any computer experts?

[blue]

okay, could do with some advice here.

we have a Dell desktop running Windows XP.  all was well until a couple of days ago.  computer starts up fine, arrives at user login screen, click your user, enter your password and BAM! blue screen with lots of writing!

at the top it says "a problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer"

there's more than that, but it's the usual stuff.

i can go in in safe mode, where i have run chkdsk and a full virus scan and come up with nothing, and then i tried restarting in diagnostic mode but it went straight to the blue screen again.  

i don't want to immediately go and reinstall windows as there is quite a bit of data we don't want to lose, i've backed up my own stuff but my parents have all their photo's and stuff on there.  i'm hoping someone can point me in a useful direction.

here's hoping!

[Transcend]

start in safe mode

and use windows restore to go back to a day before it happened :D

[badgermark]

Go here and all your problems will be solved.

[Philly Q]

and use windows restore to go back to a day before it happened :D

Does Windows Restore exist in the Home version of XP?  I didn't think it did, but I'm probably wrong.

I had a very similar problem a few weeks ago.  I thought the computer would just restart OK, but every time I got a blue screen.  So in the end I dug out the motherboard manual and went through the BIOS screen by screen resetting everything.  

Here's where I get very unhelpful:

There was a screen somewhere in the BIOS which was something to do with the speed of... something.  I changed the settings somewhere on that screen, and this speed thing (whatever it was) automatically reset itself, then everything suddenly worked.

I know that's not going to be much help....  :?

[Will]

BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!
I got that, phone up dell and hassle them lots, see if you can get them to send you a free hard drive.
System restore didn't work for me, so they said I had to reinstall (and lose data). I plan to use the old hard disk as a slave, so now I have double the space  :)

[Sailor Charon]

Go here and all your problems will be solved.

Hahaha... Nice one.
After using PCs at work (and at home) for years, I got so fed up that I switched to a Mac. And it works far, far more of the time than my PC ever did...

[ailean]

Is it just happening for you or everyone that logs in?

If it's a corrupt file in your profile then you may be able to avoid loading that file by logging in as someone else.

[blue]

hi guys, obviously i can't be here too often at the minute as i have no computer.  so i'm using my special powers to make this post  8)

Ailean, it's the same with all users i'm afraid.  there are a few things i considered trying, but rather than risk causing more damage through ignorance my brother in law is gonna have a look.  he can damage it through his ignorance, and at least then it's not my fault!

he reckons he should be able to sort it out, and if not he should at least be able to get all our data off it before we go wiping anything.

anyway, fingers crossed my next post will be from my own computer.  i've got it a get well soon card and grapes and everything, so it's bound to get better!

oh, and for some reason i've never been able to get on with Macs. :oops:

[FELINEGUITARS]

The recent Intel based macs let you run Windows should you need to.

In fact the look and feel of XP/Vista is pretty close to how OS X is but the Mac wont crash /get a virus/go all weird on you (well - not much anyway)

[Will]

The recent Intel based macs let you run Windows should you need to.

In fact the look and feel of XP/Vista is pretty close to how OS X is but the Mac wont crash /get a virus/go all weird on you (well - not much anyway)

Vista is nice, and although takes up a lot of memory, is very economical with it

Macs : great, but at a price, and no open source stuff and limited variety. apple produces all software / subcontracts it = more £££  

[indysmith]

The recent Intel based macs let you run Windows should you need to.

In fact the look and feel of XP/Vista is pretty close to how OS X is but the Mac wont crash /get a virus/go all weird on you (well - not much anyway)

Vista is nice, and although takes up a lot of memory, is very economical with it

Macs : great, but at a price, and no open source stuff and limited variety. apple produces all software / subcontracts it = more £££  

wrong - macs are no more expensive than equivalent PCs. In fact it quite often works out more economical (esp. with laptops). also - there is some open-source apps for macs out there (openoffice for example). There is a limited variety of software for macs, but it comes with everything that any normal person would need and more! apple software is also very cheap recently - as programs like Logic have plummeted in price - (old version 7 £700+, new version 8pro w/ £1000s of other sound apps £300.) The philosophy is if they make these immensely powerful programs and flog em cheap as chips people will buy the hardware to run it!
There is no reason to get anything other than a mac unless you want to play games, but we have consoles for that! Hell, they even run windows- but why would you want to?

Yes, I am a complete mac fanboy.

[Antag]

Often a corrupt graphics driver causes this.

Boot in safe mode (F8 when you first power up gets you to the boot menu).

Reinstall the graphics driver.

If you haven't got it, boot in safe mode with network support (should be enough to connect to t'internet & download a new one).

Then reboot.

If that doesn't fix it, try booting in VGA mode - if your graphics card is hosed (i.e. a hardware problem) it will often work in 16 colour 640x480 with crayon fonts :) but as soon as you enable any "advanced" features it barfs.  If that's the case, take it to your local computer shop & get them to check the card.

[Will]

Dell laptop = £60 phone bill :)
and I guess I'm a software thief...
You just say that because you have a mac  :roll:

[MartinS]

Delighted to see the pro-Mac comments here. I switched a couple of years ago and it's completely changed the way I look at computers. (I'm a writer and editor, and am sat here about 14 hours a day, so it's pretty important to me.)

Buy a little Mac, never look back...

EDIT: the thing with Mac software is that it works.

[shobet]

If you want open source on your Mac install Fink or Darwin Ports. If you want free stuff there are plenty of high quality free and share ware products on the Apple platform.

Anything I could do on the old Windows machines I had I can do with the Mac. When I'm forced to use a Windows machine these days it feels so clumsy. I've not tried Vista, so I can't comment on that.

It's only unix underneath the shiny front window innit ;)

Roll on Leopard! Now if I only had hardware that would run it well :(


Going back to the topic, what did you install or change last on your PC before you started having this issue?