Troubleshooting My Cricut Expressions and Expressions 2

I decided at the end of last year that I was going to take a few weeks off to fix up my scrapbook room, kitchen, living room and dining room.  I intended to paint the walls, pick out curtains and hang them, find some cute towels.  That shouldn't take more than 3 weeks, right?

Well 3 weeks turned into 2 months, but it was time well spent.  I will share some pictures of my scrapbook room once I get my Open House mess cleaned up.

Anyway, during this time I purchased a new laptop.  I wanted a laptop with a big screen so that I could actually see Cricut Craft Room when I used it with my Cricut.  My hubby bought me an HP with a 17.3" screen.  But along with the big, beautiful screen came Windows 8.

My notebook with its itty bitty screen used Windows XP and I knew it like the back of my hand.  I turned on my new computer and it instructed me to update to Windows 8.1 and I did.  That was my big problem.

So ....... a couple of weeks ago I was in a big hurry to get my Close to My Heart Ivy Lane Scrapbooking Workshop cut and I fired up the new computer, attached it to my Expressions 2, loaded Cricut Craft Room, opened up my CCR file and hit cut.

Nothing happened ..........  Absolutely nothing.  It refused to recognize that my mat was loaded.

That led to 2 days of  trying to figure out what was wrong.  I brought out my Expressions and tried to update it with my new computer.  It loaded the update overnight but still wouldn't install the update.  I really thought that it was my internet connection.  Crazy, huh?

Not until my husband asked me the next day, "When was the last time your Cricut cut anything?" did I realize that it was probably my computer.  I pulled out the notebook with its itty bitty screen and the Cricut jumped to life and cut like a pro.

That was when I realized that the Villain was WINDOWS 8.1!  I Googled my problem and found this from Cricut.com: We have now released an update to the Cricut Craft Room program that should make the program compatible with the Windows 8.1 operating system. This fixes issues like:

-Getting Stuck on Initializing/Accessing Account when trying to log in.
-Not being able to complete Firmware updates.
-Loaded mat not being recognized/Checking Mat Status
-Issues linking Cricut cartridges to the Craft Room.

To complete this update process, you will need to visit http://www.cricut.com/home/usemini. You will then see a screen, please select the green bar that says 8.1 Update for PC. This will install the most current build of the Cricut Craft Room program (Build 185).

If you do not see the Windows 8.1 button, please clear cache and cookies or try another browser. If you still can’t see it, use the link below. This will go directly to the update.

http://craftroom.cricut....cricut-craftroom_185.exe

This fixed my problem and now both of my Cricuts are once again chirping away.  Fingers crossed that I won't have problems with my new Cricut Explore and Windows 8.1.