Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with fail

NTLDR is missing?

SamuelBowman — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:40:45 -0800

Tried to fix external drive, now laptop gives a "NTLDR is missing" error on boot and will not go any further. I am using Windows Vista on a Dell Inspiron 6400. I was trying to fix a missing external hard drive with TestDisk, using a walkthrough found here, and I am now getting the message "NTLDR is missing, press any key to restart" when I try to boot up. Pressing a key only repeats this message on screen. This is both with and without the drive plugged in.

How can I fix this? Thanks - this is quite upsetting!

It's like a star trek script before they fill in the [tech]s

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:03:04 -0800

I am out of my depth at work. Unfortunately, I have to be vague because there's a good chance I could accidentally out who I am. But: a few months back, I was hired for a job in a technical / coding position, even though I have very little actual software development experience, based on having a background in the (non-technical) stuff my employer does, and also knowing the basics of a set of fairly obscure tools/languages they use.

My direct boss is herself not all that technical, and is pleased with my performance on most of the tasks she assigns -- which as a rule aren't all that technically complicated and which are at worst time-consuming. However, I'm starting to do work which involves talking with / assisting people in affiliated organizations, most of whom have a decade or more in this field under their belts, and it's becoming increasingly obvious how out of my depth I am: each casual email sends me scrambling to reference texts to figure out what the hell they're even talking about, and I'm getting a real sense that although I've got amateurish experience as a code monkey, I simply don't understand the basics of the field I'm in.

Complicating this is that I am the only remotely technical person directly associated with my organization, and further complicating this, I work mostly from home. One takeaway from this experience for me has been to remind myself that, if I'm ever in a situation where I'm hiring a coder for this sort of very independent position, to definitely not hire someone as inexperienced as me. That takeaway, though, is not immediately useful.

How do I deal with this? There is no one at my organization who I could turn to to say "plz, am need mentor, halp!", and the coders I'm working with in affiliated organizations have, well, better things to do than babysit me. I don't especially have long-term intentions to stay in this field -- I'll be going to school for something entirely different next year -- but quitting sooner rather than later isn't really an option. Furthermore, my direct boss seems to believe I'm a super-techy whiz-kid who hung the computer-moon, even though I'm starting to think that if the situation continues, I'll jeopardize our organization's position.

I have to guess some member of the hivemind has been in a similar situation, and has some tips on how to deal with it. If nothing else, if anyone has any advice for how to admit that I don't know what the people I'm corresponding with are talking about without making things worse, I would love that.

Professional FAIL x 2

sidd.darko — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:24:45 -0800

I have had two major professional failures in a single week. I would like insight into a couple of aspects. Sordid details inside. 1) I was written up by my current manager for performance and attitude issues. Without going into too much detail, I feel like I am taking a larger share of blame than is fair of the current project's direction. I feel there is some justification to some, but not all of his issues. I have been given 60 days to produce high quality code and a major improved attitude or I lose my job. This is a manager who has given me stellar reviews in the past. I do feel like the work I am doing is very good and there are certain technical aspects beyond my control that have caused problems for our project.

2) I was given an immediate interview by a former employer. The job is in a language that I don't have recent experience in, but it is an enterprise platform and I have been working with a close counterpart. I interviewed with three people and took assessment and thought I did really well. BUT they decided to pass.

I can do some aspects of interviewing very well .. but I often find the technical interviews unnerving. I sometimes have trouble articulating the structure and flow of some of my projects. I experience the occasional whiteboard fear. But I have had success and have been a valuable employee for the few companies I've worked for (including this one) throughout my career. I'm excellent at tracking down problems and finding solutions. This is starting to sound like a cover letter .. sorry.

I'm experiencing somewhat of a professional crisis. I've been a software developer for 14 years and these two events have really blown my confidence. So, I have a couple of questions.

How do I recover my confidence and from the humiliation I feel at being written up? I need to perform well enough to not lose my job when my evaluation period is over. I can do the work, but being there I find interactions with my manager to be uncomfortable.

How can I improve my technical interviewing skills? I know the technology, but I often freeze and stumble when listening to questions.

Thanks for insight.

