The BLUE SCREEN of death

[AFM]

What causes the blue screen of death and how the hell do you fix it as mine comes up at the most inappropriate times when I am doing something inportant like being on this forum.

Tony:D

[cpw]

What causes the blue screen of death and how the hell do you fix it as mine comes up at the most inappropriate times when I am doing something inportant like being on this forum.

Tony:D

In general, the Blue Screen of Death is caused by a software or hardware bug. For example, a bug in a driver can cause a blue screen if it accesses memory that it shouldn't. If a piece of hardware goes bad, drivers are often not written to cope with that. If you have bad memory, it can silently corrupt things and cause a BSOD.

The real problem is the BSOD can mean anything. Is there a filename ending in .sys that typically is in your BSOD that could narrow it down.

[AFM]

In general, the Blue Screen of Death is caused by a software or hardware bug. For example, a bug in a driver can cause a blue screen if it accesses memory that it shouldn't. If a piece of hardware goes bad, drivers are often not written to cope with that. If you have bad memory, it can silently corrupt things and cause a BSOD.

The real problem is the BSOD can mean anything. Is there a filename ending in .sys that typically is in your BSOD that could narrow it down.

I have items popping up all the time when shutting down my computer, I had to change to firefox for my internet brouser as my microsoft internet explorer kept freezing up when in use, its now july I just hope my computer lasts till october when windows 7 comes out as I will buy a new computer.

Where in the US are you and what is the time there now as it 4.25pm in Melbourne where I am.

Tony:D

[cpw]

I have items popping up all the time when shutting down my computer, I had to change to firefox for my internet brouser as my microsoft internet explorer kept freezing up when in use, its now july I just hope my computer lasts till october when windows 7 comes out as I will buy a new computer.

Where in the US are you and what is the time there now as it 4.25pm in Melbourne where I am.

Tony:D

Do you have an Anti-virus package? You might also try Spybot Search and Destroy.

I'm in NY, it was just before 2AM. While waiting for a program to run so that I could finish up work I was checking the forum.

[aero1]

we are having the same problem outta of nowhere it came on with a vengeance so we reloaded everything it helped but it still comes calling so we are buying a new computer, causes can be many, but still a real pain in the as#.:mad:

[BHD]

mine was related to a hard drive controller problem on the mother board, and finally ended up replacing the mother board, (would have been cheaper to replace the computer when it was all said and done) and when we finally found the problem,
first they said it was memory problem, so we replaced the memory,
then it was a processor problem, so we replaced the main processor,
then it looked like a hard drive problem, so I added a hard drive and removed the old (unplugged it),
I asked if they would get me a mother board and for what ever the reason they seemed to have trouble finding one, bugged them for about a two months and still nothing, then the shop would not work on it any more, (even tho they built it and sold it),

I ordered a new in the box mother board off of Ebay that would nearly match, (was same make next step up, could not find the exact unit), cost me $25 plus shipping, I put it in and did need some one to help me get it working, (just do not have the experience in setting up the bios and some of that stuff), and have not had any problems since and that has been 7 months ago,

but they did driver updates, they did hard drive testes, and so on but it was indicating lost data in the memory systems and did point to the hard drive systems, but could not find any problems in the drives, (took out the drives and they would work flawless in another box), that was my experience.

[wathman]

As already noted, there can be many root causes to the Blue Screen of Death. There is a way to pick out some information on what caused it if you know what to look for. I found a pretty good intro into BSOD troubleshooting over at maximumpc.com:

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/blue_screen_survival_guide?page=0,0

From personal experience, Software conflicts tends to be more likely. Viruses and malware often try to rewrite system files or disable parts of the operating system in an effort to conceal themselves, or just behave like a monkey wrench thrown into the system.

I have seen issues with bad RAM modules leading to unstable systems, some computers I've worked on behaved just fine at idle, but when they started to access more memory, they would access a bad location on the RAM and cause a BSOD. There's a free little program called memtest86 that can do a basic stress test on the RAM. If it returns even just one error, one or more of the RAM modules needs to be replaced.

