BSOD!!!

[Stoned]

Lately my computer has been locking up a lot and sometimes ends up crashing. I dont know the cause of this problem so I am clueless. It really happens when I open mozilla for a while and it locks up, that only happens sometimes. But the other times are random. Any clue on what is happening?

 

[CrazyMonkeyDude]

Have you tried a virus scan? Load up windows in safe mode and scan, or do a boot-scan with your antivirus. Also try running an anti-spyware program. One more thing: When was the last time you cleaned out your case? Dustbunnies like to f*ck everything up.

 

[Stoned]

Have you tried a virus scan? Load up windows in safe mode and scan, or do a boot-scan with your antivirus. Also try running an anti-spyware program. One more thing: When was the last time you cleaned out your case? Dustbunnies like to f*ck everything up.

lol I havent opened up my case in ages. But I am afraid I dont know how to do the shit you previously mentioned. I know how to start it up in safe mode but thats it.

 

[CrazyMonkeyDude]

lol I havent opened up my case in ages.

That in and of itself is a huge red flag. It's good to clean the dust out of your case at least every few months (AT LEAST), especially if it happens to be in a particularly dusty or not very well vented area. I don't know how old you are or if your parents are at all tech savvy if you do live with them, but you may want to consult your nearest computer nerd about cleaning the dust out of your case. Cans of compressed air are your friend.

About running a virus scan... What antivirus do you have? Norton, Avast, AVG, McAfee...? Most should have a boot-scan option somewhere in them.

 

[Stoned]

lol I havent opened up my case in ages.

That in and of itself is a huge red flag. It's good to clean the dust out of your case at least every few months (AT LEAST), especially if it happens to be in a particularly dusty or not very well vented area. I don't know how old you are or if your parents are at all tech savvy if you do live with them, but you may want to consult your nearest computer nerd about cleaning the dust out of your case. Cans of compressed air are your friend.

About running a virus scan... What antivirus do you have? Norton, Avast, AVG, McAfee...? Most should have a boot-scan option somewhere in them.

I have Mcafee.

 

[CrazyMonkeyDude]

I assume because you have Comcast? McAfee isn't really much better than Norton (which is pure sh*te). Currently I use Avast! for a free antivirus, though there are better out there if you're willing to cough up the dough for them. Honestly haven't looked because I've been content with Avast!, even if it's leaked a few through due to my downloading habits. If you can't find out how to get McAfee to boot-scan, you can load up windows in safe mode, load up your antivirus, and do a scan from there. Note that if you want to use a different antivirus program you need to completely uninstall one before installing the other(it's also a good idea to unplug yourself from the nets after downloading the new proggie and before uninstalling the old one), or their protections will fiddle with eachother and actually leave you much more vulnerable.

Either way, there should be a way to have McAfee do a startup scan (seems that when I google it that most people want to STOP boot scans, so it may be doing it on its own unless you or someone else disabled it). I also reccomend SpyBot S&D or similar anti-spyware programs, as these will keep your computer running more smooth due to less unneeded and harmful processes running in the background.

I have a feeling this ties in with your recent slowness regarding MSC, as well.


EDIT: Because I'm too lazy to do it for you, you do want to do your research on any antivirus or or antispyware program you think of downloading.

EDIT2: I did some research for my own sake (I've been noticing a lot of extra processes lately...) and have found Malware Bytes. From what I've read it's quite good, and even has my techie boyfriend's seal of approval. For the best protection, use it in conjunction with AdAware and Spybot and scan often.

 

[Tentadrilus]

However, I still recommend cleaning out your case. Antivirus won't hurt, though.

Dust can clog fans and line components causing them to overheat, which tends to dramatically reduce the reliability of your computer. The effects of overheating can manifest themselves in a variety of ways; my old computer used to artifact horribly while playing games and go really slow, while others bluescreen and stuff.

 

[CrazyMonkeyDude]

Well, yes, that suggestion still stands in highest priority.

I almost fried my GPU after not cleaning it for quite a while (didn't buy any cans of compressed air even though I kept meaning to >_>). There were dustbunnies in the GPU fan itself, and I had to practically disassemble the card to get to them.

 

[Stoned]

I have a feeling this ties in with your recent slowness regarding MSC, as well.

I never said that I was slow while playing video games?

 

[CrazyMonkeyDude]

Oops, that was Shawn. Don't know why I lumped you in with him >_> sorry.

 

[Thothie]

BSOD can be just about anything. There's like 500 different BSOD screens. Which one are you getting? IRQL_NOT_EQUAL, NO_MORE_IRP_STACKS, MELINDA_GATES_HATES_YOU, what?

If the system is automagically restarting before you get the chance to read/write down the error, go to Control Panel->System->Advanced and click the "Settings" button under "System Startup, System Failure, and debugging information". In the System Failure section of the resulting window, uncheck "Automagically restart". I also suggest checking "Write an event to the sytem log", and setting the dump type to "Kernel memory dump" in the drop down dialog under the "Write debugging information" section.



