Blue screen of death?

[Paul]

Every now and again we get kicked out of the computer by this, which has a message that windows closed down to avoid serious damage or somesuch. There follows a string of suggestions.

Is there a quick fix, or should we just work through the (many, incomprehensible) suggestions?

[Polar Bear]

I've found in the past when this becomes common a reinstall of the operating system tends to cure it.   

A real expert will be along in a moment .. 

[TimO]

BSODs are never good news, although if you get them repeatedly that's suggestive of something specifically wrong, rather than just the odd random crash (which everyone gets).

Did you install some new hardware or software around the time that things started to go wrong?  What version of Windows are you using?  What specific error message did the BSOD give?

[Charlotte]

I've been suffering from it lately as well and I'm so fed up, I'm going to buy a new PC.

The BSOD is what happens when your computer encounters a critical system error that it can't recover from.  It means something's gone so badly wrong that the whole shebang needs to stop what it's doing right now and reboot.

In my limited experience, this is because there's something that's recently changed.  A new driver or bit of other software, a new update to windows or something disagreeing with something else.

Your best bet is to roll back to a previous state (by uninstalling the last new bit of software you added) and see if that fixes it.  Needless to say, you need to be sure that your firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware software are up to date and you've scanned for nasties recently.

I'm at the point where I'm just about to chuck my blasted laptop out of the window it's done this so much lately.  You have my sympathy.

<a href="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-8363127660275444169" target="_blank">http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-8363127660275444169</a> 

[Frenchie]

I'd ask H.! 

[peliroja]

I sometimes get a BSOD when my lappie overheats. My desk docking system isn't the best-designed in the world, and means the hot air from the fan hits the side of the docking system, causing heat to build up.

That's when it goes all squiffy. 

[border-rider]

Or when the cat snuggles up against the vent on the side of the laptop - toasty warm  for the cat but not so good for the computer

[Pete]

See here for some <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/algWjS2yiyE&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/algWjS2yiyE&rel=1</a>...

[yes I know it's an oldie, I still love watching though]

[rogerzilla]

It's nearly always caused by overheating IME.  Open the case and give the CPU heatsink a blast of compressed air to get the dust out.  If you're confident, get some conductive paste, remove the heatsink and clean and reinstall it properly.

A case fan is always a good idea, if you don't have one.

[Paul]

Did you install some new hardware or software around the time that things started to go wrong?

No idea. There's 3 of us using this thing and, while I have never knowingly installed anything, I guess Suzy or H may have done.

What version of Windows are you using?

 

I'm told it's XP

What specific error message did the BSOD give?

"BAD_POOL_HEADER

 (then it says to check hard/software properly installed, and then to disable/remove hard/software, disable BIOS memory options, followed by:)

STOP: OxOOOOOO19 (OxOOOOOO20, OxE36D7368, OxE36D7740, Ox1C7BO401)."

Does that mean anything to anyone?

It's nearly always caused by overheating IME.  Open the case and give the CPU heatsink a blast of compressed air to get the dust out.  If you're confident, get some conductive paste, remove the heatsink and clean and reinstall it properly.

A case fan is always a good idea, if you don't have one.

I'll run this by someone, anyone who might know what the hell it all means. Thanks.

[D0m1n1c Burford]

Every now and again we get kicked out of the computer by this, which has a message that windows closed down to avoid serious damage or somesuch. There follows a string of suggestions.

Is there a quick fix, or should we just work through the (many, incomprehensible) suggestions?

The BSOD is an exception that has not been handled by the Windows Operating System.  Windows attempts to handle most exceptions, but obviously it cannot respond to them all, as some will just be too unusual or impractical.  Remember, the Windows testing team will try to test most of the common exceptions before release, but they cannot test every permutation of hard drive, sound card, graphics driver, printer driver, Office version, virus checker etc.  Those that have not been tested by the Windows testing team, and therefore not been explicitly trapped by the development team (and therefore by Windows itself) results in the catch all BSOD.  In short, a BSOD is an exception that has not been explicitly trapped by the Windows operating system.

Have you installed any new software, upgraded anything, installed any updates?  When the BSOD appears, what are you doing, what applications are open?  Try to note down as much information as possible to help track down the underlying problem.  By identfying the causes, it is perfectly possible to eliminate a BSOD.

[TimO]

Looking around for "BAD_POOL_HEADER", there doesn't seem to be any common causes, various things are listed, and about the only one which is relatively easy to try is the Indexing Service.

At the Start menu, select Run and type in "services.msc".  When the program runs, scroll down until you find "Indexing Service", right click on it, and select Stop.  Then see if the machine still suffers from BSODs.  If it's already off, then it likely isn't the problem.  If it does appear to help, you'll have to disable the service permanently, by setting the "Startup type" to Manual or Disabled rather than Automatic.  (The indexing service just tends to speed up the opening of files, it isn't essential).

This may not help, but it's relatively easy to try.

[Paul]

Have you installed any new software, upgraded anything, installed any updates?  When the BSOD appears, what are you doing, what applications are open?  Try to note down as much information as possible to help track down the underlying problem.  By identfying the causes, it is perfectly possible to eliminate a BSOD.

If it happens at all (it happens maybe one time in 4 or five), it happens very soon after firing up, so the photo of Louis will have been up, with all the short-cut icons on it and, when it happens to me, I'll have just fired up the internet, and be in yACF.

Should I not be coming here?

Looking around for "BAD_POOL_HEADER", there doesn't seem to be any common causes, various things are listed, and about the only one which is relatively easy to try is the Indexing Service.

At the Start menu, select Run and ...

This may not help, but it's relatively easy to try.

Well, the indexing service was already off, but thanks for the suggestion, TimO.

Perhaps we need to get a paid techie in.