[nffc]

I agree with Gareth - check drivers, connections, volume controls etc. If you're still getting problems strip drivers, restart and reinstall.

System Restore is just a panic button, it only backs up the registry and a few other things (this is from MS)

What is restored on my machine when I use System Restore and what is not?

Answer: The following are restored when you use System Restore to restore your system to a previous time using a restore point:
•Registry
•Profiles (local only—roaming user profiles not impacted by restore)
•COM+ DB
•WFP.dll cache
•WMI DB
•IIS Metabase
•Files type which are monitored by System Restore as specified in the SDK available from http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en...extensions.asp.
The following are not restored by System Restore:
•DRM settings
•Passwords in the SAM hive.
•WPA settings (Windows authentication information is not restored)
•Specific directories/files listed in the Monitored File Extensions list in the System Restore section of the Platform SDK e.g. 'My Documents' folder.
•Any file types not monitored by System Restore like personal data files e.g. .doc, .jpg, .txt etc.
•Items listed in both Filesnottobackup and KeysnottoRestore (hklm->system->controlset001->control->backuprestore->filesnottobackup and keysnottorestore) in the registry.
•User-created data stored in the user profile
•Contents of redirected folders

From personal experience I don't even think it's a good idea, when it is used it just masks over the existing problem, and can be used to back up malware / viruses if it's infected one of the files that's backed up in the process (and your AV can't access "System Volume Information" to clean.

Also I consider it to be basically a "black hole" for hard disk space, it can take 10% of HD capacity on default settings, on a 250 GB drive that's up to 25 GB and is that really needed?

I always turn it off on my machines because I just don't see the point, we lived perfectly well in 95/98 without it, it's just not worth the extra hassle it causes.

There will be another way to fix your problem and you may well learn the cause of it, and how to fix it again, if you do it manually.