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It happened. With Susan and her husband Rob (my tech support) on the other side of the planet, my laptop crashed. And not just a little crash – a huge complete, unfixable, complete-with-little-explosion-sound, crash.
I was up most of the night (it happened at 1am) getting Rob to walk me through attempting to fix it and trying to restore the data. (Yes we are going to have some lovely phone bills!) But it didn’t work. It is fried. Dead. And holding all my information hostage.
I have dropped it off now at a repair shop, hoping that they will be able to retrieve the data, but it doesn’t look good.
And to make matters worse, our other main business computer is also going nuts this morning. Joan (our mom and business partner) is unable to log into the email accounts. Rob is currently trying to fix that problem.
So, I am unable to log into any of my email accounts. The only way I can let those trying to get a hold of me – and those waiting to hear from me – is to hollar out a message from here! I am trapped – all of my emails are inaccessible to me at this point.
So, if you are emailing me – or have emailed me – I can’t get back to you.
(And Kate – if you by happen get to read this. I will not be able to make that conference call. Your email and the phone number are trapped inside my computer.)
I will be working to set up those email accounts on my husband’s laptop (where I am talking to you from right now) but I need Rob in Italy to walk me through that. He is currently trying to fix the other computer and it will be getting late in Italy soon. I may not be functioning with email until tomorrow. (And even when I do get that set up, the disaster is that I will have no access to my sent items, my tens and tens of folders, nor my hundreds of flagged and sorted emails that are waiting for replies and actions. This is not good!)
Hopefully I will be back into my emails soon – I am so sorry for the inconvenience this may cause some of you…
Updated: Bad news – the hard drive is finished. The repair store said everything is gone. Also, I still don’t have access to my email. Hopefully I will get that resolved soon. I am totally disconnected and lost… Thankfully, I still have my husband’s lap top to access the blog. But all our email folders, our hundreds of flagged and sorted emails, the stuff I was working on, everything is gone! Oh – did I mention that it was actually Susan’s lap top that crashed? Yes – ironically we switched lap tops because I needed all the info that was on hers to keep working while she was gone. So she has mine in Italy. The brutal thing is that mine is backed up. Hers… not so much. She had been procrastinating on that. So – once again – if you are waiting for us to reply to you or are trying to reach us, I do not yet have access to our email. And remember – back up your data!
teri d says
janice, i am so sorry. i know how immensely disrupting this can be! i’ve been there myself. i hope this is repaired soon and that order can be restored!
teri
Crystal says
Oh no!! We lost a laptop once. It was hard… we lost a lot of pictures and things we had written. It stinks very bad stinky poo!!
Ruth says
oh OUCH janice.
i can feel your pain from my prairie province.
so sorry.
Amanda says
I’m so sorry to hear about your poorly laptop! I know how awful this is: quite recently my little angel spilled a whole cup of coffee all over my laptop. I cried and sulked for days. Luckily we were insured, but I still lost all my data.
Hope you have better luck!
Barb says
Oh my word, Janice. How awful. I agree with Carol – silly or not, I know how completely frustrating this must be for you so I’m also praying they find a way to recover your data. How awful if it really is all lost.
Carol says
Oh. No.
I know it sounds silly to pray for someone’s computer problem, but I’ve BTDT and I know how hard it is. Praying now that they can retrieve your data.
Lisa Knight says
We killed our laptop a couple months ago. I was told that I could send out my hard drive & have it cracked, MAYBE. It is going to cost us at least $400, or so I’ve been told. It is worth it if they can get me back all my photos. I started using http://www.idrive.com/ to back up my files like photos & stuff. I still find I miss all my music, recipes & pics, but I’m survivng!!! Good luck with your recovery.
Tish says
Mine blew up a week ago 🙁 I feel your pain !!!! Don’t you just feel naked without your computer?!?! Good luck !!!
Tish
Jim Durbin says
My PC just crashed as well – took it in when the hard drive started whirring – when they tried to fix it, the power supply went. Do be careful – they wanted me to buy a new motherboard (there was nothing wrong with my motherboard).
The good news, is you can get laptops for as cheap as $500 from Best Buy. Shoot me a note if you need help – we’re buying ours this weekend. And it’s a business expense.
Elizabeth Christie says
Oh, no! I’m so sorry!
Donna says
oh, not good…Does Best Buy want to donate a computer to a good cause??hehe
Tammy and Parker says
Our computer blew up right before Christmas. I feel your frustration! I’ll be sending you good luck vibes to get the info off of your other computer.
I am still hoping to hear from you when Susan returns!
Val says
So so so sorry to hear this!! ((hugs!!))
Robin says
:/…a blogger’s nightmare…especially a blogger like “5 Minutes…”
Feelin’ your pain and hoping things get back to “normal” soon…!
The Preacher's Wife says
Bless your heart! 🙂 This has happened to me before…what a nightmare!
Hope you get it worked out!
melissa says
you may want to consider using SKYPE for your overseas calls…it’s like a messenger program, but you can talk through the computer (um, your husband’s). http://www.skype.com
jen says
Oh no and I bet you hadnt saved your work to an external hard disk drive
If we lived closer Id send Muzz over
Kristen says
Sometimes I wish my laptop would just crash. Then I would have a legitimate excuse to go and buy the Mac that I really want!
Lani says
Wow. You need lots of chocolate and warm milk.
I got my box of Cheerios today. You actually made my day a happy one. (and my two little ones were screaming with joy, it was on the verge of ridiculous how happy there were.)
Jenny says
that has to suck. if it were me, id be crying nonstop right now. i hope things work out and you are able to get your info back one way or another. 🙂
Heather says
I hope you are able to get everything working soon!
Kara says
Uh-oh! That really stinks! I hope the computer place can get your data back. And good luck getting your email working.