blue screen of death

Hello

I'll try to describe the problem as detailed as possible, but bear with me since I'm not all that sure on how to describe everything that well. It's confusing... I have a Dell XPS desktop with Vista Home Edition.

I was visiting the audi.co.uk website when all of a sudden parts of my screen started to get black boxes as though flash player was screwing up. After about 15 seconds or so of just regular browsing, my computer flashed black several times until the blue screen of death popped up. I restarted my computer and then when the Dell startup screen started to show up (when it shows it's loading), there were these blue dots scattered in a pattern across the screen. They went away when it asked for me to log on, but the resolution is all screwed up and it won't let me get back to my specifications. I go to the Personalization->Display Settings to set my resolution back and it doesn't seem to have my previous settings. In addition, the aesthetics of my computer seem messed up. For example, the slightly transparent and flowing colors of the task bar of various applications is now a solid blue color (like Windows XP was). No files or programs seem to be corrupted, or from what I see. All my programs seem to be in place and where they're supposed to be. So far, it seems to just be a problems dealing with the aesthetics since everything else seems normal. How do I fix this? Thanks in advance. And sorry if this was the wrong sub-forum to put this in.

 

Welcome to TSG.
Can you do a System Restore, before this happened?

 

Hello

I did perform a system restore; unfortunately, it didn't accomplish anything.

 

I only have XP so please look at these places
http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/4589

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windowsvista/f/opendmvista.htm

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbyerrormessage/tp/stop_error_list.htm

if you still didn't fix the problem, bump up your question with a new post, that it is still a problem. After the holidays more knowledgeable people will be back on.
good luck,

 

Does it do this in Safe Mode?
Boot to the utility partition (F12 at boot) and run the system tests, especially the video tests.

 

Yes, this is done in safe mode. And I'll try the utility partition. Look at the link to see what's been going on with the task bar of applications. It doesn't have that 'vista' transparent flowing look. This and the fact that the screen resolution is definitely not what it was at before. Also, when I try to move a screen, it freezes in the background so it's definitely a video problem (from what I can see) - I just can't revert it to what it was. I tried doing a system restore yet again and no luck. As I posted before, the start up loading screen (for Dell) has some strange layout of blue dots throughout the screen. Could my video hardware be permanently screwed up?