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Blue Screens, freezes and random restarts on my xps 8300
Hey all.
Im currently freaking out over my computers behavior of late. I think it started a week ago. I have windows 7 64 bit, dell xps 8300, dual screen monitor set up and it has been absolutely fine since i got it in i believe around 2011.
One day my computer froze twice after reaching desktop. Then it restarted it self before the official windows loading screen came up and another time before i reached log in screen. After another freeze, i then got a blue screen on the next load after reaching log in screen or something. Holding down the power button i turned it off, then it turns it self back on and enters the power button amber light flash 'sleep'. I turn it off again and leave it for a minute.
My next try i get to enter safe mode and i do a system restore point <ADMIN NOTE: Substitute character removed as per TOU> 2 days back. The computer is fine for the next couple of days, but after shutting down i saw that windows updates were being applied.
After some time of being normal it begun the same horrible behavior i wrote about before. System restored again and decided to turn off auto windows updates so they haven't been installed. But this hasn't done anything since my computer is now doing the behavior AGAIN. Yesterday i got the amber light flashing again and later a blue screen about 'Page_Fault_In_Nonpaged_area' but after leaving the computer for a while i came back and it was fine for the whole night.
Today i just got a blue screen about 'system_service_exception'. There seems to be no trouble whilst in safe mode. Couple days ago i was able to use 'My Dell Support Center' and do a hardware check up which resulted in no problems found. I uninstalled the latest free superantispyware i got recently but that didnt do anything. I havnt installed any new hard ware into the tower. The only updated i can think of that i installed before this started happening was the new NVIDIA drive.
This is killing me. Any ideas? All help will be much appreciated.
Rhys.
osprey4
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March 24th, 2013 05:00
Hi again Rhys,
I'm going to suggest a systematic approach to solving your variety of problems. The first thing to do is grab your Dell drivers and utilities disc, boot to that, and run the Dell diagnostics. Although it takes some time, I suggest the full battery of tests to rule out major hardware problems, such as a hard drive failure. A failing hard drive can itself lead to a variety of blue screen errors.
If everything looks good (crossing our fingers), then I would back up your files and perform a restore of the factory hard drive image. That will clean out all the detritus that has accumulated since you bought your system. Following that, you'll need to update drivers, Windows, and your security software.
shezz150
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March 25th, 2013 05:00
I just completed a 4-5 hour full system scan in safe mode using Microsoft Safety Scanner that found and removed 7 infected items. Upon reboot, i have a significant boost in performance and not a single problem yet. I believe im in luck.
Cheers for the effort any way. Hopefully i shall not have to return.
Rhys.
osprey4
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March 25th, 2013 16:00
Ok, that's great to hear! Let's hope you've got this one sorted out.
shezz150
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March 26th, 2013 05:00
No go. :(
i just got a couple emails saying that i violated terms of agreement because of bad language in my previous post? i havnt the slightest clue how they figured that out because for the life of me i cant remember swearing at all.
But any way, my virus scan was a fail and im back to the usual computer behavior. I shall note that i have 2 random local disks appearing in the My Computer window under 'Other:' Theres 2 local disks. (I:) and (K:) and they have blue question marks on them. never seen them before in my life. Also my McAfee real time scanner wont turn on, when i press the button something automatically turns it off. Possible virus problem by the looks of it.
When i last said my computer was fine, when shutting down it installed the latest windows updates that i kept from installing as previously said. So after they installed, the next day, being today, i got a freeze and a blue screen saying something about memory_management.
Would you recommend i be around for the dell diagnostics or can i leave it be for a day whilst i head off to Uni classes or work?
osprey4
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March 29th, 2013 05:00
Definitely time to reinstall. Then see how things behave. If you run the Dell factory restore, it'll be done in minutes.
shezz150
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March 29th, 2013 17:00
Ok i have restored my computer using the back up partition and it is now back to the way it was when i got it which was in June 2011. Before i did this, i did a boot to diagnostics and ran the thorough testing. All came out with green ticks.
So the first things that ive done is have mcaffee do all of its updates. The real time scanner is staying on now. I installed a bunch of windows updates last night before bed but didnt have time to do all of them. This morning i went into control panel, went to system and security and clicked the main windows updates title. Here, swearing ensued. The control panel froze, it was the only thing to freeze and it went white. Chrome and all else was working fine. Task manger said it was running and not in the state of ' not responding.' Tried clicking the X a couple of times to close it, then the whole computer froze like its usual, no blue screen though.
