Window XP blue screen message

dumna

Posts: 27   +1
Hi.
The other day my computer turned off and restarted unexpectedly and after it restarted it showed a message that computer turned itself off and restarted to protect itself from blue screen. or something like that.
Is there any steps that I can take to avoid having a blue screen etc. Thank you
 
That's a broad question. How old is your PC? What OS do you run? Have you checked for malware? How long had it been running before it closed down? Were you running a game at the time? What type of PC do you have (laptop/desktop/tower)?

Look in your event log to see what event (if any) is logged at the time it happened. Anything shown? If you don't know what I am talking about, refer to your PC help system.

Slightly more often than not, a shutdown like that is overheating, but advice on what you can do to avoid a repeat event depends upon your answers to the questions posed above.
 
gbhall

computer is a desk top, about 4 years ? old. melaware checked O.k, antivirus checked ok.
I looked under event reviewer under security and on 2/7/2012 failure audit, listed under user: network ser.
under applications I found a lot of errors mostly from 2/9/12 to 2/16/12 that was when I installed a new printer HP5510 wireless.
It happened 2 time since the first message, one while I was using the PC, and again at about 3 am, I heard the music the computer makes after the welcome screen.
I usually keep computer on all the time so on Tuesday 2/14/12 I turned computer off, and I turned back on on Thursday 2/16/12. When I looked the events viewer I noticed a lot errors that took place during these 2 days. How could there be errors when the computer was shutdown? these errors in the even viewer were listed under application, some of which are listed here"
Error 2/16/2012 2.49 PM, source: Esent user :N/A
Error 2/16/12 2.44 pm . Source: Net.run time optimiza
error 2/15/12 3.47 am , source: event system , category (50)
I can try to print all the errors and e mail to you
computer is XP home edition.
I do not use PC that much, would not be better to turn it off when I am not using it and just turn iton when I want to use it
 
With reference to the PC being on when you think it is off, you can blame many things for that. First you need to check scheduler to see if some package has scheduled events without your knowledge or permission. Then you need to examine the properties of every package you have installed to turn off the automatic updating that they all like you to have on by default. This can include java, adobe, microsoft update, anti-spyware, anti-virus, dot-net, network time synchronisation and so on ad infinitum.

If you are confident you will be able to remember to update yourself, then turn auto-updating off completely. In the case of Microsoft update, it is best to take the option which alerts you to update availability so you can authorise it when you wish.

Next you can look at the power-saving modes to see if your PC can be woken by various events. A notorious one is wake-on-lan. But wake-on keyboard is a good one that puzzles people who keep pet cats.

If you have power-saving which switches off the HDD after a period of inactivity, that can cause blue screens if the hardware timings are slightly faulty. Your PC can wake up, use the network and try to save something before the HDD has time to spin up. I do not have any power-saving timeouts whatever, I just use my PC or put it in standby.

Next we come to the events causing errors. Here it is my personal opinion that wireless connection of anything is prone to problems, and HP device drivers and software are worse than most. You should check if there is a more recent update of the HP drivers. Also there is usually no need to have any form of desktop monitoring part to the software controlling a printer. It is normally working or not working, and the more things running all the time (especially wireless networking), the more potential for trouble. Just install the driver alone.

At 4 years old, and not obviously gaming when it happened, I do not necessarily suspect overheating as the cause. On the other hand, by all means open the case and with a vacuum cleaner and a non-metallic attachment, do a thorough spring-clean especially around the motherboard and fans for power supply and processor. It can be surprising if you have a smoker in the house...!

Finally your question about turning PC off when not using it, ask yourself why would you want to leave it on? If it is the hopelessly long time it takes to start up from cold, why not do as I do, which is have an icon on screen called 'Hibernate', and has the target
%windir%\System32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState Standby
Not the best option if you keep inquisitive cats, however, but otherwise a tap on a key will have you up and fully working in about 5 seconds.
 
gbhall
Thank you very much. I changed the automatic updated to notify me instead.. In the power saving setup , tab hibernate was checked, under power saving tab, stand by and hibernate were set on Never. I don't know how to to like have hibernate and a target etc.
PC turned off and restarted twice since the first time but was no messages as to the blue screen but instead I see a screen with the name Microsoft at top left corner, under it , File, Edit, view, tools, folder. on the left side, it says: File & folder tools, make a new folder, Publish this folder to web etc, etc. IN the right or middle, it shows a sign of folder- search enhancment pack. when I click on on I get several folders etc. this screen is new, I have never seen before and I just X it out and use the pc . The printer is connected as wireless, and also as USB . so I have 2 printer. the wireless every couple of days gives a message : Scan to computer if unavailable. this is a problem that I am trying to, it is not the printer it the WIA driver in computer, otherwise so far every thing is O.K
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