Blue screen of death--repair or replace?

[mad_for_mickey]

I would love some opinions of similarly budget-minded folks. My 2 year old computer started giving me the blue screen of death on Saturday. It will run in safe mode, so I have been able to google the stop error message and try several fixes. But after several hours of this, nothing has worked.

Now I am torn between hiring someone to try to fix it or just replacing the whole thing. 2 years does not seem long enough for a computer to last in my budget-oriented mind. OTOH I don't want to spend more time and money on this machine if it is going to be unstable from here out. And a new computer is certainly not the big expense it once was.

Thanks for any input!

 

[MoniqueU]

It is most likely the hard drive.Google how to replace it, pop it out, pop in a new one and reload your operating system and any other software you need. WEe do it all the time here. My DH can't chang oil in car but can do all that in no time at all. A friend of mine did it herself as well, no problem.

 

[iwannbindisnee]

I would second that...my DH has replaced several hard drives & it just takes a bit of time to re-install the software & prgrams...The hard drive costs an average of $100n ( one was $79, another was $129) Also, make sure you have the CD's to re-install your software...Deb

 

[daughtersrus]

When this happened to us, we backed up all of the programs, files, pictures... that we needed and then used the restore disc that came with the computer. It brought it back to the original setting and we haven't had any problems since. It didn't cost us anything to do this.

 

[MM_Bound]

I am in IT and I am budget minded, here is my .02.
-Backup your data you want to keep; Photos, music, movies, documents, email and contacts. Get an external storage device, be it a USB thumb drive or a hard drive depending on the volume of data you need to back up. I would say anything 16Gb and less goes on a thumb drive, over that you should look at an external drive. Do this now, don’t wait until it is too late.
You didn’t mention what the blue screen error issue was but I assume it was file related, if you can think of any changes you made on Friday or Saturday that may have caused the error, then just try to undo it. If it was RAM or video card related I would say just get a new computer.
-If you have all the disks for your Operating System and the applications you use then you can try the hard drive replacement option. It is easy to do really, remove your current drive, insert the new drive, insert your restore disk and follow the prompts. Then when it is done, reinstall all the applications you have. Actually you could just try the restore disk on your current drive and it may resolve the issue.
-If you don’t have the restore disk, or are unsure about replacing the drive, get a new computer. Honestly this is my general answer now. Be reasonable about what you are looking for, don’t over buy. If you only use it for photos, word, email then get a basic computer and personally I recommend a name brand so you can call their support line if you need assistance. You can find them often for about 300 and it will have you up and running in no time.
No matter what keep backing up your data to the external device, that way if something does happen at least you have the stuff you wanted to keep.

 

[jsmith]

Before you spend ANY money-try backing up your data-and if you have the restore disks simply doing a restore on your hard drive. Many blue screens are cause buy operating system errors or file corruptions and not hardware issues-absolutely try this first especially if the comuter is less than three years old. I am It and manage about 250 machines doing heavy duty work =OS reload repairs about 65 to 70 percent of blue screen issues.

 

[DawnM]

I have an IT friend looking at mine right now. It is 6 years old though. We got the blue screen of death but were able to open in safety mode.

If he can't fix it we are just ditching it at this point.

Dawn

 

[quagmire0]

BSOD can be a lot of things, it isn't always as generic as a 'bad hard drive'. As others have suggested, copy all your pictures, files, music etc. to another drive, or buy what is called a 'hard drive enclosure'. That will allow you to just remove the current drive and connect it to a device that will let you use it like a flash drive via a usb connection. Buy a new hard drive, put it in, then boot from your restore/Windows disc. Install a fresh copy of Windows, connect to the internet and run Windows update to get the computer up to date before you install any software or drivers. Then connect the old hard drive via usb and copy over your files.

A 2 year old laptop is not old enough to just replace IMO, you can get at least a couple more years out of it.

 

[mad_for_mickey]

Thank you all for the suggestions. The first thing I did was back up photos and important e-mails. They now reside on a flash drive. I am not sure if I have any discs of any sort--and I think I would need one for at least Windows if I were to try a lot of these suggestions. We just moved a few months ago, though, so maybe my next step is to search our few remaining unpacked boxes to see if there are any discs that might help with this process.

 

[SandrA9810]

You can also find Windows Restore Discs on Ebay. It's much cheaper than buying the full windows product in the store again.

Here's an example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Windows-7-Home-...940?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27b939845c

OEM just means that Windows massed produced a bunch of discs to be sold with a computer. Some where on your computer should be a Windows Certificate of Authenticity, with a code. Pop that disc in, and enter the code on your computer when it asks for it. And you've reinstalled Windows.

