Shit Happened


  • Banned

    So, I'm making Windows 10 install media from my flash drive. Why I want Windows 10? Because this brand new laptop, after installing W7, gets 2-3 blue screens everyday, with very basic usage. And since it officially supports Windows 8.1 and up, I hope the upgrade will solve the issue.

    Anyway. I used the Official Microsoft Windows 10 Install Media From Flash Drive Maker Tool™ for this. It first downloads the ISO or whatever, and then burns it on flash drive. However, in this particular run, it couldn't burn it. A very unhelpful message appeared - "Something happened: we couldn't complete the operation because of something we can't even tell what it is. Here's some guru meditation: 0x80070005 0xA0019" (from memory, and not exact because it was in Polish originally). So, I googled. The first hit is the classic "we don't know what the problem is but I'm sure one of these random steps will somehow help".

    But as stupid as it is, when reading that I should disable AV, I remembered that I actually had a problem making bootable USB in the past, and indeed disabling AV helped that time - to be specific, by default, Avira blocks any access to autorun.inf file if it exists on USB drive, for security reasons. And since making bootable USB involves copying all files from ISO to USB, autorun.inf, Avira obviously blocks the write, and the tool cannot proceed. Apparently, detecting file I/O failure is beyond the Microsoft programmers' abilities - even though you have to detect it to stop the tool in the first place.

    I disabled AV and restarted the tool, but I can't really tell whether it helped or not - because some idiot thinks redownloading several gigabytes of data over and over again is so much fun...



  • In the future you might want to try Rufus. Of course, it wouldn't help with the AV but it wouldn't re-download either.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Gaska said:

    because some idiot thinks redownloading several gigabytes of data over and over again is so much fun...

    This is the thing that annoys me about the media creation tool. It doesn't keep a copy of what it downloaded, it just deletes it on success or failure.


  • Banned

    @Slapout said:

    In the future you might want to try Rufus.

    I tried it in the past. It worked fine. However, since it's legit Windows copy this time, I first want to try official tools because they have lower chance of failing to validate as legit copy.



  • @Gaska said:

    Why I want Windows 10? Because this brand new laptop, after installing W7, gets 2-3 blue screens everyday, with very basic usage.

    Windows 10 won't help, you have a hardware problem.



  • @Gaska said:

    Here's some guru meditation: SEVERITY_CRITICAL/FACILITY_WINERROR/ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED (file number for autorun.inf)
    That meditation was so easy, even you did it!


  • Banned

    @blakeyrat said:

    Windows 10 won't help, you have a hardware problem.

    But installing Windows 10 is faster and easier than taking the laptop back to shop and yelling at whoever I see there to get my laptop repaired, and then waiting up to 30 workdays for the response whether my claim is valid or not. And it's hard to prove my claim is valid if the computer can boot to BIOS.



  • damn you, when I first saw the post I was just going to decode the HRESULT, but of course I'm here way too little. :(



  • I doubt that it's a hardware problem. It's far more likely to be a driver problem.

    Laptops routinely have customized modules and hardware for things such as the video adapter and display (in order to support all the features of the display) or the specialized feature soft buttons. Since his laptop isn't supported on Win7, it's not at all unusual to find that drivers from even the underlying hardware's OEM have stability issues. I think upgrading to Win10 is a perfectly reasonable step to take.



  • @BaconBits said:

    I doubt that it's a hardware problem. It's far more likely to be a driver problem.

    Drivers are hardware.


  • Banned

    Can you change driver without taking off PC case? Then it's software.



  • Can you change the mouse without taking off PC case? Then it's software.


  • Banned

    You can't if you connect it to internal USB port. Yes, I had such setup once. Back in ye olde days when USB ports were really scarce.



  • The sole purpose of a driver is to operate hardware. The driver ships with the hardware (generally speaking.) The driver is not installed unless the hardware is installed.

    The driver is, for all practical purposes, hardware.


  • Banned

    The sole purpose of the operating system is to operate hardware. The operating system ships with the hardware (generally speaking). The operating system is not installed unless the hardware is installed.* So I guess that the operating system is hardware too?

    * - you need at least a CPU, a motherboard, and a hard disk.


