“The Blue Screen of Death”and other error messages.ppt

“The Blue Screen of Death”...and other error messages Information Technology What is the “Blue Screen of Death”? The Blue Screen of Death, or more properly the Windows stop message occurs when Windows detects a problem or error from which it cannot recover. The operating system halts and diagnostic information is displayed on a blue screen. In newer versions of the operating system, the contents of the PCs memory are dumped to a file for later analysis. So what does it mean? A typical Windows XP stop message, like the one above, is divided into four parts, and actually does display some helpful clues as to what caused its appearance. Reading a BSOD is not an everyday task, but if we take a moment to dissect it, youll see it can help us to resolve the conflict which is stopping Windows from operating correctly. The bugcheck information shows the number of the stop error (in hexadecimal format), information on why the system has stopped and the friendly (text-based) name for the stop error, in this case DRIVER_IRQI_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL. The second section, recommended user action, is pretty generic and contains advice for the user on possible troubleshooting steps. The third section, driver information, may contain vital info. If an actual driver file is associated with the blue screen, it will be listed here. This can give you something to work on in the case of a reoccurring error. More on this later in the article. The final part of the stop error screen is the debug port and status information section. 1st Part: Bugcheck 2nd Part: Recommended User Action 3rd Part: Driver Information Final Part: Debug Port and Status Information Post Beep Codes 1 short beep Normal POST - system is ok 2 short beeps POST Error - error code shown on screen No beep Power supply or system board problem Continuous beep Power supply, system board, or keyboard problem Repeating short beeps Power supply or system board problem 1 long, 1 short beep System board problem 1 long, 2