Help! Blue Screen Death! PC might crash any moment!

[bob bobato]

Title not exageration; Ive tried writing this thread twice already-in the same pidgkin- and the PC crashed before I could save it. This only working because Im writing this message on safe mode, then posting it.
Any ways. For the last few days, everytime Ive tried to go on my PC, the BlueScreen of Death apeared at most 20 minutes after starting it-sometimes while its still loading. Its probably my fault. Ive
tried scanning for viruses, checking the disk, uninstalling programs, changing the way the computer loads, and I would have tried system restore, but
it only goes back about a day, when I already had the problem. I have Vista, and this is the first time Ive had a serious problem on it. The bluscreen of death syas
I should disable 'caching' and 'shadowing', but I don't know how. Some of the error messages Ive had just before the crashes: 'Superfetch','Windows Sidebar','HP advisor','COMsomething', and some more Ive forgotten, have stopped working.
I was going to show the details of the last time it crashed, but I cant do that in Safe mode. Are there any suggestions for trying to fix my problem? PLEASE ANSWER! And umm, no spam,etc, 'cause it might crash
while Im reading all the posts.

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.768.3
Locale ID: 4105

Files that help describe the problem
Mini101307-09.dmp
sysdata.xml
Version.txt

View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Extra information about the problem
BCCode: 1a
BCP1: 00041790
BCP2: C08010BC
BCP3: 0000FFFF
BCP4: 00000000
OS Version: 6_0_6000
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 768_1

Me Have time. Very little. Might crash now.

 

[Ghost Ranger]

After searching around Google, it doesn't seem that there is a definite cause or solution to the problem. So, you have two options, the first would be the details of what exactly you did before getting a BSOD. We would then try to narrow down the problem, to help you fix it, which could take forever. The second option would be to reformat and reinstall, which wouldn't take that much time, however, you would lose all your settings, data, and programs, and would need to back them up prior to reinstalling.

 

[bob bobato]

Heres what happened before the BSOD started coming, and what I did to try and fix it. On the the 1st of October, I installed a Pc game, 'The Wheel of Time'. It started to crash right after, but not frequently and I didn't realize what was happening. I uninstalled it on Thursday, which is when I finally noticed that my PC kept on crashing. It didn't make a difference. On friday I installed updates, and I think it helped, because the screen started to go off, then go back on. Something about the 'display driver' failing then 'recovering'. I think this was crashing it before. But the BSOD still comes, except for a few, rares times where the computer stays on for hours at a time without a problem (that's whats happening now, but I don't expect it to last forever). Also, Ive changed the theme from 'Aero' to 'Standard'. The BSOD stills comes, but I get less error messages this way (including Superfetch, which I think has to do with Aero).Thats all I could think of. But, just in case this might fix it, how do you disable 'caching' and 'shadowing'?

 

[Ghost Ranger]

Try turning off SuperFetch, as a test. To do this Go to start> and in the search box type "services", press enter. Now the services utility should pop up. Look for the "SuperFetch" service, double-click it, and select disabled. Now find the Windows\Prefetch directory and delete the contents of it (not the folder itself). Now reboot the computer and see if the computer crashes.

 

[Chieftess]

Something about the 'display driver' failing then 'recovering'.

Did you install any new video cards recently? Some cards will crash if you don't completely uninstall the old drivers first.

 

[bob bobato]

No new video cards: I don't even know how. And I dont think the Superfetch thing worked. It might of-the pc loaded exactly like it used to just now-but I wouldn't be surprised if it went off in 10 minutes-yesterday, after I tried the Superfetch thing, it crashed (nothing new, though). I'll have to wait, maybe that was a fluke.

 

[Ghost Ranger]

Any other new drivers installed lately? Also, did you install McAfee, Nortan, or Kaspersky AV lately? (btw way if disabling SuperFetch doesn't fix the problem, than you should probably enable it.

 

[bob bobato]

no new antivirus, no new drivers, no new hardware. But right now Im wondering, if I completely reboot the computer, what will happen to the updates? I can't see myself redownloading 7 months worth of updates.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

You'll lose everything on that one hard drive. The updates dont take that long to download if you have an even remotely good connection. I can usually get all the updates for XP and service pack 2 in under 3 hours, and thats including all the reboots and everything. Im pretty sure Vista will take even less..

 

[Ghost Ranger]

Also, Vista doesn't have as many patches as XP.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Thats why I said it should take even less. ( and its also reason as to why Vista sucks )

 

[Ghost Ranger]

( and its also reason as to why Vista sucks )

Actually, it is a reason why XP sucks. Less patches means that it was good from the beginning. After all, Microsoft can't patch something if it already works.

Lets compare XP Pro to Vista (Ultimate?):
XP Pro has had 192 Secunia advisories, 30 of them are unpatched (16%), with the most critical one rated highly critical (second worst):
http://secunia.com/product/22/

Vista is affect by a total of 15 advisories, 1 (7%) of them are unpatched, with the most critical one rated at not critical (least worst):
http://secunia.com/product/13223/

XP, however has been out for about 5.5 times longer than Vista, but even then, XP has been affected by 35 security issues for every 401 days (how long Vista has been out), compared to 15 for Vista.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

See, thats not necessarily a measure of how good the OS is. Patches also mean how much more secure the system is from its unpatched state. Just because there are less updates out for Vista, doesnt make it more secure. And in the end, the annoyances more than make up for the security ( of Vista that is ). Now Im not saying XP is all that great in its own, but compared to Vista its almost perfect in my opinion.

And if you really want to stick to Windows and be safe and secure, use W2K. Best Microsoft OS i've used yet, just too bad so many new games are XP and above only.

 

[Chairman Meow]

 

[3 EMS]

Actually, it is a reason why XP sucks. Less patches means that it was good from the beginning. After all, Microsoft can't patch something if it already works.

Give it some time. Less patches means it hasn't been out as long.

 

[Ghost Ranger]

Give it some time. Less patches means it hasn't been out as long.

Which is why I said:

XP, however has been out for about 5.5 times longer than Vista, but even then, XP has been affected by 35 security issues for every 401 days (how long Vista has been out), compared to 15 for Vista.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

You have to consider that XP is still leading in number of systems it is being used on. In some time, the two numbers will move closer together Im sure.

 

[Ghost Ranger]

You have to consider that XP is still leading in number of systems it is being used on. In some time, the two numbers will move closer together Im sure.

Exactly, because everyone is eventually going to have to stop using XP, (not necessarily start using Vista) if they want a new computer, because Microsoft will eventually discontinue it, and make activating it (legally) impossible, by taking down the activation servers.