Help/Advice Needed

[Lee]

I am using Compaq Evo N800v running on XP Professional. I
experienced very frequent system crashes.

When I shut down XP, I got a blue screen. (I could not
read the messages on the blue screen. How can I stop it
from scrolling?) The system managed to reboot and it
indicated that it had just recovered from serious
problem. When I viewed System Log, I got the following
information for error type - Source: System, Category:
(102), Event=1003.

I would appreciate any advice to resolve this problem.
Many Thanks.

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

First, be sure your antivirus software has the latest definitions and run a
virus scan.

If your system is clear of viruses, open Control Panel, open System, go to
the Advanced tab, click Settings under Startup and Recovery, remove the
check from "Automatically Restart" under System Failure. This will cause
the system to blue screen instead of restarting on errors and the
information on the blue screen may give a clue as to the source of the
issue.

Open Control Panel, open Administrative Tools, open Event Viewer, look for
errors corresponding to the crash, double click the error, the information
contained within may give a clue as to the
source of the problem.

Assuming you have an XP CD and not a recovery CD, place the XP CD in the
drive, when the setup screen appears, select "Check System Compatibility,"
the report it generates may point to problem hardware or software on your
system. If you do not have an XP CD, you can download this application
known as the Upgrade Advisor from the following site:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/advisor.asp
Note: If you have access to a broadband connection it might be best to
download using that as this is a rather large download.

Check for the latest drivers for your hardware, especially your graphics
card and soundcard and all peripherals connected to your system. No not use
Windows Update for this, go to the device manufacturer's web sites and if
you install updated drivers, ignore the message about drivers being unsigned
by Microsoft.

 

[Lee]

Thanks for your helpful advice. It gives me an idea of
what to do; I have done virus scan, looking for errors
corresponding to the crash (haven't found the source of
problem) and will follow-up on the rest items.

Some queries if you would help: My system started to have
occasional crashes after I installed DVD@ccess (this DVD
software is bundled with the book 'Fish!') and recently,
I also upgraded my touchpad driver from Synaptics. How do
I remove DVD@ccess? (The DVD software only comes with
install program.).

Once again, many thanks to you.

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

You're welcome.

Have you looked in Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel? If it's not listed
there, assuming it hasn't been too long since you installed it you could try
using System Restore to take you back to a time prior to the installation
and see if that gets rid of it. Start\All Programs\Accessories\System
Tools\System Restore.

If that fails, McAfee has an application called Uninstaller. At one time
they had a fully functional 30 day free trial and you could try using to
uninstall the application, just be sure you are well backed up.
www.mcafee.com.

You might also check the DVD@cess web site to see if they have removal
instructions.

I would take these things one at a time to see if you can narrow down the
source of the issue. The Synaptics driver you should be able to rollback in
Device Manager. Open Control Panel, go to the Hardware tab, click Device
Manager, look for the device in the list, right click the device and select
roll back driver.