THANK GOD FOR COMPUTER TECHIES!
So I'm sitting at work today fretting over what's wrong with my computer (while it's at the shop) and I start googling stuff and find out my OEM Windows XP which I just installed will be totally worthless if I have to replace my motherboard as the motherboard is what constitutes a "system" and an OEM Windows can only be installed on one system. Talk about pissing my money away! Then I go to Microsoft and check the tested devices page and the WD320 drives are tested to work on Win XP Pro but not Win XP Home. *Sigh*
Now for the good news...
I call the techy in the afternoon and he tells me he's got it up and running and hasn't had it crash in well over an hour. The problem?
A fucking IED cable!!! That little piece of shit has caused me over 20 hours of non-stop grief for the past week. Apparently, when you boot up and go into BIOS, if the drive detects as a bunch of jumbled letters it's a good sign that the IED cable is faulty. I saw those letters but just assumed they meant the drive wasn't detected.
So for less than $50, I got my system totally up and running (with Win XP Home on the new WD320 and the old Hitachi fully detected as a slave) and replaced the faulty IED cable.
THANK GOD FOR COMPUTER TECHIES!
And a big shout out to all those on TERB who helped me out in my (most recent) moment of crisis. Especially Joebear!
