Boot Error

[Maxipak]

Two or three weeks ago I encountered an error while booting up my computer.

I switch on the machine, it makes its way to the blue login menu which contains my user account, and as I'm entering my information the blue screen of death flashes on the screen and the system reboots.

On my second attempt to boot the machine, it makes its way to the the XP loading bar, then the same thing happens.

After this, I enter Safe Mode to scan for viruses, I'm using AVG Free Edition v7.5.503, obviously I didn't find anything; I don't think this is a virus, but I might be wrong.

After numerous scans with Spybot Search and Destroy, CCleaner, and AVG with no results, I decided to give it one more try on Normal Mode, and oh would you look at that, it works.

But as mentioned above, that was two or more weeks ago, and I'm now concerned about how long my computer has been running non-stop.

I'd rather not tempt fate by switching the machine off without an idea as to what the problem was to begin with.

I did install a piece of hardware before the problem came up, some kind little black SD Card reader thing, sorry for my lack of explanation on the hardware but I have no idea what it is called.

This has happened before, but I shrugged it off as a one-time thing. One thing I'm sure of though, is that this error is random as to where it happens in the boot sequence. The error never happens when the computer makes it to the desktop.

[Suspishio]

If a blue screen on boot isn't due to malware, then it's usually due to a timing glitch between a driver and a Windows kernal process.

The confounding thing is that the BSOD often doesn't stay long enough for its info to be captured. Once we have that info diagnosis can be attempted.

You could boot with bootlog on and watch carefully what the last two drivers loaded were called.

Or it might not happen again. To solve the problem you do need to reboot I'm afraid!

[nav33n]

http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=447620 This will probably help you..

[hughv]

Take a look in Event Viewer.
Control Panel/AdminTools/Event viewer
Look under System and Application for red entries. These can be cryptic, but are often helpful.

[Maxipak]

Thanks for all the replies. I know I'm going to have to switch this machine off sometime, but I'd rather wait until the winter holidays, which is about a week away.

I'm studying IT, and I need a computer for the time being, so I'm going to play it safe for now.

Also, it's not when I reboot the machine, it happens when I switch it off for long periods of time, I probably should have mentioned this before but I was in a rush to get to college.

I have rebooted this computer several times this week due to Microsoft updates and software installations, each time it rebooted flawlessly.

However, when I switch it off and go to bed, I wake up about 7 to 9 hours later and turn it back on; this is when the problem occurs.

This leads me to believe that it might be my power supply, as it seems that once the computer has been running for about 5 minutes, boot failures or not, the problem goes away.

I'm still not sure but I have high hopes for a cure to this problem.

I'd also like to point out that I might not get to check this thread often for updates, as I have a lot of stuff on my plate, but all of your comments are much appreciated; it's nice to know I'm not alone in this.

[nav33n]

Check out the link that i have mentioned. It says the way to 'decrypt' the dump generated by microsoft windows when it crashes. You can analyse the dump file to know what caused the error.

[Suspishio]

Also, it's not when I reboot the machine, it happens when I switch it off for long periods of time......

I have rebooted this computer several times this week due to Microsoft updates and software installations, each time it rebooted flawlessly.

However, when I switch it off and go to bed, I wake up about 7 to 9 hours later and turn it back on; this is when the problem occurs.

This leads me to believe that it might be my power supply, as it seems that once the computer has been running for about 5 minutes, boot failures or not, the problem goes away.

"Cold faults" as these symptoms now appear to be are not unknown. Usually associated with memory and it could just be a case of reseating RAM carefully and dusting the thing out.

In the old days, cold faults meant a capacitor was weak. Like a fluorescent lamp that just about starts.

So a good blow out with an air can might just solve it.

[hughv]

You might well be right. I've seen this exact scenario several times, and the power supply is a likely culprit.
"This leads me to believe that it might be my power supply, as it seems that once the computer has been running for about 5 minutes, boot failures or not, the problem goes away."