Blue Screen of Death

Howard Parker · Post by **Howard Parker** » 6 Sep 2007 1:05 am

Scenario:

Dell Optiplex/XP Pro boots to blue screen where the Stop info is 0x0000007E(0x000001D, 0x805F3E21, 0FX8993858,0Fx8993554)

Tried safe mode and restore unsuccessfully and now will not go into safe mode at all, returning to blue screen..

Next step? Disc fail?

Thanks in advance.

h

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 6 Sep 2007 3:06 am

I'm not too familiar with the Optiplex's, but does that model have the Dell diagnostic partition on it? If it does, run the Dell diagnostics. Doing a google search suggest either a memory problem or Windows XP is corrupted and will have to be reinstalled. You could boot with the Windows XP CD and do an XP "Repair" instead of an install as a first step. If the Repair doesn't help, the next most likely step would be to reformat the hard drive and reinstall everything, however that step will delete all of your user data, unless you have backups (and you should be doing backups - not for "if" but for "when" you need them).

If you need more assistance, best to post this on the Dell users forum in the "Workstation/Optiplex" section as that is the section for Optiplex support. If you've never used the forum you will have to register first.

http://delltalk.us.dell.com/supportforums

Dave Potter · Post by **Dave Potter** » 6 Sep 2007 4:14 am

Tried pressing F8 after POST and BIOS, before Windows tries to boot, and picking "Last Good Configuration that Worked"?

Other thing that comes to mind is opening the case, checking memory for good seating as Jack mentioned, checking all data and power connectors, and removing all the cards but the video card, and see if it'll boot. Then add 'em back one by one.

If that doesn't work, time for the XP install disk, again as Jack explained.

Howard Parker · Post by **Howard Parker** » 6 Sep 2007 6:03 am

Ran last good config once. No joy. I did go into the bios to see if it recognized memory. It does. I also ran the IDE diagnostic, which passed.

I'll dig into this some more this evening.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 6 Sep 2007 6:28 am

The Dell diagnostic partition I'm referring to is accessed BEFORE the BIOS and bootup. On the Dimension desktop line, that has it, it's either F11 or F12 and there is an option for it on the screen that gives you the option to access the BIOS.

Howard Parker · Post by **Howard Parker** » 6 Sep 2007 8:23 am

Thanks Jack..

I'll look for it this evening.

Howard Parker · Post by **Howard Parker** » 6 Sep 2007 7:06 pm

I could not access the partition utility.

Dell is sending software to "repair Windows", Also an original XP Pro CD.

We shall see.....

Howard Parker · Post by **Howard Parker** » 10 Sep 2007 5:10 pm

CD's arrived by DHL today.

Hardware diagnostics all passed.

Tried for an XP repair instead of a fresh install and VOILA!!

Outside of having to reload some 3rd party drivers and some minor reconfig the machine (this one actually) is back with no data loss.

I suppose I dodged a bullet on this one

Thanks all.

hp

Dave Potter · Post by **Dave Potter** » 11 Sep 2007 6:22 am

Howard Parker wrote:I suppose I dodged a bullet on this one

I'm not sure which CDs you used to do the repair, but I'd suggest you check to see if your "repaired" OS is SP2. Reason I say that is I seem to recall once when I did a "repair" from the install CD, it reverted to an earlier version, and I had to re-download SP2 and a lot of Windows updates. Even if it turns out to be SP2 now, I'd recommend running Windows Update to make sure you're up to date.

Howard Parker · Post by **Howard Parker** » 11 Sep 2007 6:45 am

Yep...Always

Dell sent me an XP Pro/SP2 CD with the repair utility.

(Wed...82 patches, to be exact!)

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