Dealing with Windows XP Stop Errors

Stop errors in Windows XP—part of the so-called Windows blue screen of death phenomenon that halts your Windows session—are some of the most frustrating errors you may experience, especially if you receive them frequently and the content of the stop error message changes from crisis to crisis. These aren’t entirely new to Windows XP; you just know them by different names, such as invalid page faults, from earlier versions of Windows.

Like other types of error messages, it’s important to get the exact text of the error on this screen. This can matter in determining what is causing the problem; even if the message doesn’t make sense to you, a technical support representative may be able to look it up, or you can check it against the database at the Microsoft Knowledge Base. Windows XP stop errors are typically caused by issues with either hardware or software. These can include:

  • Outdated or corrupted hardware or software drivers

  • An incompatible device that Windows cannot work with

  • Badly-behaving applications or utilities

  • An improper or corrupted Windows installation

  • Failing or incompatible memory

  • Windows installed to a system with a corrupted or out-of-date BIOS

  • Hard drive problems (including those related to overheating)

  • A virus

The first thing to suspect is any hardware or software you’ve recently added or modified. If possible, return your system to the way it was before you made the change, either by removing what you installed or resetting changes in the configuration. If this modification was the cause of the problem, switching back should resolve it. If not, leave this change undone until you can figure out what is causing the system halts.

The frequency with which stop errors or invalid page faults occur is important. Most of us get into a strange situation now and again that might cause a single stop or invalid page fault error. A restart of your system is often all that’s needed to clear it. But when the error recurs, especially if it recurs after a restart, you’ve probably got more than a transient problem on your hands.

Exactly when errors occur matters, too, because you can sometimes detect a pattern. For example, if every time you use your scanner you receive an invalid page fault or stop error, look at the scanner, its TWAIN driver (the drivers used by acquisition devices like scanners and digital cameras), its software, or the way Windows is trying to use it. Something is amiss.

More headaches occur when you can’t see a discernible pattern. In these cases, you just may need to observe the situation longer. For example, if doing various tasks in Windows produces the

same types of problems (crashing, slowdowns, errors), look first at what software is always running at the time this problem expresses itself. Maybe your out-of-date virus software or your last-version-of-Windows disk utility is running in the background each time, and this is the cause of your problems. Once all this is checked, it’s time to look at critical hardware, such as memory, your hard drive, and even your motherboard and CPU, because a problem or impending failure with any of those can produce significant Windows instability.

In the worst scenarios, you’ll find Windows reporting a problem with memory management in this blue screen, while telling you about an IRQ problem in another. Like the previous situation, you need to investigate what software is always running when this occurs. Once software is ruled out as a cause, investigate hardware problems as the possible cause.

Note 

Are you so frustrated with unresolved Windows problems that you just want to pack it in or get a fresh start? I can’t help you cut your ties to your PC, but I’ll tell you about “Starting from Scratch the Smart Way” in Chapter 16.

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One More Before We Go

Here’s a tip offered by the wise technical editor on this book, Don Fuller, that covers another area in which Windows built-in assistance can really lend a helping hand.

“When I first installed XP, I ran into severe problems. I [received] blue screens about 200 times in the first three months. The machine I installed XP on was previously running Windows 2000 Professional Server with no problems. The blue screens were random, with no specific error. There is a feature hidden in XP that was the charm. Go to Start Ø Help and Support Ø Use Tools… from Pick a Task menu Ø My Computer Information Ø View the Status of my System Hardware and Software. In the Hardware section under Update, I had an update required on both my video card and sound card. Although I was using the vendor-recommended drivers, they were not WHQL. (For a stable XP environment, WHQL drivers are the only way to go.) The instability was caused by these two drivers and the relationship between both drivers. I eventually found WHQL drivers for both cards; I had to replace the sound card—a SB PCI 128—because the SB PCI 128 Live was supported, not the one I had. The problems were finally resolved. This feature saved my neck and I’m sure it will save someone else’s.”

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Hardware failures, brought about by the ravages of time and overwork or because of a natural disaster, are a sad reality of working with computers. Failing hardware—hardware that is not quite ready to give up the digital ghost—can contribute to instabilities such as the stop and invalid page fault errors you’ve just read about.

Chapter 10, “Understanding and Troubleshooting Hardware Failures,” will explain some strategic hardware-specific troubleshooting that can help you both in disasters and in your everyday work. Chapter 10 will also talk about repairs and replacements you can do yourself.



PC Disaster and Recovery
PC Disaster and Recovery
ISBN: 078214182X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 140
Authors: Kate J. Chase

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