Number 223 - December 2001

B.S.O.D.
by Russell James, Mar 2001 PC Alamode, Alamo PCUG
Is there anyone who has a computer and does not know what these letters stand for? The cursed Blue Screen of Death. The message tells you that something has caused a fatal exception in some ridiculous number that doesn't mean anything to most humans. The end of the message tells you that you may be able to continue with your Windows session but the "any key" usually has no effect and we end up pushing the reset button and rebooting our system. What can we do about the errors and what exactly is a fatal exception? I thought this was a peaceful operation. Isn't working on the computer supposed to be fun? Where do you start to try to figure out what is going wrong and how to correct it? These are some of the questions that we will try to answer this month.     Fatal exception errors are codes that are returned by a program when invalid code, data, or illegal instruction is accessed by an application, or when an operation is executed or tries to execute, on a wrong level. They will usually occur when you attempt to shut down your computer, start Windows, or start a program in Windows. The exception is generated by the processor and passed on to the operating system, which promptly stops all action on your system and gives you the prehistoric blue screen of death. Sometimes you will be able to hit a key and continue with your programs. Most of the time, the fatal exception will cause the entire system to crash and you will be forced to reboot the computer. When this happens, you will have lost whatever had not been saved before the crash. This is why you are always being hounded to save your work. Nobody plans for his or her system to crash, it just happens. You have two choices when working on your computer. To save or not to save, that is the question.     There are many different reasons why you might get a fatal exception. There are two types of problems that we have discussed in the past, hardware and software. According to Microsoft, Windows does not cause these errors but has the exception-handling routine for that particular processor exception, which displays the error message. There is always a possibility that faulty hardware is causing the error, but there is also a chance that it could be caused by corrupted software or some new flaky software program that you just installed. The key to correcting the errors is to have an open mind about what could be causing it. Pay attention and make notes about what changes you have made with your system recently. Newly installed programs or updates to old programs. Newly installed hardware or updated drivers for your hardware. Write down the error message, especially any file names that appear in the message. It could be that the new addition to your system is conflicting with other programs or hardware. If you have a corrupted DLL or VXD, you might be able to correct the problem by extracting the file that is causing the problem from your original Windows disks. For those of you with Windows 98, you can use the System File Checker program to extract the file. You can access the program through System Information or by typing sfc in the Run line. The program will ask you if you want to back up the file that you are replacing and you should answer yes. This way you can change the file back if it does not correct the problem. If you are using Windows 95 you will need to learn to use the extract program.     What do these messages tell us that will help us? The typical message would look something like this:     A fatal exception has occurred in xxxx:xxxxxxxx     The X's and Y's would be hexadecimal numbers. The is the exception that has occurred, a number going from 00 to 0F and the other would be the memory address in which the exception occurred. The memory address is usually not going to be relevant to finding a solution to the problem. You want to take notes on the error so you will be able to tell whether it is the same message or a random message. If you want to know what the exception codes stand for, you can look it up in the Microsoft Knowl0edge Base (http://search. support. microsoft. com/ kb/ c.asp) on the web, you can search for Q150314 - What Are Fatal Exception Errors. You will be able to get a much more in depth look at what the errors are and what causes them. Within the article is a more in-depth look at troubleshooting Fatal Exceptions. By looking at the exception, you might be able to get a general idea of what area the problem is occurring. What is the exception and why was it generated? What files are associated with the error message and what programs were you running at the time of the error?	There are 16 different processor exceptions that are listed in the Microsoft article. There is the Divide Fault, Overflow Trap, Double Fault, Stack Fault, and twelve others that are to numerous to mention by name. The most common error that I see is 0E. This error refers to a Page Fault or when Windows asks for a program to be recalled to memory and an error occurs. Windows uses a swap file to allow you to multitask between the different applications that you might have running. Whichever program is being used will be loaded into the available RAM for your system. Any programs that will not fit intoRAM will be paged to the swap file until they are called to the front. This paging of programs from RAM to swap file and back is where the Page Fault errors occur. Errors can occur when the programs that you are using try to access the same memory space in which another program is being stored. You cannot have two programs in the same space as this will result in a Page Fault or a Fatal Exception 0E.     How do you go about correcting the errors that you might encounter? The first step would be to try to recreate the error. Try loading the same programs and see if the error occurs again. Try booting your system up in Safe Mode and see if you can recreate the error. If the programs run in Safe Mode and the error continues to occur, then you might need to start looking at whether you have a hardware problem. Take a look at the names of any files that are referenced by the error message. Search your computer for the file name and look at the properties of the file to see what type of file it is. Is it a file that is used by the printer or one of your programs? It could be that it is a problem with the software that is trying to run your hardware. It could be your modem driver conflicting with your video or sound card drivers. Updates to drivers for your system are usually available on the website of the company that made the individual cards. Take a look at the brand name of the card or the name that is listed in Device Manager. Try searching on the Web to see if there is an updated driver that will correct your problem. Start by looking on the Website of the company that made your computer. If you cannot find updated drivers with the manufacturer, try http://www. win drivers. com/. They have links to most of the company Websites and you can search for your particular card or search by manufacturer.     If the problem cannot be recreated in safe mode, take the note that you made about the error message and look it up in the Microsoft Knowledge Base. Look at the articles that are retrieved with your search. There will be a small part of the article on the page that will give you a general idea about what the article is about. Look at what programs each of the articles talk about and see if any of them have some of the programs that you use. You will need to become somewhat of a detective in most cases. It could take you a while to find the article that points you in the right direction. Most of the error messages that you will encounter have been encountered and fixed in the past by someone else. All you have to do is access the information that others have gathered and follow the instructions to correct the errors.     Most of the information that you can get by calling and talking to a company tech support person is available free on the web. They would rather you find the information and correct the problem yourself, than call them. This saves them and you time and money. You don't have to spend so much time on the phone waiting for them to tell you what to do, and they don't have to pay the Tech Support to talk to you. It is a win-win situation for the company and for you. Don't just put up with the errors that can occur in Windows. Take the bull by the horns and search for the solution. When you find the solution and are ready to tackle the problem, remember to have a plan and be able to get back to where you started. If you make the problem worse by trying to fix it you will just drive yourself crazy. Take your time and have a plan. And don't forget that this computer stuff is supposed to make our lives easier.     Russell James is Operations Manager at BJ Associates of San Antonio. They are an authorized service center for IBM and Toshiba systems. They are the laptop specialist and also handle system builds and parts for desktops. They can take care of any IBM compatible PC problem that you have.
Number 223 - December 2001