Blue Screen of Death,Destruction and Depression

Wait! Isn't it supposed to be just the Blue screen of death?


You spent the whole of last night writing the article for your magazine that's going to get you promoted.Now there you are,coffee mug in hand,pressing the power button.There is the Blue screen of death,the destruction of your coffee mug and the sudden depression that lowers your blood pressure,making you feel faint.It all fits now!



This is what e call a 'blue screen of death'. Now as you can see,there's not much that you can garner about what is wrong,from this.Looks all cryptic doesn't it? Don't worry,it's pretty simple.Following are some things you could do to revive the dead beast.

1.If the BSOD appeared after logging in,try rebooting in the safe mode and remove any new software you installed,or a setting you changed.

2.If the blue screen appears only for half a second and flashes away,restart computer,tap F8 and in the menu select option 'Disable automatic restart on failure'.
Alternatively,got to My Computer,Right click it->properties->advanced->startup and recovery->settings->system failure->uncheck automatic restart.
This will stop the auto restart and now you can read what the screen says.

3.If you can log on to your Windows account(Safe Mode),the simplest thing you can try is System restore to an earlier date. Start->Programs->accessories->system tools->System Restore

If that doesn't work,read further

Okay so now let's try to decrypt the screen.
There are 3 parts of the Blue Screen that are of importance to us



1.The Error Message
2.The Stop Code
3.Faulty file,if any

Right so let's begin

1.
Message : PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
Code: Stop 0x00000050
Corrupt File : Variable

Microsoft's Explanation:

This Stop message occurs when requested data is not found in memory. The system generates a fault, which normally indicates that the system looks for data in the paging file. In this circumstance, however, the missing data is identified as being located within an area of memory that cannot be paged out to disk. The system faults, but cannot find, the data and is unable to recover. Faulty hardware, a buggy system service, antivirus software, and a corrupted NTFS volume can all generate this type of error.
Link

My Interpretation:

Chances are,you have either a faulty RAM,or a driver issue.Unplug the RAM,remove any dust and plug it back in.Run Memtest for as long as you can.If your RAM fails it,time to buy a new stick.
If you have a driver issue,I suggest the following: Get DCPro and download latest drivers.Uninstall your Drivers,reboot in safe mode and run DCPro.Now install new drivers

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2.
Message : UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP
Code : Stop 0x0000007F
Faulty File : variable

Microsoft's explanation:

This Stop message means that one of two types of problems occurred in kernel-mode, either the kind of condition that the kernel is not allowed to have or catch (a bound trap), or an unrecoverable error. Occasionally, this message can be caused by software problems, but the most common cause is hardware failure. It usually occurs after the installation of faulty or mismatched hardware (especially memory) or in the event that installed hardware fails. Setting the CPU to run at speeds above the rated specification (known as overclocking the CPU) can also cause this error.
Link

My Interpretation:

If You overclocked your processor,try reducing the freq. multiplier by 1.Check for faulty motherboard.Look for bloated capacitors,etc.You could also have faulty RAM.Follow procedure for #1 above


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3.
Message : BAD_POOL_CALLER
Code : Stop 0xC2
Faulty File : variable

Microsoft's explanation:
None for XP (weird)

My Interpretation:
It's a Software glitch.Look for the file at the bottom of the BSOD.Try to locate it and understand what it's for (Google helps) It will generally be assosciated with a driver.Install the updated driver.


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4.
Message : DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
Code : Stop 0x000000D1
Faulty File : generally vsdatant.sys

Microsoft's explanation:
None specific for XP

My Interpretation:
The Most common problem seen.
Possibility 1: reset BIOS settings
Possibility 2: You have ZoneAlarm product installed? I thought so.Get rid of it.You don't know how much frustgration I've had because of this BSOD
right click on ZA uninstaller and under path put '/clean /rmlicense' at the end (without the quotes).However make sure you have your ZA key safe for future installations.

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5.
Message : NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM
Code : Stop 0x00000024
Faulty File : generally ntfs.sys

Microsoft's explanation:
None for XP

My Interpretation:
Run the checkdisk utility Win+r-> chkdsk /f.there may be some error with the file system.Check if both the Hard disk cables are tight enough.

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6.
Message : DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
Code : Stop 0x0000009F
Faulty File : variable

Microsoft's explanation:
This behavior occurs when drivers do not handle power state transition requests properly. The error message most often occurs during one of the following actions:
• Shutting down
• Suspending or resuming from Standby mode
• Suspending or resuming from Hibernate mode

Link

My Interpretation:
Probably your Drivers again.If you just updated them,try Rolling Back to previous version.If not,try newer version.Disable and re-enable hibernate option if using it.

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7.
Message : UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME
Code : Stop 0x000000ED
Faulty File : variable

Microsoft's explanation:
1.The file system is damaged and cannot be mounted.
2.You use a standard 40-wire connector cable to connect the UDMA drive to the controller instead of the required 80-wire, 40-pin cable.
3.The basic input/output system (BIOS) settings are configured to force the faster UDMA modes.
Link

My Interpretation:
Same as that of Microsoft's.Insert the WINXP cd and go to recovery console and perform chkdsk /r.It should Work.
If it does not,then there is another possibility.
Warning: Use this method at your own risk.It may causeyou to lose your partitions.You have been warned
Method:
In recovery console,type fixmbr and hit enter.Windows tries to fix your Master boot record.Reboot.

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So there you have it,the 7 most common Blue screens explained.

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