The dreaded BSOD! (blue screen of death)

[Andy-1960]

I had a HP laptop doing just the same fault, turned out to be dry joints on the motherboard where the HDD plugged in.
I dismantled it, identified and re-soldered the offending joints.
Not a job for the fainted hearted but it worked!

 

[gnuuser]

hardware issues can cause all kinds of headaches to find such as bad solder joints, dirty connections, and heat issues.
while a poorly communicating hdd can cause a blue screen. the primary cause of getting a bsod is an unrecoverable resource call collision.
this can happen if hard drive is failing, memory failure, and many times if the hal file is drastically different as compared to the actual hardware (swapping a drive to a different computer is a good example of this)
its a major problem with windows machines!

 

[littlespark]

The poor thing has been happy for the last few days. Fingers crossed, no more.
But it has shown me that regular backups are required for when the unthinkable happens.

I know Mac is so much better than Windows... but I am just a poor electrician. They cost so much more, even claiming it as an expense.
I am too old to learn how to use a Mac anyway... I mean, the "X" is in the wrong corner for a start!!

 

[gnuuser]

windows headaches are why i switched to linux years ago
pinguy linux was written in the UK and its dead easy to use.
everything works well out of the box. but if your computer has uefi (secure boot) you want to change the setting to legacy.
uefi does not like linux at all

 

[Deleted member 26818]

What about Ubuntu?

 

[gnuuser]

ubuntu has a lot of re spins and specialty distros. its a great distro that serves almost every need a user may want. my only complaint with it is you must choose one with long term support or you risk losing software sources from ever changing repositories.
Pinguy is ubuntu based but the greatest thing about it is not much tweaking is needed for a great system from the start and they have a superb support community
typically with a lot of linux distros if you want to play a commercial dvd you have to download the css files and packages and install them and hope they work.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

So just like Windows 10 as far as playing DVDs is concerned.

 

[Blissof89]

If you have the space and a monitor I would highly recommend you build yourself a desktop PC. Its pretty simple stuff, you can build a decent workstation for not a lot of money.

Apple is overpriced hipster garbage imo, their OS is quite nice but if you have been using Windows in the past you probably know your way around it. Extremely anti consumer with all their -------- propriety connectors. Could you imagine the uproar if one manufacturer decided to make sockets that only fit on their own special patress?

 

[gnuuser]

If you have the space and a monitor I would highly recommend you build yourself a desktop PC. Its pretty simple stuff, you can build a decent workstation for not a lot of money.

Apple is overpriced hipster garbage imo, their OS is quite nice but if you have been using Windows in the past you probably know your way around it. Extremely anti consumer with all their ******** propriety connectors. Could you imagine the uproar if one manufacturer decided to make sockets that only fit on their own special patress?

exactly and its easy to customize a desktop for special purposes whether its workstation, server, gaming system, or multimedia production

 

[littlespark]

Update.

Not experienced the bsod again, but this morning, the hinge on the lid decided to crack open.
Can’t shut it, or open it further... at least it’s stuck at a usable angle.
Try and move it and the plastic around the bottom left of the screen starts to distort and separate.
New laptop time.

So the next question is, where can I get good spec/ low price.?
The off the shelf garbage from curry’s is too expensive. I don’t need all the bundled software, and surely I can get a machine without an OS and use win10 key from my old busted laptop?

Good graphics would be a bonus as I use it for games as well as office stuff.
Budget £500, but will see what search comes up with.

Is there any sellers that do deals for business customers? Ie laptop plus free tablet etc?

I’ll add in my current specs when I get home because I would want something better than what I have.

 

[AlmondSauce]

I'd +1 the desktop idea unless you really need the portability of a laptop. They're easily serviceable, you can put it together with exactly what you want, and upgrading later is often really cheap with second hand parts. They're also easily cleaned - laptops much less so, especially if you're going to be running games on it (more load = higher fan speed = more airflow = more dust buildup.)

My decade old desktop is still going strong as a media PC after whacking an SSD and second hand upgraded CPU in it - that's the only upgrade it's had from new; cost me just north of £60 for both parts (and it was a budget machine when it was put together!)

"Gaming laptops" (basically meaning they have dedicated graphics) will also usually blow your £500 budget out the water.

That said, whatever machine you're after (laptop or desktop):

- Don't accept anything less than an SSD these days, ignore "HDD" or "hybrid" drives off the bat - and I'd be looking at a 256GB drive;
- Preferably 8GB RAM, minimum 4GB;
- Look out for an optical drive if you still need it - many machines these days come without;
- CPU spec is generally less important than people tend to think these days, but with a budget of £500 I'd be shooting for an i5.
- If battery life is important to you, check it before buying (many forget this bit!)

Ebuyer is a good place to look generally for these things - they're often among, if not the cheapest and I've never had any issues with them.

Quickly pulling one out that's around your budget and meets the above specs: Lenovo V130 Laptop - Laptops at ebuyer - https://www.ebuyer.com/874325-lenovo-v130-laptop-81hn00nguk

 

[Edtwozeronine]

I'd +1 the desktop idea unless you really need the portability of a laptop. They're easily serviceable, you can put it together with exactly what you want, and upgrading later is often really cheap with second hand parts. They're also easily cleaned - laptops much less so, especially if you're going to be running games on it (more load = higher fan speed = more airflow = more dust buildup.)

My decade old desktop is still going strong as a media PC after whacking an SSD and second hand upgraded CPU in it - that's the only upgrade it's had from new; cost me just north of £60 for both parts (and it was a budget machine when it was put together!)

"Gaming laptops" (basically meaning they have dedicated graphics) will also usually blow your £500 budget out the water.

That said, whatever machine you're after (laptop or desktop):

- Don't accept anything less than an SSD these days, ignore "HDD" or "hybrid" drives off the bat - and I'd be looking at a 256GB drive;
- Preferably 8GB RAM, minimum 4GB;
- Look out for an optical drive if you still need it - many machines these days come without;
- CPU spec is generally less important than people tend to think these days, but with a budget of £500 I'd be shooting for an i5.
- If battery life is important to you, check it before buying (many forget this bit!)

Ebuyer is a good place to look generally for these things - they're often among, if not the cheapest and I've never had any issues with them.

Quickly pulling one out that's around your budget and meets the above specs: Lenovo V130 Laptop - Laptops at ebuyer - https://www.ebuyer.com/874325-lenovo-v130-laptop-81hn00nguk

This has 2gb graphics

 

[Midwest]

I’d second the desktops advice. Even I’ve built a couple. Something to keep you occupied, whilst having no access to sparky.net.
Scan computers have an easy use self build thing. They do pre-assembled ones as well. Happy geeking.

 

[telectrix]

if all else fails..........

 

[static zap]

if all else fails..........

View attachment 50035

What on earth have you got on "your-harddisk"
...My favourite Hard Reset..