Does reformating solve death blue screen problem?

[JuJ]

Hi, I am, like many other people here, having crashes for no apparent reasons (with the blue screen saying : A problem has been detected ans Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer...... ***Stop: 0x0000008E (0xc0000005..... etc. not important).

I am a real noob on computers and I can't understand anything from the solutions in other threads. I would just like to know if reformating my computer would, for sure, solve that problem (I prefer not losing everything on my hard drive).

Also if possible, anyone can tell me how reformating works please?

Thanks

 

[Sonny1st]

Not to give you an answer that you will think is vague, but in reality the answer is maybe/possibly.. If the error codes you are getting on the blue screens are Windows or software related then yes it might.. But if they are hardware related (for instance if you have a bad video card) then no re-formatting won't solve the problem. I would research the issues first or let a repairman do so if you aren't comfortable doing so.. and by all means backup all files before doing any formatting.

 

[JuJ]

Okay thank you.

For my video card well its crap: Intel Integrated Chipset 128 mb, but i dont think it would be the cause of this problem.

And you said : If the error codes you are getting on the blue
screens are Windows or software related then yes it might..

What does a windows or software related error code look like, how can I know?

 

[Sonny1st]

Copy the error code and post it on here so it can be checked out. Depending on what the issue is will depend on how difficult it is to fix.. it could be anything from a simple rollback or repairing windows files from the disk.. but if it is software related and you do want to do a re-install there are many on here that can assist you with that.. I suggest reading the first post in this forum for starters.

 

[Sonny1st]

It will also help to post your computer specs.. the 0x0000008E error is most of the time RAM related. (hardware). You may have faulty RAM or if you have added more it might be the wrong kind.. So any and all info will help.

 

[JuJ]

Grrr computer crashed again

Well for the ram I didnt add any. I havent changed anything on my computer since ive got it.

Here's what i have:
2 processors running - Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz

Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)

Ram: 1gig

Video Card: Intel(R) 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset Family (Intel(R) 82915G/GV/910 GLExpress Chipset Controller)

Sound Card: Realtek High Definition Audio

Disc Space: 133.7 GB

 

[Sonny1st]

From looking at your specs it's obvious this is a fairly new pc.. so before you do anything, is it not still under warranty?

 

[JuJ]

Oh! Nice point. I don't really know but its only 1year and 2 months old. How long is usually a waranty?

Thanks for all the help

 

[Sonny1st]

You didn't say what brand it was, but most basic warranties are one year, but some go up to 3 years.. You may have an extended warranty also.. I think my first recommendation for now is to contact the manufacturer or at least check the warranty. You don't want to do anything that will void it if it is still covered. Dell will still offer support and assist you through live chat or phone (when you finally get through) with resolving the issue. But again I think for now I wouldn't do anything until I checked out the warranty.

 

[JuJ]

Great, thanks a lot for helping. Ill try that but for now I'll go to sleep.

Good night

 

[JuJ]

Oh well I'm now seriously thinking about reformating.... Just to know, if my computer often crashes with blue screen after that when I turn it off or Open it, does it mean something specific?

 

[crjdriver]

Welcome to tsg. There are many things that can cause a bsod [blue screen of death] Both hardware and or software will cause this issue. Let's see if we can narrow it down a little before trying to fix anything.

Restart your system in safe mode. To enter safe mode, hit the F8 key when windows starts to load. This will bring up a menu with a number of choices; select safe mode. Note your screen will probably look strange since it will be using a generic windows video driver and your sound will probably not work.

Now run some apps that make your system lockup or bsod. If it runs fine in safe mode, you probably have a software / driver / windows problem. If it still gives you the bsod in safe mode, you have a hardware problem ie bad memory, failing power supply, failing motherboard, etc.
Post back with results.

 

[JuJ]

Hum... Everything went fine in safe mode. So... should I reformat? Or do you have another solution?

Thanks for the help

 

[crjdriver]

If it works ok in safe mode, then you have a driver / software issue. To find out what is causing the problem you need to post the exact stop error message. Many times this is a driver problem that can be corrected by updating the driver.

 

[JuJ]

Okay here is the error code:
***STOP: 0x00000001 (0x00000008, 0x00000002, 0x00000000, 0xF71E3BEF)

and then : DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

but i think the error code changes every time. Anyway thanks for trying to help