blue screen of death

[TheBigUnit]

Hey guys I'm trying to fix my dads pc. So this computer is messed up. I believe its a HP elite not too old got it 2010 it came with w7 I believe. So the problem is, is that I can't upgrade restore update etc with out getting the suppossed blue screen of death, I believe there is problems with the video card, I physically cleaned the ram so no prob with tht,,,,,how in the world do you fix the video card and remove the BSOD? Also how do you factory reset a hp while logged in cuz the F11 doent work at the boot

[Axw_JD]

If you have physical access to the motherboard (you made it sound like is a desktop, so I am guessing you do), simply unplug it from power, and remove the battery from the motherboard, wait 5 minutes, and start it up without the battery. It *should* now be reset to factory defaults BIOS-wise.

BSoDs, when they are not entirely the fault of the user, are often times just a faulty driver (which still tends to be the user's fault but, anyway). If you have the install discs, a clean install should fix the problem by getting rid of the buggy drivers that are causing problems.

As long as the computer posts and can sort of boot up, a BSoD is unlikely to be hardware-related.

Also, I would consider the upgrade to Windows 8 if you are already running Windows 7. Specially since a future problem like this (still assuming is software-related in nature) is not only less likely to happen, but easier to fix (Windows itself can detect and fix it at boot time without user input).

[TheBigUnit]

Aw yes it is a desktop, umm sorry but where is the motherboard battery?

[jaycee.broham]

Take it to a best buy or a place where they fix computers, but ive seen the new hp elite laptops, theyre awesome :D

[Axw_JD]

Aw yes it is a desktop, umm sorry but where is the motherboard battery?

Is just a normal watch battery, like these: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/81

Could be anywhere in the motherboard, since they are all different. They are usually located towards the bottom, near the IDE/SATA and PCIe ports.

[TheBigUnit]

Ill try hope it works

[TheBigUnit]

So I shut it off and the bios was set to default


Then all of a sudden after like 2hours I got 2 BSOD back to back
One was "quota_underflow" and it reset the computer shortly after logging in another bsod popped up "system_service_exception" what do I do?

[Axw_JD]

Sounds like the RAM might be bad / in the process of going bad. Follow these steps to check it:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Diagnosing-memory-problems-on-your-computer

[HunterSteele]

often times just a faulty driver (which still tends to be the user's fault
No, that would be the person who programmed the driver's fault. A user cannot tell if a driver is faulty before they install it.

[Axw_JD]

No, that would be the person who programmed the driver's fault. A user cannot tell if a driver is faulty before they install it.

I have seen people installing unsigned and / or beta drivers without knowing what they are doing way too many times. They just see the "driver unsigned" warning and click continue... thats why I am so happy about the enforcement of the signature on Windows 8: less calls from family telling me their computer crashes all the time (because of buggy drivers).

[mwd97]

Unfortunately some HP an Compaq PC's have a hidden software preinstalled on the computer so that when you factory restore or reformat the hdd it gives you the BSOD and then u have to bring it to get repaired its a scam to make you pay the retailers I believe it is called code purple

[TheBigUnit]

Ugh. I give up haha it works for a bit them boom it doesn't start up properly now like it stops when the underscore appers,

[darkwoon]

Test the RAM with Memtest86 (www.memtest.org) for at least one hour. It sounds very likely one memory module is at fault here.

If the motherboard has more than one RAM module plugged in, remove one, test again, then exchange the modules, test again. This should help pinpointing if it is indeed RAM and which module has to be replaced.

[TheBigUnit]

Yea two maybe 4 but the colors diffrent 2 white and 2 blue tabs

[Axw_JD]

The color code is just to make it easy for you to know where to install the RAM for Dual Channel if you only have 2 sticks instead of 4.

[HunterSteele]

I have seen people installing unsigned and / or beta drivers without knowing what they are doing way too many times. They just see the "driver unsigned" warning and click continue... thats why I am so happy about the enforcement of the signature on Windows 8: less calls from family telling me their computer crashes all the time (because of buggy drivers).
The signature is enforced in Windows Vista as well but it's easy enough to disable. Not every company can get their drivers signed. If someone buys a device they need but the driver isn't signed, what are they supposed to do? Toss it in a drawer and hope?

Just because a driver is signed doesn't mean it's perfect.

[Axw_JD]

The signature is enforced in Windows Vista as well but it's easy enough to disable. Not every company can get their drivers signed. If someone buys a device they need but the driver isn't signed, what are they supposed to do? Toss it in a drawer and hope?

Just because a driver is signed doesn't mean it's perfect.

An enforcement with a single click isn't much of an enforcement (thats why they changed it once again). Most often than not, when the driver hasn't been signed, it hasn't received much in the way of testing. When you buy a device, and you force it to install an unsigned driver, if your computer starts getting BSoDs all of a sudden, I would say yeah thats your fault.

Also, stores like Amazon will let you return the device if it has a problem like that (which *should* prevent it from installing unless you know what you are doing. Average Joe will click next until the installation is over and if it seems to work won't bother updating drivers ever again. When the computer crashes, he will blame Microsoft and pay someone to reinstall Windows for him).

[HunterSteele]

An enforcement with a single click isn't much of an enforcement (thats why they changed it once again).
A single click? I remember having to go to the command prompt and type stuff.

Also, stores like Amazon will let you return the device if it has a problem like that (which *should* prevent it from installing unless you know what you are doing. Average Joe will click next until the installation is over and if it seems to work won't bother updating drivers ever again. When the computer crashes, he will blame Microsoft and pay someone to reinstall Windows for him).
I don't understand what your point is at all. Returning a device doesn't help me if I need it. For example, a while ago I looked everywhere for a USB to serial adapter for my Garmin GPS and found one at an electronics store. Obviously not many people use serial devices anymore, so this was made by a small company which didn't have its drivers signed. If I had simply returned it to the store at that point, it sure would've prevented me from installing it, but it also would've prevented me from transferring waypoints to my GPS.

[Silicate Wielder]

that is good point you have there. I'm more hands on I tend to try and fix a problem myself. I know computers used to give you a beep if the ram was bad and 3 beeps if its missing Not sure if they still do that though, haven't had a bad ramcard lately so i may not be %100 correct. However if it is the ramcards that are bad you should bring them to bestbuy and see if you can get replacements. other than that. well there is a multitude of possibilities. one way I use to test whether the ram is bad is to boot from a flashdrive with linux insalled on it using pendrivelinux and select the memtest option.

if you do decide to test your ram this way you have to learn what your boot option key is and select your flashdrive, mine happens to be F12.

whatever the problem may be i hope you get it fixed