[Heybuck]

Last weekend, my home computer was running slow then the screen went blue. Message told me to turn it off and restart - which I did.

No more problems till yesterday, I was using it, left it on while I went and did some other things and when I returned it was constantly trying to restart, the blue screen popped up and it immeadiatly shut down and went into restart. I watched this for a few times then just turned it off.

Rang my son-in-law and described to problem to which he said I have a major problem (Blue Screen of Death is what he said), and best to call a tech guy. He KNOWS I am useless at this sort of thing. However I looked up on my office computer and it seems to indicate it might not be such a big problem?

Windows XP. Probably 8 years old or so.

Whats best to do??

Thanks,

Ian

[PMD1969]

Most likely your hard drive is toast. When the BSD pops up it should give you a code that has several numbers (mostly zeros) and a few letters. Write that code down and check on the web what the code means.

[mviker]

I had a friend's computer that was constantly restarting after BSOD. Thought it was a hard drive issue also, but in reality, it was a rootkit virus. I found this while trouble shooting and ran it. Killed the virus dead and the computer turned out to be fine. Try downloading it to another machine, copy to a CD or SD card or USB stick and install in safe mode if you can get in there. Hopefully, or maybe this will do the trick.

http://support.kaspersky.com/5350

Hope it helps!

Kevin

[wytnyt]

try a restore before anything else
if no go,consider getting win7 as xp is outdated

[andyg]

Don't restore without having your data backed up first, if it is not already. I am also going to go with a bad HD being that old, depending on how much it gets used. Consumer grade hard drives have fairly low quality control.

[rohrt]

Could be a HD going bad or a virus.

record the 0x00 number on the next BSOD and google it.

aso start the computer in safe mode and run your virus scan.

[Heybuck]

I took it to a company only 500 yards from my office called "The Computer Doctor". Left it there with instructions as to what was wrong and to give me a quote before touching it.

So they rang yesterday talking telephone numbers.... I just said forget it and went and picked it up.

Today I took it to the Chinese guy who is in the building next to where I had my business for 20 years till 4 months ago. He was very pleased to see me, told me to leave it with him and 3 hours later he rang to say the hard drive was toast but he had a NOS one he was fitting. Transferred all my data across and it apparently is back up & running fine.

Cost???? "Give me a $100.00 when you pick it up!!" Suits me fine.

Actually, I am getting a lap top with Windows 7 on it. My sister had one in her business 3 years old and never used as they went Apple about the same time they got this laptop. I'll get that and start transferring wanted files to it and probably just let the old unit rest when I get used to the laptop.

I'm happy with the outcome of all this but thanks everyone for your input. Great

Ian

[GT182]

If you plan on getting a new HDD go with Seagate. I've never had a Seagate or Maxtor HDD fail on me. BTW... Seagate bought out Maxtor a couple of years ago. For quality I give them a 10++++. Seagate has software that will clone you HDD and you'll be able to pop it in another computer, and use it right away without doing anything but hooking up the cables. Program used to be called MaxBlast 5 but Seagate has renamed it.

I've had 2 Western Digital HDDs crap out in only a years time. 1 of them only lasted 2 months.

If a HDD fails you won't be able to boot up your computer at all. It's toast.

[andyg]

1. Any brand of HD fails. I've seen them all and no longer have a personal choice.

2. A hd can fail diagnostic testing and still be working fine. A combination of bad sectors, slow spin up times, or mechanical inconsistencies cause them to fail tests. Sometimes these drives with bad sectors can be repaired, but I never trust them. Only a catastrophic failure cause data to become non retrievable.

[pmdclassics]

New computers are pretty cheap these days and plus you get the latest operating system. I think a life span of a typical computer is around 7 years or so before parts will start to fail like the HD. Back it up if you can. Just transfer files to a thumb drive or burn cd's.

[GT182]

New HDDs are cheaper than buying a new computer. Besides, new computers aren't all their cracked up to be. Build one so you can upgrade it in the future, and it won't have all the 'bloated crap' in it like the new ones do. You can build a new computer for half the cost of a store bought POS... maybe even for less.