Unstable Computer

[Rocky1]

I bought a second hand elcheapo Compaq Preserio...I'm getting a Blue Screen with the message stating System has become unstable....any ideas..thanx in advance friends..I am given the option of restarting the system or continuing..

 

[deuce]

I think it is saying "system resources have become dangerously low" In that case, you should get more ram if possible, or reduce or eliminate the programs running in the background, and reduce what you do simultaneously. Just don't close explorer and system tray... you need those. If that isn't what the message is talking about then disregard all of this and someone else will jump in and help.

 

[Dark Star]

Rocky1,

deuce, is probably right on the $ with the startup stuff on your PC and even if that is not the problem you might just as well eliminate what is not needed.
Here is a cool link to help you do just that:

http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_index.htm

Good luck and let us know what you find out......

DS

 

[deuce]

Yeah... cleaning up what isn't needed is always helpful, whether it's causing problems or not. You are right about the "elcheapo" part. Compaqs are just plain bizzare and are difficult to troubleshoot. They just have to be different at all costs, even if it's a step backward, and it always seems they are trying to fill the place of packard bell... and trying very hard at that. However... an "elcheapo" doesn't cost a lot so if you think about it, for what you pay for... it isn't all that bad. (you get what you pay for in other words... )

DS... I see you hit 1000 on that last post... congradulations. Wheren't you just at 800 something earlier this week?

 

[Dark Star]

deuce,

Thanx man I'd like to say "wow I didn't notice until you mentioned it" and I just did........

...............truth is I knew I was close to it and I saw it at 999 just before this one. kinda like watching the odometer roll on a car isn't it? I think AZ is like at 850 or so and you might be thinking about him.

BTW, Rocky1 Dont mind us too much here as we will "Random" any thread they let us and we often do.
I've actually had Compaq nightmares real ones too, in living color, before those started................. Aptiva nightmares were the norm for me. lol

see you on campus,

DS

 

[Alex Ethridge]

"Resources are dangerously low" (or similar) is something I cannot remember encountering unless I found an overheated processor. Check the processor fan and do not confuse the processor fan with the power supply fan.

 

[deuce]

On compaqs I always got the "resources are dangerously low" thing when ram was gone and got that blue screen, and so it may just be a peppy compaq quirk.

Sorry Rocky but we often drift off topic in the help forums. DS... wow AZ is quite the rambler as I was over him by some posts the last time I checked. He and I used to dominate the "Rambling Discussion" but this week I have been busier than normal. Leave us to our own devices and who knows what we will end up talking about. I have had compaq nightmares too...both kinds. I have had the "real" nightmares, (the ones while I am unconscious) and the other "real" nightmares. (the real "real" ones where I am fully conscious) I had one just the other night. I kept those old compaqs I had as people are still using them in my house and so I get to do the tech support when they fail. (as they do often) Well there is this one that doesn't like to boot and sometimes takes an hour to boot so I end up leaving it on a lot to try to get it to boot so I can fix it, and it ends up not booting but staying on. Well the hard drive is close to failing and I haven't turned it on in over a week, and two nights ago I was very tired and shut down my computer, heard no other computers on in my room and so turned off the light and went to bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow I heard that the compaq with the boot problems was left on. It was getting annoying so I was going to get up to turn it off and I heard this load explosion that lasted 5 to 10 seconds like it was one round of explosions after another, like fireworks were going off, and I tried to get up to see what was going on and I felt like I had about eight 60 pound pricks on my head and as hard as I tried I struggled to get up but couldn't lift my head and my head went deeper and deeper into my pillow and heard people walking around upstairs and thought they were coming to see what happened. It fells like you are choking when you want to lift your head and can't... just a bizzare feeling. Anyway I went to asleep and woke up the next morning and realized none of it really happened. Still can't shake the thing from my head. Well sorry to those that actually read this I think it is time for me to saunter on back to my "rambling discussion" thread.

 

[Dark Star]

deuce,

You've no idea how much better that just made me feel, cos now I'm not the only one that this nightmare stuff happens to.
I mean like a nightmare within a nightmare sometimes too.

I'm holding a shoebox full of restore disks some are IBM Aptivas and some are HP while some are generic restore disks there is some sort of #s on them that I have to try to match up or something some are in color and some in B&W, I'm in a place I don't recognize, and it is a time sensitive thing so I was feeling rushed to find the right disk. I knew it was a dream type thing kinda..... so I was just rolling with it and looking to get on line so maybe I could get to a site to download some drivers or something........ anything.
Weird gets weirder when I seem to be able to get one PC up and running but only with the wrong restore disk and then I think I'm onto something but I cant keep track of what PC what restore disk and which one it was that I could get on line with and then I had no overhead light so it was all like a flashlight and a lamp. Well I knew I was dreaming whenever I realized that ...........get this now,I thought I had to back myself out of my nightmare much like you might back out of a pc change.
So I'm like Add/Remove.....Connections.....OK........and lets see I don't need to reboot do I?
Eyes open up big and it's like cool dream let me see where I've been Click on History then................LOL

Rocky1,
Don't let this rambleing stuff get you Okay? we do this all the time, just forget you're reading this. We'll be back to check on you.......or it may be good if you can come back to check on us.

DS

 

[Rocky1]

~LOL~...Thanx a million for the advice and the laughs...I will check things out and get back to you......I thought it might have been the video card going out..but I will see how much RAM is in the system and what's running in the background..I will close all un-needed programs from starting up...

 

[deuce]

Rocky... glad we could have been of some help so far. Don't mind us rambling. DS... you have no idea how I feel knowing it isn't just me either...hehe.

You know DS... it's kinda like two tech support guys on the phone with a client and we are having friendly conversation while we wait for the client to do something and check back while he has set the phone down a minute...

I mean like a nightmare within a nightmare sometimes too.

Yes I could tell you of some of those too... I have had similar ones to what you described but not exactly like that. Haven't had the one with the recovery disks yet... but that is most likely because I have no recovery disks from compaq because compaq avoids having to hand out recovery disk at all costs... Usually my nightmares are with 8086, 286 or 386... sometimes with a Tandy, sometimes a packardbell but most often a compaq... not much pentium-class stuff except for the compaq ones. I had especially liked the recovery disk one though... I see what you mean. The failing hard drive one was most recent and still can't shake it from my head... just a bizzare feeling. Aside from computer nightmares, I had this professor that used a chalkboard instead of white board and everytime he used it he would scratch his fingernails on it and everytime it would send chills down my spine, and it would also happen everytime I think about it... well I have nightmares about that too.


Sometimes I get these ones where I go into the den and turn on this packard bell that is always there (usually is a 386 running win3.0) and it starts beeping at me and tells me there is no operating system and I think, "**censored**, well I wonder why someone would do that?..." and then I fall over backward and start falling endlessly through cold space, tossing and turning and tumbling over and over and have no sense of direction and am being ripped about here and there and then feel like I am being pulled apart on top of all it, and can only see billions upon billions of stars and nothing else and then all the stars redshift and I fall into a black hole and get ripped apart into pieces... either that or after the redshift of the stars then I get hit at sub-atomic speeds by a positron (anti-matter... more specifically, anti-electron) and I get annihilated. Those of you who still followed this might know where I am coming from, but then again maybe not. See I am already getting pissed off at this computer as this is the second time I had to write all of this because my cookies keep switching themselves off... oh well....
[edit: oh, that reminds me, I need to fix that cookie problem. Well, back to the boards. ]