Windows XP BSOD!

Knew it would happen! The Blue Screen of Death on Windows XP!

One change. Its quite a dramatic change as well compared to the old Windows 98 BSOD.

When these Windows XP BSOD's occur and I restart the computer the computer is then unable to detect the Hard Drive. The only thing it detects are the CD ROM and Floppy Drive.

When it isnt detecting the hard drive and I leave the computer off for a few hours it then detects the Hard Drive, and everything is normal again.

I havent installed anything new, apart from mouse drivers as I have gone back to a previous mouse. Since then the BSOD has occured twice. Co-incidence maybees?

Any ideas before I take the computer back to the shop on Saturday?

Thanx.

 

Could be temperature related. But it sounds serious enough that it may be deeper than the OS.

Does your BIOS always detect the HD?

If it is new and under warranty, bring it back.

 

Thanx for the reply.

It only never detects the HDD after the BSOD occurs.

 

I'm still leaning toward temperatures. If there is a hardware monitor in the BIOS, check the temp immediately after one of the BSOD's.

What is the error, or does it vary?

Try opening the case and using a small fan to blow onto the CPU to see if that delays/prevents the failure.

When you say that it only does not detect the HD after a BSOD, do you mean the BIOS?

 

I know pretty much nothing about Hardware, so Id rather leave it to a professional.

When the computer starts up and you get the primary and secondary slaves etc this is what it says.

Primary Master: IDE Hard Disk
Secondary Master: ATAPI CDROM
Primary Slave: ATAPI CDROM
Secondary Slave: Not Detected

When the Hard Disk isnt being detected after the BSOD it says:

Primary Master: Not Detected
Secondary Master: ATAPI CDROM
Primary Slave: ATAPI CDROM
Secondary Slave: Not Detected

It then carries on and asks me to insert a floppy into A:\

If I go into BIOS when the HDD isnt being detected and press F3 for to 'Detect all HDD' it doesnt detect any.

Im beginning to think that it is temperature too, as it works fine after the computer is left alone for a while. The computer must be cooling back down again, making it detect the HDD maybee? I leave the computer on all day as well and it usually occurs after around 8 hours. Could this be making it occur?

 

Eight hours seems like an awfully long time for temp changes---they would reach their highs and lows faster then that. But maybe something else in the environment affects temp (sunshine in a window?). Still think it's temp, somehow.

Those drive tables from the BIOS look familiar--I think my PCChips board failed to detect one HD after a while, too, and it was temp.

But, on another, it was power supply. I'm still baffled by that one because it suddenly stopped booting or detecting drives until I cranked up the CPU core voltage in the BIOS. According to the BIOS, the voltage was 3.6 volts when it was supposed to be 2.2. The thing is still running after 2 years! But it had worked fine before that.

If you were asking whether 8 hours on might be causing it, that would be very unusual. That is not a long time really.

Hope you get it sorted.

 

The computer isnt near a window, although the tower is right next to the radiator.

Taking it down to the shop on Tuesday for them to have a look at it.

Thanx for all your help.

 

Just got my computer back after having the Hard Drive replaced. Turned out that it was just something that was wrong with the HDD, and nothing to do with heat or anything inside the case.

Just thought Id let you lot know.

 

Hope you didn't lose much. Thanks for posting back.