My car stops. Can you help me? No, because I haven't told you anything.
I'll try anyway.
Most likely causes for STOP errors (aka BSOD)
* incorrect or not os-matched drivers (many manufacturers distribute NT
drivers for Win2k and no they are not the same, dammit)
* temperature problems or failing hardware (failing CPU, RAM, MB or cooler).
Can also be the power supply heating up. Usually is.
* Misinstalled Windows. No, it is NOT ok to repair a system unless you know
exactly what broke. If you do not have a clean installation or was not
performed by a specialist, it can cause version conflicts.
Most likely causes for sudden reboot (or freeze, no error, black screen,
monitor going blank)
* hardware failure
* temperature problems
* hardware incompatibilities (VIA mainboards usually get allergy to nVIDIA
and AMD. Please do not contradict me
. Hardware incompatibilities can go
to any extent, e.g. my VIA MB with my AMD processor and my nVIDIA video card
cannot live together unless a patch is applied. From Microsoft. Go figure.
As you can see, in both cases top issues are because of hardware problems.
Most likely heating up. It would be helpful to say exactly what stop that
was. (first or second line on the blue screen, also in the event log)
What to do:
* open it up or take it to be opened and clean or replace coolers and air
inlets (if older than 6m-1yr in normal conditions).
* check the ventilation of the power supply
* enter Setup (hid DEL right after a sudden reboot) and check the CPU and
mainboard temperature. Then document on max and min. Check the fans speed.
Note: If you hear a grinding sound, power it down and go see service
Computer should run silent minus the air flow and a discreet hum from the
fans when not operating HDD or CD.
My computer, for instance, blows up at CPU temperature of 50 degrees, even
though it's NOMINAL up to 64. Lowest alarm setting is 70. So there. At 51-52
it starts putting lovely designs on my screen and claims there is no hard
drive. Fans should be above 3000 RPM. Air ejected form the source should be
cold, perhaps slightly warm, not warmer than your hand (37 degrees). If it
is, the cooling is inefficient.
Anyhow. Since this is a filesystem group and I'm way off track, go check the
hardware, it's the most probable cause. Then check system drivers (any new
ones?), then scan for viruses ... update motherboard drivers ... not
necessarily in that order.