MBP driven to tears?

uaudio — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:59:51 -0800

I bought a MacBook Pro in June 2007. Since then, its needed a new hard disk drive, right cooling fan, and DVD read/write drive. Is this normal wear and tear? I've had different Mac desktops before for work, but this is my first personal Mac laptop. This is a family PC and it roams around our house. My wife and my son (just educational games, 4yo) also use it and it stays on 24/7. The battery needs replacing as well; we usually just have it plugged in.

Does this usage pattern just destine me to go through components quickly or is this just chance?

If supermarkets did not exist, I would have starved myself by now.

backseatpilot — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:13:24 -0800

I am a failure as a gardener and a human being. What the hell did I do wrong with the vegetable patch? This was our first season trying a "real" garden (in fact, the first season I've had a back yard to do anything with). We built a raised bed, 4'x8', filled it with top soil from Home Depot, started some seeds indoors, and planted them about April-ish. And then again mid-May after everything died.

Whatever hasn't been killed off is so puny as to be worthless. All of our neighbors have nice big tomatoes growing; nothing of ours has produced any fruit whatsoever. A rundown of our attempts:

-Lettuce. None of them grew larger than half an inch off the ground, and then they all died.
-Basil. Same thing. Only a couple pairs of leaves, followed by death.
-Roma tomatoes. Grew about three or four pairs of leaves, then all the leaves fell off.
-Hot and bell peppers. Leaves all fell off. One specimen was left indoors for very long, got big and bushy, put it outside and then all the leaves fell off.
-Beefsteak-style tomatoes. These were starters, they've grown to be about 5 feet tall, but no fruit.
-Zucchini. I thought these were supposed to be vines; each of them is only about six inches long. One flowered, then all the flowers fell off and it died. Two others withered and died. The other ones are not growing.
-Cucumbers. Very, very small. Maybe three pairs of leaves, and an inch high. These have all flowered, but no fruit. They're not growing any larger.
-Mint. Didn't even bother sprouting.
-Parsley. They still only have two or three leaves, with very thin and flimsy stems.

So, we have literally zero yield for our efforts so far and it looks like we won't get a thing for the rest of the season. With the exception of the beefsteak tomatoes, everything was started from seed according to the instructions on the packages.

It's fairly shady in the back yard, and we just bought bags of generic top soil to fill the bed (it was pretty clumpy and had a bunch of sticks). I didn't do anything to the soil - just dumped it in, raked a little bit, and planted seedlings when I thought they were big enough. Also, being in New England, we had about a six week stretch of rain and low temperatures.

Obviously, I need some help. I could really use some very basic "For Dummies"-style advice as far as a) fixing the garden for the rest of the season, or b) prepping it for next season so it's not such a failure. I could also use some trouble-shooting to identify what went wrong this year. Some thoughts I had:
-Transplanted seedlings to early/too young
-Not enough light
-Not enough nutrients in the soil
-Too much/too little water

We also managed to kill a jade and an ivy plant that were in pots indoors (seriously, how is it possible to kill ivy?!), so we're really not doing too well with this.

And if anyone in the Boston area wants to come over and show me what I'm doing wrong, drop me a line.

Hard Drive Recoverable?

jules1651 — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:48:53 -0800

I just pulled an older computer out of the closet to donate, and yesterday it booted up fine. Today, I get an error stating "A disk read error occured, press CTL ALT DEL to reboot." I used UBCD for Windows and I cannot see the hard drive when I boot from there either. What other avenues should I explore to try and fix the disk, or is it toast and the files unrecoverable? I am willing to open it up. Thanks in advance. Info on the computer:

Dell Dimension 2400
Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz processor
Chipset: Intel 845GV chipset
Memory: 256MB PC-2700 DDR memory (one module)
Networking: Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 40GB ATA/100 7200RPM hard drive
CDROM: Hitachi 48X CD-ROM drive
BIOS: A05

Can we please just stop using this technology and go to scanning???????

sio42 — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:52:19 -0800

FaxFilter: Our fax line won't receive all the faxes all the time, only some of the faxes some of the time - and even then not with any consistency. Google-fu (and even bing-fu) are failing me. Of course, there's It sends fine. However, receiving is another problem.
Our other offices can't send to it with any sort of consistency. This was not a problem until this new machine, Canon L170. I have tried another brand of machine, but it had the same problems.