 

[rock_doctor]

The BSOD is usually a bad driver. It may have downloaded new update w/o you knowing it. Just reinstall the operating system again and you will be fine. If you can't find the disks find out if anybody at work has the same computer as you do (same model) and just copy their recovery disks. The discs contain a hard drive image that is comparable with the license numbers that are on your computer so you are not stealing a copy of the OS. It will let you put your license on the other copy as long as that copy is for the same exact computer. Or...it may be a good reason to upgrade to Windows 7 if it came with Vista originally (I don't remember when 7 came out)... You could also go into it and roll back all of the drivers under the device manager window.... Sometimes that can work but the best option is to recover with the discs. If it is an HP they typically have a hidden partition on the hard drive that contains a copy of the os. You can get to it by selecting recover at the very beginning of the initial boot (during the bios screen). Good luck and 2yrs old is still to new to replace it. You can fix it yourself.

 

[pixiewings71]

We had the blue screen of death when we tried to turn our computer on....we used DBF's iTouch to figure out what the beep code meant, our video card was bad. So we headed to BB and got a new video card, came home, put it in and our computer has worked fine since. Are you hearing the beep code when you turn your computer on? If so use them to try to figure out what your error code is from, it might not be as bad as you think. DBF was able to switch out the video card with no problems at all and it was a lot less than buying a new computer.

 

[BoogasMom]

We had the blue screen of death when we tried to turn our computer on....we used DBF's iTouch to figure out what the beep code meant, our video card was bad. So we headed to BB and got a new video card, came home, put it in and our computer has worked fine since. Are you hearing the beep code when you turn your computer on? If so use them to try to figure out what your error code is from, it might not be as bad as you think. DBF was able to switch out the video card with no problems at all and it was a lot less than buying a new computer.

What is the beep code?

 

[rantnnravin]

I'm a mac girl myself, but this might interest some:
https://1saleaday.com/

 

[daughtersrus]

Thank you all for the suggestions. The first thing I did was back up photos and important e-mails. They now reside on a flash drive. I am not sure if I have any discs of any sort--and I think I would need one for at least Windows if I were to try a lot of these suggestions. We just moved a few months ago, though, so maybe my next step is to search our few remaining unpacked boxes to see if there are any discs that might help with this process.

You may not have gotten the disc but you should be able to order it from the manuf. or be able to burn your own copy.

This just happened to DD two weeks ago. She took her laptop to the tech center on campus. There was a problem on the hard drive. We checked all of the paperwork that came with her computer and she was supposed to burn her own DVD when she got it but she never did. I called HP to get the disc. They said that it was free but we had to pay for shipping. Instead, they said to follow the steps and burn the disc. I wasn't sure that would work because of the problems but they assured me that it would. Sure enough it did. She had already backed everything up a few weeks ago. She reinstalled everything and hasn't had the Blue Screen since.

Check your paperwork and see if there are instructions on burning your own disc.

 

[torinsmom]

I bought an IDE/SATA cable adapter. This is similar to the one I have
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002

You can take out your hard drive and attach it to another computer with this adapter. Then the hard drive will show up like a flash drive when you click on My Computer. I have done this quite a few times with my son's hard drive when his computer crashes. If it doesn't show up or says the disk is corrupted, all is still not lost. You can run a disk check and the program will repair some problems itself.

Here are directions for doing that. The first part option tells you how to check the disk while it is in the computer. Since your computer can be run in safe mode, this might work for you. Option 2 is what I have had to use when the computer just acts dead with a blue or back screen. I am not a tech person, but this is pretty easy. If you don't have Windows 7, I think it is pretty much the same with Vista as well.


http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/433-disk-check.html

 

[torinsmom]

Walmart has Compaq laptops for $298. I got one last month and it has everything I need.

 

[*Seanaci*]

My mom's computer for the last few weeks will run really slow...and once a week it flashes the BSOD and restarts itself.

She's had it for about 3 years (maybe a little over 3 years). I think she's going to take it to Best Buy Geek Squad and have them run a diagnostic on it. See what the issue is and how much it'll cost to fix it. If it's not fixable...she'll either have to deal with it till she can get a new computer (they can't afford a new computer AND a new mattress; and they need a new matress).

I should go buy her a thumb drive and back up her important files (pics/docs) before things get really bad though.

Good luck with yours!

 

[pixiewings71]

What is the beep code?

When the computer is powered up (aka hit the power button and it lights up) there are a series of beeps...they alternate between long and short and you count how many there and look up the code online. So for instance you turn on your computer and the tower emits a beeping noise, you write down what the beep pattern is....for this example let's say it's short, long, long, short, then you go online and google what that code means (short, long, long, short), that will tell you what the issue is and how to fix it. We learned that trick from our friend who builds computers for people.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

Surely the Smithsonian has inquired about the donation of said computer to add to their collection of antique processors....

I have an IT friend looking at mine right now. It is 6 years old though. We got the blue screen of death but were able to open in safety mode.

If he can't fix it we are just ditching it at this point.

Dawn