PC bootup problem

Tringa

Tringa

Numpty of the Day'
Suspended / Banned
Messages
6,133
Name
Dave
Edit My Images
Yes
Grateful for some thoughts on this problem. The PC is an old core2duo with 2Gig of DDR2 memory. It boots and XP(SP3) loads but after 20-30seconds it blue screens with 'Page fault in non paged area'

I know one cause of this is faulty RAM so I tried all the combinations - both sticks of memory in different slots, each stick by itself in different slots. Also tried 2 more pairs of RAM in all the combinations with the same result- blue screen and page fault message as above.

I was thinking there is a bigger problem so it could be time to build new PC, but tried booting in Safe Mode. In SM there is no problem with any of the combinations of RAM, but I'm obviously limited in what I can do in Safe mode.

I'm guessing that safe mode makes less demands so the page fault does not occur but could there be another,hopefully simpler, reason for the problem that would save me a journey to the computer shop? I'd rather not have to rebuild as the PC is old, it is used very little and the computer shop is about 70 miles away.

Thanks

Dave
 
Download "Who Crashed" and then once in safe mode, run it and see what actually caused the BSOD. hopefully that will shed some light on the fault.
 
I would agree that the page fault message is a strong indicator of a RAM issue - but you seem to have covered that off.

Another possibility is that there is a problem with your hard disk - the page file sits on there. You could try resizing / reallocating / moving that to see if it makes any difference.
 
Thanks for the replies all.

'Who Crashed' sounds good but I found I needed another file for it to run and I can't download that file while in Safe Mode.

Unfortunately no file is mentioned in the BSOD.

I'll see what I can do with the hard drive.

Otherwise, it is a new one. I have enough bit about the place not to need to buy too much.

Cheers

Dave
 
Thanks LandW, I was starting to think the same, it may be a good time to move away from XP (a pity because it has been rock solid for me for ages) and use something newer.

Dave
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top