Blue screen of death

Ok, I'm running out of options here. I've got a Dell PC, relatively good specs, and for the last 2 months, I've been getting blue screens of death CONSTANTLY, but only when I'm either playing a game(counter strike for example) or watching an mpeg or something to that effect. I initially thought it was the video drivers, that would only make sense. However, after making sure I've got the correct and latest drivers for my POS vid card, it STILL happens. The error is a 'kmode exception error' and I was told it had something to do with drivers of some sort, but I've checked the version of EVERY driver I have, and its not that. I'm extremely aggravated and running out of ideas. Not that it matters, as I have friends running on the same set up and they run fine, but I have a TNT2 ultra. OS is Win2k....any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks fellas.

[Drat911]

That has only happened to me once in 3 years. When it happened, I re-installed the OS or tried win98, forget..

Hey, there's always linux!


------------------
Drat911@Nwez.com *Welcome to Phalanx!*

I just reformatted about 2 mos ago and put 2k on, so I'd rather not if i can help it. I will be in a couple weeks anyways as I'm setting up a dual boot w red hat 7, however, I'd like to find out the problem here for a)personal knowledge and b) if by chance I run into it again. Thanks.

[Rex the Hex]

Some very early versions of Win2k cause this error.

Drats right forget Win2k, its not very good for games unless you've got loads and loads of ram. Stick with Win98SE.

[Metaphor]

Your blue screen of death will give you an idea of where to look to troubleshoot. First write down the exception error that appears in the blue screen. Grab the module name that caused the error and the first couple of data words that are listed. Go to here and use the knowledgebase search tool to find a relevant article that tackles your problem. Sometimes you can get a pretty good idea about what is causing you blue screen just by looking at the name of the module that caused the exception. If is a component of windows that has an update or can be reinstalled do so.

Oh, and if you happen to have one of those elusive and "dangerous" "early versions" of W2K - you always could do the unthinkable and... update it! If you have not installed SP1 or the latest critical updates/compatibility fixes then do so by visiting windows update here.

Windows 2000 may not be quite as fast as 98 in some games but as a whole is much more stable and predictable as a gaming foundation for newer games, or apps in general. So, if you have "loads and loads" (Just how much is 1 load BTW?) of ram - its quite cheap these days, I hear... - stick with it - you'll like the end product.




------------------

A rumor is not a rumor that doesn't die.

- Metaphor -

[Rex the Hex]

more the 256meg (BTW)!

Go for SUSE Linux instead of RedHat, its a better package and use the LILO dual Boot.

Thanks very much for the information on that, Metaphor....thats exactly what I was looking for, somewhere to investigate that error. Now, knowing my luck, it'll take forever and a day to get that damn blue screen back up Thanks again man, much appreciated.

[FlyingPenguin]

While it can be caused by any mis-behaved app, often a Blue Screen is caused by driver. A shotgun approach to debugging it (if the problem can be re-created consistently) is to pull all your cards out except the Vid card and any card based HD controllers. Try and recreate the error (videos and most games will run fine without a sound card). Install each card one by one and test until you find the culprit.

I recommend this as opposed to just disabling the drivers in Device manager because some cards also run background apps that won't be shut down that way.

DEFINATELY update to the latest service pack and there's been two game compatibility updates released for Win2K.

Win2K runs OpenGL games like CS just fine - it's my main OS. Ironically (considering it's a Microsoft API) some DirectX games don't work properly under Win2K. Since I play mostly 1st person shooters, that doesn't bother me.

Check to see what apps you have running in the background. Disable any you don't need. Win2K doesn't have an MSCONFIG utility so you have to do this in the registry (backup the registry entry first): HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Run

Hope this helps...

------------------

The Flying Penguin
http://TheFlyingPenguin.com

[Drat911]

I've been running win98SE for 2 or 3 weeks so far. It's a good win9x OS, but I just bought 256mb of ram and am going to install win2k. Win9x is really bad at handling memory.

------------------
Drat911@Nwez.com *Welcome to Phalanx!*

Thanks Penguin. As I mentioned earlier, ironically, I cant get the damn blue screen to come up again I do, however, have to reformat anyways, so I can do a dual boot w Redhat 7(unless of course I use partition magic, but I'll probably just reformat). the ONLY thing I did after talking w you guys last was disable my cd burner, as I got it in December, which was around the time this started. It still happened. However, I reinstalled it, and since then, have gotten no blues. Beats me. Also, Penguin, since youre a big dog moderator, tell me...I had an acct here, however, I dont remember my pw. Problem is, I've since deleted the email acct I listed when I signed up. Any way to get that back? Thanks boss.