In need of help from computer experts...

[synthetic_crazy]

This morning when I awoke, I noticed a blue screen on our Dell desktop. Upon closer examination, the blue screen stated that "a problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer". Directly below this was: KERNEL_STACK_INPAGE_ERROR. Then at the bottom it stated that it dumped the physical memory. I pressed and held the power button on the tower to shut the system down. After about 20 minutes I turned the computer on again and it seems to be working fine. Our Dell is about 10 years old, and we haven't made any hardware updates to it in this time outside of antivirus and and windows updates.
What is this blue screen incident and is it something I should be concerned about?

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Run a full hard drive scan, for starters.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315266

That error does not seem like the end of the world so don't worry about it much.

 

[Nick R]

I *think* that's indicative of harddrive issues. I could be completely wrong though. Honestly, if it doesn't do it again, I wouldn't worry about it. If it does, make a note of it. It can be hard to troubleshoot BSODs, sometimes. Could be bad RAM, could be bad HDD, could be errors in windows registry, could be bad CPU... Too early to tell at this point. Someone else might have a better idea than I. I'm more of a hardware person than software.

 

[tommygunn]

If your dell is 10 years old it is time for a new one anyway!

Here are some good deals.
http://dealnews.com/
http://www.techbargains.com/

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: tommygunn
If your dell is 10 years old it is time for a new one anyway!

Here are some good deals.
http://dealnews.com/
http://www.techbargains.com/


My PC celebrates its 12th B-Day in Feb. I recently reinstalled the OS and upped the Ram, for word processing and Internet surfing it works great. LOL

 

[OldCowboy]

Random event. Don't worry about it unless it happens again.

 

[Eddie]

Not to uncommon for an older computer left on for an extended period. As Old cowboy said above. Ed

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: OldCowboy
Random event. Don't worry about it unless it happens again.

+1

Software crash

 

[ahoier]

Usually, what causes this, as hard drives age, sectors go "bad" - likely that something tried writing the "Windows Pagefile" to a "bad sector" - since the sector was bad....it could not write it, so it crashed.

SOoooooooooo.....yes, I'd recommend 2 things.....remove/delete the Windows Pagefile temporarily (set the capacity to "0")....the setting can be found in Start > control Panel > System....Hardware tab I believe.....one of the buttons in there....on Vista it's under "Performance"

Yours is likely set to "Let Windows manage the page file" - uncheck that, and set it to "0" - reboot, then set it back to "Let Windows manage the page file" - that will start your page file "fresh"



The pagefile is basically where Windows stores data "temporarily" that it can't, or doesn't need to, be written to RAM....


Once you do this, go to Start > Programs > Accessories, and let Windows run a SCANDISK or "CHKDISK" (you didn't say how old the PC was.....or what version of Windows you're using....so the verbage may "differ" hehe)....

And let it run over night, tell it to "automatically fix bad sectors"



Note: It will take 8-12 hours for the scan to complete - which is why I said let it run over night.

 

[synthetic_crazy]

Thanks to everyone who replied to my computer issue this morning. All of your replies are greatly appreciated!

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

INPAGE errors can be from corrupt drivers (doubtful), bad memory, bad sectors on the hard drive or other motherboard issues that are often difficult to pin point exactly.

If it only happens once, no biggie. If it continues to happen, backup your data, shut the computer off, pull out the power cord on the computer, replace the computer with a new PC, replace the power cord.

 

[Scout1]

Good advise all. Just a thought, when was the last time you blew the dust out of the fans? Older computers can heat up if fans slow or fail and that too can result in a blue screen... Check to see if all the fans are operating properly. Ten years is a long time for those little bearings!

Like the other posters said, not to worry if all you get is one blue screen. If it does it again, you may have a problem.

 

[PandaBear]

See this kind of things happen quite often to old stuff, usually if it happens due to bad parts it happens repeatedly. When that happens and if you want to just replace only the bad parts, you have to swap them out with a known working computer until the symptom goes with the components. Not easy to do if you have no time or no spare.

I've found failures in power supply, ram, cpu, motherboard, but not hard drive as they usually just won't boot (time out or with funny name in BIOS like MaXtOr)