Diagnosing BSOD - Hard drive?

Krieg

Im currently trying to diagnose a problem with a friends comp.

The comp boots up past BIOS but BSOD during the windows loading screen.

Ive eliminated the gfx card as a cause. RAM seems to be fine as the same issue appeared when either stick was removed. I brought a hard drive from another xp system which does boot up in safe mode but BSOD's during normal boot up just before the login screen. (I cant login during safe mode as the mouse and keyboard dont work despite USB settings being enabled in the BIOS.
Im guessing that BSOD with another hard drive would be normal since there would be completely different drivers saved on the drive.

The hard drive isnt making any sort of clicking noise. I still need to try and eliminate the mobo and processor as possibe causes. Just wondering if anyone could tell me the best way forward to diagnose the problem ?

(sry, didnt write down specs)

jmcc

Is networking enabled or disabled in the BIOS? If it can be disabled, does it boot without BSOD? And is the network interface on the mobo or a separate network card?

Regards...jmcc

Freddy Smelly

Krieg wrote: »

Im currently trying to diagnose a problem with a friends comp.

The comp boots up past BIOS but BSOD during the windows loading screen.

Ive eliminated the gfx card as a cause. RAM seems to be fine as the same issue appeared when either stick was removed. I brought a hard drive from another xp system which does boot up in safe mode but BSOD's during normal boot up just before the login screen. (I cant login during safe mode as the mouse and keyboard dont work despite USB settings being enabled in the BIOS.
Im guessing that BSOD with another hard drive would be normal since there would be completely different drivers saved on the drive.

The hard drive isnt making any sort of clicking noise. I still need to try and eliminate the mobo and processor as possibe causes. Just wondering if anyone could tell me the best way forward to diagnose the problem ?

(sry, didnt write down specs)

was xp installed on that hard drive while it was in the other pc? if yes then it has the wrong drivers installed as it would have the old system's drivers not the new system's drivers... hence bsod... its a bit like putting petrol into a diesel car... it wont work... boot into safe mode and back up all your important files then wipe clean and reinstall windows while the drive is in the new pc. OR do a repair install of windows using your cd... that too would fix the drivers issue.

if u can use an old ps/2 keyboard and mouse to get the backup done

What's the error code on the blue screen?

Duggy747

Disable automatic restart from the F8 menu and jot down the error it'll say at the top (IRQ_Less_or_equal_to / Unmountable_boot_device / etc) and the first code at the bottom (like 0x000007f)

riclad

USE a livecd eg mint 10 fits on 1 cdr,boot to linux, is it still crashing?
or else use a ps2 old type interface, keyboard ,needs no drivers , to load windows.
YOU,LL get bsod,crashes if you use a hd from pc2,
ie it uses different drivers unless pc is identical motherboard, cpu to the present pc.
get a usb to ps2 unit for the keyboard,if pc has a ps2 port.

http://www.amazon.com/USB-to-PS-2-Adapter/dp/B00007AP2O
in maplins ,or peats.
http://www.bbdsoft.com/keyboard.html
most pcs have ps2 interface ,make sure use the keyboard port,not the ps2mouse port.
CHECK does it have a ps2 port ?before you buy a keyboard.
YOU CAN use mint os,to backup ,copy old files from old hd to a usb drive.

heroics

If you dont have a backup of your files you could try rescue CD from AVG.

I used the rescue CD to boot a laptop that had a BSOD on boot. This allowed me to use file commander to backup the files on the drive to USB

Also as mentioned above try and get the details of the blue screen.

Krieg

Thanks for all the replys and sorry for my slow response.

Is networking enabled or disabled in the BIOS? If it can be disabled, does it boot without BSOD? And is the network interface on the mobo or a separate network card?

Regards...jmcc

Tried booting with and without network enabled, same blue screen. The network is on the mobo

was xp installed on that hard drive while it was in the other pc? if yes then it has the wrong drivers installed as it would have the old system's drivers not the new system's drivers... hence bsod... its a bit like putting petrol into a diesel car... it wont work... boot into safe mode and back up all your important files then wipe clean and reinstall windows while the drive is in the new pc. OR do a repair install of windows using your cd... that too would fix the drivers issue.

if u can use an old ps/2 keyboard and mouse to get the backup done

Yep xp was installed on the other hard drive, i figured the bsod was because of difference in drivers, glad to get the confirmation here.

Disable automatic restart from the F8 menu and jot down the error it'll say at the top (IRQ_Less_or_equal_to / Unmountable_boot_device / etc) and the first code at the bottom (like 0x000007f)

What's the error code on the blue screen?

The problem was the blue screen was instantaneous but I forgot to try disabling auto restart in bios, ill certainly give that a go

USE a livecd eg mint 10 fits on 1 cdr,boot to linux, is it still crashing?
or else use a ps2 old type interface, keyboard ,needs no drivers , to load windows.
YOU,LL get bsod,crashes if you use a hd from pc2,
ie it uses different drivers unless pc is identical motherboard, cpu to the present pc.
get a usb to ps2 unit for the keyboard,if pc has a ps2 port.

http://www.amazon.com/USB-to-PS-2-Adapter/dp/B00007AP2O
in maplins ,or peats.
http://www.bbdsoft.com/keyboard.html
most pcs have ps2 interface ,make sure use the keyboard port,not the ps2mouse port.
CHECK does it have a ps2 port ?before you buy a keyboard.
YOU CAN use mint os,to backup ,copy old files from old hd to a usb drive.

cheers but its a new enough computer and doesnt have any ps2 interface

If you dont have a backup of your files you could try rescue CD from AVG.

I used the rescue CD to boot a laptop that had a BSOD on boot. This allowed me to use file commander to backup the files on the drive to USB

Also as mentioned above try and get the details of the blue screen.

Thanks ill try that, my friend doesnt care about buying a new hard drive, only the hard drive has lots of pictures and not all were backed up.




Thanks everyone, ill disable the auto restart and see what error code the bsod is giving with the hard drive and trace that through google