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Why's my PC BSOD?

VertigoVertigo
edited July 2008 in Chit chat
Righto, Windows XP Pro Corp SP3, haven't installed anything new lately, it's just started blue screening occasionally and resetting.
Did a memtest, all ok.
OK, I know you can turn off auto-reset on an error, so I've done that.
But when it blue screens it pops up the screen for a nano-second before instantly resetting, so I don't have the chance to read the error code.
I made it log the error but I've checked the system log (My Computer, Manage) and I'm none the wiser as I don't know what I'm looking for.
It's not a heat issue, CPUs (Intel Core Duo) always below 60C, ambient system temperature no higher than 41C usually, HD around 45C and these values have been the same since I got the system about 2 months ago.
Help?
Post edited by Vertigo on

Comments

  • HonoredShadowHonoredShadow
    edited July 2008
    I knnow you really want an answer here but I really recommend www.guru3d.com forums for a better answer to your question. There are FAR more people with the know how to help you there.
  • ZnorXmanZnorXman
    edited July 2008
    1. Try taking out your RAM, then putting it back in.
    or
    2. If using two (or more) RAM, try switching them around and/or try different RAM.

    Though your RAM may come out clean in tests, it might be something as minuscule as a speck of dust.
  • BloodBazBloodBaz
    edited July 2008
    I think this may help you....
    http://www.tunexp.com/tips/maintain_your_computer/disabling_blue_screen_of_death_auto-reboot/
  • inkyinky
    edited July 2008
    Vertigo,

    Which memory tester did you use? I've found the Microsoft one to be pretty good at flushing out dodgy memory. It's a free download from:

    http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

    Cheers,
    Mark.
  • VertigoVertigo
    edited July 2008
    BloodBaz wrote: »
    I think this may help you....
    http://www.tunexp.com/tips/maintain_your_computer/disabling_blue_screen_of_death_auto-reboot/
    Already said, already done that.

    I used memtest86 v3.4 for my RAM testing and it came up with no errors but I could use that one and leave it going overnight with the extended test.

    It's a laptop, by the way, which always makes everything doubly more painful.
  • RNDRND
    edited July 2008
    Have you changed anything in bios or installed a driver/software/hardware recently?
    Facebook @nick.swarfega Twitter: @sw4rfega
  • AndyCAndyC
    edited July 2008
    Have you tried booting and running a Linux Live CD. If it still crashes with that, it's pretty much guaranteed to be a hardware fault. If not, then you're issue probably stems from a Windows config issue, in which case the usual initial trouble shooting steps are:

    Run chkdsk on the drive to identify any drive corruption.
    Run sfc /scannow to check the integrity of Windows system files
    Check the Event Log for bugcheck entries and Google them
    Try Safe Mode and or MSConfig to resolve issues with apps that run at startup
  • VertigoVertigo
    edited July 2008
    RND wrote: »
    Have you changed anything in bios or installed a driver/software/hardware recently?
    At or just before the point where it started, no, not that I'm aware of. I'm also very careful about what I let run at startup, so after installing something new and rebooting I go into msconfig and stop extraneous crap from running.

    AndyC The problem is intermittent, it just happens sometimes, so running another OS on it won't help as it's not something that happens every single time. And not when I'm doing anything specific, although there are higher instances when I'm using Winamp. Say 4/5 times it's crashed while using Winamp, but it also does it when I'm not using anything that makes sound.

    Just ran chkdsk. I don't have any bad sectors but it found errors in the file system, so I'm rebooting it now to fix it. That might help. Ta!
  • Unknown
    edited July 2008
    i doubt that it would be RAM or CPU temp. normally the system just restarts (no BSOD) if the RAM is faulty and freezes on high temps. but your HD temps are too high. it should be more like 30?. i generally mount the HDs in front of the fan drawing air into the case to help keep them cool. but you can download the manufacturers disgnostics progam to properly test the HD.

    do a search on the error that the BSOD reports. that should help point you in the right direction. BloodBaz posted a link to let you read it, if you haven't already done that.
  • VertigoVertigo
    edited July 2008
    freddyhard wrote: »
    i doubt that it would be RAM or CPU temp. normally the system just restarts (no BSOD) if the RAM is faulty and freezes on high temps. but your HD temps are too high. it should be more like 30?. i generally mount the HDs in front of the fan drawing air into the case to help keep them cool. but you can download the manufacturers disgnostics progam to properly test the HD.

    do a search on the error that the BSOD reports. that should help point you in the right direction. BloodBaz posted a link to let you read it, if you haven't already done that.
    I'm using a laptop, so don't really have a choice where to mount my HD.
    And I can't check the error that the BSOD reports, as previously stated it flicks BSOD for a nanosecond before instantly restarting, even though I've disabled auto restart.
  • ZnorXmanZnorXman
    edited July 2008
    Vertigo wrote: »
    And I can't check the error that the BSOD reports, as previously stated it flicks BSOD for a nanosecond

    What you need to do is press the PAUSE/BREAK key for that ever elusive picosecond ... that might actually hold the screen so you can write it down ... but that's just a far fetched dream in a differently alternate, alternate reality.
  • Unknown
    edited July 2008
    you could check the event viewer and see does it have any entries around the time it last crashed. under the application log you might something.
  • VertigoVertigo
    edited July 2008
    ZnorXman wrote: »
    What you need to do is press the PAUSE/BREAK key for that ever elusive picosecond ... that might actually hold the screen so you can write it down ... but that's just a far fetched dream in a differently alternate, alternate reality.
    Yeh, I'm not that level of ninja yet, by the time I've gone "FFFFFFFF..." it's already reset.

    I will check the event viewer next time it does it, so I know the time that it's done it, although you'd think that if it's ignoring my instruction to not reset, it may well also not bother to do a memory dump or log the crash.
  • Unknown
    edited July 2008
    check the registry to see that the autostart is actually turned off. use
    regedit
    in the start run dialogue. find the key
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl
    and see that the DWORD
    AutoReboot
    is set to 0. if it is not 0 right click on it and select modify. then enter 0 to disable the restart.
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