Computer geeks - did my PC just die?

[NewJeffCT]

We had a computer problem last night on our home computer that continued this morning. It is a 3 year old Dell Desktop that runs Windows XP. We have not had any major problems previously.

First, I got a message about the NTFS file system error and the computer ran some sort of disk check for consistency that seemed to go out, but it deleted and then restored some files.

However, when I re-booted the computer, we got a blue screen with a lot of text on it. I copied down some of the error messages, but it said something like: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and then it did something with the physical memory dump and if restarting the computer didn¡¯t work, we should try to restart the computer in safe mode and remove some components. At the bottom, the message had some technical information like **** stop 0x000000D1 (0x00000014, 0x00000002, 0x00000000, 0xF99090F8)

Any ideas what the problem is? We have not installed any new software recently, other than me renewing the Norton Anti-Virus last week. It had run fine the past several days, including over the long weekend.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

1. Check this out

I'm not sure if this is your problem or not. It does sound likely, however.

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/Default.asp?url=/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prmd_stp_ottj.asp

[NewJeffCT]

3. Yes, that sounds right

What can I do to resolve the problem?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

9. I had this happen to me over some hardware I installed once.

If this is your problem it can be caused by either hardware or software as I understand it.

Note: I am only posting because I 'thought' I recognized the stop message. I am not overly wise in these areas so take this information with a grain of salt.

Mine was an easy fix remove the offending card and move on. Since this is not your problem I will offer up both of MS's attempts at solution. No promises either will work.

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/Default.asp?url=/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prmd_stp_hyzf.asp

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/Default.asp?url=/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prmd_stp_iwpy.asp

Good luck, and may the Force be with you. :)

[Kellanved]

2. hard to say

Does the PC boot in safe mode?
Is there a ".sys" file referenced in the Blue Screen?
The IRQ message indeed is one often caused by hardware failures.

It might be worthwhile to analyze the dump using windbg (available from MS for free). The usage is not entirely trivial, though.

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/installx86.mspx


It is entirely possible that a capacitor broke, causing your problems. In order to cut costs, manufacturers tend to use substandard capacitors, which are known to cause problems after a few years. If that should indeed be the case, someone really good with a soldering iron might be able to replace it.

[NewJeffCT]

4. I have not had time yet

I have not had time yet to reboot the PC in safe mode...

[izzie]

5. Good luck mine only runs a short time then down it goes.

I have to re-start it each time as I can find nothing wrong and it will not tell me a thing. It just stops and nothing moves. I have done ever trouble thing I can find and all the regular stuff but on and on it goes. My son said it is time I got a new one but that cost money so we shall see. It is a gateway 98 and has windows 98 on it. I have had it in for re-pairs and they said they took off a number of programs that were running and should not be on it. It was someones PC before it was a gift to me.

[NewJeffCT]

6. even when I restarted

Even when I restarted, I get the blue screen with the text on it.

[soothsayer]

7. did you ever create an emergency start-up disk? try booting

with that in the drive. If you didn't create one, you can still go out on the internet and find the files to create one (using a different pc, of course)/

[NewJeffCT]

8. I'll try that when i get home tonight

thanks for the tip.

[NewJeffCT]

10. UPDATE from home

Hopefully, somebody can point me in the right direction, but as I was booting my PC up again, it said it could not find the listed account. Windows XP creates a user name for the computer.. and it could not find it anymore. However, it created a temporary account and allowed me to get in that way...

So, I lost all my settings on the computer - had to get a new password from DU and all.

[48pan]

11. Here's what I would do

Start in safe mode
If necessary log in with administrator privelige
Run your virus checker (it is up-to-date isn't it?)
It that works, get Adaware SE and run that.

There a several worm/trojan programs out there right now that are downright rude. There are even a couple that will eat your BIOS EPROM chip. You may have one that eats operating system files.

If it won't start in safe mode, start from a CD with the WinXP disk. Reinstall/repair the operating system and try the same thing.

If it won't boot from the CD, you probably have hardware problems. Seek professional help in that case.

Worst case without broken hardware, you will have to reformat the hard disk and recover the system with your original CD's.

Make sure to update WinXP as soon as it is up and running. I strongly recommend downloading and using Firefox as your browser. For the time being, it seems to be immune to worms and trojans plus adware/malware/spyware.

[NewJeffCT]

12. thanks

Unfortunately, we have a lot of valuable pictures that we haven't backed up properly.