My Windows XP PC is being tortured by Blue Screens

[Rajni-Robot]

I have been using Windows 7 since quite a sometime but some of my self-built applications were not compatible with Windows 7 as they were created on my Windows XP PC, after that I happened to switch back to my Windows XP for using those applications. It has been working quite fine after that too, but after 2 days of use, my PC started showing the BSoD i.e. the Blue Screen of Death. Ever since then it has shown the same 5 times. I don’t have the courage to start the PC again as I am afraid, it might end up giving me more dangerous results. What can probably be done about it? Is it because of the fact that I have changed my OS and went back to the same thing again? The problem is that I am not at all a tech-savvy of a person and I have no idea to solve this issue even if I wish to do so.

[CGale]

No, I don’t really think it has anything to do with your exchanges of OS. Blue screen is undoubtedly a great cause and concern of worry but nothing great enough to be scared of or to panic. I would rather say, it is simply like a fever of system which might fade off on its own. Another thing that is a big time myth is because of its name the Blue Screen of Death, it seems. It hardly ever means death.
But yeah, more than twice or thrice sounds like a great deal. Even if it was some sort of an installation issue with the OS, it wouldn’t have worked properly for 2 days either. The chances that the issue is with OS can almost be eliminated. The reason has to be something else. I think, you need to look into the matter in a more technical aspect

[Rajni-Robot]

I totally agree to whatever you said and I would have definitely looked into it in a much technical way if I had any idea what’s going on with my PC. So, I am expecting you to please provide me some more details as in, what actually causes such blue screen and all. I know about the fact that if the blue screen would have appeared once or twice, I should not really care but what is more shocking to me is the fact that it has already crossed the time-to-worry line of numbers. I am looking for a complete technical assistance in the matter because I have no idea as to what would fix this or cause this.

[CGale]

Ok! I am trying to enlist the possible causes of the blue screen. This obviously is not the final, ultimate list of causes but yeah, majorly, the following are the reasons. There might definitely be more number of unidentified reasons, but consider the following possibilities first.

Software Errors

Sometimes, when there occurs an error in any of the applications/ programs/ software running on the computer it leads to the Blue Screen. Also, if the drivers are not properly installed in your system or if it is not installed only then that might also be a potential cause of the blue screen.
The most basic solution to such kind of a problem is to simply install the proper drivers for the software and hardware or upgrade your computer peripherals to a level where it becomes compatible to run any or all programs installed with you.

Hardware Errors

Errors with secondary devices in the system like an external CD drive or a flash drive or printer or routers can be a very major reason behind the Blue Screen. There are potential chances of hardware malfunction or driver issue. The issue might also be as simple as the user unplugging the hardware from the Power Supply or the system in between an ongoing operation. This is the reason why all the latest version of windows notifies the best time to unplug devices.

Installation Errors

There is also a very bright chance of this blue screen appearance when there is a critical installation error. This might possibly occur when installing a new kind of a software into the system. Also, installation of windows may also cause this error to occur and this can actually prove out to be the most apt time for it to occur. This usually occurs when the hardware is configured enough to support the OS
Startup
In case there is a lot of virus or spyware attack on your system and your system is adversely infected by them there is a strong chance of the Blue Screen occurrence when the system is trying to startup. Their most basic task is to make changes to registry so that they can collect all possible information on the user from the user’s system. Sometimes, it is this changes that makes the system impossible to boot.

Random Errors

They are the most annoying and frustrating cause of a bluescreen as they come unpredictably, attack your system and then your head without any pattern of their or even any specific cause. The causes range from the errors which appears because of low memory or even processor overheating.
But, these are the most dangerous and the most serious signs of a major computer problem. The best solution or fix to this is by moving important files from the existing hard disk to some external storage source and wait for what happens. By the way, you should start accumulating fund for the new system now

[Rajni-Robot]

That was really nice of you to explain all the possible causes of error. I don’t want to sound ungrateful or don’t want to keep bothering you too much but don’t you think this list of options to choose from as a cause to my problem will hardly help me. Trust me, it’s not funny to keep repeating that I’m not technically very sound but I think you are yet to understand and conceive that fact.
These options will do me no good and is completely useless to me unless I know how to diagnose what exactly is the problem with my system and then compare it with the list. So, for now, I want to know how to find out what is the problem?

