[Howard]

A lot of BSOD`s are caused by faulty ram/underpowered psu`s/overheating/overclocking/dust and debris.

Run a complete disk check. Click start/run and type chkdsk /f /r and press the enter key. Follow the onscreen prompts and reboot your computer. Windows will check your hard drive for problems. Depending on the size of your hard drive, this can take quite some time.

First, turn off your computer and unplug it from the mains.

Clean out all dust etc, especially from the heatsinks and fans. A can of compressed air is very useful for this.

Next, take out your ram sticks and gently clean the gold contacts with an eraser. Blow away the remnents, also blow out any dust that may be in the ram slots. Replace the ram. Restart your system and see if it becomes more stable. You might also want to try placing the ram in a different dimm slot.

If your system still crashes, download and run the Memtest86+ programme from HERE.

Download either the ISO version, or if you have a floppy drive, download the floppy version.

The ISO version needs to be burned to a cd as an image. Your burning software will tell you how to burn an image file.

Once done, with either the Memtest86+ cd in your cd drive, or the Metest86+ Floppy in your floppy drive, reboot your system.

Let the programme run for at least seven passes. If Memtest86+ gives you errors, then it`s likely your ram is bad. However, please be aware that some faulty ram can pass Memtes86+. Check each stick of ram individually, then together.

Please note: If Memtest86+ gives you errors, your ram is more than likely bad. However, please also be aware, that some faulty ram can pass Memtest86+ or any other software memory tester come to that.

Check your system for overheating. The free Everest programme is quite useful for this. You can get it HERE.

Run Everest and click on the large computer icon in the righthand pane, followed by the sensor icon. This will give you a readout of your temperatures. It will also give you a readout of your psu voltages.

Check that your psu is putting out enough power for your system. Especially, check that there are enough amps on the 12volt rail. An underpowered psu can cause all kinds of random crashes.

Check that your pagefile is ok. Do the following.

Right click my computer, select properties, then the advanced tab.

Under performance, click settings. Click on the advanced tab and then on the change button.

Click on the custom size button and click in the initial size box, make the size of the page file 0. Click in the maximum size box, make the size of the page file 0.

Click set.

Now reboot your machine. After your system has restarted, run a defrag.

Once the defrag has finished, go back to the pagefile settings above and click on the change button. For the initial and maximum pagefile size make it 1.5 times the ammount of ram you have. I.E if you have 512mb of ram set the page file to 768mb.

Click on the set button again and reboot your system. You now have a brand new page file.


If none of the above helps. Attach 5 or 6 of your latest minidumps in a new post in your thread. If you don`t have a thread already open for your problem, start a new thread in the Windows OS forum.

You can find your minidumps in the following directory. C:\windows\minidump. Minidump files have a .dmp extension.

In order to post your minidumps, please do the following.

Start your new posting at TST by clicking on the New Thread button
(or use Post Reply in an existing thread).

Scroll down until you see a button Manage Attachments. Click on that and a popup-window opens.
Click on the Browse button, find the minidump file you wish to attach on your PC and doubleclick on it.

Now click on the Upload button in the popup. When done, click on the Close this window button.
Finish your message-text, then click on Submit Message.

Please note: You can attach five attachments with each upload.

Regards Howard