PC help needed - serious error message

[Guy Fawkes]

My mates computer (a Dell), displays a blue screen, with a message about a serious error occuring and windows being shut down to prevent further damage.

Has it had it, is there an easy repair or would it be cheap enough to fix?

And help and advice would be appreciated
Thanks

 

[Hiney]

Just turn it off and turn it an again (really!)

It's probably just a little bug with one of the USB ports or something

 

[Guy Fawkes]

trried that several times, it had a problem before where it seemed it had to warm up before loading up completely, but now its just a blue screen with the message

 

[Hiney]

trried that several times, it had a problem before where it seemed it had to warm up before loading up completely, but now its just a blue screen with the message

oh!

*sorry*

 

[Guy Fawkes]

no worries, just wondering if anyone had any idea's or suggestions to try

 

[Frutos]

Might be worth PM'ing MYOB, he's the expert on such computer-y matters.

 

[Beach Hut]

Start the PC and press F12 (I think) and the option for safe mode then use the option to restore to last correct working mode.

 

[bhaexpress]

First thing to do is boot it in 'Safe Mode'. What that means is that you press 'F8' when is starts to load Windows. That boots up the basic Windows system. If that works you have a dodgy driver. Have you installed anything lately ?

 

[Horsham Gull]

can be anything from a dodgy windows file to some hardware failing

 

[bhaexpress]

I think a busted driver judging by the message, certainly doesn't sound as bad as you might think.

 

[dougdeep]

Oh no! Not the BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH?

 

[MORTY]

Get a Mac

 

[Horsham Gull]

get linux

 

[Guy Fawkes]

First thing to do is boot it in 'Safe Mode'. What that means is that you press 'F8' when is starts to load Windows. That boots up the basic Windows system. If that works you have a dodgy driver. Have you installed anything lately ?

He has now tried starting and using F8, but it still won't start up even in safe mode

Looks like a hardware failure

Thanks for the tips everyone

 

[The Oldman]

It can be difficult to get into safe mode. As Windows starts loading repeatedly press F8. If that doesn't work then if you are getting the Starting windows message you getting somewhere.So try this. Press the reset button on your computer then press and hold left Shift Key while the computer and windows try to boot. This should get you into safe mode and using control panel, Device Manager can show you what device is causing the problem

 

[desprateseagull]

If you dare go for anothr Dell, they did have one (on offer?) at £200 + VAT and delivery..

 

[clippedgull]

I would get him to reconsider installing Windows by placing his disc into the cd/dvd drive then booting and follow on screen messages before writing the computer off.

It might just be a corrupt system file that is causing the error.

I had this a couple of weeks ago, funnily enough on my Dell laptop.

Just did a re-install and all went fine.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

It can be difficult to get into safe mode. As Windows starts loading repeatedly press F8. If that doesn't work then if you are getting the Starting windows message you getting somewhere.So try this. Press the reset button on your computer then press and hold left Shift Key while the computer and windows try to boot. This should get you into safe mode and using control panel, Device Manager can show you what device is causing the problem

He has tried this, unfortunately, he says that he can't get it anywhere near to booting up, it stops almost immediately as he tries to start in safe mode, going straight to the blue screen.

The computer was second hand, therefore he hasn't got the disks to try to reload windows from scratch.

 

[Robot Chicken]

What version of Windows is he running?
He needs to unplug absolutely everything from the machine except for the monitor and keyboard.
What error message does the Blue Screen of Death show? It should give letters and numbers.

 

[SNOOBS]

Sounds pretty f***ed tbh.