driver problem

[Guest]

Received a message saying a device driver caused Windows to stop operating,
and that the error requires me to restart my computer. When I restarted it,
there was a message on a blue background that it was checking file system in
C; that the type of file is NTFS; that the volume is dirty; and that CHKDSK
is verifying files.
But...nothing got better.
Things seemed to be working fine until earlier today when the messages
saying Windows had to stop operating appear everytime I try to do much of
anything.
I admit this is way over my head, so I really need step-by-step terms.
Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Ian,
I'm in a real pickle. I have no operating system or drivers CD. Dell says
I should use Windows System Restore, but that hasn't worked. I get a message
that it can't restore to any of the many points I've tried. I get a message
on a blue background that Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to the
computer - Stop: 0 x 0000000 50.
I've also tried Dell Driver Reset Tool and that says no errors detected.
I'm baffled.

 

[Guest]

This kind of thing is more often a hardware problem than OS-related.

I'd suggest a test-run with a bootable CD (Knoppix, Ubuntu, WinPE/BartPE) as
a good starting point.

 

[Nightowl]

I'm in a real pickle. I have no operating system or drivers CD. Dell says
I should use Windows System Restore, but that hasn't worked. I get a message
that it can't restore to any of the many points I've tried. I get a message
on a blue background that Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to the
computer - Stop: 0 x 0000000 50.
I've also tried Dell Driver Reset Tool and that says no errors detected.
I'm baffled.

Hi sally

What Ian says is right, but it could also be a trojan. Here's a quick
way to find out -- if you can't do it in normal mode because the
computer stops again, try booting into Safe Mode with Command Prompt and
doing it there.

1. Open a command window (Start, Run, type cmd <enter>

2. In the window type: CD %windir%\System32\Drivers <enter>

3. Type: dir /ah <enter>

If it says File Not Found, it probably is a hardware problem. If a
filename is listed, please have a look at this Knowledge Base article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/894278
and if you need help with following the instructions, post back here
with the *exact* name of the file you found at step 3.

Good luck and let us know what happens!