Blue Screen Woes

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Rickles

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#215137 13-Jun-2017 17:09

I have been presented with a friends computer that refuses to boot ... blue screen ensues with the ubiquitous "Your computer has errors. we will restart and repair" thing. The system then loops, with various messages such as "Bad system configuration info", "0xc000021a", and Bad pool error".

I have done usual first things such as checked RAM, cleaned dust & dirt from inside/CPU, checked all cables & connections etc.

Created a Win 10 install disk (ISO), and ran it using Repair Startup option, and also Scannow (from Command Prompt) ... the first says Win 10 is not on the machine (???), and the second starts the scan then reverts to the blue screen and same loops & error messages all over again.

Any clues please people?

Stuffed mother board? (had 8GB RAM, even though a 32-bit machine) and Memtest showed one of the strips to have faults.
Needs fresh install of Win 10 (obtained a year ago by way of the free download)

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#1799580 13-Jun-2017 18:13

Try a put in a different hard drive and install a fresh win 10 on it and see how it performs.

I take it you removed the bad DIMM?

Rickles

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#1799584 13-Jun-2017 18:24

>Try a put in a different hard drive and install a fresh win 10 on it and see how it performs<

That was going to be my next action.

>I take it you removed the bad DIMM?<

Yep

JaseNZ

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#1799585 13-Jun-2017 18:30

Had this sort of error on a friends laptop the other day, keep dropping into repair mode then would loop around. In the end i figured HD was stuffed and an upgraded it to an SSD and a fresh install and she now cannot believe its the same laptop. Amazing what the change to an SSD can do.

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Rickles

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#1799637 13-Jun-2017 20:23

Fitted new HD and tried to install Win 10 ... after the drive partition and format stage I selected "Install" and it went about 14% into file transfer before flicking back to the Install screen. This happened a couple of times.

Next time it started installing then reported error messages/codes with installation.

Hmmmm.

gzt

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#1799669 13-Jun-2017 20:39

Give it a longer ram test now.

ANglEAUT

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#1799716 13-Jun-2017 22:34

Mspec: ... Amazing what the change to an SSD can do.

Very true. Much better performance increase than the 2GB - 4GB RAM upgrade recommended several years back.

Rickles: Fitted new HD and tried to install Win 10 ...

If you hadn't swapped out the HDD, I would have recommended running SpinRite on the old drive. Seeing the new HDD is also acting up, I suggest you ensure that all cables are seated securely & run some more hardware diagnostics. Repeatedly. Intermittent faults don't show up the first time.

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Rickles

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#1799757 14-Jun-2017 08:05

Swapped out SATA data cables and used different ports on motherboard ... no change.

About to use a new hard disk (with O/S) from a working machine, and vice versa ... that should point to either software corruption or hardware faulting.

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Rickles

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#1799819 14-Jun-2017 08:43

Any hardware testing programs recommended? Presumably they are Open Source since Windows won't run.

1101

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#1801424 15-Jun-2017 11:57

try ...

swap out all sticks of RAM (may be a bad pair)
dont use the slot that the 'bad' ram was in : it may be the ram slot at fault
if you have unused RAM slots, try them

check the CPU heatsink & fan are securely installed and the heatsink is sitting on the CPU correctly

run memtest86+ from CD , leave it running overnight

try another power supply (if possible)

If win wont install , thats going to be a hardware issue. Now its a matter of part swapping.
If you cant easily trace the cause (it wont be easy) , at some stage you may have to accept its a right off , unless you want to replace mb+RAM+CPU

Rickles

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#1801639 15-Jun-2017 16:51

New hard disk with O/S installed did run on the faulty machine, so cleaned up the HD and tried to install fresh O/S ... same old problems, plus Memtest showed the remaining RAM to be faulty .... tried both sticks separately in all available slots, but both faulted all times!

Also now getting "Chassis intrusion" messages, so methinks the motherboard is definitely the culprit ... considering it is 5 years old and 32-bit I think owner would be due a new machine

Athlonite

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#1801656 15-Jun-2017 18:05

Rickles:

Also now getting "Chassis intrusion" messages, so methinks the motherboard is definitely the culprit ... considering it is 5 years old and 32-bit I think owner would be due a new machine

That certainly sounds like a duff mobo or at the very least a dicky BIOS or/CMOS battery

Rickles

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#1801660 15-Jun-2017 18:31

I changed the CMOS battery just in case too

Rickles

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#1802067 16-Jun-2017 11:45

Just for fun, I tried installing Win XP, which it did, even though RAM tested faulty!

Hmmm, tried Win 7, but that faulted and threw up errors.

Maybe it is a Mac disguised as a PC clone

Anyway, friend happy to get replacement, spare machine I had together with their saved data ... could I sell this one to Satanists as it is indeed inhabited by little devils

Athlonite

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#1802490 17-Jun-2017 09:28

Ok so not a dicky BIOS/CMOS battery now the only thing left to check if you haven't already is the ram try another set if they too test faulty then best guess is mobo in which case a replacement mobo or just call it quits and part it out and sell the bit on here or trademe

as for the Win XP install it may start out all good but would have soon started suffering from BSOD's up until it went poo for good whereas win7 is much more hardware fault aware during installation

Rickles

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#1802493 17-Jun-2017 09:46

Aaron .... you are probably spot on.

Now consigned as door-stop or sea-anchor

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