[CGale]

Ok! I get that, I’ll explain you how to find out the cause of the issue that you are facing, just follow the below steps to do this:
- If you are properly able to boot your system, go ahead with it normally but in case you are not allowed to do so, boot the system in
o On the desktop, you will find the ‘My computer’ icon, right click on it to start with.
o A dialog box should appear with a number of option from which you need to click the Properties option.
o You will be lead to the System Properties window with number of tabs out there, among them click the Advanced tab.
o When you click on the Advanced tab, you can click the Settings button under Startup and Recovery.
o In the Startup and Recovery window uncheck the Automatically restart check box.
o Click Ok.
- You will come across a blue screen again, this time maybe with a lots of error codes and messages
- To identify the kind of error, locate any line which has words written only in capitals and separated by underscores instead of space.
- Right this line down on some paper or note it down at some reliable place (For e.g. BAD_POOL_HEADER)
- There also holds a potential possibility of nothing being written in all capitals and underscores. Simply skip this step in such a case
- Either On the Technical Information arena of the error, you will find the STOP: error message which might be present at the top of the error also
- For example, STOP: 0x00000019, note this portion of the error message.
- Also, if there is any technical information available, write down the file name and its location
With this you will get a detailed answer as to what is the cause behind your issue, we can begin trouble shooting it if you can post the write-up

[Raana]

Now! You are helping me the way, you should! you know, exactly the way you should have done before. Anyways, better late than never and I really appreciate your effort to list down the steps in such an efficient and detailed manner. Talking about the steps that you mentioned. I followed all of them and have noticed the following as the error code: stop BAD_POOL_HEADER error. What next? How do we troubleshoot his error and get rid of this?

[CGale]

If this is the case you need to do one or more than that among the following options of steps provided:

Recover Windows to an earlier copy

In case you are not able to start up your system because of the error that you just mentioned, then hat you need to do is boot into Windows Safe Mode and after that you should be restoring your windows to the last back up creation date. And please note, do not go ahead before you do this.

Install the latest service packs

The problem may be potentially caused by hardware drivers which Is installed with 3rd party installer program. This is a very dangerous thing to do. And this might lead to n-number of errors. If there is the latest Microsoft Windows Service Pack on your computer then the issue is almost solved. Also, new errors and bugs will hardly come your way.


Updating a Microsoft Windows computer.

Bring on the newest and the latest hardware drivers that belongs to all the best and the undesignated hardware attached.if you could not find any, ateast make sure that there is the latest ones installed with the Video card, Network card or router (if present)

A listing of computer drivers and links to hardware manufacturers driver pages can be found on our driver's section.

Install the latest updates for software programs

Get the latest updates for software programs running on your computer. If you've recently installed a new program and have been getting this error, make sure no available updates are available for that program through the developers web site. If no updates are available try uninstalling the program through the Add/Remove programs in Control Panel.

If no programs have been recently installed, temporarily disable programs from starting up with your computer.
How to remove TSRs and startup programs.

Issue between drivers/software and Microsoft's Indexing Service

Disable the Indexing Service by following the below steps. Note: You must have administrator rights to follow the below steps.
Click Start, Run, and type services.msc and press enter.
Once in the services window scroll down to "Indexing Service" and double-click it.
In the Index Services Properties window change the startup type to either "Disabled" or "Manual".

Issue with disk drive

As mentioned in the above causes to this error, if programs are having issues writing to the disk drive this error can be generated. Run ScanDisk on the computer to make sure no errors are present on the drive and if present that they're fixed if possible.

Bad hardware

Although this issue is almost always resolved by following the above steps, because this issue is generated with bad memory allocations or bad disk writes, it is also possible that the error could be related to bad hardware (e.g. bad memory or bad hard disk drive).

Before assuming that either of these is bad, we suggest erasing everything and re-installing Windows. This will help verify without doubt that this is not a software issue. If after re-installing Windows, and updating it with all the latest updates, you continue to get this error we suggest replacing the memory, hard disk drive, or both.