blue screens diagnostic algorithm

[colore]

hello

can you tell me please what is the diagnostic algorithm to find out the cause of sudden blue screens in XP

thanks

[cluberti]

There's no algorithm per se, bugcheck codes are passed to the KeBugCheck(Ex) function in Windows when a process (or the system itself) needs to crash the machine due to failure of some sort. The bugcheck codes do mean something (as do the memory addresses or error codes they contain), and you can find a list of the bugcheck codes and descriptions in the help for windbg (found in the Debugging Tools for Windows package).

[colore]

so what should I do ? try to identify the bug code ? or something else?

[cluberti]

I'm going to assume you have a crash .dmp file from a BSOD on your machine?

[colore]

searching for such file in C:\ returned nothing

[Tripredacus]

What is the code you are getting? You may also find it in the Event Viewer if you did not write it down.

[colore]

not sure if the blue screen wrote something in EventLog

but I found these errors/warnings:

"TCP/IP has reached the security limit imposed on the number of concurrent TCP connect attempts."

"The General Purpose USB Driver (e4ldr.sys) service failed to start due to the following error:

The system cannot find the file specified."

"Your computer was not able to renew its address from the network (from the DHCP Server) for the Network Card with network address 0015D439155F. The following error occurred:

The operation was canceled by the user. . Your computer will continue to try and obtain an address on its own from the network address (DHCP) server."

my pc is a notebook with WinXP SP3, Intel dual core processor, ethernet attached adsl modem (or router, not sure), usb attached printer (mostly closed), 2GB RAM

Edited July 8, 2010 by colore

[colore]

none of the above seem to be related with the blue screen

can the blue screen be due to power supply failure?

[Tripredacus]

It is possible. Does it only do it when connected to AC or on battery? Do you use a docking station?

[colore]

it is always connected to AC

I have a suspicion that the fan needs some lubricating...

[Tripredacus]

Fortunately with notebooks you have multiple power sources. If you think its the power supply, you should try running on Battery to see if the problem happens there. Or you could try being on AC with no battery installed. I've seen weird things if the battery has a problem even if running on AC.

But these could be a waste of time, posting the info from the blue screen is really your next step. Presuming the system crashed properly, there should be something under System in Event Viewer with the error. You may also disable the automatic restart on system failure, so you can read what is on the screen without it rebooting.