I... uhhh... dropped a hard drive and now the computer thinks it's not even initialized.

Those HD recovery places are very very expensive.

Have you Norton Utilities? Have you any Norton/Symantec product you can use as an upgrade basis to get Systemworks?

I would suggest trying something like Norton Disk Doctor on the drive, first. There are other drive recovery tools, as well.

Jon, What file system do you have on the drive?

Shadowed skin from DVDs shows very red on my TV. I'm pretty sure it's only the DVD player. Is there any point differentially diagnosing? Could it be cables or something fixable?

eta: never mind--I hadn't remembered the unit had its own brightness/contrast/hue/saturation settings.

If you are trying to talk on IM talk and you can hear them or at least get white noise but they can't hear you at all, what is going on?

Jon, What file system do you have on the drive?

NTFS, I think.

Have you any Norton/Symantec product you can use as an upgrade basis to get Systemworks?

I have Ghost.

Have you any Norton/Symantec product you can use as an upgrade basis to get Systemworks?

I have Ghost.

With Ghost, you can get Systemworks 2006 for $50, or Systemworks Premiere 2006 (With the latest Ghost) for $80. I recommend the CD rather than downloading Systemworks.

Or you could borrow a copy from someone to try it.

I wonder if the old fdisk /mbr works on NTFS? Anyone? Bueller?

Did your issue clear up, LeN? I have no help to offer, sadly.

Thanks for asking. It did, actually. I ended up redoing the Windows default programs and I think that cleared everything up.

I'm an idiot -- I was pressing the wrong two buttons to reset. (It's Menu/Select, not Menu/Play.) D'oh! Correctly reseting seems to have done the trick.

Still, the battery is now telling me it's completely drained, which is absurd since I'd only used it for about 45 minutes since its last full recharge. I have a feeling it may need replacing.