BSOD?!@?!?!?!

[jason-23]

I've been getting a few BSOD once in a awhile and I cant seem to figure it out. Should I just take is in to a shop or what?

[inkman996]

My experience a black screen of death has always been a sign of hardware failing and not anything to do with software.

[Gilligan]

First step is to test the ram.  Memtest86 is boss there.

[Frog]

First step is to test the ram.  Memtest86 is boss there.

Is that user friendly to us average lay(lame) people?

[Admiral]

chkdsk is the other big check to do

I'd say it's the hard drive more often than the ram.  Right click, tools, error checking, since it's probably your main drive it will schedule the scan for when you reboot.

[inkman996]

Back up often and back up before you do any disk or RAM testing. In fact with a hardware failure imminent do not even take the chance using the PC till you have it repaired.

[Admiral]

Back up often and back up before you do any disk or RAM testing. In fact with a hardware failure imminent do not even take the chance using the PC till you have it repaired.

Whoa people still use their computer hard disks for your vital company documents (business stuff / art / etc)!?

We use a NAS 10TB system that backs up to on offsite NAS.

[GraphicDisorder]

Reboot it....3 times.

Gilligan will get this.  I think.

[inkman996]

Reboot it....3 times.

Gilligan will get this.  I think.

Which one are you the sales dude or the IT guy?

[GraphicDisorder]

Reboot it....3 times.

Gilligan will get this.  I think.

Which one are you the sales dude or the IT guy?

I was almost the IT guy.  Thankfully didn't follow my schooling lol. 

[noiseloops]

backing up critical data is wisest before you carry out any tests on your hardware. it seems like a failing harddrive from the looks of it.

so to get the data backed up earlier is better than when the drive is dead/corrupted and you have the whole difficulty of recovering the drive itself.

[Gilligan]

2nd thing I'd check is the Hard Drive with the manufacture's diagnostics tool.

Just had Ted come by with a failing HD... just running incredibly slow, no BSOD yet.

I lean more to RAM first, probably because I'm hopeful and it's faster than the hard drive.

Though sadly neither are 100%

Andy, Memtest86 can't be simpler, it runs the test automatically... it's either good or it isn't and you know... starts dumping red on your screen.  Figuring out which stick is just a matter of swapping them one by one till the errors happen again.

Hard drive test is almost as easy.  Short then long test.

Brandt, yep... almost forgot about that gem.  Might need to toss that up on the computer companies FB page for a TBT or something stupid like that.

[jason-23]

Doesnt the info given in the BSOD give you information as to what is wrong or at least a starting point? I did the ram tests, all is good, when I did the hd test the notes a the bottom of the screen said there is a hardware problem...

[Gilligan]

There is a tool called "What Crashed", I think, that you can use to read the "mini dump" files.  This can give you some insight into "what crashed".

I still usually test RAM and HD before worrying about the dump files though.

[Gilligan]

Might be "Who Crashed"