BSoD On Another Computer

[Jandrews]

Guys...thought I might find some help here.

I am getting Blue Screen of Death on our main desktop computer. The last action I took was to begin downloading the free AVG Anti-Virus program. It seemed to be going slow, so I let it go and walked away. When I returned, I had a blue screen and "stop error". I tried to reboot about 10 times and it keeps saying there was a registry entry deleted or corrupted and that the recovery was successful. Then, it just goes to blue screen again every time.

I inserted my Windows XP disc to see if it would either repair it or at least I could reinstall XP. Unfortunately, it doesn't want to boot from the a: drive. Any thoughts or tips on what I should do as next steps?

Thanks in advance.

JA

[slodave]

I bet your HD just tanked. Create a diag disk from this site and run it on the HD.
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#DFT

Dave

[Jandrews]

Oh, that would not be good. Does that mean I could not recover my data, i.e. iTunes, even if I were to get a new computer? And unfortunately, the only computer that we have that has a CD-R is the one that is down, so I can't create a diag disk. Any suggestions from here, slodave?

Thanks,

JA

[curlesw]

What is this Blue Screen of Death you speak of?

Signed,

A Mac User

Someone had to do it....

[slodave]

Originally Posted by Jandrews

Oh, that would not be good. Does that mean I could not recover my data, i.e. iTunes, even if I were to get a new computer? And unfortunately, the only computer that we have that has a CD-R is the one that is down, so I can't create a diag disk. Any suggestions from here, slodave?

Thanks,

JA

This version will allow you to make a floppy:
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/downloads/dft32_v413_b00.EXE

Your data is probably OK, but the more you play with it, the more you can screw it up for good. Try and test the HD first and then go from there. If it tests bad, you could simply get a new HD and 'ghost' (using Norton Ghost) the bad drive to the new one.

[island911]

Originally Posted by curlesw

What is this Blue Screen of Death you speak of?

Signed,

A Mac User
.. ..

It's like the Spinning Beach-Ball O'Death that Mac users experience.

[Joeaksa]

Or use a bootable CD and get it up and running, then back up EVERYTHING.

[Gogar]

Originally Posted by island911

It's like the Spinning Beach-Ball O'Death that Mac users experience.

I personally hate the BEACH-BALL, because it gives you that deceptive glimmer of hope. Unlike this:

[Jandrews]

Ok...no way to create a floppy here at home either. Only have two laptops that have DVD ROM. I can create something at work...I guess I'll have to wait. Just curious, how does that diag disk work if you HD is toast?

Thanks,

JA

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by island911

It's like the Spinning Beach-Ball O'Death that Mac users experience.

Uh, not quite, BSoD would be a kernel panic which is rarely if ever seen by most users. Spinning beach ball is easily cured by force quitting the hung app.

[slodave]

Originally Posted by Jandrews

Ok...no way to create a floppy here at home either. Only have two laptops that have DVD ROM. I can create something at work...I guess I'll have to wait. Just curious, how does that diag disk work if you HD is toast?

Thanks,

JA

The diag disk will confirm if the HD is bad, that's it. From what you described, it sounds like your HD is failing. I would hate to see you try and reinstall Windows for no reason or if the HD is bad, reinstall Windows only to have the computer BSOD again.

I am working on someone's computer at the moment with the same symptoms. It is a Dell, so the lady first called their tech support and after 2 hours, they told her to bring it to Best Buy (Geek Squad partners w/BB) and was told to back up her data, as the computer needed to be formatted. She had run the HD utility that comes with Dell computers and it reported that the HD was fine. I did not by that and ran my own diagnostics - the one I pointed you to. It reported a bad HD. The symptoms were: taking forever to boot, only to BSOD each time.

Dave

[Jandrews]

Very interesting, Dave! This computer is in fact a Dell as well. It boots quickly, but gives me that registry error and then BSoD's. I thought about calling Geek Squad, but I will definitely do your diag first. If the HD is bad, not much point in calling Geek Squad. I'll keep you posted as I may have additional questions once I confirm HD one way or the other. Thanks for your expert assistance...much appreciated.

JA

[Seric]

What is the error when it blue screens? I would bet that the anti-virus might of screwed up a video or hard disk driver when installed. Does your BIOS have anti-virus installed and running at the time of install?

[Neilk]

Can you boot into Safe Mode? Try pressing F8 while booting up to get into safe mode. Then uninstall AVG from there.

[Jandrews]

BSoD message is:

A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to be sure you have adequate disk space. If a driver is identified in the Stop message, disable the driver or check with the manufacturer for driver updates. Try changing video adapters.

Check with your hardware vendor for any BIOS updates. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select safe Mode.

Technical Information:

*** STOP: 0x0000008E (0xc0000005, 0x80566c37, 0xEDDDCC7C, 0x00000000)

Begin dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete
Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance.

EDIT: Then, when I restart, I get this dialogue box for Windows - Registry Recovery: One of the files containing the system's Registry data had to be recovered by use of a log or alternate copy. The recovery was successful. When I press the "Ok" button, I get another dialogue box for svchost.exe - Application Error. The message is "The exception unknown software exception (0x0000409) occurred in the application at location 0x769c5181. When I click the "ok" button, I get BSoD.

Any thoughts on how I can work through this? I don't know how to do any of the things they recommend here as I am stuck with the BSoD!

Thanks,

JA

[Seric]

Originally Posted by Neilk

Can you boot into Safe Mode? Try pressing F8 while booting up to get into safe mode. Then uninstall AVG from there.

Yea I would try that first. From what I can find, an 8E stop error can involve a failed hard disk, bad drivers and incompatible software. F8 and nuke AVG.

[Jandrews]

At what precise point to I hit F8? I tried that a couple of times and it didn't do anything?

Thanks,

JA

[slodave]

I would seriously recommend testing the hard drive first. I do this for a living. If you do not have a backup, you are asking for trouble. If the HD tests OK, then try the other options.

Dave

[Seric]

Originally Posted by Jandrews

At what precise point to I hit F8? I tried that a couple of times and it didn't do anything?

Thanks,

JA

Press F8 repeatedly after your BIOS screen dissapears (the computer logo could be shown instead of the BIOS screen)

There it will show you a bunch of options to boot from. Boot to safemode, you can boot into safemode with command prompt or networking, but you should be fine in regular safemode.

[Jandrews]

Dave...I will take your advice. No action until I can get that diag disk.

Thanks to everyone.

JA