Sometimes, no matter how much you try to protect your computer, you need to get down and dirty with the hardware. Sometimes it’s the obvious. I never cease to be amazed at how many PC problems turn out to be loose cables or-the shame of it all!-an unplugged electrical cord. But, others times, it will be you vs. your PC’s internal workings in a battle for system superiority.
It’s for times like those that you need the kind of repair tools that Lincoln Spector talks about in his article 6 downloadable boot discs that could save your PC. My one concern with his tale is that he doesn’t mention what I consider to be the best of all the system repair boot disks: SystemRescueCd 1.02.