Close Call...

So this last weekend I had a close call.

What kind of close call, you might ask? The kind that keep me awake at night. Yup, I had a run-in with the Windows screen of death.

So here's how it all went down...

I came up to my room Thursday night to go to bed and thought I would check my e-mail before bed. So I came up and tapped my mouse to bring my computer screen back up. Well, the screen came up for about a second and then... pffttt!!! Died.

My first thought was that my computer had died, but then I realized it was just the monitor. So I unplugged the monitor and checked it on the power outlet. Sure enough, my monitor was fried. I was not too surprised seeing as I've had this monitor for almost 4 years now. I was probably lucky it lasted that long.

So Saturday morning, I stopped by Circuit City to catch a 'going-out-of-business' deal on a replacement monitor. I picked up one, brought it home, and plugged it in. So far, so good.

And then I watched in horror as Windows failed to boot and I saw the bone-chilling message, "Windows could not start due to missing or corrupted file: Windows/System32/Setup."

Great. I just replaced my monitor, and now I can't even boot up Windows. My first thought, of course, is that I had lost all my files. My pictures, my music collection, my high scores in Minesweeper. All gone.

So I called Uncle Earl, figuring he would know what to do. Good choice! I took him up on his suggestions and was finally able to boot back up today! Hooray!

My advice to everyone if they have not already done so: Back up your important files! I picked up an external USB hard drive over the weekend and backed up my files just in case this happens again. I would suggest doing it before something like this happens to you.