Windows XP - Troubleshooting Blue Screen Errors

This scroipt provides troubleshooting guidlines for "Blue screen of death" (BSOD) errors.


INFORMATION:
Although Stop errors can be caused by both hardware or software malfunctions, the most typical cause is a hardware malfunction. Each Stop error is accompanied by a specific error description and an eight-digit hexadecimal number error code. It may not be immediately apparent when you see a BSOD (mostly due to the shock factor that hits you when a BSOD occurs), but you can use the description and code to identify the type of error that is occurring. You just need to be able to identify the key parts of the message so you'll have a direction and focus for your troubleshooting expedition. The trick is in finding the relevant information on the BSOD.

The screen shot below shows a typical BSOD error, with the error message indicated. This is followed by some general troubleshooting information.
More technical information is shown below ( indicated).

COMMON ERRORS:

STOP: 0x0000000A IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

This Stop error, which can be caused by either software or hardware, indicates that a kernel-mode process or driver attempted to access a memory location it did not have permission to access or a memory location that exists at a kernel interrupt request level (IRQL) that was too high. A kernel-mode process can access other only processes that have an IRQL that's equal to or lower than its own.

STOP: 0x0000001E KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED

This Stop error indicates that indicates that the Windows XP kernel detected an illegal or unknown processor instruction. The problems that cause this Stop error can be either software or hardware related and result from invalid memory and access violations, which are intercepted by Windows' default error handler if error-handling routines are not present in the code itself.

STOP: 0x00000050 PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

This Stop error indicates that requested data was not in memory. The system generates an exception error when using a reference to an invalid system memory address. Defective memory (including main memory, L2 RAM cache, video RAM) or incompatible software (including remote control and antivirus software) might cause this Stop error.

STOP: 0x0000007B INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

This Stop error indicates that Windows XP has lost access to the system partition or boot volume during the startup process. Installing incorrect device drivers when installing or upgrading storage adapter hardware typically causes this Stop error. This error could also indicate a possible virus infection.

STOP: 0x0000007F UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP

This Stop error indicates a hardware problem resulting from mismatched memory, defective memory, a malfunctioning CPU, or a fan failure that's causing overheating.

STOP: 0x0000009F DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE

This Stop error indicates that a driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state. This Stop error typically occurs during events that involve power state transitions, such as shutting down, or moving in or out of standby or hibernate mode.

STOP: 0x000000D1 DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

This Stop error indicates that the system attempted to access pageable memory using a kernel process IRQL that was too high. The most typical cause is a bad device driver (one that uses improper addresses). It can also be caused by faulty or mismatched RAM or a damaged pagefile.

STOP: 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER

This Stop error indicates that a device driver problem is causing the system to pause indefinitely. Typically, this problem is caused by a display driver waiting for the video hardware to enter an idle state. This might indicate a hardware problem with the video adapter or a faulty video driver.

STOP: 0x00000024 NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM

This Stop error indicates that a problem occurred within Ntfs.sys, the driver file that allows the system to read and write to drives formatted with the NTFS file system. (A similar Stop message, 0x00000023, exists for the file allocation table [FAT16 or FAT32)] file systems.)

STOP: 0xC0000218 UNKNOWN_HARD_ERROR

This Stop error indicates that a necessary registry hive file could not be loaded. The file may be corrupt or missing. The registry file may have been corrupted due to hard disk corruption or some other hardware problem. A driver may have corrupted the registry data while loading into memory or the memory where the registry is loading may have a parity error.

STOP: 0xC0000221 STATUS_IMAGE_CHECKSUM_MISMATCH

This Stop message indicates driver, system file, or disk corruption problems (such as a damaged paging file). Faulty memory hardware can also cause this Stop message to appear.