Help me through this blue screen madness please :-O

Andrew_G

Hi

Over the past week I've had not one but two separate blue screen system error messages on my PC running Windows XP.

The first error - last Thursday - "INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE" was resolved using a combination of chkdsk /r, chkdsk /f, fixboot and a Windows repair.
I still don't know what triggered this as I'm running Avast and have never had a virus in the life of the PC. Suspect it may have been q buggy Audacity Beta since uninstalled.

Foolishly ran a Defrag after the above fix and this triggered Blue screen Number 2 aka - kernel_stack_inpage_error
0x00000077
(0xc000000E
0xc000000E
0x00000000
Ox002E54000
0 could be O

Switched PC off and the next day it booted up as normal but I'm now VERY worried a problem could re-occur at any time and I’ll potentially loose everything.

Can anyone please advise what caused the kernel_stack_inpage_error which seemingly has corrected itself and most importantly what is the best way to prevent any of these blue-screens reoccurring?

Many thanks

Andrew_G

Thanks for the reply albertross.
I already have an external HD which I use to back up important stuff but my main concern (other than the cost of a replacement HD should this go belly up) is the protracted process of re-installing and re-registering all my software which took an eternity when I first replaced the PC

Missy79

Definitely back up now! I have just had this problem with my laptop, it started with blue screen errors and poor performance also. You should kep an eye out for SMART error message on startup to try and confirm if it's a hard drive problem. ("SMART status BAD - backup and replace" - couldn't be clearer )

Mine eventually gave up recently but luckily was I was able to replace the hard drive with a newer/better model for £100 - still much better than the cost of a new laptop! (Didn't know I had it in me!):T)
Although replacing is a major pain you do benefit from MUCH better performance after and you know all the rubbish is gone from your comp.

BillScarab

Definately take a drive image. I had a Hard Disc failure at the weekend, luckily I had an image from a couple of weeks ago. I bought a new 80Gb disc from PC World for £40 (pricier than online but not too bad and I needed it quick). Installed the drive and then it took about 30-40 mins to reinstall the image. PC was back to exactly how ti was two weeks ago.

All I lost were a few emails as I hadn't added any photos or videos recently and all of those are backed up to DVD in addition.

If you google for it I think Acronis Trueimage 7 is now freeware and you can get the latest version with a free 15 day trial which would be long enough to do a backup and restore, assuming it is a fully functioning version.

Andrew_G

Many, many thanks folks
I also see from the Moneysaving Expert link below True Image is currently Free!
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=283014

marleyboy

yep, HD is failing, and its only a matter of time before its totalled.

Andrew_G

Consensus please.
Once I have a working drive image do you recommend I reformat my old drive and reinstall again from Trueimage or buy a new drive?
Reason I ask is that it's less than four years old (Dell PC) and my previous one lasted over seven without failing.
Cheers

Andrew_G

I ran Acronis True Image last night expecting the backup to be created by this morning. However I woke up to an error E000101F4 "Failed to read data from the disk. Failed to read from the section 142,004,433 of the hard disk".

Clicked ignore and a number of other similar errors relating to different areas of the hard disk appeared one after another. Clicked ignore all and the image backup seemed to be continuing all be it VERY slowly (I initially thought it had crashed because the progress bar didn't seem to move in about 15 minutes and the PC was making the same rhythmic noise as if it was having trouble reading something and was trying to re-read it time and time again). However before I left the house I noticed the progress bar had moved a little.

A few queries folks please.

When I fist ran True Image it asked me to select my source to copy from. It showed not only my C Drive but also Fat 16 and FAT 32 (presumably system files?) listed separately.

I selected all - was this correct or should I just have selected my C Drive (CD/DVD Drives apart, I only have one drive on my system and to my knowledge it is not partitioned)?

Worst case scenario - if the image backup hasn't work or has crashed when I get home what's my next plan of action?

albertross_2

all is ok,

If the backup didn't work, suggest you backup the important data to DVD manually, and then..

try start, run, chkdsk c: /F/R and reboot (which will try and fix any errors on the disk). Is this XP?

BillScarab

It definately sounds like your hard disc is on the way out if Trueimage is having problems reading the disc.

Discs are pretty cheap these days so if you do get a successful image of your drive I would buy a new one and restore to that.

Andrew_G

Should I just have only selected my C Drive in the Image backup or (as I did) the C Drive and Fat 16 and FAT 32 files?
Yes XP.
Thanks