Focusing in on the cause of a distorted photo
By BILL HUSTED
Cox News Service
August 24, 2008
Q: I was recently trying to print a picture. I'd kept it on a memory card in one of the slots on my computer. When the card became full, I backed up everything to a DVD+RW.
Now, here comes the weird part. When I found the picture, it had become discolored.
The top fourth of it was fine, but the bottom part was distorted, almost as if looking at a negative.
— Dave Battle
A: First, take a few shots and see whether those photos are bad. When the sensor of a digital camera goes sour it can create weird, even ghostly, images. It's happened to me.
If your camera isn't the culprit, here are some possibilities:
One, if a memory card is removed from the drive without using a simple feature built into Windows, you can corrupt the files on that card. That could create the weird-looking image. Look in the small strip at the bottom of your screen for an icon that says "Safely Remove Hardware" and use it before pulling the card out. I realize it's too late in your case; I mention it to help others.
Two, it's possible the file was corrupted on your hard disk or on the DVD. If the storage card has been erased, there is no way to fix that problem.
Three, the storage card in your camera may be defective. That's easy to check: Try it again and see what happens. If you get odd results, try another storage card.
Q: We have a desktop computer that is fairly up to date. However, the hard drive has begun to make a whining noise that increases and decreases with no discernible pattern.
I fear the hard drive will soon fail. I would like to buy another hard drive and install it myself. My question is how do you instruct the computer to boot from the new (not C) drive? Is this an internal setting?
— David Reavis
A: Modern computers will let you make that change from the set-up screen. You'll see a notice on the monitor, as your computer starts and before Windows starts, that tells you how to reach set-up. Once there you can set boot order.
But before you add hard disks, make sure you have correctly diagnosed the problem.
A bad hard disk does often make warning sounds, but it's usually a metallic clanking. You'll also sometimes see signs of files not storing properly or becoming corrupted.
A whining sound, more often, is associated with a bad power supply.
That's a replacement some people can manage at home (but take the machine to a repair tech if you're in doubt). Another possibility is the cooling fan. Modern computers often turn up the speed on the fan when they overheat. That could explain sound changes.
Open the case of the computer and use your ears to isolate the sound's source.
Please send your questions to Bill Husted at tecbud@ajc.com. While he reads every e-mail, not all are answered. E-mails are selected for publication based on the likelihood that the answers will be of general interest.
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