Blue screen of death problem

[manored]

Something is wrong with my computer but I dont know what, only that pretty much anything results in blue screen of death, always with a diferent error. We already took it to repairs 3 times, and everthing in the PC was erazed (sigh), but its still not solved, so I think it must be hardware trouble... waiting the next error to post a log of the system

Anyone has any ideas of what might be until then? :)

[SwiftSpear]

It's almost definitely memory.

[tombom]

It's almost definitely memory.

This. Look up memtest86.

[imbaczek]

...or a mobo/chipset error.

memtest86 anyway.

[rattle]

Yeah one should always have a disc with memtest on it lying around. At least I do.

[manored]

Thanks guys, but im not understanding well how you install this program, it seens that it can only be installed on removable disks or something... so, how do I install it? :)

[Relative]

You want to burn the .iso image to a CD and boot from it. You can find information about it here:

http://www.memtest86.com/ under "technical info"

[manored]

Ok I just burned the image to a CD, but then I put it it only opens a folder called "BOOT" with an image called "MEMTEST" and security catalog named "BOOT"... how do I use it? :)

[Erom]

I believe you want to boot from the CD- so go into the BIOS when you start your machine, then stick in the disk, then tell the BIOS to boot from the CD drive?

[manored]

Ahh... ok, thanks. Now im understanding why one would pay just to get this with instructions :)

Edit: Just got another problem... no button in my bios window works except for esc... anyone knows how to solve this?

[rattle]

Thanks guys, but im not understanding well how you install this program, it seens that it can only be installed on removable disks or something... so, how do I install it? :)

By using google on how to memtest86.
That is what I would have done instead of wasting someone elses time. :P

[manored]

I checked on the site before :) But it didnt worked on a disket, so I tough it would probally not work on a CD as well.

My brother spoke to a friend that works repairing computers and this friend said that he is sure that this is a over-heating problem (our pc is in a spot where there is little space for ventilation)... Could it be?

[rattle]

If you have a health monitor in your bios it's easy to find out.

[Aeon_Illuminate]

My laptop ran of memory several times, but no evil looking blue screen of death. However, video card crashes often resulted in blue screen of death. Maybe you should describe what were you doing when blue screen of death appeared.

[SwiftSpear]

I checked on the site before :) But it didnt worked on a disket, so I tough it would probally not work on a CD as well.

My brother spoke to a friend that works repairing computers and this friend said that he is sure that this is a over-heating problem (our pc is in a spot where there is little space for ventilation)... Could it be?

It's possible... but it's very unusual for an overheat to cause a BSOD on a modern computer. An overheat usually causes a hard crash. When you BSOD it dumps your registry to disk so your settings and crap can be returned when you boot back up... and that function requires the CPU to still work, which is impossible when the CPU has completely halted all function to prevent itself from getting damaged.

Like I say, it's possible either your motherboard or your CPU is set up differently, but it defy's the common scenario I've seen a tonne of times in the past.

[aegis]

Modern motherboards (most of them) cut off at around 80-90C. If you don't have temperature software installed, this may be a hard shutdown.

(ubuntu was nice enough to print a message in the console on the way down saying the computer exceeded 90C)

[Peet]

It's possible... but it's very unusual for an overheat to cause a BSOD on a modern computer.

Nope, many motherboards create a MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION stop error when the cpu overheats, which causes a bluescreen.

[manored]

My laptop ran of memory several times, but no evil looking blue screen of death. However, video card crashes often resulted in blue screen of death. Maybe you should describe what were you doing when blue screen of death appeared.

Pretty much anything. Sometimes the pc even crashes with nothing at all being done...

[SwiftSpear]

It's possible... but it's very unusual for an overheat to cause a BSOD on a modern computer.

Nope, many motherboards create a MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION stop error when the cpu overheats, which causes a bluescreen.

I'd say it's still somewhat unusual, since I've never seen it in the sampling of machines I have seen overheat... but it's good to know that anyways

[Caydr]

Almost certainly memory yeah, but not necessarily because it's defective. Have you inadvertently caused a CMOS reset recently? You may have incorrect or incompatible memory timings, or not enough voltage going to your memory.

Overheating, not so much, but undervolting can cause this a lot... for memory and CPU... there's this sweet spot where you have enough voltage for windows to start, but if you try to actually do anything your computer turns so unstable it's got about 15 seconds tops before some driver or something causes a bsod.

So... if all other possibilities are eliminated try reducing your overclock (if applicable) or increasing voltage by one or two notches.

Most DDR2 memory runs at 2.1 or 2.2 volts if it's high-end. Low-end is, by specification, supposed to be 1.8 volts I think. If you give memory too much power (within reason, like 0.2-0.3v) nothing bad will happen, just unnecessary heat generation. If you need to find out what your CPU should be running at, try Intel or AMD's site, they have complete listings.

I guess really someone should be asking, what are your computer specs? Also do you have two different brands or types of memory? Has anything been changed recently, like a driver or firmware update, or maybe you've... thrown it in a pool? Anything, really.