A friend call me last night asking me why his computer is giving him blue screens while he is installing a fresh install of Microsoft Windows XP.

I ask him which part of the installation process is giving him the blue screens. He told me the blue screens appear when Microsoft Windows XP are loading the files after finish copying the files from the CD during the first installation step before the installation process self restart to boot into the Graphical User Interface of the installation process.

Usually when blue screens occured during this part of Microsoft Windows XP installation process are due to several factors:

1. Faulty RAM memory module.
2. Faulty Microsoft Windows XP installation CD, or Optical media problems.
3. Faulty motherboard.

I told him try to replace another RAM memory module.

Luckily by replacing a new RAM memory module on his computer, the Microsoft Windows XP installation went smoothly.

Blue screens due to faulty RAM memory module happen because the Microsoft Windows installation files got corrupted as the installation files are copied to RAM memory module during the first stage of Microsoft Windows XP installation process.

See also:

• Diagnosing Microsoft Windows XP blue screen (1)
• The basic tips for computer troubleshooting and repair. (0)
• Why Computers Crash (0)
• Random blue screen error message cause by faulty RAM (6)
• Blue screen with random error messages (1)

Microsoft Windows Operating system are synonym with the term blue screen of death , or just blue screens. Most technician will prompt the user to format or reinstall microsoft windows xp when the user bring the computer for computer repair.

Sometimes blue screens will occur when computer crashes , and Microsoft Windows will self restart after blue screen appearing for some seconds. This is due to the default settings of Microsoft Windows operating system.

To diagnose blue screen, you must change the default setting of Microsoft Windows XP operating system in System Properties.

1. Right click on My Computer icon on the desktop, and click “Properties”.
2. Choose “Advanced” tab
3. Click on “Settings” in the “Startup and Recovery” section.
4. Go to “System Failure” section , and tick “Write an event to the system log” , untick “Send an administrative alert” , untick “Automatically restart.
5. Click OK.

Now Microsoft Windows XP will write a dump file containing information on blue screens and will not self restart itself everytime blue screens occured during computer crashes.

Everytime blue screens occur, it will display some information on error occured. This informatios are crucial when troubleshooting and computer repair. Most of the blue screens will display error code. You can use this error for a search on the net for troubleshooting and computer repair process.

For example, a blue screens display the error nv4.sys . A quick search on the will show that nv4.sys is a component of Nvidia driver file, so automatically you know that the blue screens is caused by incompatible nvidia driver which is causing a conflict with the Microsoft Windows operating system.

Most of the time, an update of the driver will solved the blue screens problem. This can be apply to most of Microsoft Windows XP blue screens error.

See also:

• Blue screen when installing Microsoft Windows XP (1)
• Why Computers Crash (0)
• The basic tips for computer troubleshooting and repair. (0)
• Random blue screen error message cause by faulty RAM (6)
• Blue screen with random error messages (1)

In my line of work, usually when my clients bring me their system with problems, I usually gave them some basic tips after diagnosing and troubleshooting their computer systems.

There are some basic computer problem troubleshooting techniques you can perform yourself before bringing your computer system to your trusted computer technician or calling your local tech support hot line. Before starting out it is important to know basic information about your computer system. You need to know whether it is a Mac or a PC. You need to know who the manufacturer is, whether you have a white box (which is a clone system), a dell, an IBM, etc. You should also know what kind of a processor your computer have, whether it is a x86 or x64, and what operating system is running on your computer, such as Microsoft Windows Operating System, or Open Source Operating system such as Linux or FreeBSD.

You need to know how much memory module (RAM) you have and how large a hard drive installed in the computer. All of this information should either be written somewhere, or should be in your manufacturer’s manual. Equipped with this information you are then ready to embark on a journey to your troubleshooting steps.

There are things to Keep in mind when troubleshooting your computer system. You should always remember what you were doing before the error occurred. If possible, write down the error messages as a references for the technical department if necessary. Were you working on a document on your hard drive, or on the network?Ok now that we have that settled lets try a few things. Reboot (turn the machine off and then on again) - Believe it or not but this resolves most computer problems. Run a Virus check, but first run a virus update. You can usually get your virus updated online Try to decide on the area of the problem.

Determine if it’s a network problem if you are having trouble with Internet Connection, a hardware problem, or a software problem. You can determine if it’s a network problem very easily by checking to see if the computer is on the network. Network problems are the usual culprits for Internet problems. If your computer doesn’t start up, then you should look behind it and make sure that all the cables are plugged firmly into the computer. Make sure that the computer is plugged into the outlet (sometimes the cleaning crew messes this stuff up) Check to see if you get any lights on the computer. If the computer lights turn on, but the computer won’t start and you have no sound, then you probably need to replace the power supply.

You should call a repair technician to have it replaced. If your computer hang when using the operating system. Try rebooting your system and as it reboots press F8 to see if it will go into safe mode, from there uninstall the application you installed that caused the problem, or reboot. If none of the above tips work at least you are better informed and can give tech support the information they need to help you. The most important thing is to remain calm and to pay attention to what the computer is doing, so you can help the technician help you in your computer problem troubleshooting.

The more information you can give the computer technician, the more easier for the computer technician to troubleshoot your computer.

Tags: troubleshooting, repair, error

See also:

• Blue screen when installing Microsoft Windows XP (1)
• Why Computers Crash (0)
• Diagnosing Microsoft Windows XP blue screen (1)