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Windows Vista Problem solving for the Windows Vista Operating System. Please remember to state which edition of Vista you are using - Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Ultimate etc. and whether you are using the 32-bit or 64-bit version if you know.

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  #1  
Old September 14th, 2011, 05:43 PM
travelgirlut travelgirlut is offline
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Posts: 17
Repeated Blue Screen of Death

Well, after over two years of smooth running on my laptop, I've had to come to my trusted source for help! My laptop has started crashing on me (blue screen) and occasionally it will just freeze up for a few moments before working again (mouse not moving or anything). I remember there being a "do this before posting" list on here before, but I'm not finding it now, so I'm not sure where I need to start with giving info that is helpful. But here's what I can tell you:

Dell inspiron 1525
Windows Vista Home
Avast antivirus

Ok, so that's not a lot of info. Please let me know what you need me to do to try and fix this. Thanks in advance for your patience with my ignorance!

Amanda
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  #2  
Old September 15th, 2011, 04:49 AM
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Murf Murf is offline
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O/S: Windows XP Pro
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Sounds like a general cleaning up may be in order.


1st I would Disable Automatic Restart on System Failure, this will allow you to read the error generated when you have a BSOD:


Click on Start and then Control Panel.

  1. Click on the System and Maintenance link.
  2. Note: If you're viewing the Classic View of Control Panel, you won't see this link. Simply double-click on the System icon and proceed to Step 4.
  3. Click on the System link.
  4. In the task pane on the left, click the Advanced system settings link.
  5. Locate the Startup and Recovery area and click on the Settings button.
  6. In the Startup and Recovery window, locate and uncheck the check box next to Automatically restart.
  7. Click OK in the Startup and Recovery window.
  8. Click OK in the System Properties window.
  9. You can now close the System window.
Next I would clean up the disk:
  1. In the Start menu, click All Programs, click Accessories, click System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup.
  2. In the Disk Cleanup Options dialog box, choose whether you want to clean up your own files only or all of the files on the computer.
  3. If the Disk Cleanup: Drive Selection dialog box appears, select the hard disk drive that you want to clean up your case C:, and then click OK.
  4. Click the Disk Cleanup tab, and then select the check boxes for the files you want to delete.
  5. When you finish selecting the files you want to delete, click OK, and then, to confirm the operation, click Delete files. Disk Cleanup then removes all unnecessary files from your computer. This may take a few minutes.
I would check:
  • Remove temporary Internet files.
  • Delete downloaded program files, such as Microsoft ActiveX controls and Java applets.
  • Empty the Recycle Bin.
  • Remove Windows temporary files, such as error reports.
  • Delete optional Windows components that you don't use.
  • Delete installed programs that you no longer use.
  • Remove unused restore points and shadow copies from System Restore.
Run Error Checking utility:
  1. Close all open files.
  2. Click Start, and then click Computer.
  3. In the Computer window, right-click the hard disk you want to search for bad sectors, and then click Properties.
  4. In the Properties dialog box, click the Tools tab.
  5. Click the Check Now button.
  6. In the Check Disk dialog box , select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box, and then click Start.
Defrag the Hard Drive:
  1. Open Disk Defragmenter: Click the Start button, click All Programs, click Accessories, click System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
  2. In the Disk Defragmenter dialog box, click the drives that you want to defragment and then click the Analyze disk button. After the disk is analyzed, a dialog box appears letting you know whether you should defragment the analyzed drives.

    Tip: You should analyze a volume before defragmenting it to get an estimate of how long the defragmentation process will take.
  3. To defragment the selected drive or drives, click the Defragment disk button. In the Current status area, under the Progress column, you can monitor the process as it happens. After the defragmentation is complete, Disk Defragmenter displays the results.
  4. To display detailed information about the defragmented disk or partition, click View Report.
  5. To close the View Report dialog box, click Close.
  6. You can also schedule the Disk Defragmenter to run automatically. (Your computer might be set up this way by default.) Click Modify schedule....
  7. In the Disk Defragmenter: Modify Schedule dialog box, choose how often, which day, and at what time of day you want defragmentation to occur, and then click OK.
  8. Click OK again.
Run any anti-virus program you have
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  #3  
Old September 16th, 2011, 05:51 AM
travelgirlut travelgirlut is offline
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Thanks Murf! I've done all those steps, and I will wait and see how things go. I usually crash at least once a week, so by then I should know how things are going. Hopefully I won't be back!
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