  • Notification Spam Recipient

    @Gaska said:

    hardware too

    Not to mention, your programs won't work if it's installed, so therefore it is hardware too! 🍥

    @Gaska said:

    hard disk.
    Not technically required! ;) However, softhardware data source is...


  • Banned

    Two more things. One - you can install a driver without hardware. Yes, really. Try installing some Wi-Fi driver on desktop PC without Wi-Fi - it will succeed.

    Two - let's say, for the sake of the argument, that drivers are indeed hardware. Your original claim was that Windows 10 won't help me because I have hardware problem. If drivers are hardware too, and it's because of drivers that I experience the problems, then it's actually very possible that changing the OS might help - either because W7's builtin driver has problems handling new hardware, or because new custom drivers have problems with W7. So whether the drivers are hardware or not, you are wrong anyway.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    The sole purpose of a driver is to operate hardware. The driver ships with the hardware (generally speaking.) The driver is not installed unless the hardware is installed.

    The driver is, for all practical purposes, hardware.

    The sole purpose of a driver is to drive a truck. The driver moves on the road with the truck (generally speaking.) The driver is not on the road unless the truck is on the road.

    The driver is, for all practical purposes, a truck.



  • @ben_lubar said:

    The driver is not on the road unless the truck is on the road.

    The driver can be on the road without the truck. This is normally considered an error state however.


  • I survived the hour long Uno hand

    @Gaska said:

    I guess that the operating system is hardware too?

    I had a resume advisor tell me it was once, in all earnesty. "See, you have hardware experience: Windows, Mac, and Linux. Those are hardware. Put it under the hardware column so it looks more diverse."

    I reverted all changes she made to my resume as soon as I left.



  • Actually, Intel's display driver is known to cause instability problem on SP3. Seems the driver provided by Microsoft for this is specially crafted too.

    Too bad it turns off a bunch of functionality of the display chips (particularly all functions offered by the HD Graphics Control Panel) and the DPI setting has problem but no UI to correct it, so people still keep trying to install the vanilla driver from Intel, even when some lengthy steps are required to do that.



  • You know it's great that I can come here and have my ideas mocked for free, any time I want to.


  • Notification Spam Recipient

    @blakeyrat said:

    my ideas

    What idea? That software designed to talk to hardware should be considered (for all intents and purposes) hardware?



  • I'm running Windows 10 on an old AMD triple core cpu with 4 Gb of DDR2 ram.

    I get this Windows sad face

    "Somthing went wrong and we are gathering info :(" every now and then.

    I wonder if it's because I'm using an old computer?



  • @Gaska said:

    Because this brand new laptop, after installing W7, gets 2-3 blue screens everyday, with very basic usage. And since it officially supports Windows 8.1 and up, I hope the upgrade will solve the issue.

    Betting it won't; smells like a hardware issue.

    @Gaska said:

    I used the Official Microsoft Windows 10 Install Media From Flash Drive Maker Tool™ for this

    There's your mistake.

    If you spend any time at all installing operating systems, you really, really want to own one of these. Mine has saved me countless hours.



  • @dcon said:

    The driver can be on the road without the truck. This is normally considered an error state however.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4kDHuSlvxo


  • :belt_onion:

    That's a BSOD, in case you weren't aware. Does it provide any other information?



  • Oh well they did a good job making it kinda cute(?) lol

    Yeah every time, it is a little bit different.

    I can't recall what they were right now though.


  • Fake News

    @blakeyrat said:

    Drivers are hardware.

    What do you think about the term "firmware"?



  • Yeah, what's the point of the MCT anyway? If you go to the download page and say "oh wait, but this computer is actually not running Windows", you get a download link for an installation iso, no frills required.


  • kills Dumbledore

    @brotherelf said:

    If you go to the download page and say "oh wait, but this computer is actually not running Windows", you get a download link for an installation iso, no frills required

    You get the same if you tell the MCT that you want to install off a dvd


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @brotherelf said:

    Yeah, what's the point of the MCT anyway?

    It simplifies creating the USB media. When it works.



