Last Chance Saloon - tried everything

jackrussell007

hi folks

I'm tryin to fix a computer for someone who keeps getting a blue screen when booting windows. here are the steps I have tried, hope someone can suggest something. I'm out of ideas.

- I was happy enough to just reformat and reinstall windows so i set off in this direction. when I boot from the windows disk I get a blue screen telling me that its shut down to protect my pc. I get this before it gets as far as reading what disks I have. This made me think that there must be something wrong with the HDD.

- I got new hard disk and swopped this in but I get the same blue screen when trying to install windows. So of there is nothing wrong with my HDD then it must be a controller on the mobo or something?

- if I boot from a austrumi linux cd, it runs from RAM rather than the cd. It loads fine and I can even browse the HDD and all the files on it. This proves that there is nothing wrong with the HDD or the mobo no?


I've tried swapping the RAM out, there seems to be nothing wrong there. I tried booting without the modem in the pc, made no difference. It has an graphics card but I presume this is fine as it causes no problem when using the linux os.


anyone got any suggestions?

woolymammoth

jackrussell007 wrote: »

It has an graphics card but I presume this is fine as it causes no problem when using the linux os.

I'd still run a ram test tool, think there's one called memtest. and rip out everything, inc. the graphics card. Do you get any beeps or flashing lights on the pc? been able to capture the BSOD? any idea if the motherboard is old enough to have developed computer dementia.. or, something else..

how's safe mode looking?

Capt'n Midnight

run the mem test overnight

jackrussell007

I forgot to mention that I had run most of the dell diagnostics and they were all coming back fine. I say most cause I was running them manually. the RAM came back ok as did everything else I thought may be a problem. I'll run the whole lot again to be sure.

I get the same BSOD if I try to boot into safemode.

jackrussell007

woolymammoth wrote: »

what I meant was that if there was anything physically wrong with the graphics card then I should have problems trying to boot from the linux disc as well then no? The fact that I could boot up that OS and browse the HDD drive told me that it was unlikely to be a problem with the graphics card, or the HDD drive??

scotchannie

can you read what the bsod message is ... ? press the pause key on the keyboard when the message is on full screen....

woolymammoth

jackrussell007 wrote: »

what I meant was that if there was anything physically wrong with the graphics card then I should have problems trying to boot from the linux disc as well then no? The fact that I could boot up that OS and browse the HDD drive told me that it was unlikely to be a problem with the graphics card, or the HDD drive??

experience has previously beat me silly by showing me that hardware that work in windows sometimes does not work in linux, and visa verse!

Do you have a different windows disc? Do you have on-board graphics available?

Seifer

I have a very similar problem with my Dell Studio 1535 (thread here) and had no luck fixing it.
The laptop was picked up by a courier on the 26th of October and I am still waiting for its return from Dell.

Capt'n Midnight

try cleaning out the fan in case it's an overheating thing

and running some stress test apps overnight


or it could be drivers , what version of windows / what HDD driver are you using / which BSOD is it - stop 7b would be HDD drivers

BoB_BoT

What's the model of the dell?

What version of windows are you trying to install?

Can you post up the bsod error code (should be something like 0x000000BA).

Are you using the origional disk that came with the Dell or is it another?
If the PC is running from a SATA drive, it could be a conflict with the SATA controller. One way to test is to turn off the compatibility mode in the bios.

jackrussell007

thanks for all the replies folks. I was out of the house last night and I'm going on the p1ss for the weekend so I wont get a chance to get back to this until monday.

I'll return with details of the Bsod, and I'll have a muck about in the Bios as you have suggested.

many thanks

jackrussell007

ok so when I try to boot normally. windows boots for about five or ten seconds then I hear the HDD power down and I get a blue screen

Stop: C000021a Fatal system error
blah blah terminated unexpectedly with the status 0x0000005
the system has been shut down.

Is this blue screen a windows error message? i.e. windows would have booted if the HDD hadnt flipped out?

jackrussell007

booting from a windows cd, I get as far as the setup is loading files, it goes through loading all the files. I then get the message saying setup is starting windows, and then a blue screen

A problem has been detected and windows shut down to prevent dameage.

if this is the first time then follow these steps etc etc.
tech info
stop 0x0000007b ( lots of other stuff in brackets0x000000)

whizbang

Stop 7b is disk access error.
Windows setup disk you are using to boot XP? is too old for the machine you have. ie the disk dosent have the correct drivers for the disk access of the motherboard
get the disk drivers from whoever (Dell?) then while booting, press F6 when prompted to 'add additional drivers'
best of luck..:P

jackrussell007

i suppose that is the only answer that makes sense. I have three different dell disic and one or two that I downloaded but no joy. I am at present installing ubuntu onto another disc that I put in just to prove that i should be able.
...yep, ubuntu installed fine.

one or two quoestions. it says to F6 to add SCSI or RAid drivers. also the sata driver Ive downloaded is a exe . is this what its looking for or should it be something like a dll maybe?

lastly if i downloaded a dell xp sp3 cd from somewhere sould i presume that it should have what i need?

bhickey

jackrussell007 wrote: »

one or two quoestions. it says to F6 to add SCSI or RAid drivers. also the sata driver Ive downloaded is a exe . is this what its looking for or should it be something like a dll maybe?

There are good instructions online about how to do this. Google 'F6 to add SCSI or RAID drivers'.

lastly if i downloaded a dell xp sp3 cd from somewhere sould i presume that it should have what i need?

It won't have the driver no. Have you any idea what driver it is that you need? Is there something like a SATA card inside the machine?

jackrussell007

got a sp3 disc and it seems to be doin the trick. formatting at the moment. thanks for all the help folks.

weeks I've been pricking around with this...weeks!

Nabber

This might have been said.

But if you have a machine that is getting a BSOD, it's best to start with the easiest things first.

I'd suggest giving the pc a good clean, compressed air and a PC hoover. I find that 80% od BSOD i get are from driver issues or dust in the machine (Which may be building up static and discharging)

If it' is dust build up, then you can change the HDD and reinstall the OS as often as you want. You will still get BSOD.

Cheers,
Nabber.

jackrussell007

thanks nabber

once i got the xp sp3 disc I got it sorted. it turned out that it was just a driver issue after all.

thanks for all the help folks