What is a Blue Screen of Death?
The Blue Screen of Death, or more properly the 'Windows stop message' occurs when Windows detects a problem or error from which it cannot recover. The operating system halts and diagnostic information is displayed on a blue screen. In newer versions of the operating system, the contents of the PC's memory are dumped to a file for later analysis.
All Windows XP stop errors are numbered according to the circumstances that caused the error, which assists enormously in troubleshooting them.
Let's take a moment to look at a BSOD in its natural environment, careful now, we don't want to startle it... Note the eye catching shade of blue intended to warn us of trouble, the detailed list of hexadecimal numbers, and relatively unhelpful 'tip.' This is the BSOD in all its glory, so be very afraid if you ever come face to face with this hideous creature!
some easy ways to resolve this error
Run the recovery console and type chkdsk /r
Insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer.
Boot from the CD
When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.
If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation that you must access from the Recovery Console.
When you are prompted, type the Administrator password. If the administrator password is blank, just press ENTER.
Then type the chkdsk /r command
Let that run through and then restart the machine after it finishes.
If that doesn't fix it, run the Windows XP Repair Installation.
You can find a walk through here..
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
In the case of a device driver, you can either roll it back to a previous (functional) version of the driver or disable it. To do either right click on 'my computer' and select 'properties' then go to the 'hardware' tab and choose 'device manager.'
From here, expand the section where the troublesome device driver is located (video card drivers are found in 'display adaptors,' sound card in 'sound video and game controllers' and motherboard drivers in 'IDE/ATAPI controllers'). Highlight the device, right click and hit 'properties.'
Go to the 'drivers' tab.
From here you can use the 'roll back' option to revert to the previous driver version, or use the 'uninstall' option to remove the driver completely. Note that you should not uninstall video card or motherboard drivers, as this will stop Windows XP from booting just as effectively as your BSOD problem is doing. Attempt to 'roll back' the drivers first.
A second possibility is to right click on the offending device in device manager and choose 'disable' which will prevent XP from loading that device driver during startup. For obvious reasons, you should not use this on video card or motherboard drivers either.
If you are able to boot into Windows normally after these procedures, look for a working driver to update any device that you uninstalled or disabled.
Fixing software problems If your BSOD issues are being caused by a faulty or incompatible program that starts automatically when you boot Windows, thus crashing the system, there are a couple of easy ways to prevent this. The best way is to use Sysinternal's 'autoruns' program to display all auto-running software on your computer. You can then pick through them and disable any potential culprits. To do this download and run autoruns . The program displays all software (including some essential Windows files) that runs automatically after Windows loads. By unchecking the boxes, you can disable specific programs and prevent them from loading. Note that there are several entries here you should not disable at any time, the two most important of which are userinit.exe and explorer.exe. Be very cautious with anything authored by Microsoft in this list (though it is possible for malicious startup programs like spyware and Trojan horse viruses to use the Microsoft label here also). If you can't get access to autoruns, you can still use the built-in MSCONFIG utility to edit startup programs. Go to 'start\run' and type 'msconfig.' Choose the 'startup' tab. While this utility's display is not as comprehensive as autoruns is, it has the advantage of not displaying any critical system files. Therefore, you can uncheck any and all items on this list without fear of messing up Windows even more. Once you have used either utility to edit your startup programs, reboot normally into Windows. Windows XP install BSODs Constant Blue screen errors while attempting to install Windows XP are generally caused by hardware or media problems. The most common hardware-related installation issue is faulty memory chips, which can cause havoc to any XP installation. Overheating or a dying or defective hard disk are other common causes. A severely scratched or otherwise faulty XP install CD may also cause stop errors. First, check your CD and clean or replace it as necessary. Your next step should be to test your system memory for errors with a diagnostic program. To do this obtain the Windows Memory Diagnostic or Memtest memory diagnostic programs on floppy or CD we mentioned earlier, and use it to boot your system and test the memory. If either of these programs shows any errors in your memory, you have likely found the source of your troubles. Chances are you will need to purchase new memory. For more information on faulty memory and memory diagnostics, see PCstats Guide to diagnosing bad memory . Now it's time to test the hard drive for errors. Visit the website of your hard drive's manufacturer and download their drive diagnostic utility software. Every major hard drive company makes a utility like this freely available. An example is Maxtor's PowerMax software available here . Follow the included instructions to install the software and test your drive(s) for errors. If no errors were found in memory or with the hard disk, you need to ensure that your processor is not overheating. Make sure the fan on the heatsink is in working order and reboot the computer, pressing DEL repeatedly on startup to go into the BIOS setup screen. Let your PC run on this screen for an hour or so, checking back to make sure it has not crashed. If a PC crashes on the BIOS screen, it generally means the processor is overheating for one reason or another. As a final measure, you can remove all unnecessary hardware from your system before attempting to install Windows XP again. Power off the computer, remove the case and remove all hardware except: Mouse & keyboard Attempt to install XP again. If it works correctly, you can troubleshoot the remaining devices from within Windows. hardware and system file based BSODs If you can't even boot into safe mode without a stop message, and the 'last known good configuration' boot option did not help, it's likely you have a hardware or system file error. There's a procedure for each and neither is particularly fast, so we will run through the procedures in ascending order of difficulty. Checking for hardware errors First off, have you added any new hardware devices or peripherals to your system recently? If so, power off the computer and remove them, then attempt to boot again normally. If you changed the motherboard in your system, or moved your Windows installation to a new system before the error occurred, you must perform a Repair Install before XP will work correctly again. See the section below entitled 'Fixing missing or corrupted system files.' If you haven't added new devices recently, or if removing them does not solve the problem, it's time to test your system's memory. Testing system memory From another computer, obtain the Windows Memory diagnostic or Memtest memory diagnostic programs on floppy or CD, then use them to boot your system and test the memory. If either of these programs shows any errors in your memory, you have likely found the source of your troubles. Chances are you will need to purchase new memory. For more information on faulty memory and memory diagnostics, see PCstats article on diagnosing bad memory here. Fixing missing or corrupted system files Windows XP will often refuse to work if certain system files are missing or become corrupted through hard drive or virus issues. Likewise, changing the motherboard (or the entire system) under your Windows XP installation will stop it working until the system files are repaired and updated. To do this, you should perform a Repair Install. The repair install process reinstalls all Windows system files while leaving directories, settings and user data intact. This should fix any corrupted files that are causing BSODs and crash issues. To perform a repair install: Your system will go through the entire XP install process, but will not attempt to replace any of your existing data. It will simply reinstall the system files and redetect all hardware. Once the process has completed, your computer will reboot. Note that if you perform a repair install, you will need to visit the Windows Update Site and reload any patches and Service Packs that you previously applied to your system, as the repair install will remove them all. Identifying other defective hardware If you are still experiencing constant crashing, power off your computer again, open the case and remove all non-essential hardware. The only things still connected to the system and motherboard should be: Mouse & keyboard If you are unsure of how to remove the parts correctly, or which is which, see our PC Assembly Guide here. Now try booting the computer into safe mode first, then normally. If you can boot into Windows without a stop error, you can be sure the issue is with one of the peripherals you removed. Now you can pinpoint the problem by selectively reinstalling each component (with the power off) and restarting Windows.
Hard drive
CD-Drive
Video card
Memory
(And obviously the processor and power supply must still be connected also)
Hard drive
CD-Drive
Video card
Memory
(And obviously the processor and power supply must still be connected also)
Comments