Trying to help my MIL with her computer....sigh.

She downloads those stupid ass games from Facebook...sigh.

Anyway, We've got "blue screen' that says:



It's in a loop and I cannot boot into safe mode or even get to a C prompt from boot up.

I've tried:

F8
Shift +F8
Punching the keyboard
Swearing

Any ideas?

Working from memory here: Hold down the power key for about 16 seconds until the PC shuts off, then power ON. Good luck.

Turn the computer OFF, wait 30 seconds, and turn it on again. While it isn't always a solution a Cold Boot can sometimes provide a solution for problems like this.

If that fails the next step will require a Windows 7 disk that you can insert into the CD player, boot from the CD, and then choose the Repair option. If you don't have the Windows 7 disk then the only other potential solution is a Backup of the computer on a portable hard drive or DVD.

If none of the above is available you'll need to take the computer to a repair center equipped with recovery software that isn't typically available at your typical computer shop. Because what has most likely happened is the Registry has been corrupted and tinkering with the Registry is a distinctly convoluted thing to do and much too easy to totally hose if you don't know what you are doing.

PS; I'm a real fan of Windows XP, so much so that I have XP running on virtual machines on two of my computers. By doing this I can still use my copy of Autocad 2000 and Micrographx Picture Publisher. I will also note that both of these computers are running Windows 10/64 and it's actually a pretty decent operating system that is also rather XP like in it's interface.

So, if all else fails installing a Windows 10 Upgrade will probably both solve your problem and bring your mother up to date. Note, don't download the upgrade, go to a computer store and actually purchase a copy on DVD. That way if something happens down the road you will have an install disk you can use to do a repair with.

Thanks guys.

I don't have any boot discs....I'm done for today.

Is it a laptop or desktop?

If you have a bootable copy if Windows 7 install media, you can try to boot and run a system repair/system restore.

Short of that, you can try creating a bootable Linux build from UBCD4Win.

The project "died" about 7 years ago, but there is a 3.6 distro that is still usable, but you have to have a Windows 7 CD to do the build, and sometimes the OEM Windows 7 media will not work.

Short of that, your other recourse is to do a manual restore of the system reg files, which is what a system restore does, but it is a pretty long journey if you don't know your way around.

If you elect to try this later, email me and I will try and help if I can.

Your error message is showing a memory error.
I would:
1) disconnect the hard drive
2) test memory with test disk
3) isolate and test each memory module individually if more than one module
4) if no test disk can be obtained and more than one memory module are in computer then try to boot with one module at a time


Free test disk can be obtained from Passmark
https://www.memtest86.com/download.htm
Can be put on CD or bootable USB

Need to rule out your memory modules.

If you can get a boot disc and get to a command line option:

run:
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

when that completes run:

sfc /scannow

Thanks guys. I think I'm "out". After I switched to Mac I dumped all my PC shit. Holy crap did I have stuff!

The computer (a tower) only has a CD drive and I don't know if it even gets an opportunity to run before I get the blue screen.

I appreciate all the help, but I've got enough projects right now and while my MIL is a good woman, well...some of you guys will understand.

I've done what I can to make it worth my while. She going to call her other son-in-law whose in IT and let him "fix" it.

Whatever....LOL

Ctrl+Alt+Del used to be the answer for all computer ills.
Has that now fallen out of favor?

Isn't that Windows 10? Did it try to upgrade your expected 7 install?

By any chance do you have a Microsoft Store near you? In many cases they will work on things like this for free.

Just my opinion, take it for what it is worth, but if you have a Microsoft Store nearby, I don't think it is worth dealing with things like this. Take it to the Microsoft Store, get what you can for trade-in, and buy a machine designed for Windows 10. Follow proper back-up procedure and if you ever have a problem take it back to the Microsoft Store to have them fix it.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:
Thanks guys. I think I'm "out". After I switched to Mac I dumped all my PC shit. Holy crap did I have stuff!

The computer (a tower) only has a CD drive and I don't know if it even gets an opportunity to run before I get the blue screen.

I appreciate all the help, but I've got enough projects right now and while my MIL is a good woman, well...some of you guys will understand.

I've done what I can to make it worth my while. She going to call her other son-in-law whose in IT and let him "fix" it.

Whatever....LOL

Probably a good idea to let the SIL-IT fix it if it is over your head, hope it works out.