It looks like my computer has had enough of me. The trouble that started last week has culminated in my laptop giving me the finger.

After we came home from our friends’ place last night, I turned on the laptop to check e-mail and surf a bit before calling it a night. After being on for about twenty minutes, I got the blue screen of death. I shut down the machine and turned it back on. I was expecting to get the message about a corrupt profile again, but the machine restarted just fine. Until the desktop loaded, than the blue screen came up again.

After another shutdown and restart, I was able to get back online again. I didn’t have any more blue screen interruptions the rest of the night.

This morning, while browsing, the blue screen came up yet again. Thinking it’d help to Google the problem, I wrote down what the message said. Something about a process or thread was exited unexpectedly and Windows was shutting down to prevent damage to the computer.

I attempted to start up the machine in the hopes that I’d be able to get online and search for the error message but that’s when machine gave me the finger. I got a DOS-like message about one of the system files being corrupt. The message said something about doing a repair by putting in the original Windows CD-ROMs.

Even though I’m not 100% confident about attempting a re-install, I couldn’t do it even if I wanted to; Dell never included the initial set-up CD for XP. I searched (from S’s machine which is what I’m using now) and it looks like Dell doesn’t include the set-up discs when they send customer’s their machines. Apparently, they do sell them as other folks have had to buy the disc in order to re-install or repair their version of XP.

I e-mailed a local computer repair place that had some decent reviews on Yelp and asked if I’d need to bring in an XP disc with me or if they had one there they could use. I found – at least I think I did – the place I last took a machine in for repairs. Their web site is down but Google still has their number listed so I’m hoping that the guy is still in business. I’ll wait to see what local guy has to say and then call up my old friend for a second opinion.

I’m hopeful that this problem is fixable – and not for a crazy amount of money – as I really don’t want to get a new machine right now. This is the first problem I’ve had with my laptop in four years and I’ve got everything on it the way I want. I don’t really want to start over with a new machine, especially since Windows 7 won’t be available until next month.

I’m not going to complain too much; there are worse things to deal with than computer problems. Like my mom always says, “better that than a stomach ache.”


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