Write down the sections highlighted in red. If the STOP error has a lot of preceding zero's, you only need to write down the last digits (so, in this case, it'd be Stop Error 0x7F). The memory address that follows it isn't important, as it'll vary wildly with your configuration and system state.

So get that info and get back to us.

BSOD's are usually the result of failing hardware, viruses, or (much more often) driver conflicts. The fact that you are usually getting this when running the same bit of internet software suggests a network driver conflict that's cropped up, perhaps due to a windows upgrade or some new software. I assume you've already tried uninstalling and reinstalling Mozilla (although why you'd use Mozilla is beyond me - tis like Firefox without the plugin frills. ie. the only thing that makes Firefox at all worth having.)

 

[Blasto121]

yay BSOD

As thothie says what BSOD are you getting? What does your event viewer say is going on in your computer.

If you think you have viruses then you need to get the free version of maleware bytes as CMD has stated. That program when fully updated will get just about anything, I actually discourage the use of Spybot and Adaware these days as Maleware bytes does a grand job. Mix it up with something called TFC cleaner, pretty simple program. Goes through and dumps all files in temporary spots places most virus and spyware hang out.

I should probably stop... I work on computers way to much during an average work week.

 

[Kuroneko]

yay BSOD [...] I should probably stop... I work on computers way to much during an average work week.

My thoughts exactly. If you're unable to read the message on the BSOD itself, it may be logging the result to a minidump file. These files can be found in C:\Windows\Minidump . If you can send some of these to me I should be able to tell you the cause of the crash, or atleast narrow it down.

 

[Thothie]

Either of you ever find a good alternative to the Windows Debugging Tool to use as a DMP analyzer? Damn thing is so cumbersome - plus the space the useless symbols soak up (save those rare occasions where the symbol server is working and properly updated)... >_> Seems some third party must have come up with something by now, but I've not found anything. :\

 

[Kuroneko]

Either of you ever find a good alternative to the Windows Debugging Tool to use as a DMP analyzer? Damn thing is so cumbersome - plus the space the useless symbols soak up (save those rare occasions where the symbol server is working and properly updated)... >_> Seems some third party must have come up with something by now, but I've not found anything. :\

I just rigged up a little script to parse the dmp file and show me the log file XD

@echo off

echo Processing %1...

"C:\Program Files\Debugging Tools for Windows\kd.exe" -z %1 -y "C:\Windows\Symbols" -c ".logopen %~sdp1%~n1.txt;.reload;!analyze -v;r;kv;lmnt;.logclose;q"

echo Complete!

start notepad "%~dp1%~n1.txt"

exit

Just pass the file name and directory to the script and away is goes. I also built a website that does the same thing and saves the file for download for up to 90 days.

 

[TheOysterHippopotami]

If it turns out that the problem is virus related I recommend you reformat rather than trying to actually clean up your system. I have never been able to do that successfully, myself.

 

[The Man In Black]

Then you can blast off and nuke the place from orbit.

Remember, kids, if some random person on the internet can't do it, you can't.

 

[Thothie]

Either of you ever find a good alternative to the Windows Debugging Tool to use as a DMP analyzer? Damn thing is so cumbersome - plus the space the useless symbols soak up (save those rare occasions where the symbol server is working and properly updated)... >_> Seems some third party must have come up with something by now, but I've not found anything. :\

I just rigged up a little script to parse the dmp file and show me the log file XD

@echo off

echo Processing %1...

"C:\Program Files\Debugging Tools for Windows\kd.exe" -z %1 -y "C:\Windows\Symbols" -c ".logopen %~sdp1%~n1.txt;.reload;!analyze -v;r;kv;lmnt;.logclose;q"

echo Complete!

start notepad "%~dp1%~n1.txt"

exit

Just pass the file name and directory to the script and away is goes. I also built a website that does the same thing and saves the file for download for up to 90 days.

That thar saves some time, and looking at the fugly GUI, tis true. Just was hoping someone more competent than Microsoft came up with a more end-user useful variant. Thanks though, tis a step up from what I'm doing now.

 

[Stoned]

Jesus....so many replys.....so much to do.....it may be a while in till it crashes again. I will right down the info and then maybe open up my case and check out the dust box.

 

[CrazyMonkeyDude]

Jesus....so many replys.....so much to do.....it may be a while in till it crashes again. I will right down the info and then maybe open up my case and check out the dust box.

Really should get your case cleaned first and foremost.

 

[Stoned]

I looked in my case, not even a single piece of fuzz....only in one area, its not an important area either :? So I guess it might be a virus.

 

[Thothie]

Not very likely, but you'd have to get us that info for us to have any real idea.

 

[Stoned]

Hmmm...any ideas on how to crash my computer?

 

[fenix3533]

put it in a car and tie a brick to the gas pedal?

jk

 

[Stoned]

I suppose I should make an update.







As of Sunday of March 07, my computer failed to start. This includes an entirely new bsod error. Now I think I not only need to check my hardrive but to fix my Operating System all together.