  • "Let me just write a quick util for our millions of customers"

    public function main_MCT()
    Try
    CopyFiles()
    Catch
    msgbox "Sorry something went wrong: 0x0" + RndHexString()
    Finally
    DelTempFiles()
    End Try
    End function

    "Right that good enough for someone to test, let me go grab a beer".



  • @blakeyrat said:

    @BaconBits said:
    I doubt that it's a hardware problem. It's far more likely to be a driver problem.

    Drivers are hardware.

    I won't argue semantics, so let's assume I agree.

    How does it follow that upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10 is not a reasonable solution? Presumably he's done one of three things to get Win7 on his laptop: a) Not installed drivers for his devices, b) used the hardware's OEM drivers intended for Windows 7 which were not verified or tested by the laptop manufacturer, or c) used the laptop manufacturer's drivers intended for and tested on Win10 even though he's running Win7.

    Now, you might argue that these sorts of stability problems are an indication of a poorly constructed laptop. That's as may be, but the bottom line is that he's running his laptop in an unsupported configuration and he's now running into stability problems. It stands to reason that you might want to try a configuration that the manufacturer actually claims should work before replacing hardware.


  • area_deu

    TIL upgrading your OS is equal to getting new hardware.
    Genius!


  • Banned

    :hanzo:


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @BaconBits said:

    It stands to reason that you might want to try a configuration that the manufacturer actually claims should work before replacing hardware.

    But you agreed that the drivers were hardware so in order to do that you have to change the hardware! This computer stuff is sure confusing.



  • @boomzilla said:

    @BaconBits said:
    It stands to reason that you might want to try a configuration that the manufacturer actually claims should work before replacing hardware.

    But you agreed that the drivers were hardware so in order to do that you have to change the hardware! This computer stuff is sure confusing.

    Ah, but I said replacing. Moving from Win7 to Win10 is clearly upgrading not replacing. How could you not grok my meaning from that context! /s



  • @Ascendant said:

    Oh well they did a good job making it kinda cute(?) lol

    This is why it's among the best moves they've made in years.



  • @flabdablet said:

    If you spend any time at all installing operating systems, you really, really want to own one of these. Mine has saved me countless hours.

    That looks sweet! And only $50?



  • Yup. I bought two.

    They also have a fancier version with a touchpad, but that didn't appeal to me. I really like the tidiness of the little jog switch on the ZM-VE300, and I don't need the ZM-VE400's full disk encryption or SMART interrogation functions.


  • Notification Spam Recipient

    @flabdablet said:

    ZM-VE300

    Interesting, mine looks identical, but it's branded Iodd. Meh, as long as it works, right?



  • Looks like Zalman has rebadged the IODD2531 as the ZM-VE300 and the IODD2541 as the ZM-VE400. Always nice to have a second source, so thanks for that.

    I think iodd is probably the original developer for these enclosures, as they're pretty much their entire product line. Zalman has a much wider range.

    Amazon has not had stock of ZM-VE300 or ZM-VE400 enclosures for quite some while. They do have the IODD2531 and IODD2541, as well as Zalman's ZM-VE350 which as far as I can tell has the same specs as the ZM-VE300 and costs less than the iodd equivalent.



  • 54321!



  • next time google "windows 10 offline setup iso" ;)


  • Banned

    So, if anyone's interested, apparently installing Windows 10 fixed the problem. The system hasn't crashed even once (so far).


  • Notification Spam Recipient

    @Gaska said:

    The system hasn't crashed even once (so far).

    Give it time.... 🍥 ;P



  • @Tsaukpaetra said:

    @Gaska said:
    The system hasn't crashed even once (so far).

    Give it time.... 🍥 ;P

    It's easy. Just read this site in Firefox. Eventually it will crash the video driver. (don't know if chrome will too - I do work stuff in chrome, personal in FF)


  • Banned

    Well, thankfully, my sister isn't interested in curious perversions in Information Technology.



  • In that case, just play Microsoft Jigsaw. Of the 5 MS games I play, that one crashes the video driver the most.

    edit: you: oh it crashed? well just close jigsaw and start it again.

    • it didn't start? just click again. It will. Eventually.
    • it just vanished? Just start it again. (again, eventually)
    • enjoy! (until the video dies again, rinse, repeat)

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