Insufficient voltage or current from the power supply is another common problem I've found on systems needing repair. As power supplies age, they lose efficiency and cannot supply the same voltage and current as they did when new. For computers that are used heavily, or generate lots of heat, power supplies can wear out even faster. Some estimates I've seen claim that a power supply that remains on for about a year can lose up to 10% of its rated wattage. Also, some "bargain computers" are able to reach bargain prices by using inferior power supplies that don't have much capacity to spare.

Dust bunnies can actually be a factor that leads to Blue Screens, I've never seen it as the only problem in a system that causes an issue, but they certainly don't help. The issue with dust bunnies is that they trap heat, and reduce airflow within the system case, and excessive heat can create all kinds of system errors. Related to this issue, sometimes a failed cooling fan somewhere in the computer can be the root cause. Every computer should have at least 2 or 3 cooling fans, if not more. Laptops are an exception, and usually get by with just one, very rarely are they only passively cooled.

The last hardware related cause of Blue Screens of Death I can think of is another symptom of aging computers. Electrolyte based capacitors have a limited lifespan, when subjected to heat, they can go bad even faster. The electrolyte evaporates eventually, and the cylinder looking objects on the motherboard will start to bulge, or burst outright. Newer, more expensive motherboards use solid state capacitors that are higher quality, and will last longer. When capacitors no longer function properly, voltage and current can no longer be regulated as tightly as they need to be. the CPU, RAM, and many other components are very sensitive to changes in current or voltage and will start to generate errors.

These are common issues that come up fairly often, but it is by no means a complete troubleshooting guide. I'd have to know more about the computer and circumstances that the computer crashes under to figure out anything more.

[PlumbingSkool]

When I get the blue screen I cry and tell my wife I need a new PC :D

I am not smart enough to fix that kinda thing :)

[darius]

As noted, BSD can be cause by anything, software or hardware, although in reality it always boils down to hardware when software wants to access hardware incorrectly, or the accessed hardware malfunctions.

Blue screen of death spits a bunch of cryptic word and numbers. They are not just some random characters but rather information as to what caused the issue. The first two lines will contain the most useful information and Micosoft's Knowledge Base is likely to have info on those. The rest is useful mostly for low level (not as in stupid, but as in working closer to the hardware level) programmers to debug the causes of the crash.

[Bob D.]

Boot sector virus is a likely cause.

[darius]

If the crash occurs always under the same circumstances (such as browsing the net) then my bet would be on hdd failure, specifically corrupted clusters.

Under the circumstance the drive would have to be replaced but some additional mileage can be had of the old one if you do the following:

START/Run
type CMD
hit OK
type: chkdsk /f
hit ENTER
type Y
hit ENTER
reboot, and don't interrupt whatever the machine is doing
it will eventually take you to the log on screen.

That is pretty much the first thing I'd do. If it helps you're done (until the next crash)

[Bob D.]

can you use chkdsk on a NTFS drive? I think you need disktool from MS or SysInternals (whom MS bought out a couple years ago).

You know Bills' motto: "If you can't beat them, buy 'em."

[darius]

can you use chkdsk on a NTFS drive?
sure you can.

[AFM]

If the crash occurs always under the same circumstances (such as browsing the net) then my bet would be on hdd failure, specifically corrupted clusters.

Under the circumstance the drive would have to be replaced but some additional mileage can be had of the old one if you do the following:

START/Run
type CMD
hit OK
type: chkdsk /f
hit ENTER
type Y
hit ENTER
reboot, and don't interrupt whatever the machine is doing
it will eventually take you to the log on screen.

That is pretty much the first thing I'd do. If it helps you're done (until the next crash)

Now how did you know that, when using internet explorer my computer (I have changed to firefox) would stop and the blue window of death would appear and I would have to reboot it, but now it happens any time whether I use it or not, so in the next couple of months I will have a new computer build to my spec's and get the new windows 7 pro with the XP mode and hope for no more blue screens of death.



Tony:D