An argument is a modifier in computer language. Anyone who writes applications knows this, but most “civilians” don’t.
If you are a computer, you are always arguing. Computer language, unlike regular language, is remorseless. Unforgiving. You do it the right way or it won’t work. Or worse, it will work, but not the way you meant it to work. You misplace, or leave out a comma, or put a space between characters that should not have one … or put an underscore where there should be a hyphen — and who knows what calamitous results may follow?
A blue screen error message that begins with STOP: 0x000000116 is due to video card or video driver related issues.
For those of you familiar with Windows, you would in any case recognize this as a video card issue. Hardware or software. Usually, it’s a driver. Sometimes, it’s more than one thing crunching together. The problems began with installation of a new driver. My system said “No way!” and expressed itself by a black screen crash. I backed out of it and restored the system to before I installed the driver. Lo and behold, all was well. Or so I thought.
I waited until a newer driver was issued. NVIDIA issues new drivers so frequently you never have long to wait. All was well until Topaz sent a new version of its Texture filter. This blew up Photoshop. I backed out of the update, but simultaneously, NVIDIA sent a new version of “GEForce Experience.” An entirely new app.
When I tried to install it, it blew itself out of the system. In all my years of computering in the high-tech world, I’ve never seen that happen. It didn’t even leave a shortcut behind. Nothing. A hole in virtual reality. I could not restore it. For some reason, it would not restore from System Restore, or the external hard drive backup .
I do system backups to an external device. I’ve been doing some version of this for years, first on tape, then on CD or DVD, and now on external hard drives. Never, in all these years, have I ever been able to restore the system or an application using a backup. They don’t work. Never. It’s infuriating.
Thing is, I knew that this would likely be the case. Instead of counting on system backups, I back up data. If my system or a part of it blows, I know I’ll have to fix it some other way. Think about that. Just … ponder it. Save documents. Save pictures. Save music, books, and all that “stuff.” But the system? You’re going to need, as Quinn said in “Jaws,” a bigger boat.
Without that application, I couldn’t update the NVIDIA video card at all, so I went hunting and found a downloadable version on their website. I installed it and it also cleaned up the mess the previous download had caused. I then realized there was a new driver waiting, too. Oh joy. Just what I needed.
I created a restore point (just in case everything went south) and installed the new driver. It worked. But I was still getting way too many error messages involving the video card. Topaz wanted me to change my video settings, which I did. Dubiously, but I’m a good sport. It was working okay until this morning, it blue-screened me in the middle of answering a comment. Not exactly a major graphics project.
I rebooted. I set the graphics card back to its original factory default settings. This computer doesn’t want “better settings.”
My computer has too many arguments going on. I’m losing it because all I want to do is get on with stuff.
Herein lies the problem with running an older operating system on a computer with components that need frequent updating. The updates are not (really) designed for this operating system (FYI, Win7 Pro). My computer was a wee bit wonky a couple of weeks ago. It is a lot worse today.
I am losing all the arguments.
Share this:
Categories: Computers, Humor, Software, Technology
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
When I retired, I retired from Windows, and on my son and daughter’s joint advice bought a Mac. My daughter looks after Macs for a major publishing job (fancy job title is ‘Desktop Analyst’), so she knows a thing or two, and I have her on speed dial. Apple products are expensive, often not backwardly compatible. Buy a new Mac and suddenly all the old connecting leads are replaced by new and more expensive ones. But, in nine years of using one, I’ve never had one of those ghastly blue screen events. Now that I’ve told you and the world about that, I’m bound to have a disaster in the next few days, but my daughter should be able to rescue me.
LikeLike
If I didn’t have the document compatibility issue, I’d have given Mac more serious consideration. But — my software won’t run on a Mac. My books will lose their formatting. I’ve got a lifetime invested in my writing and photographs. Retired I am, but I still can’t abandon everything. Running two systems is not a realistic option. Moreover, there is no service for Macs around here. The nearest store is more than 40 miles away and they have an attitude problem. So, I’ll stay with what I know and muddle along. I muddle well.
LikeLike
The only sure-fire way to restore we’ve found is with an entire system image. In fact, when we’re preparing multiple systems for our live environment we often get one “perfect”, then backup its image on an external HDD and restore it on all the other machines. Then all we need to do is change the computer name. So it definitely works!
You may need third party software to do it with Win7/10 though, I don’t remember.
LikeLike
I’m getting a new computer in a few weeks. Then, I’ll see if there’s native software in OS. If hot, I’ll find software. I remember making a system image takes s long time. Probably because our HDs are so huge 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s actually not too bad – it does it at the block level (most modern backups do this) so it’s just straight cloning, not trying to copy files.
LikeLike
Good. The last software I used was whatever came with the Seagate drive. It took hours.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Did you create a system image? That is the only way to completely restore the entire system to the way it was before it started having problems. Problem with image backups is the most people do not create them on a regular basis. Usually they do one every couple of weeks because it takes at least 90 minutes to run even with a small 120 GB SSD drive. BTW Windows 10 uses the Windows 7 Image backup program to do this. You also need to create a recovery drive to boot your machine and then point to the image file on an external drive. Recovery drives can be created on a dvd or thumb drive. It does takes time but this is one strategy that usually does work.
LikeLike
Well written and unfortunately so true! argh. I understand all you have said, and although can’t see well enough to do this (fortunately I have a son that does) it is none-the-less irritating and frustrating.
LikeLike
Let me get this right – you weren’t able to restore your old program from your external hard drive?
Leslie
LikeLike
Right you are. Applications need special installation programs. You really can’t restore them from a backup disk. Sometimes, you can restore them be backing up to an earlier point in the system before the app was damaged, but you can’t install without the installation program. It’s why system backups are a complete waste of time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I always thought it was a waste of time. Now I know it is.
Leslie
LikeLike
They ARE a waste of time. AND disc space. However, backing up your “stuff” — in your case, probably your photographs, your music, your writing … all your documents … back them up. I don’t do it as often as I should, but I do it at least once a month and I have been very glad when a photograph disappeared that I had the file on a drive.
But a system backup? Useless.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I do that on an external hard drive about every 10 days or so. Hopefully that will keep things safe.
Leslie
LikeLike