Blue Screen is killing me...help!

As you can see I am a noobie here, I would like to say thanks in advance for any help that you may provide.


ok my problem is...
Every so often I get a "Blue Screen" & my computer restarts itself. I then receive this message upon start up:

"Windows has recovered from an unexpected shutdown."
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.0.6002.2.2.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: a
BCP1: 00000000
BCP2: 00000002
BCP3: 00000001
BCP4: 82BD8EDE
OS Version: 6_0_6002
Service Pack: 2_0
Product: 768_1

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini120510-01.dmp
C:\Users\Pat\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-42307-0.sysdata.xml
C:\Users\Pat\AppData\Local\Temp\WER33BC.tmp.version.txt
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Here is my system information:
OS Name - Windows Vista™ Home Premium
Version - 6.0.6002 Service Pack 2 Build 6002
System Manufacturer HP-Pavilion
System Model GN639AV-ABA d4995t
System Type X86-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E6850 @ 3.00GHz, 2992 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 5.08, 8/16/2007
SMBIOS Version 2.5
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.0.6002.18005"
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 3.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 3.00 GB
Available Physical Memory 1.40 GB
Total Virtual Memory 6.21 GB
Available Virtual Memory 4.68 GB
Page File Space 3.29 GB


Any help in solving my problem would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Pat

 

Hi,
Try cleaning and reseating your RAM, use an eraser to clean gold contacts on the RAM sticks or an alcohol wipe(allow to dry!!) and reseat RAM securely.Check for dust in heat sink fan and PSU give them a good blowing out, please make sure that you are grounded or have de-staticied yourself before hand (touching a sink tap will do this).

 

Thanks for the advice, I will try this now. I usually give the PC a good blowing out every couple of months (nice & easy when you have a air compressor in the garage). I have never touched the ram though, so maybe it needs a little cleaning & a resetting. I will post again if I get the old blue screen in the future.
Thanks!

 

Since I didn't see it posted above, having the exact error code (they look like this: "STOP:0x0000007F" for example) and the exact error message (they look like this: "IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" for example) would be very helpful. If the errors are only occasional, you can try a couple of thing in addition to a good 'dust busting' and memory reseating.... update all your system drivers, especially the video driver, sound driver, chipset driver; perform some general maintenance like cleaning junk files, invalid registry keys, etc; download/install any available 'critical' Windows updates; boot to the Recovery Console and run chkdsk C: /r to resolve any possible file system problems; run an in-depth memory diagnostic (I like this one; the download will create a boot floppy, or an ISO file to burn as an image to CD; then you boot to it and press "T" for the extended tests); run a full diagnostic on your hard drive (available as a free download from your hard drive maker's web site). If all things make no difference, or you notice increased frequency of the BSOD errors, make a thorough visual inspection of the capacitors on the motherboard.

Normal healthy capacitors look like this:
http://tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:l-O3uyAZWlRbFM:http://www.hardware-one.com/reviews/msi6309/images/capacitor.jpg http://www.fotosearch.com/bthumb/GLW/GLW137/gwc118050.jpg


Leaking/popped capacitors look like this:
http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:Y5WuxQTQI_nreM:http://www.op911.net/photos/story/capacitor.jpg http://tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:n6qnVlzrMn1XaM:http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/2162895/BadCapacitor01-main_Full.jpg


And here's one that is just VERY slightly bulging on top, a very slight 'pop'.... this is still a failed capacitor.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules/NDReviews/images/Ghetto/Topower/Dscn3207.jpg

Obviously, the popped capacitor is the one on the left.

Sometimes bad capacitors won't actually have the crud leaking out the top as in some of the pics above, but if the top of the capacitor is not PERFECTLY flat, then it is failing. Even a very, very slight 'popped' top is bad news. Make a thorough visual inspection of the capacitors.
I have seen many motherboards with numerous capacitors that are very slightly popped, and the board still boots up and runs fine. However, because the capacitors are not performing 100% as they should, there is a very real chance that damage is being done to other components from incorrect and "dirty" current and voltage flowing through the system.

 

Thank you dlb for the information, I will have to tackle this next weekend (have to work all week).

 

I forgot to mention that the Event Viewer can be very helpful also.... right click "My Computer", select "Manage", click the little plus sign next to "Event Viewer" in the left pane, then click "System" and the right pane will populate with a bunch of info. You're looking for red "X" errors that occurred at the same time as the crashes. Then right click the error and select "Properties". This info can be copy-n-pasted in to Notepad and saved, or you can post the info here. It might help!

For some reason, the 3rd set of capacitor images seems to have disappeared. :confused

Here's the picture again:

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/6504/dscn3207.jpg

There's one above that is just VERY slightly bulging on top, a very slight 'pop'.... this is still a failed capacitor. Obviously, the popped capacitor is the one on the left.

 

OK I finally resolved my problem here...
The problem was my antivirus (Avast) having a conflict with one of microsoft's updates. I uninstalled Avast before but did not know I had to use the Avast removal tool. found here: http://files.avast.com/files/eng/aswclear.exe

Follow these directions if you are going to be doing this:
Boot into Recovery using Vista DVD or HDD recovery partition. Run "Windows System Restore".

Upon reaching Desktop, run the Avast tool.

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I did not try re-installing Avast, I am now using Avira Antivirus & haven't had a BSOD since.

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I wanted to put this up here incase someone else ran into this same problem.



Thank you to everyone for there time & effort in trying to help me.