Beating the blue screen of death.

[jockboy01]

Yes, you know the one if you've ever had it.

And I have spent a ton of time on the phone with Dell over it previously. Here's the deal.

Every once in a while, upon start up, I get the the blue screen of death right as a log in. It says that the system has become unstable and shut down to protect the computer. Something about a system memory dump complete at the end.

Well, after talking to dell, I would get on using safe mode. Then delete the files in the temp folder and the minidump folder. Then run msconfig and uncheck all of the boxes on startup. Then do a system restore to a previous day.

It worked and I didn't get the screen. I asked if that fixed the problem for good and he said yes. He lied.

So for about a month, I'd go through the same process every week or so when the screen would show up. It was a pain, but it worked to get me back on the computer. But today, it didn't work again.

I'm on safe mode with networking now. I guess I could just use that forever if I needed to, but I don't like it. Anybody have any ideas? I'm pretty good with computers so you don't have to be like Dell and give me a "click here and then here" type instructions. But I don't know what else to do with this. Thanks.

 

[mike_n_herrin]

i know very little about the BSOD. However, just this past month in Maximum PCs magazine they talk about how to figure out what the BSOD means. they say there are 2 important lines.

1. the first one is just after that first sentance when it tells you "a problem has been detected and windows....to prevent damange..."

2. the second one is the big ass long freaking hexidecimal number near the bottom of the BSOD where it says something like *** STOP: 0x00000050 (0xEF8054AA, 0x00000001, 0x00000000, 0x00000000).

sometimes they say that second one will say something more specific like *** STOP: NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM (0x00000024) that one means there is something wrong with the hard drive to the windows install (i think). a bad memory chip says something like *** STOP: DATA_BUS_ERROR (0x00000002E). the mag says the most common BSOD is caused by improperly installed hardware and/or driver problems. so if you can jot down these two things that show up on your BSOD and maybe see if it's the same errors each time you get the BSOD. then you can try posting them in here and i'll look more at this mag and see if i can figure it out. since you are able to start in safe mode and work...my guess is it's a driver problem and nothing more serious like a problem with the hard drive or memory chips.

 

[thermodynamics]

I think your best bet is to copy the contents of your hard drive to another hard drive (usb perhaps), and just do a full format of you current main drive. That's the sure-fire fix, and it's probably long overdue anyway. Windows seems to have fits if it's over a year old.

 

[jockboy01]

I believe that the code is 0x00000008E. But I'll take a look at the next time I try to get things done.

As to the format the hard drive and fix it that way, we tried that the last time... basically by directing the computer to look at the CD drive to boot. And we couldn't get it to work. I'm hesitant to go into a dos prompt and write format c: if I am not sure I can reload the OS.

I hate windows XP... or Dell, or whoever the problem is. I've never had this issue with my laptops.

 

[Lube]

Good advice here.

Also, have you tried Googling on the hex code and any obvious text that appears?

How old is the computer?

Or just buy a Mac

 

[jockboy01]

Okay, so here is what it says....

The code is 0x00000008E (0xc0000005, 0x177DFB44, 0xEE59ECBO, 0x0000000)
Then is says...

"begin dump of physical memory
physical memory dump complete"

And I already backed up the files way back on the first time... just some trivial updates now.

I'm at a point where I don't mind re-installing windows really. But how do you do that? Last time I tried with Dell on the phone and it didn't work. We told it to look at the CD for boot up and it wouldn't boot that way... only off of the hard drive. Any other suggestions?

And the computer is only about a year and a half to two years old.

 

[Lube]

It should boot from the installation CD no problem.

Do you know how to go into the BIOS settings? Booting from CD might be turned off. When you first boot, while it's still in text mode, there should be a message saying to press some key (F2? F12?) to edit BIOS settings. Somewhere in there there should be a booting option that allows for HD, CD, or both (and/or floppy).

Do you have a backup of your data? I'd back everything up then reformat the drive when you reinstall, so everything's as fresh & clean as Ivory soap or Irish Spring. Just as T-Rexx said.

 

[jockboy01]

yeah, that's where Dell tech support is leading me again now. I'm telling you it wouldn't work before though. We couldn't get it to boot from the CD. But I'll give it a try.

And yes, all backed up with the important stuff. Not much has changed since I backed it up on memory sticks a month or so ago.

 

[mike_n_herrin]

Do you have service pack 2 installed? I see some references to SP2 fixing some of the 0x000008E errors that appear to be related to memory issues. Microsoft apparently has a hotfix specific to this type of error. But since you have a dell (i assume XP came pre loaded on your dell) i think you have to get it from dell. here is info from the microsoft page: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;827663

i'm still trying to figure out your error code though. apparently there is a dump log with more information somewhere on your hard drive from the crash...but i don't know what the name of that file is yet.

one of the other techy type guys know where this file is so he can copy and paste the info into here?


i also see reference to the "HaxDoor virus" that can cause a 0x0000008e error.

 

[jockboy01]

ok, I gave up and reloaded XP. Seems to have fixed it. Two hours later and I still have a lot of re-loading of stuff to do. But it's late so I'm not going to.

As to the dump file, yes, I had one (gone of course) and it was in a file called "minidump" For future reference. But I'm tired and am going to bed. I'll work on reloading all of my crap more in the morning before work. Thanks for all of your help.

 

[Riverrick]

Pretty close to the worse case scenario to have to reload Windows XP.

If you still encounter problems, then I think its time for Dell to come through with hands on repair. They have been very responsive to me in the past. Of course, I have a great extended warranty which was necessary for my office computers.

 

[Lube]

Those new Intel Macs will run both OS X and Windows XP.