Blue screen of death

  • Thread starter Thread starter Richard
  • Start date Start date
R

Richard

My computer crashes everyday. I even put the Vista DVD in and something I
can't get to the menu before it give me the blue screen of death. I check my
hard drives, RAM, re seated all my cards, disconcerted all my peripheral and
half the time it just put's itself in a loop and the OS never starts. I
don't think this is a software issue because when I can't boot into my Vista
DVD Sometimes it sounds like a hardware issue like the motherboard or CPU.
It's been a long time since I troubleshoot the computer that does this. So
I'm not sure what to do next.
 
Richard said:
My computer crashes everyday. I even put the Vista DVD in and something I
can't get to the menu before it give me the blue screen of death. I check
my hard drives, RAM, re seated all my cards, disconcerted all my
peripheral and half the time it just put's itself in a loop and the OS
never starts. I don't think this is a software issue because when I can't
boot into my Vista DVD Sometimes it sounds like a hardware issue like the
motherboard or CPU. It's been a long time since I troubleshoot the
computer that does this. So I'm not sure what to do next.
Click to expand...

From your description of the problem and your troubleshooting, I would say
this is definitely a hardware issue. If this is a laptop, contact the
laptop mftr.'s tech support for repair/replacement. If this is a desktop
still under warranty, do the same thing.

Otherwise, here are some general hardware troubleshooting steps:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Tshoot

Testing hardware failures often involves swapping out suspected parts with
known-good parts. If you can't do the testing yourself and/or are
uncomfortable opening your computer, take the machine to a professional
computer repair shop (not your local equivalent of
BigComputerStore/GeekSquad). If possible, have all your data backed up
before you take the machine into a shop.

Malke
 
No noise, I looked into Device Manager and everything is working fine. It
doesn't sound like it's anything tied to the computer and the power supply
is top notch so I could do a new install but when I can't boot into the DVD,
that sounds like hardware maybe my BOIS is go good or the CPU might have a
problem but my money is on the motherboard which goes out and leaves you
with all kinds of problems you can't pin point. I might just de gut the
thing and build a new one but this one is only 6 months old which doesn't
mean the motherboard is good.
 
As you probably know, Richard, because you are hdw capable and can build a
box, you can go to Seagate's site and do some reasonable tests on your HD
whatever the make of the HD that are useful very quickly. Only one of the
tests takes about 30 minutes or more.

You haven't stated any of the BSOD stop messages. Sometimes they are
helpful and other times they are ambiguous and the problem could be
hdw/software or both in rarer instances.

You have nothing to lose to try repairing Windows except a few minutes since
you aren't sure if the problem is hdw or software (or rarely both).

What have you done to try to fix it software wise?

Have you used the DVD to try startup repair or have you used the DVD to
access a command prompt outside windows?

Also when Startup Repair and all the safe modes to access system restore,
and LNG doon't work at the F8 advanced options menu which does exist in
Vista and Windows 7, you can use the Bootrec.exe switches.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392/en-us

Bootrec.exe /fixboot
Bootrec.exe /fixmbr
Bootrec.exe /scanos
Bootrec.exe //RebuildBcd

Good luck,

CH


Richard said:
No noise, I looked into Device Manager and everything is working fine. It
doesn't sound like it's anything tied to the computer and the power supply
is top notch so I could do a new install but when I can't boot into the
DVD, that sounds like hardware maybe my BOIS is go good or the CPU might
have a problem but my money is on the motherboard which goes out and
leaves you with all kinds of problems you can't pin point. I might just de
gut the thing and build a new one but this one is only 6 months old which
doesn't mean the motherboard is good.


Mr GRiM said:
When you say it sounds like the motherboard or CPU, do you mean you can
actually hear a noise from your computer, because if you are hearing a
noise I would be checking if it's coming from your Hard drive, and
either way that still might be your problem.

You need to do a fresh install and see if it still happens and if it
does I would change your Hard drive.


--
Mr GRiM

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In my experience if a computer starts to boot fitfully then the hardware
problem is usually the power supply or the hard drive.
Much gets blamed on motherboards but a functioning mobo rarely goes south
unless some defective add-on or power spike caused it.
What you describe is less often a ram problem but you should be able to run
the Microsoft Diagnostic which very rapidly will identify bad RAM.
If the computer boots at all it is not likely the BIOS. BIOS can be
corrupted by massively dysfunctional ram sticks (I recently experienced this
with brand new bad RAM, thank you NewEgg) but that's about it, barring
massive malware infestation which sounds unlikely. If your computer is
unstable do not attempt to reflash the BIOS as a failed flash will render
the mobo functionally dead. Only the manufacturer can reflash it at that
point.
RAM that is bad out of the box is all too common; good RAM seldom goes bad.
Manufacturers, and I single out Mushkin, rarely honor their lifetime RAM
warranties.
If you can boot the computer at all BACKUP YOUR DATA NOW. If your hard drive
is dying this may be your last chance.
If you can boot the computer delete and reinstall the video driver: a
corrupt video driver can cause this, but BACK UP YOUR DATA first.
Impending hard drive failure, and in my sad experience there is a high
failure rate in brand new large hard drives, cause random lock-ups,
difficulty booting and can suddenly cease altogether. You may or may not
hear the click of death prior to hard drive failure. High quality power
supplies tend to be more reliable than hard drives but they can fail also.
 
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