Having computer problems - constant blue screens

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

I'm just curious as to if anyone has any information that may help me diagnose my computer problems, and possibly fix it.

I think it may be hardware, and that's no good, since I'm running a laptop.

On Tuesday morning, I went online to browse the internet, and was hit with a blue screen. It came out of nowhere, I didn't have any problems with the computer before, but I just went ahead and rebooted. After rebooting and having my computer on for a few minutes, it blue screened again. Did another reboot, and it blue screened a 3rd time, so I just shut off my computer and let it rest while I went to work. When I came home, and tried my computer again, I got another blue screen after about 20 minutes or so, and the blue screens continued everytime I rebooted. It became so frequent that I was getting blue screens UPON the reboot.

So basically, this has been happening since Tuesday. Upon my first startup, the computer will last a good 20 minutes or so before blue screening, and then after a couple blue screens, it will begin blue screening upon boot up. I've gotten a couple different blue screen messages, but the most common is "STOP: 0x0000008E"

I have tried a system restore. That didn't work. I have tried doing a system recovery, reinstalling Windows, and I got a blue screen during the installation. My brother was telling me that would indicate it's hardware, and not a virus or something else, because the hard drive wasn't running.

I do think it's hardware, because I have had heating issues with my laptop for awhile. I've had poor performance with some games that should run well, and after awhile I discovered it was heating. I've bought a laptop fan, which didn't have any effect and is now broken, I've tried desktop fans, and that didn't really work either.

Of my fault is the fact that I left my laptop running constantly. I rarely shut it down at night when I was done, and I fear that because of that, I fried something in my computer.

What I'm curious of is what is likely that I fried, is it fixable, and is there an estimate as to how much it will cost me to repair?

 

[Kable24]

It sounds like your processor is overheating. You may need a new fan to cool the processor.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

It sounds like your processor is overheating. You may need a new fan to cool the processor.

Would you say it's been fried / physically damaged?

Or should a new, more efficient cooling method be the answer?

 

[black_dust]

Would you say it's been fried / physically damaged?

Or should a new, more efficient cooling method be the answer?

MIght not even be a "broken" fan, it could just be clogged up with dust and need cleaning open up your laptop and get some air in a can and if a large amount of dust is on the fan just spray it off.

 

[Kable24]

Would you say it's been fried / physically damaged?

Or should a new, more efficient cooling method be the answer?

If it was fried, you would know it. But a good cleaning of the fan is a start and if you are still getting the blue screens then try another fan. They are pretty cheap.

 

[Exabyte]

Well, I didn't read your hole post, but most common reasons for a BSOD is RAM. If your CPU overheats it will just hit the thermal threshold and pass a few bits and then shut the system down. Drivers and RAM cause the most BSOD.

...then again what do I know.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

Well, I didn't read your hole post, but most common reasons for a BSOD is RAM. If your CPU overheats it will just hit the thermal threshold and pass a few bits and then shut the system down. Drivers and RAM cause the most BSOD.

...then again what do I know.

I dunno, what do you know? Heh.

Anyways, I'm getting the RAM speculation from more than just this thread... so it's worth looking into that. What are the steps that I would need to take to A. see if it is RAM and B. fixing it, keeping in mind that it is a laptop.

 

[Exabyte]

I dunno, what do you know? Heh.

Anyways, I'm getting the RAM speculation from more than just this thread... so it's worth looking into that. What are the steps that I would need to take to A. see if it is RAM and B. fixing it, keeping in mind that it is a laptop.

Not much for being a MCSE and a few others... :P

Well, one way depends if you have two sticks or not. Remove one and see if the BSODs continue. Second option is to perform a MemTest86 on your system to read the RAM and check for errors (one stick at a time though because I don't believe their tool can tell you what module or dimm number).

Drivers, well, just think back if you have installed any patches or windows updates. You can always uninstall updates.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

Thank you for the advice.

I ran a RAM test on the laptop tonight, and the RAM failed just about every test. The computer has been up for a couple hours doing the tests, with no blue screens or issues, so it must be a RAM issue afterall.

I checked into some RAM, and I'm gonna get some new RAM and try that out, see if it works.

 

[Malice]

There are all sorts of RAM tests online...
CDs you can build, and boot to, to test your RAM...I had this exact same problem about 1 month ago with my personal laptop, and I had to isolate while bad RAM chip it was using the software.

Glad this forum can help

 

[Kable24]

Wow, was I completely wrong on that one...hahaha

 

[Kevin]

I have a small Laptop problem and I didn't want to start a new thread. It sucks, for one, but the Disk cheanup isn't working at all. It stays on three bars. I left it going a whole night and it was still on three bars. Is there anything I could do to fix this problem?

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

Wow, was I completely wrong on that one...hahaha

Well, probably not.

Heating has still been an issue with my laptop, and everything that I've done, short of putting the laptop over my friend's AC vent, has failed.

So I do need to do SOMETHING about getting some more powerful cooling going on my laptop.