I swear windows updates are bringing this computer down. Im scared to touch it.
And is there an easy way to manage all of my devices driver updates or do i go through them al individually?
shezz150
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March 29th, 2013 22:00
Oh my god i think im finally back to normal. my last batch of windows updates allowed the latest nvidia drive to install.
Pressing the windows updates section in control panel is still a no go but i am never going to press it again!!!
My sanity is intact! I pray i shant have to return.
Happy Holidays.
Rhys.
shezz150
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March 29th, 2013 22:00
That freeze seemed to have a been a one off. But trying to get into that windows updates part in the control panel doesnt load after various tries so i give up on trying to get in to it. But it has been updating automatically and ive installed over 100 windows updates with about 3-4 shut downs to finish their installation.
Ive always had a 64 bit system but im not sure the computers picking it up. In my nvidia control panel, i try to change the resolution to the usual 1920 x 1080 but it just keeps changing back to 1600 x 1200 which is the maximum i can select under display settings. Ive downloaded a suggested nvidia drive updates and am trying to install it but it sits on System Check / Checking system compatibility loading for 30 minutes. 64 bit iTunes wont install either.
ive successfully installed Google Chrome and Malwarebytes.
How can i tell whether the computer is at 32 or 64 bit?
Happy Easter by the way.
osprey4
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March 30th, 2013 05:00
Excellent!
Happy Easter, Rhys!
shezz150
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March 30th, 2013 05:00
Blue screen....FML. I guess its hardware related.
osprey4
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March 30th, 2013 05:00
Ok, what's the error?
shezz150
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March 30th, 2013 18:00
ok my computer froze again this morning without me doing anything, i just logged in, left it there, came back and couldnt do anything but hold the power button down. I had a Blue screen last night but it didnt say specifically wat it was except for a very long line of zero's and stuff which i should of taken down.
The last 6 times i started up my computer, before i reached the login screen, it has said " configuring windows updates 42%." When i entered safe mode following the first freeze i described, before reaching log in this time it sayd "Failure configuring windows updates; Reverting changes." Then it restarted and it went strait to normal windows. Instantly turned off automatic updates in McAfee once i logged in.
It is literally impossible to enter the Windows Updates window in the control panel as when i press it, it just freezes the explorer with the loading circle next to the mouse when i hover over it. Ive let it sit for 15mins and nothing. Task Manager never says its not responding.
At this point, since turning updates off i havnt experienced issues but so far its taken a couple hours for the usual crap to happen again.
Another forum suggested uninstalling McAfee all together which i am willing to give a shot since my computer is completely clean in its factory settings.
I also did an Error-checking on my C: disk that i believe didnt pull anything up.
Running out of options. This is the worst Easter in my entire life lol.
I dont mean to post again and again but its killing me. If i get another error from this point on i will post another message and take notes of any code.
I appreciate your patients.
Rhys.
osprey4
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March 31st, 2013 05:00
Ryhs,
The worst Easter in your entire life? LOL! You must be pretty young.
Since you never took the suggestion to run the diagnostics, I would boot to your Dell drivers and utilities disc and run the Dell diagnostics on your hard drive at the very least to rule out any hardware issues with the drive.
faizalenu
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March 31st, 2013 16:00
Run a malware scan, then run CCleaner. I would also check msconfig. Also, run Nirsoft blue screen view and check reliability monitor to actually see what is happening.
shezz150
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March 31st, 2013 19:00
haha. I turn 23 this year. Somewhere in my rambling above i should of said that i booted to diagnostics and did all of those tests on the hard ware which resulted in green ticks for everything being fine.
I have my drivers and utilities disc here, i changed the settings for the comp to boot to CD and it did, which gave me the option of running some other kind of diagnostics by pressing 1 or exiting it by pressing Q. No matter how many times i pressed 1, it just didnt do anything. all i could do was exit. I googled the problem and others had the same issue.
But the first diagnostics test i did, i selected thorough test and it spent atleast 4 hours testing the hard drive. THe result was a green tick of it being fine.
I guess i shall run a full malware bytes scan as i head off to the footy and will get to the rest of the suggestions below when i get the chance.
Cheers.