bsod on startup :( Options

[=R6= Raile]

yo guys

so last night my computer decided to bsod on me while it was just sitting at the desktop. Since then, it bsod'd about 5 seconds after loading the desktop each time I booted it. The first time I tried to boot in safe mode, it worked, however, the second time I booted it up, now safe mode won't work either (it gets to a black screen, with a mouse cursor, but just hangs there. even when booting in to safe mode with dos prompt only). So I'm kind of fucked. I've tried removing each ram stick and seeing if any of those are causing the problem. I've tried using the windows boot up disk (i'm using vista btw) to repair windows, do a system restore, and check for memory problems. basically I did every test the windows disk has to offer, and nothing worked. I'm guessing it's gotta be hardware? Though I didn't think it mattered, I pulled out my audio board anyway and tried booting but no change. It's the only thing I think I can unplug and test. All I've got left is the mb, graphics card, and harddrive. Any suggestions on how I find out what the problem is?

Cheers

[MonkeyFiend]

yeah, best bet is to kill magik5 with a stick. Then buy an apple mac and a beret like the flouncy artsy-fartsy type I know you are

Next... if it will boot in spafe mode but not in regular mode, it means its loading in regular mode some software or drivers that it doesn't like. Now... likely is you've got a corrupt driver (or interesting virus) but corrupt driver is much more likely.

When you start in spafe mode, it loads generic graphics, audio drivers etc., So best best (assuming you can still get online in safe mode) is to redownload the current versions of drivers (starting with GFX, Audio, chipset). If it's corrupt drivers, replacing the problem ones will fix.

If replacing the various drivers with the up to date ones doesn't work, you've restored the software hive, you might as well run the command sfc /scannow (make sure you have the vista cd though) - this will compare any vista system files against the originals on the cd and replace where different (different can mean updated, corrupt or infected). This will probably result in a lot of software (like office) not working*

ta,

Monkey


p.s. *However since you will have backed up the software hive file from earlier, you can always copy this original file back to fix most software if it turns out to be a driver issue.

p.p.s My bet is gonfed gfx drivers.

p.p.p.s Yes, I did make up the verb 'to gonf', but it sounds pleasant, so I'll keep using it