box of rocks

M

Mith

Active member
The old confuser has taken a trip to oblivion.

I've been getting the 'blue screen of death' intermittently for a while now, but the other day it got far less intermittent, and much more permanent.
Wont even start up now, I get the Windown XP screen, then immediately it goes to the blue screen. No error message on it either, just the restart your computer or contact administrator. Safe mode is a no go too.

Anyway, I've reached my limit on what to do, I havent kept up with computers and I'm out of my depth. Every time I try to rescue windows with the disc that comes with the computer it crashes, I figure it is (to use a technical term) buggered.

I'm using it now by running a linux disc, just running it off the cd drive. I think the HD is OK, as everything still seems to be there. Looks like its just windows that has bitten the dust.

Seems the only way to get another copy of XP is to buy a new computer (you can still specify XP from Dell). I refuse to 'upgrade' to Vista, and I dont think most my software will run on anything other than XP anyway. Need office too or I would just run linux all the time.

Dont computers suck. Atleast with tractors sometimes hitting them with a hammer works, with computers it never does :angry::mad:
 
Jim,
I think you can use another CD to reload XP as long as you use your product Key. Maybe not, some one will correct me soon if I'm wrong. Or here, I can go to a computer store and buy a new OEM CD of XP for about $200 and it comes with a new Product Key.

If you want to try Linux some more, download Open Office. From what I've read it will open Word Docs and save docs in a Word format. Maybe the other parts of Office will work in Open Office as well.
 
If you have a XP upgrade cd you can use a boot disc & a windows 98 or Miln. upgrade cd as a previous system verification to load it if you want to start from scratch.
 
95% of Windows software has a counterpart in Linux, with the exception of games. And much of the software is free.

You could also dual boot ... load another copy of XP, using the same software key. since you would only run one of them at a time that is okay.
Or you could use your XP disk to repair your current OS
 
I've got my XP recovery CD, but when I try to reinstall XP it crashes with another blue screen.

I think I am going to have to reformat and start from scratch. I'll try XP, but I'm becoming more attacted to using Linux.

So guys, how do I reformat a computer that I cant access any of the normal utilities? Cant even reformat using the XP disc.
 
Jim, your processor may be overheating. My laptop started doing the "blue screen" error thing. I googled about it & they all pointed to the heat-sink cooling unit. I replaced it & she runs like new again. Same could be with your PC processor. Check that the processor cooling fins are all clean & fan is working properly. I try to get into my computer a couple times a year to do house-keeping to avoid over heating. Try to avoid the need to take the processor out though. The things have hundreds of hair like pins that can easily be damaged when putting the processor back in. Somehow I managed to get mine back in ok, but I won't attempt it again! You could do a test with a fan blowing into the computer. I did that test on my laptop & knew then that the cooler wasn't working right...worked fine with the fan test.
BTW...mine did the same thing when I attempted to reload XP. Turns out I did all that for nothing. The data was still fine, just the processor couldn't function right. You may be able to use the Linux decent enough because it doesn't use as many resources as Windows does, so it doesn't work the processor as hard, keeping it running cooler.
 
Interesting one Dan, that would tie in with why its been getting worse over time. I'll tear it open later on.
 
The processor was indeed quite dusty, but cleaning it didnt help.

I installed a new HD, and now have linux installed on it, which appears to work fine. I dont like it, but it does work for the time being.

I tried to install XP, but it cant find any hard drives to install on. Its a mystery to me.
 
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