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Blue Screen Of Death
We have a Dell XPS 8300. Have owned it for a few years now. Last year we put a new Hard Drive in it. Just recently, my wife was using it when editing photos with Photoshop and the BSOD popped up outta the blue. :) I have done some research on it, but haven't had any luck in finding out what's causing it. It does not happen when we start it up in Safe Mode. And I read somewhere that if I get a copy of the Dump Files, and post them, they can be analyzed and from them, figure out what is causing the Blue Screen. Not sure how post them. Also, I was curious what the most common cause of the Blue Screen is, and could I save all our files from the hard drive, then do a complete reinstall of the Windows 7 to correct the problem?
Michael
DELL-Jennifer K
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August 27th, 2015 09:00
Hi Michael ,
Thank you for writing to us .
There are various reasons for BSOD's ,now that the system is working fine I would suggest you to ensure the data is being backed up from time to time as there are chances of failure .And before you format the hard drive initiate dell diagnostics on the system by pressing the F12 key on system startup or online diagnostics ,this perform a through check on system's hardware .
And this is the link to the Microsoft article which will provide you with some more information about BSOD's.
If there are any more queries do reply to this post with the system service tag sent via private message .
Regards,
RoHe
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August 27th, 2015 12:00
Next time you get a BSOD, copy down all the info on that screen and post it.
And you can also look in Windows Event Viewer -after you reboot- for an error around the time of the BSOD, if any.
Scanned thoroughly for malware recently?
Since it doesn't happen in Safe Mode, that suggests it's a software issue with something loading during normal startup. I'd suspect a video driver. So look for an updated driver for your specific video card and version of Windows on either the AMD or NVidia site, depending on what kind of a video card you have.
Michaelnxv
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August 28th, 2015 12:00
Hi Jennifer,
Thank you for your fast response to my post. Just to keep you up to date, I still get the Blue Screen each time I start up the computer in normal mode. Its just a matter of time when it occurs. Again, I do not have this issue when I am using the computer in Safe Mode. As it stands right now, I have backed up all important files on the computer and plan to do a Complete Reinstall of Windows 7, but will initiate the Dell Diagnostics as you suggested. I think your instructions are pretty easy to follow and I'm pretty sure I have used that tool in the past which actually verified the fact that the Hard Drive was bad from that Diagnostic Scan. I will run this tool today. You also mentioned a ONLINE Diagnostics. I am not familiar with that. Do you have a link or web address to that? I went to the Link you posted at the bottom of you message which had the articles and information about BSOD's but didn't happen to see anything about a Diagnostic Tool. Also, I have attached a File Attachment of a picture of the Blue Screen. Hopefully you can view this. Once I figure out how to send a Private Message, I will send you the Service Tag Number. And again, thank you for all your help.
Michael
1 Attachment
BSOD-3.jpg
Michaelnxv
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August 28th, 2015 14:00
Hi RoHe,
I sent an attachment with a picture of the Blue Screen. Hopefully you'll be able to view it alright. Now when you say you suspect this problem to Software related, possibly a video driver, then I'm assuming that a possible fix would be an Update for the driver. Also, we have the McAfee Security program and it routinely runs a thorough scan daily. I would like to run it again, but I'm afraid that the Blue Screen will pop up during the Scan and cancel it out. And I can't run McAfee in Safe Mode. I have backed up all my important files and probably do a complete Reinstall of Windows 7 as I mentioned earlier. What are the chances that this will fix the problem? Thank you for all your help so far.
Michael
1 Attachment
BSOD-3.jpg
RoHe
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August 28th, 2015 17:00
The BSOD shows stop error 0x00000050, and there is a Microsoft hotfix specifically for Win 7 systems having this error. That MS page says this BSOD is typically caused by an error in the srvnet.sys file.
Your BSOD identifies mfeaack.sys which isn't the same as srvnet.sys. And in fact, mfeaack.sys appears to be a McAfee file!
So the first thing you might want to do is uninstall and reinstall McAfee. If you haven't already registered your McAfee subscription, you should register it first at their site so you'll be able to download and reinstall it for free without losing any of the remaining time on the subscription.
At minimum, you could disable McAfee so it doesn't load at Startup and enable Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) so the system has antiviral protection and see if that solves the BSOD. If it does, you can uninstall/reinstall McAfee or just stick with MSE.
And if the BSOD recurs after reinstalling McAfee, you can apply that Microsoft hotfix.
Be sure to manually set system a restore point before you uninstall McAfee and again after you reinstall it. And then set another restore point before you install that 0x00000050 hotfix.
Michaelnxv
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September 1st, 2015 15:00
Hi RoHe,
First and foremost, I just want to thank you for all your help, advice and answers on this Blue Screen issue that I'm having and a belated thank you for your help with computer problems that I have had in the past. So, as it stands right now, the first thing that I did out of curiosity, I restored my computer back to an earlier date a few months ago. Oddly enough, that seemed to eliminate the Blue Screen issue. Once that seemed stable, I double checked that I had all my files backed up and proceeded to do a complete reinstall of Windows 7 from the factory disk that came with computer. Everything seemed to install without errors, but for some reason, it looks like most of my drivers never got installed. Not sure what I did wrong. Everything in the Desktop view in appears larger than normal, like it is in safe mode. I can't connect to the internet and I get a message that says I need to install a driver for that. I have the Drivers and Utilities Disk that also came with the computer, but it looks like I have to load them all manually now. I just figured that the Driver installation would have been completed during the complete reinstall. Do you have any idea what happened?
Michael
RoHe
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September 1st, 2015 17:00
Reinstalling Win 7 from the Dell OS disk does NOT reinstall any drivers. It only installs Win 7.
The better way to have done this would have been to restore Dell's factory image which was hidden on the hard drive and would have reinstalled Win 7 and the drivers. Oh well...
You must now manually install all your drivers, in order:
You can download them on any PC and copy to this desktop. The drivers on your disk are probably very old and outdated, so use the ones offered on the Support page.
Be good idea to reboot after each driver, even if they don't automatically prompt you to reboot. That way you know it's working ok after each installation. Otherwise, if you do all of them at once, you won't know which one has a problem if you wait to the end and something goes wrong.
Then make sure either Microsoft Security Essentials, or your preferred antiviral software is installed and running. Go to the Microsoft update site and let it scan your system for needed updates.
EDIT: OOPS! Looks like half my original post got cut off! :emotion-12: