What does one do before a "blue screen" appears on "XP Pro"?

[Zinfandel]

Its happened to me before.

My computer keeps shutting down and reboots on its own, the screen sometimes reacts like there's a power drain, it blinks & shrinks, but untimely stays alive...(For the time being).

I do recognize its only a matter of time before I log on and I'm at the dreaded "blue screen", again...

Can I compensate and do something NOW, before the "blue screen" inevitably occurs and I lose EVERYTHING?

I'm using Firefox...Does this make a difference? Conflicting?

I really don't know.

[jeff30997]

1. Boot diskette and save restore points often.

[evlbstrd]

2. Go use your Mac.

[Zinfandel]

3. I wish!

But, I'm stuck here now with XP.

Unfortunately!

[evlbstrd]

4. Soon, Macs wil have "Intel Inside."

But you can find good deals on older Macs online. It's worth the switch.

[Deja Q]

7. OS X is modified FreeBSD, hence the viability of an Intel port. BUT,

OS X is $1xx per .x release.

Ubunto Linux is free, or there are corpprate distros; none of which costs more than $85 omline. FreeBSD exists for the PC also and is about $50 per release. (so, as usual, Apple always finds a new way to fleece its customers.)

Why wait until late 2006 for an Intel-based Mac :crazy: ? Or why spend needless amounts of cash to get a current Mac?

[jmowreader]

9. And they released QuarkXPress for Linux WHEN?

Last I checked, you can get no QuarkXPress, no InDesign, no Illustrator and only a mild substitute for Photoshop. (95 percent of Photoshop is zero percent of Photoshop when you need things GIMP won't.)

Linux is a server OS and a good one; Open Office and GIMP ain't gonna get you through when your business relies on QuarkXPress and Illustrator.

[evlbstrd]

16. How do you like your user interface?

Or the installation methods? Or the bundled apps?
Not everybody is a wirehead. I, for one, love OS X.

[Zinfandel]

5. Besides backing up...Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Because, I'm here now, in this predicament, without a "Mac".

[RC]

6. Have you tried checking the hard drive for errors?

Any funny noises such as clicking or grinding?
Do you have a Gateway?
Loaded or removed any new software lately?

Have you tried pluging your computer into a different outlet? You may have a power problem. Do your lights change brightness? Flicker, dim?

[Zinfandel]

10. I constantly defrag, delete Internet cookies, history, temp files, cache,

I run 'CleanSweep" to clean & keep Reg. updated, I clean documents file, I run Spyware Doctor as well as Spybot I delete ANY programs I don't use from the "Remove Programs" in Control Panel and finally I run the XP "Disk Cleanup".

I don't use an anti-virus program.

I pretty much built computer, motherboard, CPU, cable modem, Hard drive, memory, G-Force DVD's, Firewire, etc...

[Mr Rabble]

11. No Anti-Virus?!?!?!?

This is not smart.

Your problem is almost certainly a Virus. Constant rebooting is mydoom or netsky, I dont remember which.

Get yourself an Anti Virus program now!

[aeolian]

13. Dude, what?

Seriously, you should run anti-virus. ESPECIALLY with a cable modem! Hell, hit alt+ctrl+delete...how many processes are running?

[KG]

8. hit F10 during the boot up and to a system restore.

first thing to do when XP get wierd.

[aeolian]

12. Actually, have you checked the computer's power supply?

You say things are acting like there's some sort of power troubble.

If the power supply for your computer is faulty, or too small for the system you're running, you'll get symptoms not unlike what you're describing.

Actually, what you describe sounds exactly like an overloaded power supply, but that's not the only explanation.

(EDIT: viruses, spyware, et. al could also be to blame...and since you're not running anti-virus or a firewall and you have an always-on internet connection, I'd say that your power supply is probably fine...)

$0.02 :toast:

[slutticus]

14. Do you have a laptop?

I have XP pro on my laptop, and i was always getting a BSOD.

It turned out to be some problem with the powersave feature on the computer. Once I turned the powersave feature off, everything was fine. I think it was some kind of conflict with the video (NVIDIA) card.

[Feron]

15. First i would rule out..

Any new stuff you might have installed.

Did you install any new drivers or software before your computer started acting up? I'm talking about patches, drivers, or an anti-virus. Firefox wouldn't cause the behaviors you describe. However, if Firefox is set to automatically start at boot, you may want to undo it. The only way i know how is to uninstall and reinstall.

Then, check for any viruses, spyware, etc. Here is a page with a list of things to do: http://www.dslreports.com/faq/8428

Also, turn off automatic rebooting in XP. Go to Start->My Computer->right-click->properties->Advanced->Startup and Recovery->Click Settings->Uncheck Automatically Restart->Click Ok.

You should then get a BSOD. Find out what your error message means here: http://www.aumha.org/win5/kbestop.php

If your computer still is on the fritz, then it is likely a hardware problem. My guess would be the power supply. There is a program called Motherboard Monitor that can give you the voltages ,but i've never used it.

If it is your power supply, some good brands are Enermax, Antec, and Sparkle. Whatever you do, do not buy generic since off-brands don't last as long and can throw out some wacky voltages. A generic power supply fried my motherboard and some other hardware.

Here is another place that i found helpful solving my own computer problems:http://www.dslreports.com/forum/hwhelp

Off topic: I really hate it when the Mac fanatics invade a help thread. If you can't help then piss off!! Spending an assload of money isn't an efficient way of solving a computer problem. And yes, it is possible to be virus, spyware, and trojan free on Windows without much effort. Also, Mac hardware breaks too.

[Maestro]

17. Low power supply has been mentioned

but also download and run Memtest86. It is very simple to use. You just need a blank diskette to run it at boot up. It could be some faulty memory. There is a way to tell XP Pro to stop at the blue screen so you can read it, but I have forgotten how. If you happen to be able to read anything the next time you get a blue screen if it says PFN_List_Corrupt, then it's probably a bad memory stick. I had this happen to me, but the vendor is now sending me 2GB of brand new RAM. Yippee!!

[clu]

18. this might help reboots

Win2k and winXP default to a setting where it will automatically reboot instead of giving the blue screen error. To disable this if your system is rebooting (viewing the error might reveal problem drivers or software - the faulty driver is usually included in the STOP error), go here...

control panel->system->advanced->startup and recovery->system failure->uncheck "automatically reboot"

Note that this will only give more information if the system actually re-starts as opposed to merely losing the display for a short time.

edit: ugh didn't read Feron's post