A while ago I started getting an unusual mechanical noise from my HD, and some programs got very slow or froze when booting (fortunately not SC4 *knocks on wood*). So I ignored it for a while, and a few days ago I ran through an error check. It found a few errors, and fixed them. For about a day it was error free. The next day I heard the noise once or twice, but more importantly got an error message that said:
java.exe
Entry Point Not Found : The procedure entry point LocalFileTimeToF could not be located in the dynamic link library KERNEL32.dll.
But I haven't heard the noise again since then, and that was a day or two ago. So my question is: How long do I have until this thing dies completely? Can replacing it be put off for another few months, or preferably a year? The noise had been happening for a few months before I checked it out, so does that mean I can stretch it for a few more months?
Obviously, I'll be backing up constantly between now and then.
If it's mechanical it will only get worse. Best thing to do is backup all your data and replace the drive as soon as possible.
Yeah, better replace it as soon as possible. It's probably not too worse yet, but your data might become corrupted over the time without noticing it, and if you don't have a recent backup, you're really screwed then.
Thanks. I suppose I should consider myself lucky for knowing before it's completely dead. &mmm
EDIT: While I'm at it, are there any problems that I should expect when transitioning to the new machine? It'll probably be an eMachines with an AMD 64-bit dual core processor, 2GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 6100 integrated GFX, and, *big sigh* Vi$ta. :'( I know I've heard of some problems with Vista, and with dual cores...
I'm running Vista on a DualCore Pentium (don't ask about specs, I only know it's DualCore because that's what the little sticker says) with only a few problems (mostly user error). Haven't had to change any settings for SC4 to work. I can't really say about other games, because I only play SC4.