I am going to cry or scream!

[NECPA in NEBRASKA]

Last night when I shut down my computer, it took forever and then I got a blue screen. I did what it said and shut it of. I turned it back on and it started just fine. This morning I turned it on and it stuck at the splash screen. I called my IT guys and it's on its way to the computer hospital. I hope that it's an easy fix, because I really don't want to tell everyone that is left that they have to go on extension. I'm so upset. I was booking right along and was way ahead of last year. 

 

 

[Lee B]

Another bump in the road of life

Hang in there, hopefully you will have your computer back soon, up and running.

Keep us posted

[rfassett]

This is something probably all of us fear.  At every juncture during tax season I hold my breath when a program takes a little longer to open or some other non-normal thing goes on.  And the fact remains, other than ours and our loved ones health, this is probably the most vulnerable spot for most if not all of us during our busy season.  The Serenity Prayer comes to mind right now.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change; 
courage to change the things I can; 
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time; 
enjoying one moment at a time; 
accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; 
taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it; 
trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will; 
that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
forever in the next. 
Amen.
 

[NECPA in NEBRASKA]

Thanks. I hope that it's hardware and an easy fix. I just hope that Carbonite and/Easeus restore easily if that's what I need to do.

 

[jasdlm]

I don't know where in NE you are, but I'm in Lawrence, KS, and if you wanted to load your trunk and come down and work on one of my machines (if you use ATX), you are welcome.  You could roll over the returns you need to do and put them on a thumb drive.

 

[Gail in Virginia]

I love the Serenity prayer.  Someday, perhaps I will be able with God's help to live every moment like that.

[Lion EA]

My hard drive was sending signals to Dell that it was in imminent danger of failing.  Due to my huge payments to Dell, they sent a new hard drive and a techie to install it, but I postponed the appointment knowing I had to "clone" my old hard drive to the new or face a long spell of restoring backups.  My personal techie quit (apparently a feud with my 37-year-old son who hasn't lived here since he was 17, so why am I punished?  I think biblically, it's supposed to go the other way!).  Dell techie, an IC, was willing to work with me on the side.  It took him two visits and him purchasing some new software, but he got me up and running last Thursday morning at 3 a.m.!  Closing down is incredibly slow, so I still worry.  And, I've been getting that red screen in Chrome.  Thought it was under control with Abby's directions, but it returned this morning.  The first thing I did was e-file extensions for every client left.  Then I got back to preparing returns.  Just had an email from a family where I really needed to compute payments, but didn't; so need to get to that this afternoon.  We had an out-of-state funeral the weekend before Easter, then Holy Week/Easter.  I even took off Easter Sunday, thinking I was on schedule.  But, the computer gods have a wicked sense of humor!  I also lost internet on Easter, and three days later Optimum was still telling me it was my computer (which sounded plausible, because that was before the new hard drive).  So, unable to update my software or e-file returns, I gave in and booked the techie to install the new Dell drive.  But, a patient Optimum tech worked out the Optimum issues and got me back online before the new hard drive.  We did get a new router and probably need a new modem, as we've been bumped offline since then, but for shorter times.  And, I'm postponing my hip replacement until after tax season!   But that means I won't be preparing any returns for a while.  Yeah, computers are a great help and time savers when everything works right.  But, when they go bad, they are huge time wasters.  Rant over.  Gotta compute those extension payments.  And, I have a few 2014 amendments to bang out today/tomorrow.  I'm fried.

[Lion EA]

Sorry for the rant.  The best of luck to you, NE, with hopes for a quick fix!

[Abby Normal]

2 hours ago, jasdlm said:

I don't know where in NE you are, but I'm in Lawrence, KS, and if you wanted to load your trunk and come down and work on one of my machines (if you use ATX), you are welcome.  You could roll over the returns you need to do and put them on a thumb drive.

 

Carbonite does not backup the default folders that ATX uses for both data AND backups, so if you're using ATX, move your backup folder to a location that Carbonite does back up.

Also, Carbonite only backs up frequently changed files (like tax returns) once every 24 hours. This is why I left them for CrashPlan.

[NECPA in NEBRASKA]

2 hours ago, Abby Normal said:

Carbonite does not backup the default folders that ATX uses for both data AND backups, so if you're using ATX, move your backup folder to a location that Carbonite does back up.

Also, Carbonite only backs up frequently changed files (like tax returns) once every 24 hours. This is why I left them for CrashPlan.

I did learn that about Carbonite. I back up additionally to a folder in my docs. Will that work? I have a plan with Carbonite and I will have to read to see if I can break it in the middle.  I suppose I should export them, also to a external hard drive. I back up daily with Easeus to one. 

[NECPA in NEBRASKA]

Good News! I have my computer back. They think that it may have been a Windows update that went crazy last night. I knew that there was one there, but I had not told it that it was OK to update. They did it for me today and everything is working. I am paranoid, but I am definitely getting my extensions done early. The really nice thing is that they didn't even charge me.  They said that there was no sign of the hard drive failing and that if it happens again, to unplug everything but the essentials and see if they are causing a boot problem.

 

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts. The Serenity prayer did come in handy even after I got up and running. We found another carpet beetle in the house after we have spent probably 36-40 hours total moving furniture, pulling up carpet and spraying everywhere. We had not seen one in over a month. I told my husband that this time, it's not Pinterest, we get an exterminator and find someone to watch the cats 

 

Lion, I really feel for you. I hope that your computer makes it through the next few days and that your hip replacement goes well when you find the time.

[Abby Normal]

I meant to give everyone the annual warning to turn off auto updates for windows. New updates always come out the 2nd Tuesday of every month. Sorry! All my fault. Unless you're on win10, then it's M$'s fault.

[Abby Normal]

11 minutes ago, NECPA in NEBRASKA said:

I back up additionally to a folder in my docs

Not sure how you're backing up to two places, unless you mean exporting, but that's a manual operation. You can go into Admin Console and change the backup folder to your docs, but at this point, you'd have to move all the previous backups to the new backup location manually.

But the once every 24 hours backup for tax return files should be your bigger concern. With CrashPlan (and perhaps other backup plans), it back up files as often as you choose. I have it set for every 2 hours, and before I go home, I manually trigger a backup.

[jklcpa]

@NECPA in NEBRASKA  I'm relieved for you!  Yes, I had a windows update that slowed things up too but not nearly the trouble you had! 

@Abby Normal, not your fault at all.  I remembered about it and when things slowed, noticeable but not terrible, I did something else for a while.

[NECPA in NEBRASKA]

Abby, Carbonite backs up automatically to the cloud. My Windows backup does not work at all. It broke when Windows downloaded 10 on my machine, evern though I told them no constantly. Then they had to remote in and put it back to Windows 7 Pro. Backup never worked again. Easeus is a separate backup program that I use to backup to flash drives and external hard drives.

[Catherine]

7 hours ago, Lion EA said:

Sorry for the rant.

We all need to rant at times.  Hope your machine hangs in there for you!  

Everyone I know who has had hip replacement has been very pleased - hope it goes super-well for you!