Blue Screen of Death.

Hi.
Upon turning on my laptop today i was immediately met with a blue screen of death.

Only the 2nd one i have had on this laptop i should add.

It created a memory dump and mentioned something about how my BIOS might need updating.

I have the latest BIOS installed.

Should i go into the bios and change some settings.?
Is there any particular settings i should be using.?

I also noticed that the laptop fan went to high speed just as the computer crashed.

Any suggestions or ideas on this please.?

Thank You.

 

Are you still having the same problem?
Did you changed something in the BIOS?

Normally you can access the bios and press F9 to return to default settings. That´s something simple you can try.

 

if you are running XP run your SATA mode in IDE.

otherwise i'd start to get rid of security programs.
they usually are the culprits.

 

Hi folks,

No it is not doing it now as i have performed a couple of reboots to check.
I have gone into safe mode and done a scan with MBAM and SAS.
They came out clean.

Its weird as my laptop has never done this before.I updated the BIOS about 8 months ago and it is now on version 2.00.

I have checked with the toshiba website and i have the latest BIOS installed.
I have not touched any of the settings.
I have not installed any new software and only installed the usual windows updates.

Not sure if avast or comodo is the culprit.

 

Without knowing the specific error code or message, it is hard to tell. BSODs happen for many reasons from heat to a failing component, to flakey PSU to malware.

For sure, make sure you have a good backup of your data, and make sure notebook is as clean of heat trapping dust as you can.

I don't know about "usually" the culprits, but certainly, they are often the culprits.

I have been using MSE and Windows Firewall since W7 was released and with them, my systems have definitely been stable, and remained malware free. I used to use Comodo but it got too bloated, as did Avast and AVG. So I switched to WF because it good and included with Windows. I switched to MSE because Microsoft has a real incentive in ridding the world of malware - to stop getting the blame for actions of badguys. On the other hand, Avast, AVG, Norton, Comodo, McAfee and the others need malware to thrive to remain in business . There is no incentive for Avast, AVG, Norton, etc., to rid the world of malware.

Something to ponder.

 

Amiga- It's good that everything is fine now. Regarding the problem being due to Avast, Comodo, or whatever software, normally problems giving Blue Screens will keep up until the offending program is uninstalled, so I doubt if it was due to that.

Also what OS are you running?

 

Hello cruelsister,
Thank you for your response.

I have windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit OS.

 

Thank you bill for your wonderful reply.
I may open the laptop and attempt to clean it out.

How often do they need cleaning please.?

Thank You.

 

As often as they need it! Not trying to be a smart-a$$ but that varies by user, by notebook design, by ambient (room) environment, and many more factors.

If you live in a dusty environment, have cats or dogs, or kids running around stirring up dust, if you smoke, if you use your computer many hours a day - all those will impact how often you need to clean.

On typical PCs, I generally recommend opening up the case and inspecting once a month, cleaning as necessary. Sadly, notebook makers have failed miserably to provide easy access to notebook interiors for proper cleaning and disassembling notebooks is not something "normal" users should attempt. But you can open all bays, remove all access covers, and clean the exposed vents and cavities when needed. Just be sure to remove the battery and unplug the charger before opening up.

 

AMIGA500,

i don't recommend you to try to open the laptop to clean it, especially if you never done that before and if you don't know if it's overheat causing the problem.
If that's not the case, please ignore.

 

Hi alex.

Im quite certain the laptop is not overheating.

Upon research i have discovered its quite a common problem with toshiba laptops in regard to the fan running nearly constantly.

The fan kicks in even when i turn the laptop on for the first time so im quite sure its not a cooling problem.

I just find it annoying.

 

Amiga500,
Have you installed any new software? Any new windows updates? Take a look at device manager and make sure nothing is giving you issues. Look for that nasty yellow ! near an item.
Cleaning out your fan and laptop case might help. My wife has one of those toshiba laptops that overheat. If the fans are running constantly or more than normal then I would try cleaning the fan and case out. Like Bill_bright said BSOD can be just about anything and its sometimes hard to tell.

 

That´s totally normal, no problem there

 

No new software installed at all except windows updates.
There are no yellow exclamation marks.

Laptop is only a year old.

Thanks for your help.

 

Thanks.

 

If you´re interested in going a bit deeper, check the memory´s and the HDD.

Hiren´s Boot CD can do that: personally i use MemTest and MHDD (but HDAT2 can also do the job).
You can use YUMI to create a live usb, if you don't want to spend a CD.

If your laptop is not overheating, and the memory´s and HDD are ok, that´s a good start...

BlueScreenView can also provide more detailed information about the BSOD.

 

thank you alex.

Thankfully i have not seen another blue screen.

Maybe the computer was having an off day lol.

 

I just wanted to say that I had a number of Blue Screens recently and things have calmed down after I removed Comodo FW. It's very possible that it might have been a conflict with another program or another problem but I thought it was worth me mentioning this.

 

You are not the first to have problems with Comodo. After getting fed up with ZoneAlarm bloat, I moved to Comodo shortly after it came out. But sadly, like many free programs trying to cut out a bigger share of the market, they too started adding bloat - other features nobody really needs and I may be wrong, but experience tells me more bloat and more feature equals more opportunities for conflicts and problems.

So when Win7 came out, I switched to Windows Firewall, an excellent, basic firewall that works great and is already included. And the great thing about firewalls is, all we need is a basic firewall.

I have no problems using, or recommending the included, Windows Firewall (or MSE, for antimalware).

 

I'm using PrivateFirewall at the moment and I've not had any problems so far but I'm very tempted to just use the native firewall. The second Privatefirewall gives me any problems, I'll ditch it. At the moment I have much less faith in MSE esp as an active AV. I had a scare recently with a program and luckily avast saved me and I'm not sure that MSE would have done from what I've heard as I've been led to believe it's detection rates aren't very good at the moment.

 

I could never get privatefirewall to stealth its ports properly and even had an open port.

 

Oh I don't like the sound of that at all. So which firewall are you using now? I am really getting closer to just using the windows firewall. Does it have stealth ports?

 

The windows firewall stealths its ports just fine.

Im using the comodo firewall at the moment and its a good firewall.

 

When it worked properly for me, I really liked ComodoFW as it was so feature rich and I got read of it with reluctance. Glad Windows FW has stealth ports.

 

Just a little update on this.
Upon updating avast i noticed that an avast window appears on my log on screen.

This was the software updater and i started getting blue screens again.
I removed this module and the blue screens have ceased so i think i can safely say avast was causing a problem at boot up.

I have never experienced this with comodo firewall so i ruled that out.
Looks like avast was the culprit.

Sadly if avast carries on misbehaving then i will have no choice but to remove it.