Help with gfx.dll file (graphics, Office, icons, reinstall)

[mvintar]

Hi: All of a sudden for no reason I can determine, my printer won't work and I'm not able to open my Excel files. When I try to open Excel it says I'm missing a gfx.dll, which I was able to locate and have downloaded. But where should I put it? I don't know where the root directory is? I tried System and System 32 but it didn't fix the problem.

TIA

[plwhit]

Try removing and reinstalling your graphics driver.....

[mvintar]

Originally Posted by plwhit

Try removing and reinstalling your graphics driver.....

I don't know what a graphics driver is, either, or how or where I would reinstall it.

What I did last night to fix the problem was to reconfigure the computer from a previous date, a method I had used before. It seems to have resolved everything (i.e., I was then able to print, and to open my Excel files).

I'm just curious why, all of a sudden, this problem showed up. My second method would be to buy another $300 lap at Walmart, and toss this one.

In the course of googling for help, i encountered a page where they said they could evaluate and fix the problem "for free" but then after scanning my lap they wanted me to buy some software for $48. That certainly isn't free. What a scam!!!

[mvintar]

The silly problem occurred again, so I downloaded the free Apache Office, all the icons changed to Apache icons, and everything works fine; Excel opens (in the AO program), printer works..

Still love to know why this happened all of a sudden?

[plwhit]

Have you run the disk troubleshooter?

~ Bring up Windows Explorer
~ Left click on Local Disk (C
~ Right click and from the drop down menu click on Properties
~ Click on the Tools tab
~ Click on check now
~ DO NOT check the two boxes
~ Click on start

If it completes with no errors the disk is OK
If it does have errors rerun the test but this time check the box to Automatically fix file system errors

[mvintar]

Originally Posted by plwhit

Have you run the disk troubleshooter?

~ Bring up Windows Explorer
~ Left click on Local Disk (C
~ Right click and from the drop down menu click on Properties
~ Click on the Tools tab
~ Click on check now
~ DO NOT check the two boxes
~ Click on start

If it completes with no errors the disk is OK
If it does have errors rerun the test but this time check the box to Automatically fix file system errors

Thank you for your response. When I downloaded the OpenOffice.org software, everything straightened out. If I have anything further go wrong, I'll try your instructions.