changing laptop battery & check disk question...

[ABEL]

these two questions are totally unrelated.

1) should i do anything special before putting in a new laptop battery i just got? do i just power down the computer and pop it in? i presume my settings will stay the same? (it's actually a used battery i bought off ebay that i mentioned in another thread).

2) lately my computer asks to run check disk when i turn it on. it usually wants to check both the C & D drives. it doesn't happen every time, but most of the time. i've gotten to where i just cancel it. (i know that's probably bad to do but when i run it it still asks to run it the next time i turn the thing on). someone suggested to me that it could be a problem with my virus definitions? i'm only running the free 'avast' virus software. i'm also wondering if it's just a problem with the memory? i've got quite a few pictures that i havn't gotten to back up to cd yet. usually i'm pretty good about not keeping anything important on the computer, but with the wedding and moving going on i haven't had a chance to back everything up recently.

 

[Liesje]

For #1 you should be able to just put the new battery in.

For #2, I would first run a complete check disc, but do it booting off another disc. Put in your Windows XP disk and boot off it (it will say Press any key to boot off CD...). When it loads, press R for the recovery console. When the console loads, it may ask you to select the OS (just choose 1, hit enter), if not then cool. Once you have a command line, type this:

chkdsk c: /r [hit enter]

This will run a complete check disk. When it's done, type

exit [hit enter]

The computer will reboot. Now if it tries to run chkdsk on startup again, cancel it like you have been. Get into Windows and go to Run > cmd. In the command line type this:

fsutil dirty query c: [hit enter]

Now it will say whether it is dirty or not. It SHOULD say "dirty" since it keeps trying to run. If so, type the following to tell it not to be dirty

chkntfs /x c: [hit enter]


Now if it still tries to keep running, then there could be something actually wrong with the drive or OS that causes it to become "dirty".

 

[ABEL]

thanks, i'll give it a try, but it will have to wait till after i'm in the netherlands.

one more question...

is it better to not have the battery in the laptop if i've got it plugged in? would it not wear down as fast?

 

[achtung_girl]

Yes, it's definetly better to not have the battery in while you're using the adapter cause it wears down faster!
And when you use the battery you should use it until it's really flat and reload it then...cause otherwise it'll wear down faster too!

 

[onebloodonelife]

thanks, i'll give it a try, but it will have to wait till after i'm in the netherlands.

one more question...

is it better to not have the battery in the laptop if i've got it plugged in? would it not wear down as fast?

Nope, there's no reason to do that. Now, batteries are made to be plugged in constantly, and they'll be okay. But, it's still better to run it down every so often to keep it healthy. Also, you don't need to completely drain it and recharge with lithium batteries. It's actually worse for them if you do that frequently, so it's fine to use 20%, then charge again, and keep doing that.

 

[VintagePunk]

2) lately my computer asks to run check disk when i turn it on. it usually wants to check both the C & D drives. it doesn't happen every time, but most of the time. i've gotten to where i just cancel it. (i know that's probably bad to do but when i run it it still asks to run it the next time i turn the thing on). someone suggested to me that it could be a problem with my virus definitions? i'm only running the free 'avast' virus software. i'm also wondering if it's just a problem with the memory? i've got quite a few pictures that i havn't gotten to back up to cd yet. usually i'm pretty good about not keeping anything important on the computer, but with the wedding and moving going on i haven't had a chance to back everything up recently.

I was told a year and a half ago that my desktop is on its last legs, and could quit at any time. If I remember correctly, there it's a problem with the motherboard. It's old, and I was advised not to put any money into it, so I decided to just keep running it till it's gone beyond repair. It'll run fine for a month or so, but then I start getting odd errors, and then when I reboot, it mostly runs check disc and repairs them. The odd time it'll crash completely, and I'll have to reinstall the OS. I've learned to never, ever save anything important on C, I save it to my external, or on one of the other drives on the computer.

 

[ABEL]

Re: Re: changing laptop battery & check disk question...

I've learned to never, ever save anything important on C, I save it to my external, or on one of the other drives on the computer.

absolutely! i try to never save anything of major importance to my HD without backing it up somewhere first.
of course this is the one time i've been really really bad about that.
with the wedding and moving i've not had a chance to back everything up yet.
i'm hoping to do so before i leave for europe on monday.
if not it will be one of the first things i do when i get there.
i've got about 4 binders worth of CDs i'm taking with me

 

[VintagePunk]

Re: Re: Re: changing laptop battery & check disk question...

absolutely! i try to never save anything of major importance to my HD without backing it up somewhere first.
of course this is the one time i've been really really bad about that.
with the wedding and moving i've not had a chance to back everything up yet.
i'm hoping to do so before i leave for europe on monday.
if not it will be one of the first things i do when i get there.
i've got about 4 binders worth of CDs i'm taking with me

I didn't mean for that to sound all judge-y, I used to be the worst one in the world for not backing up! It's just that with my computer being in such precarious shape for so long, I can't trust anything on C to be saved.

You mentioned having a D drive, so I assume your drive is partitioned? At least that way, if worst came to worst and it crashed before you had a chance to back it up, you could probably get whatever you've saved off of D.

 

[Liesje]

I don't backup pics to CDs anymore, I use a Flickr Pro account. That way, all my images are stored on someone else's server and can be restored from their tapes if it ever crashes. I also keep a copy on an external HD, but I only do that once every few months. I'm uploading to Flickr pretty much daily. Best $25 ever spent.