Things I have tried:
- Are the offices that can't send using old machines? Nope. Various ages, makes, and models.
- Is everyone sending at the same time causing a jam? What I've been able to piece together from the logs does not support this. It's also not in memory (the thing has a 450pg memory).
- Is it the lines? Had them checked both inside the building and outside building by two of our service providers. No issues there.
- Is it the machine? Tried a different brand machine, same problem.

I'm just at a loss for this. I don't even know who to call at this point because I don't know if it's the lines or equipment here or there. All the IT people are stumped. It's not like it's the same office that always has problems has sending - it's everyone has problems sending a majority of the time. Sometimes things get through. I've had them send the activity reports so I could check it out.

I'm so confused......

-

The worst of the human condition, delivered right to your inbox!

backseatpilot — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:13:30 -0800

Looking for some RSS feeds with heavy doses of schadenfreude. My guilty pleasure lately has been Texts From Last Night, and I want more. What are some good RSS feeds that will complement my current collection? Currently also following Overheard In X and Passive-Aggressive Notes. What am I missing out on?

Simple solutions include parking in a garage, having a doorman hold it.

subbes — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 02:06:04 -0800

Please teach me how to get into a car, in the rain, with an umbrella, without soaking myself. I can't seem to manage to get both myself and the umbrella into the car without all the water running down the umbrella onto my arm as I'm closing it, which nullifies the whole point of having an umbrella. Unless I close the umbrella before I get in the car, which means I still get rained on. This is more of a problem with larger umbrellas but still an issue even with the compact/tiny models.

Is there some magic trick? Other people don't seem to have this problem, according to Google and informal observation.

Detailed step-by-step solutions preferred, because obviously if I haven't worked this out by now I need a lot of help.

CU: A flange.

turgid dahlia — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:23:04 -0800

How To Write Technical Training Films? The government department I work for is in the midst of an enormous communications restructure and, hoping to move into corporate communications, I volunteered my services to one of the managers in my business group.

One of the myriad tasks on his plate is the start-to-finish development of a number of technical training films. The nature of our work here sees people out in the field installing specialised monitoring equipment.

From the prescis:

“These films will be for internal departmental use as training aids. The primary target will be for new staff who will not have someone at their side to assist them. It is hoped that most of the tasks in the field process will be covered. They may last a few minutes only dealing with specific technical issues or of greater length if going through data entry type procedures.

“These training films are not to be seen as replacements/substitutes for the National Standard training requirements – they will at all times be complimentary.”

So, pretty straightforward (if dry) stuff, I imagine. What I have been asked to do - with the assistance of experts in the actual processes I will be documenting – is develop the “textual storyboards”, or teleplays, if you will, for these processes.

I have a fair idea of how to set about doing this but I’d like to make an extra good impression with this work, so I’d love to hear about any easily accessible resources (preferably online) on this subject, and I would similarly love to hear advice and tips from any MeFites who have done similar work.

Epic Interview FAIL. Now what?

anastasiav — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 22:32:43 -0800

I massively screwed up a finalist interview today. I got really nervous and just ... well ... babbled. In the interview before this one, the hiring manager (we'll call her Liz) had basically told me that I was the leading candidate for the job (which I really wanted) but that she needed me to meet with the area heads before she could make an offer. She even offered some advice on the best approach to take with this group. When I got in the room I just became tongue tied and talked all around the first question without ever really answering it, and things went downhill from there. Now I need to write Liz a Thank You note, and every draft I write is taking on a sort of apologetic tone. ("I'm sure everyone could tell how nervous I was....") In such a situation, what's the right thing to say or do now?

What do accountants do after failing the CPA exam?

onepapertiger — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 08:19:45 -0800

What do accountants who fail the CPA exam/fail to get CPA designation do for a living? How much do they get paid? I know that only 30% of the CPA test takers actually pass all parts of the CPA exam. So what do the other people do for a living? Do they have to find non-accounting jobs or do they end up working in accounts receivable/payable? Or what?

Or is it that having the CPA designation is not necessary for the majority of accounting jobs anyway?

