Wednesday, December 31, 2003
Tested the new Win XP install—still got weird errors. When I inserted the PowerDVD 4.0 installation CD-ROM, the computer restarted without warning. Later, I got the yellow balloon in the lower right corner saying "Windows Corrupt File." I'm convinced now the problem is the hard drive and I must do a zero fill to identify and block out bad sectors. Scandisk doesn't seem to have done that adequately for me, so I'm using Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test utilities on recommendation from Starman. However, since the backup yesterday was interrupted at the verify routines, I'm not certain that the catalog was updated completely so I must rerun the entire 42 GB backup once more before doing the zero fill. Interrupted troubleshooting to watch the DVD extras from Pirates of the Caribbean. Drive Fitness Test and Maxtor's PowerMax both indicate that there is no problem with the hard drive, so I guess my earlier hunch was wrong and now I must wipe the new Win XP install and install Win 2000 instead. New Year's Eve at Jamie's place with Jamie, Aaron, Demetrius, Patrick, and James. James is Jamie's new housemate—moved in yesterday or today I think. When asked how long he'd lived in San Francisco, he said "one day." Originally from Salt Lake City, Utah, he lived in the East Bay a while before making the move to the city. Patrick and I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (no raisins) with vanilla frosting and black sprinkles. I fell asleep at 12:30 pm.