually when i was playing around with the cmos settings, i found the entire boot chain and you can change orders and stuff. You can boot off of just about anything including USB drives

[Coppertop]

Like jump starting a car

[lava]

why can't you do that off a floppy? that's what I always do.

[grandsp5]

no floppy drive. I just put it in today

[rysolag]

I wonder if you can boot off of a calculator? maybe a dog?

[grandsp5]

it might be possible ;)

[kirupa]

....runs out into the Boston night searching for a rabies-infested dog to boot up a unix server in the basement of the dorm :bandit:

Edit:
I found a CatDog instead :)

http://shop.nickjr.com/graphics/product_images/p676792dt.jpg

(http://www.nick.com)

[grandsp5]

i think only cats can boot unix kirupa. dogs aren't compatible

[Niann]

Network booting has been around for ages, you just have to make sure that the NIC is PXE enabled, and the the remote machine has the proper software to boot a PC from it. Its not quite as simple as hooking up a crossover cable, but it is nice. At work we use this method to reimage corrupt machines. Go to the users desk, boot to the network and select "reimage machine" then walk away. Its a nice feature for sure. =)

Cheers!
-Niann

[teet]

so was your hdd physically damaged or was the data just corrupted (or was something messed up in the boot sector)???

couldn't you have just reinstalled windows over itself (using a bootable cd rom) or done a fresh install?

just wondering :)

-teet

[rysolag]

I booted up using a Bean and Cheese Burrito. Cheesie CMOS...

[grandsp5]

nope. windows couldnt find the hard disk because one of the first sectors was corrupted (not physically damaged) reinstalling windows didnt work, neither did repairing.

[Luigifan]

not trying to start a flame war - but im afraid to say that macs have had this feature for a long time!

sorry!
:mario:

[DigitalPimp]

So have PCs. However, what do you do if your machine just locks up? Oh yea, rip the power cord out of the wall.