Posted 07/25/09 at 11:05:14 AM by The Maximum PC Staff

I just did a Core i7 build for audio/video production purposes and 3D rendering. I’m not a gamer, but I do a lot of heavy-duty audio stuff and 3D rendering with Cinema4D, After Effects, Poser, 3D Studio Max, Photoshop, etc. The system is a Core i7-920 with an ATI 4870 X2 and Vista Ultimate 64-bit.

Vista has really started to get on my nerves. I am getting random BSODs, and there is no pattern to when they come (although it seems the computer is usually idle for a little while when it happens). The BSOD message says it’s due to a hardware exception, and is always the same. I’ve done some general diagnostics on the hardware using CPU-Z and SpeedFan, and everything checks out.

I think it may be the result of something as simple as an unseated videocard, but it would be nice if I knew how to access the error log that is written whenever a BSOD occurs, like I used to with XP. I would imagine that Vista has the same feature; I’m just not sure how to get to it. Can you tell me where to find this or offer some suggestions to help me troubleshoot this?

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Posted 05/01/09 at 11:30:00 AM by Paul Lilly

Picture this: It’s late at night, you’re sitting at your computer playing a game or working on a project when, suddenly, Windows freezes completely. All your work is gone, and you find a blue screen full of gibberish staring back at you. Windows is dead, Jim, at least until you reboot it. You have no choice but to sigh loudly, shake your fist at Bill Gates and angrily push the reset button. You’ve just been visited by the ghost of windows crashed: The blue screen of death.

Also known as the BSoD, the Blue Screen of Death appears when Windows crashes or locks up. It’s actually a Windows “stop” screen, and is designed to do two things: tell you the reason for the error, and to calm your nerves, hence the use of the color blue (studies show it has a relaxing effect on people). Though Blue Screens are difficult to decipher, all the information you need to figure out what caused it is right there in front of you in blue and white—and that’s where we come in. We’re going to show you how to dissect the blue screen error details, so you can fix the problem that’s causing them.

Hit the jump to get started!

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Posted 08/14/08 at 01:18:21 PM by Paul Lilly

The last thing you want to see while hanging from a wire high above a crowd of spectators is Microsoft's Blue Screen of Death lingering in mid-air, but that's exactly what happened to Li Ning, one of China's sporting greats. The incident took place during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, and as Ning geared up for the torch lighting climax inside the Bird's Nest, stadium projectors beamed the BSOD onto the roof where it was clearly visible for all to see.

The BSOD came as an unfortunate side effect to using specialized theatrical computer controlled lighting equipment to light up the Bird's Nest, making the process not only automated, but susceptible to software failures. But hey, at least Windows was only running the light show and not the high wire act!

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Posted 07/28/08 at 03:12:13 PM by The Maximum PC Staff

I’m stuck with a Dell laptop that now fails to boot after just two weeks of normal use. I can accept the fact that I will probably fight with Dell technical support for six months before they do anything to help. What I can’t accept is that I can’t figure out what is wrong with this box.

Quite simply, using the laptop for an extended period results in incredibly slow performance, which leads to a lockup or blue screen, which leads to Windows no longer booting on the next cold restart. The ensuing error messages are varied and too numerous to list. After a clean install of Windows, every single diagnostic from the Dell CD comes back perfect. Memtest86 returns no errors.

I’ve swapped out hard drives and CD drives. But after two weeks, the result is exactly the same: no boot. I’ve tried other “unsupported operating systems” (read: Ubuntu), but they crash and burn just the same. If a Dell technician tells me to reinstall XP Home one more time, I may go postal!

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Posted 08/29/07 at 02:04:03 PM by Paul Lilly

Has Windows started singing the blue(s) screen of death? You could have faulty memory, and here's how you can find out for sure.

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