[Mattowander]

Hey! I have a windows XP. The last few days I've been getting more and more blue screen of death errors, until finally last night it just stopped loading in normal mode. I can start in Safe Mode with Networking, and I'm usually able to login but even in safe mode my computer seems to be prone to the blue screen of death restarts. When I try to normally start up my computer, after the Windows screen all I get is a black screen, or otherwise it takes a VERY long time to get close to the login screen. This is assuming the computer doesn't randomly restart. Finally, sometimes when I start my computer up, the orange stand-by light on my moniter stays on instead of turning green. I usually just restart my computer once or twice and the moniter starts working again.

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Re-install the video adapter drivers

Items in blue which are underlined are clickable to give more information about the process

Click start then run, type prefetch then press enter, click edit then select all, right click any file then click delete, confirm delete

Click start, all programmes, accessories, system tools to run disc clean up, then from system tools, run disc defragmenter.

Click start then run, type sfc /scannow then press enter, you need the XP CD and Windows File Protection will show a blue onscreen progress bar, when the bar goes, reboot

If you do not have an XP CD you can borrow a same version as was originally installed XP CD, if you downloaded SP2 then you need an SP1 XP CD

Click start then run, type chkdsk /f /r then press enter, type Y to confirm for next boot, press enter then reboot.

Windows will appear to load normally then either the monitor will show progress or the screen will go blank, do not disturb this.

This will take an hour or so before it gets to the desktop.

Download and install Tune Up 2006 Trial

Run Tune Up Disc Clean Up

Run Tune Up Registry Clean Up

Click Optimize and Improve to run Reg Defrag, which will take a few minutes and need a reboot. You should disable the antivirus programme to run this and check it is running after the reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to optimize the computer, select computer with an internet connection from the drop down menu, this also requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to accelerate downloads, select the speed just above your actual connection speed, this requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to run system advisor

[Retired Tech]

Re-install the video adapter drivers

Items in blue which are underlined are clickable to give more information about the process

Click start then run, type prefetch then press enter, click edit then select all, right click any file then click delete, confirm delete

Click start, all programmes, accessories, system tools to run disc clean up, then from system tools, run disc defragmenter.

Click start then run, type sfc /scannow then press enter, you need the XP CD and Windows File Protection will show a blue onscreen progress bar, when the bar goes, reboot

If you do not have an XP CD you can borrow a same version as was originally installed XP CD, if you downloaded SP2 then you need an SP1 XP CD

Click start then run, type chkdsk /f /r then press enter, type Y to confirm for next boot, press enter then reboot.

Windows will appear to load normally then either the monitor will show progress or the screen will go blank, do not disturb this.

This will take an hour or so before it gets to the desktop.

Download and install Tune Up 2006 Trial

Run Tune Up Disc Clean Up

Run Tune Up Registry Clean Up

Click Optimize and Improve to run Reg Defrag, which will take a few minutes and need a reboot. You should disable the antivirus programme to run this and check it is running after the reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to optimize the computer, select computer with an internet connection from the drop down menu, this also requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to accelerate downloads, select the speed just above your actual connection speed, this requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to run system advisor

[Mattowander]

Hey! I waited for an hour and 40 minutes, and I still had the black screen after doing the CHKDSK. When I tried to download Tune-Up, I couldn't because I was still in safe mode, and still couldn't even get to the login screen trying to normally start up.

[Retired Tech]

If check disc ran it would have gone to normal mode

[Mattowander]

Yeah but I had to restart my computer because it froze up after an hour and 40 minutes of waiting for CHKDSK to finish. After it restarted, I got the SAME black screen so I'm not sure if CHKDSK did anything.

[Retired Tech]

Check disc is unlikely to freeze and it is a two hour job (minimum) on an average drive, as long as the CPU light on the tower is active, let it be

[Mattowander]

Well I'm redoing the CHKDSK thing right now, and I still have the bl ack screen with the mouse pointer. If it's not working for some reason, should I leave it on all night or what?

[Retired Tech]

It will run or show an error if it cannot

Until you either see the desktop or the error message, let it run

[Mattowander]

Well about 2 hours in, I got a blue screen with the DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL message, so I had to restart the computer again. I then went back a few minutes later and so another blue screen with the error message BAD_POOL_CALLER. I then restarted my computer AGAIN, and got the PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA message, so I restarted it a 4th time, and now I'm back to the black screen with the mouse pointer. I'm not sure whether it's doing the CHKDSK thing anymore or not. What should I do?

[Retired Tech]

You can use this guide to repair XP

Possibly, you will need to press the start button and keep tapping the delete key, (possibly F2) until the PC enters set up. Change the boot order to CD ROM Drive then hard drive, press F10 then press enter, load the XP CD then type Y then press enter, as it reboots, look for press any key to load from CD, press enter

You will need the XP product key to complete this

If you have audio / video files which are subject to DRM you should check with the provider for known issues with performing an XP repair install

XP Repair Install

Windows XP repair feature won't delete your data, installed programs, personal information, or settings. It just repairs the operating system

After running XP Repair you will need to install all Windows Updates

Microsoft Update

[Mattowander]

The problem is I'm not exactly sure my XP CD is, or where my XP product key is. How do I find this information out, and/or get a new XP CD?

[Retired Tech]

If that meant you were unable to run sfc /scannow then you can borrow a same version as was originally installed XP CD to either run sfc /scannow or the repair, you use your product key during the repair

[Mattowander]

But what if I don't have/know the the CD or the Key?

[Retired Tech]

There should be a sticker on the tower

[Mattowander]

Ok I think I found the key, but now what about the CD? I don't know what I did with it, or even if one came with the computer. Should I contact the emachines support team?