Help with the Blue Screen of Death?

[Zanshin]

Hey, my techie friends.  I've been getting a really, really annoying blue screen of death on my home laptop lately.  When it reboots-- and it's always an adventure to see if it gets that far-- I send an error report and Microsoft tells me that it's an unknown driver-related problem causing the crash.

How can I fix this?  Any ideas?  I tried an earlier system restore point, but that didn't work.....

[PhillyGirl]

Is this on a Sony?

[Zanshin]

Toshiba Satellite.  Happened ever since I ran an .exe to install a picture tube for Paintshop pro 9.  Damn Christmas cards.

[PhillyGirl]

ahhh, ok. I just had to send my Sony in for repair (through my best buy service plan) because the ATI display driver caused a huge problem and I got the blue screen.   

[Sgt PSN]

I get the blue screen whenever I go to sportsline.com.  The main page loads just fine and I can click on articles, etc without any problems.  But if I try to follow a game on the net or when I go to the fantasy page and check the live scoring for one of my fantasy teams then the blue screen pops up. 

That's the only time it happens and I have absolutely no idea why. 

[BigEd76]

Booting up in safe mode (F8 or whatever it is) and undoing the last thing you did usually works...

[Zanshin]

Wouldn't the system restore do the same thing?

[BigEd76]

Probably.  Laptops are screwy though...

[Cerevant]

Does the bluescreen seem to coincide with a specific action or running a certain program?

If not, I'd suggest trying each of these in order to see if they detect/solve your problem:

1) Uninstall Paintshop Pro and/or the utility that you were trying to use.
2) Download the CD image from here and run the memory test over night.  If there are any faults, you will need to replace your RAM.
3) Start/Run and type "chkdsk /f" and then "y".  This will scan your disk for errors on reboot.  If there are a lot of errors you may need to replace your hard drive
4) Back up all your data and re-install Windows using your system restore CD.  Cerevant's first law of Windows: Every piece of software you install irreversibly reduces the stability of Windows.

[Zanshin]

That's the trick-- I'm trying to get the system stable enough to back everything up.  Once I do that, I'll wipe it and start fresh.  But I want the thing to hang in there long enough to get my stuff on DVD before going that route.

I did a chkdsk and the drive is okay.  Hope the memory is.  The biggest problem is, once the computer craps out, I have a really hard time firing it back up.  I have to take out the power cord and disconnect the battery for a couple of minutes, or nothing happens.

Such a pain in the ass.

[Sgt PSN]

Booting up in safe mode (F8 or whatever it is) and undoing the last thing you did usually works...

I don't know if you were responding to me, Zanshin or both.  In the case of the former and/or the latter, I've rebooted in safe mode a gazillion times and it still does it. 

[Zanshin]

Well, you reboot in safe mode...but then you have to fix what ails 'ya.  That's the tricky part.

[Cerevant]

The biggest problem is, once the computer craps out, I have a really hard time firing it back up.  I have to take out the power cord and disconnect the battery for a couple of minutes, or nothing happens.

Such a pain in the ass.

This sounds like a hardware problem.  Are you comfortable with computer guts?  Do you have access to a second PC?  I'd recommend getting a notebook HD adapter, stick it in the PC and back it up there.

Here's something else you can try - Start/Run, msconfig.  On the general tab, pick "diagnostic startup".  Maybe that will get you stable enough to do a backup.  If not, you could try disabling stuff in the startup tab, but leave anything that is running from the windows directory.  You could do the same with services, but that gets a little more dicy...

[Zanshin]

Think it's the memory?

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Think it's the memory?

That's the most common cause of the recurring blue screen.