Xbox 360 won't connect, thus limiting my 'rocking out' time.

cgomez — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:27:03 -0800

I've been using my Xbox 360 for almost a year without any networking problems. As of two days ago, it will not log into Xbox Live and the problem has gotten worse. I've been using the Xbox 360 on my network with an Apple AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and a cable internet connection without issue. On Thursday, I tried to get online and it wouldn't sign in - the network test failed on the MTU stage. I didn't have time to troubleshoot it then, so I waited until this morning. Now that I've been working with it, I tried swapping ethernet cables, power it off, along with my router and cable modem and such, now it won't even get an IP address. I even went so far as plug the 360 directly into the modem and restart the modem.

Is there a way to reset the 360 completely (and not lose my profile, downloaded content)? I'm certain that there is something on the 360 that is causing the problem. I've reset the 360 network settings to default, but they weren't change in the first place.

This is quite frustrating, please help. All logical attempts at remedying this have failed.

Help updating Ruby (on Rails)

theRussian — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:31:55 -0800

How do I update Ruby/get RoR working? (OS X 10.4). Ok, I am generally tech savvy, so this is getting frustrating.

I have Mr. Macky here that had ruby 1.8.2 on him when I got home from work. Thinking I'd get a little web appy with some RoR, so I downloaded RubyGems as instructed here.

When I run sudo ruby setup.rb, I get the following error: Expected Ruby version > 1.8.3, was 1.8.2.
Ok, I think, so I go out to download 1.8.6, and follow the instructions as on the above page. Except that these directions install to the ruby-1.8.6 directory on my desktop.

I google, I go through the instructions to update via fink. No dice. ruby -v still gets me 1.8.2; fink complains that ruby is up to date and refuses to update. After more googling and command-lining I somehow revert to version 1.8.1. Which is where I stand at this moment.

Help! I feel like uber-fail. This should have been a 10 minute task at most. If anyone is up for a step by step help session, my email is in my profile--we can exchange IMs or something.

Thanks in advance, guys.

Kitchen repair dominoes.

iamabot — Mon, 19 May 2008 19:53:37 -0800

Why is my 6-10 yr old Kenmore Dishwasher not draining? The long dreamed of installation of a garbage disposal in our kitchen was declared Mission Accomplished this morning when I completed the unplanned/unbudgeted stub projects that (de)evolved over the last 24 hours consisting of a new sink, new water supply/stop valves, new drains and new faucet projects that piled on to the initial "oh I can do this in 2 hours" disposal install that I began yesterday afternoon. I am a fool, and I admit it without reservation. However it's all installed, nothing leaks, looks acceptable/etc, and I am likely to survive the night and return to the good graces of my wife, cats and dog when they regain use of the kitchen.

There's one tiny problem. The dishwasher is not draining. The final test phase of the new kitchen set up was to test the dishwasher. I opened the dishwasher, and it's full of water after it's cycle.

The normal procedure for diagnosing these types of problems appears to be make sure the drain tube is not kinked and that it's running to the proper spot.

Here's the set up:

Double sink, drains from sink A goes in to drain pipe that runs to a T joint that is attached to the outlet of the disposal. The dishwasher drain is attached to the appropriate pot on the disposal. The bottom of the T join connects to your standard P trap which in turn connects to the sewer/drain outlet emerging from the wall. All appears to be right in the world, and I may be flattering myself but it's a clean install with no wackiness in the plumbing from that angle.

So any thoughts, kinked hoses aside, as to where the problem is? The device sounds like it's pumping at the appropriate time in it's cycle. What are the check points for a busted washer of dishes.

I am thinking it's unlikely, but completely inline with my luck on this project, that the dishwasher decided to go for a walk. Short of calling Sears to come out and give it a look over what can I do to investigate?

Is my Ikea desk killing my MacBook Pro hard drive?

fenriq — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 15:47:19 -0800

Bizarre Hard Drive Failure Filter: Is it possible that my desk from Ikea is helping to send my hard drive to an early grave? Okay, I know this is going to sound insane but here goes. When I use my MacBook Pro on my desk the hard drive will soon start whining and screaming and sounding like it is about to explode. When I use the same exact computer on my table in the kitchen, it is almost perfectly silent. I can use it on the table in the kitchen for hours without even a slight whine. But within minutes of placing it on the desk from Ikea, its like there's a helicopter in my office.

