The exorcism of KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR

Last night, as if a scene from "The Exorcist" was being enacted in my dining room, screwdrivers and a new hard drive in hand, I approached the red malevolent glow of the HP Media Center PC......

Ingnoring the rumbling and sulfurous fumes which only increased as I drew closer, I sat myself before this monstor and removed the new hard drive from its anti-static packaging.

Installing the drive was nightmarish...as if getting the drive cage and the old drive out was fun....the reverse process with the new drive was worse. I would insert the drive, reach for the screwdriver, and the PC would, as if the PC was possessed, push the drive back an inch or two each time! Sizing the Windows Certificate of Authenticity in one hand, and a screwdriver in the other, I held the certificate in front of the PC and shouted "The power of Bill Gates compels you!" After doing this several more times (and ignoring the moaning and screams issuing from within the PC and the intensifying of the red glow, and pushing the PC case back down onto the table) I was able to get the drive in place and the screws in it.

The drive cage was another matter, but after merely holding the certificate in front of the PC and lightly coughing "ahem!" the cage snapped into place, the red glow disappeared, and the fog dissipated!

The assembly of the rest of the case was not difficult at this point and I then had the fun of loading the 8 CD's that build the recovery process. Windows et al loaded with no errors, I did a quick defrag of the disk, and then rebooted with a Seagate diagnostic CD and re-did the tests that had flagged all the errors. Everything passed. At this point I dissembled the mouse which was gritty and in serious need of cleaning and then I did the same to the keyboard which had a thick layer of dust. A quick reboot to insure all was well, and yes, we had exorcised whatever had possessed the PC! The battle to reclaim my dining room table was won!!!