blue screen and reboot

[pcandpc]

Hi,

I am using Vista Home Basic (32-bit).

Just today, I have had a blue screen

and the system was rebooted by itself.

Thinking of possible virus infection,

I scanned the entire hard drive using

McAfee antivirus but found no virus.

Well, how can I trace the blue screen?

I mean is it somewhere in the event log?

Also, should I back up and reformat and

reinstall the vista just to be safe?

By the way, I watch out for suspicious sites

by not visiting them during my Internet surfing.

I mean that I am very cautions in what I do during

the surfing.

So, where has this virus, if it is indeed, come from?

Thanks.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Hi,

I am using Vista Home Basic (32-bit).

Just today, I have had a blue screen

and the system was rebooted by itself.

Thinking of possible virus infection,

I scanned the entire hard drive using

McAfee antivirus but found no virus.

Well, how can I trace the blue screen?

I mean is it somewhere in the event log?

Also, should I back up and reformat and

reinstall the vista just to be safe?

By the way, I watch out for suspicious sites

by not visiting them during my Internet surfing.

I mean that I am very cautions in what I do during

the surfing.

So, where has this virus, if it is indeed, come from?

Thanks.

If you get a BSOD and reboot out of the blue.

Most likely causes:

1. Processor overheating.

2. Failing hardware.

Edited October 20, 2007 by RJARRRPCGP

[PC_LOAD_LETTER]

If you get a BSOD and reboot out of the blue.

Most likely causes:

1. Processor overheating.

2. Failing hardware.

Im gonna have to disagree on that point -BSODs are usually a 50/50 hardware/software mix

Id recommend checking out the eventlog / minidump files first

but the thing to keep in mind here is windows will BSOD occasionally 'out of the blue' if it does it once, just ignore it. If it happens again, backup your stuff, run viruscans/check logs, etc. if it becomes an every day/week event, then its time to reinstall.

[fizban2]

i would vote for about 80% of the time is a driver issue but that i just me

http://www.msfn.org/board/Creating_memory_dumps_t90244.html

follow the instructions in the post here to create a full memory dump of the blue screen, from that we can find out what the actual cause was

[cluberti]

but the thing to keep in mind here is windows will BSOD occasionally 'out of the blue' if it does it once, just ignore it.

Personally I have to disagree here - Windows should NEVER just BSOD, ever. If it does, don't ignore it .

[PC_LOAD_LETTER]

but the thing to keep in mind here is windows will BSOD occasionally 'out of the blue' if it does it once, just ignore it.

Personally I have to disagree here - Windows should NEVER just BSOD, ever. If it does, don't ignore it .

nah, if windows doesnt BSOD then how do you know its working? j/k

I just say that because theres a difference between a BSOD on one my machine 'for no reason' and a BSOD on one of my users machines

BSOD 'for no reason' on my machine = nothing running, system idle, no hardware changing states

BSOD 'for no reason' by my users definition = Burning a cd of songs they just downloaded off Kazaa while unpluging their pen drive after deleting some files from the c:\windows folder that were 'taking up space'

[razormoon]

lol @geek

...how do you know it's working. ha!

BSOD is a result of bad machine addressing - be it driver conflict, obsolete software or a pc that simple hates you. j/king 99% software.

Do not take cluberti's advice with a grain of salt. Never ignore BSODs and always have backups regardless. The best action you could have taken was to write down the white characters on the blue background and post them here. Remember, Vista and the myriad software and services are always active and thus never completely idle.

Also, I never encountered a virus that blue screened me. Virus authors are smarter than that.

@geek I'm still laughing.

Edited October 21, 2007 by razormoon

[cluberti]

I really like geek's sense of humor - good to have you 'round, mate .

[pcandpc]

Hi,

To razormoon, is there a system log file that captures such

bsod message somewhere? If so, I would like to look at it

and post it here.

Because the bsod happes rather quickly, I could not read

its fast disappearing screen long enough.

Thanks.