The noise gets so loud I can't hear my television. And right now, on the kitchen table, it is almost silent.

Can anyone make heads or tails of this?

The sound does occur far less frequently when I use the computer while laying in bed and it sits on a pillow (these suckers run HOT!) but it appears that the issue is exacerbated by the desk.

Anyone have any insights? Yes, it is under warranty and I have the box ready to send it back to Apple but I'm pretty they don't use Ikea desks and they may not be able to replicate the problem.

Disk Utility says the disk is totally fine but I found I cannot upgrade to Leopard because of some failure (can't remember now) and I did try it several times.

"We are (not) the champions my friend!"

bardic — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 16:35:01 -0800

What happens to the losing side's swag in a big sporting event? (Obviously, it's disposed of. But how? And by whom?) Every time you watch a big-time sporting event (most recently, the Superbowl) you see the winners putting on caps and T-shirts that say, for example, "NY GIANTS SUPERBOWL 2008 CHAMPS AMIRITE?!!?" So, what happens to all the swag that says "NE PATRIOTS SUPERBOWL CHAMPS YEAH!!!" I know it's kind of a silly question, but there must be tons of this stuff out there -- for the divisional playoffs, for almost every other major league and college level sport, etc. So, somebody gets rid of it, but where does it go? I'm thinking it gets discretely shipped to various college towns to clothe irony-minded hipsters. If not, then we clearly have an untapped market on our hands.

Can this be fixed or is it better to move on?

forallmankind — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 11:10:22 -0800

My laptop either doesn't see the HDD on bootup (cannot find OS), or stops seeing it a few minutes into use (BSOD). Could this type of problem: a) be reasonably easily resolved by me for small amount of cash b) be easily resolved by a professional for a reasonable amount of cash c) be best resolved by selling it on ebay for parts or repair for a reaonably small amount of cash? The laptop in question is a Thinkpad X31 - I asked about this before when I was at the troubleshooting stage (I then thought it was the RAM, but it wasn't).
It's not the HDD itself as I've swapped it out with another and I get the same problem. I have already posted to the Thinkpad forum, but I didn't get any answers. (And I've already bought an X40 as a replacement so I'm not looking for recommendations - thanks!)

Second time's the charm?

Dillonlikescookies — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 02:16:01 -0800

Do relationships between the same people ever work a second time round, after a long period of time in between? So I was talking to a friend of mine who's recently moved back to the same town as her ex. They hadn't been together for over three years, but they both still had feelings for each other.
They got back together. It didn't work out.
I got to thinking - do these sorts of situations *ever* work out?
It seems to be even when the split up is mostly due to practical reasons (someone moving for a job, so on) that it won't work the second time, at least not in any lasting sense.
My experience, however, is with young couples, and a couple years is a lot of change. So, I thought I would do a little unscientific survey - do any of you know of relationships, working or otherwise, that fit this criteria? I'm not talking about "on-again-off-again" relationships, mind.

And if you do know ones that succeeded, why do you think that it was?

Failed Vista install boot problem

lemonfridge — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 12:39:26 -0800

I tried to install Vista but the install failed. Now when my PC boots I have to jump through some hoops to get it working. Help! When booting it presents me the following options:
* An earlier version of Windows
* Windows Setup Rollback

It automatically chooses the second option which fails, but gives me a chance to go back to the previous menu and choose to load an earlier version of Windows (which works fine)

Here is a video of the boot process

Ive given up on installing Vista for now. But would love to remove these option screens so that I can boot normally again.

Why can't I add new mp3s to my Itunes library?

fastbacker — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 11:49:29 -0800

A month or so ago, I became unable to add new tracks to Itunes. Whether I try to add via clicking on the track, dragging into iTunes, or adding the track from the file menu, the result is the same. I have also tried changing my preferences so that the track does not copy to the iTunes library when it is added; still the same. When I try to add a track, my hard drive just spins and makes a little clicking noise and iTunes goes into "not responding" mode, with the spinning pinwheel. It sounds like a hard drive problem, but I am able to play tracks via other apps from this hard drive while this is happening. I am also able to add tracks to the hard drive without any problems. The drive is a LaCie Porsche 160gb.

My music library is also quite large, about 130gb. I am on a MacBook, running OS 10.4.9.

Any ideas?