# In which I rescue my computer from certain death

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-rescue-my-computer-from-certain-death/288663>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [February 6, 2005, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-rescue-my-computer-from-certain-death/288663 "2005-02-06T16:31:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-rescue-my-computer-from-certain-death/288663/1 "2005-02-06T16:31:44Z")

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Well, I’ve been asking for it, I guess. During this spell of unemployment, I’ve been playing a lot of computer games. I know these programs can be risky for computer stability, but I like to live dangerously.

Up until I installed _Painkiller_, I’d had almost zero problems with my Gateway. Then, this morning, CRASH!

I was able to restart, but got that awful message about you need to start in safe mode, or go to the last time your computer was stable and on its meds. There was a message concerning ‘error loading C:\WINNT\system32\NvCpl.dll’ or some such gibberish. The screen resolution looked like screens did back when I played pong. I tried to fix the resolution, but was unable to do anything.

I rebooted several times, but the same problems kept cropping up. Now I popped a sweat for the first time. All my genealogy files are on this computer, and I haven’t backed them up in about six months :smack: Also, all my job apps and resumes from the past four months :smack:

Okay…how about ‘system restore’…whaddya _mean_, ‘unable to restore’?

::rummages for box with system disks:: AHA! I popped the ‘Drivers’ disk in the drive…nothing. An error message saying that there’s no disk in the drive. Is too! Is not! Is too! Is not! Pulled the disk out of the drive and discover a huge glob of sticky, glue-y substance on the disk. Where the _&%_&$ did _that_ shit come from? Water only changed it from a blob to a sticky smear. Windex! No help. Mr. Clean! HAH! Gotcha!

Trembling with the fear that the chemicals may have damaged the disk, I slid the drive door shut. Eureka! After 30 minutes, all drivers restored, my computer is back, and I’m backing up files as soon as this sentence is finished.

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**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-rescue-my-computer-from-certain-death/288663/2 "2005-02-06T17:10:11Z")

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That’s funny; the same _exact_ thing happened to me recently, only I [wasn’t so lucky.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=298026)

I lost _everything_, and am still trying to get Customer Service to send me a new monitor (because that is what indirectly caused the crash, believe it or not), which they don’t seem to want to do.

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**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-rescue-my-computer-from-certain-death/288663/3 "2005-02-06T21:39:10Z")

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Damn! I’ve always had pretty good luck with Gateway, so I’m surprised at their attitude with you. Guess I should count myself lucky for avoiding a wipeout.