The "sneaker net" solution

[GooRoo]

I still have not resolved by CD/DVD device driver problem, but I installed Gruntz on my wife's old computer (with no Internet connection ... but a working CD/DVD drive ), so at least I can play Gruntz again. I used micro-floppy diskettez (six of them! ) to copy Custom Levelz, et cetera from my computer to the wife's old computer. It only took one diskette to copy the Gruntz Level Editor and the screen resolution patch. I may have been able to get the Version 1.01 patch on the same diskette, but I used another diskette for that.

It is slow going, since she has different software on her computer than I have on mine, so I have to learn the quirkz of Paint vs PhotoImpact ... and so on. Then I have to put screen shotz, updated Gruntz mapz and anything else (walk-through basicz, for example) onto a floppy diskette and copy them onto my computer for upload to the Forum's web host. It's a good thing there are only two doorz between my computer room (heated) and her sewing room (unheated) ... I am not being overly exercised with my "sneaker netting".

My area has several riverz overflowing their bankz, so my playing has been curtailed. Maybe I should move one computer to the other end of the house, in order to get my needed exercise!

[SwordGrunt]

rofl, that sounds annoying... how often do you walk from one room to another? like from 10 to 10 minutes? I'd surely get annoyed with that in a few room swaps, and do everything to fix one computer but the CD/DVD problem looks hard to solve

[alexandgruntz]

Just a thought GooRoo - have you tried a repair install? www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

[GooRoo]

My computer was purchased in December, 2001 ... and (for some reason ) I am unable to find the installation CD-ROMz ... not that they would do me any good, since the CD/DVD drive is what is failing. Perhapz there is some boot option I should be using that will allow me to use either drive, but I am not aware of it ... I have alwayz hated Microsoft productz, and avoid them (or learning anything about them!) like the return of the Black Plague. What I fail to understand is why the device driverz are so hidden away, with super flaky file namez that bear no resemblance to the real world. It should be a simple matter to copy the device driver (a micro-floppy diskette should have plenty of capacity for a device driver!) from my wife's old computer (a virtual 'twin' of the one I use) and replace the corrupted one on my computer. But try to find the device driver, in order to copy it onto a micro-floppy!!! I am not about to enroll in a Microsoft PC technical repair class in order to fix this problem ... that would be $upporting a company I detest.

[FriedGruntzaholic]

To find your driver files:

1. Right-click on My Computer

2. Select Properties

3. Click on the Hardware tab

4. Click on Device Manager

5. Expand the DVD/CD-Rom tree so that it displays the individual CD-Rom drives.

6. Highlight one of your drives and right-click

7. Select Properties

8. Select the Driver tab

9. Click on Driver Details

And it should display a list of the driver files for that particular drive and the pathname to find it. The pathname for mine is C:\WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS...etc., etc. Yours should be similar.

[GooRoo]

Thank You! I had a printout of that, but managed to misplace it, and for the life of me could not figure out where I got it in the first place! With this information, I should be able to 'sneaker-net' the fix from my wife's computer to mine ... tomorrow. Tonight I will be sending out Gaby's latest CL, and working on the walk-through for it on my computer. (My wife's old computer is in her unheated sewing room, and my handz have not recovered from the chill of verifying Gaby's CL. ) So I am finishing up the night in my computer room ... which stayz heated to 68 degreez fahrenheit.

[GooRoo]

Well, I copied every file listed in the CD/DVD device driverz list to a floppy microdiskette, and took it to my computer and copied them to my hard drive. One file "storprop.dll" would not copy, because it was in use by another program ... but I had nothing going at the time! After all is said and done, the CD/DVD drivez still do not work, still with error 39.

[alexandgruntz]

Try this.

[GooRoo]

Nothing has worked (so far) to restore a non-corrupt device driver for my CD/DVD drivez.

I went to the local Best Buy store, and spoke for about half an hour with one of the clerkz, and discovered that it is still possible to buy a new laptop/notebook/desktop computer with Windows XP. I intend to spend some time at each local store that sellz computerz, looking for the most robust laptop/notebook in my price range. The store modelz will undoubtedly have only the Vista OS, but I intend on buying via the Internet from one of the sourcez I have already found for XP systemz. But the local storez will give me a better idea of what Brand and model would satisfy my needz. A hard drive of 40Gb would be plenty for what I do ... more would be icing on the cake. Most important (besidez the OS) is the RAM size ... 2Gb or 2.5Gb would tempt me considerably ... I frequently have the computer slowing down because I have several thingz going at the same time ... and paging the temporary storage (hard drive) is sloooooooow. I also will ensure that there is a VGA connector, so I may use my 20" monitor in place of whatever screen size the laptop/notebook comez with (almost every one has it, but I wouldn't want to buy one and find it is one of the few without it). I hope that the KVM (Keyboard/Video/Mouse) switch I already have has the proper connectorz (male/female ... number of pinz, etc.) so I don't have to buy another. (I have had a few migrationz, and that KVM really makez that process easier and faster.)

[alexandgruntz]

Generally laptops don't have PS/2 ports, so hopefully that KVM switch is USB.