Ok, usually I am pretty good with this stuff, but this one has me stumped and google hasn't been useful, so any help would be helpful. I've got a Dell 4400 1.6ghz running XP. In Dec., I added a 256mb ram chip, a network card, and an HP all in one ot my machine. Everything has been running well until about one month ago. Now, I get the blue screen of death randomly. The message says Stop 0x0000008E and then references 0xc0000005, 0xf7448258,0xf797c878, 0x00000000) and also comments on SR.SYS F7448258 base at F7441000. Other times, the computer simply freezes, regardless of the program I am running. In the back ground, I have to antivirus programs running, Norton and one by Computer Associates. The computer crashes less if I have the case open. If I am running the computer and I close the case, it usually crashes. I believe dell has some sensor inside noting if the case is open or not. ANY help would be useful as I am out of ideas.....
Okay here are a few suggestions. If the problem started after you added some hardware it is a good idea to back track one by one and see what is causing the operating system to crash. Based on the error it has to be something related to Drivers or even the memory at this point. Sr. SYs referrs to the System Restore system file in Windows XP. Before i would do anything i would first go and make sure you have the latest Bios for the computer as well as the latest Drivers for all your hardware. If that doesn't help your cuase go ahead and remove the memory chip that you added and let your computer run and see if it crashes. If that crashes go ahead and put that chip back and remove the original one just to make sure you know which chip is bad if that is the problem. Do the same thing with the network card and see if your computer is crashing. Try the All in one as well. Those tend to cuase problems sometimes when they are USB. The latest drivers will definently help in this case. Try those and get back to me so i can see what is happening after that. One other thing you might want to check is your PC's Health in the Bios to see how hot your processer is running. Make sure the CPU fan is working okay when you look inside the case.
Thanks a ton. I've already moved the all in one out since it was USB. Nagging feeling its the network card b/c it was some cheap $5 card....will fool around with it. Wish it was a more consistent error I have to spend a few hours on it before it acts stupid. Thanks again.
Ok. Now this time, I got a blue screen with the message: IRQL Not Less or Equal. WTF does that mean? PC LOAD LETTER! WTF! (sorry trying to humor myself)
go read thru this thread and see if any of the conditions they posted are applicable to you. http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/5695/ Things that have been found to cause that error are usb devices, Norton 2002, and Nvidia drivers.
Ok it appears the problem was a Ram chip that had gone bad. The problem showed up intermittently when the computer would use that portion of the chip. Hopefully thats the end of that. Thanks again for all your help folks. I wish I had to more hands....so I could give this chip 4 thumbs down. The memories gone baaaad!!
R2K, I've been meaning to ask you something. Where did you learn all your Windows information from? I mean how do you know about the various messages, errors, etc. that pop up on people's computers? I'm a computer science major but I haven't learned anything about stuff like this yet. The only stuff I've learned is how to write programs. Where did you learn?
Thats the difference between a CS major and a CIS major. CS majors normally focus on programming and CIS majors are more hardware/network/support oriented I started out learning hardware back when it was the segment of the IT world that was growing quickly(early 90's).. Switched to networking back in 2001 after the hardware techie sector got saturated with people with A+ certs. and even then...schooling will only teach you so much...the rest of it is from reading everything technical-related, using common sense, having a basic knowledge of how OS/hardware works together... and the most important part..............knowing how to use a search engine to find what you want to know. honestly....it aint that hard to learn...it just requires a good technical aptitude, and a willingness to learn.... Im certainly not the most knowledgable techie here...Im just the one that speaks up most often.
Cool I got my Degree in information systems and i have been doing hardware networking stuff forever. Started a computer consulting firm....still do that but now i just run the sports bar hehe...but still do computers as well. Good to know there are other people out there with the same stuff.
So is CIS the same or similar to MIS because I didn't see CIS as an academic choice at UM but I did see MIS.
R2K is right on about the degrees -- CS is more programming whereas M/CIS is more sysadmin stuff. But as I'm sure he'd attest to, it's also a lot about experience -- I can't say that I learned hardly anything in college that I consciously use in my day to day job, but I use the skills I picked up working at <a href="http://www.golightspeed.com">Lightspeed</a> every day. It's just a lot of actually DOING stuff. You can read about networking all you want, but until you start making cat5 cables, and hooking things up, you don't really know what you're doing. Just have an intuitive mind, DON'T be afraid to break things, and just soak up everything you can. If you break something, find out how to fix it. If you want to learn how to make Cat5 cable, then make one. If you want to see what goes into running a web server, then set something up and run it. A lot of what one would want to learn can be done at home. Lil Pun -- CIS and MIS are similar -- typically MIS focuses more on business aspects of computing (lots of database) whereas CIS typically focuses more on the computer part of systems administration. BUT, they are much the same thing, and lots of universities have only one of the two -- I was an MIS major, and while I loved it, the only MIS class that has been particularly useful to me at all was Database design.
exactly right....in the beginning. it is nice to go to classes so that you know the theory behind how something works...but when it comes down to it...there aint no teacher like experience. I learned 90% of what I know by setting up and running my own mixed OS network/domain both here at home, and for a few clients. The hardware side was learned by taking apart and putting together more computers than I care to remember...figuring out how to make old parrts work together without the advantages of Plug and PRay...settings, irqs and memory addressing...good old fashion command line hardware hacking... Things are so much easier now... just shove the component in and install driver....rinse, repeat... it isnt for everyone...you must have the qualities that Vengeance talked about...be someone that loves figuring out problems...someone that can deal with the single biggest problem in computers(users) without losing their minds...someone with a thirst to learn constantly...this field is getting more advanced every month...and if you fail to keep up...you become extinct. you might be better off in the long run being a programmer....there are still alot more sysadmins than there are sysadmin jobs....hell...Im about ready to take a support job just to say I actually work in IT for a living.
Yeah unfortunatnly the job market is flooded and that hurts people like us a lot. Thank god i do consulting work for a few clients with my partners cause if i didn't i would be sort of out of the loop when it comes to computers. I agree with both of you on your points. I didn't learn too much out of the classes that i already didn't know. It's really when you get out there and mess with all the mess ups that users acomplish, that's when you learn how to do things and you get better. There is no real way to teach someone how to troubleshoot problems, but it's all experience.
lol.... Nice picture to find. Yeah when we first opened up business on the sports side was kinda slow so on friday and saturdays we started being a club at night where we hosted parties. Since business has gotten better we have started to cut down on parties and the only time we have them is on Saturday and Sundays and Tuesdays. Other than that we just stay a sports bar and do like Karaoke on fridays etc etc. We have just had to evolve to stay alive when downtown was dead =0) And yes i remember those days....we still get our fair share of girls that look like that on the other days. More incentive to swing by =)
I've yet to have a problem that Google couldn't fix. Although I still spend about 60-70% of my time on an Apple, rather than a PC... Development work is great fun, I work variously in Java, Perl and ksh at the moment (oh, and PL/SQL too). To be honest, I'm less than interested in the tinkering around that some people love to do with computers. I'm more of a "make it do what you want, without too much fuss" kind of guy. University is different in this country (most people only study one subject, rather than studying several and majoring in one), but my degree is in Mathematics and Economics. Computer-related work is about problem solving. If you have a good memory, then all the knowledge comes fairly quickly. I'm considering learning C# at the moment, not because I need to (we're a J2EE shop), but because learning a new language is a good exercise in understanding how programming works fundamentally. A good programmer can switch languages without too much difficulty.
http://www.umsl.edu/divisions/business/mis/misvscsc.html If you didn't know what you have got yourself into, it's good to switch your major now.
