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DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A
February 15, 2009
Q.
I have automatic updates set for Microsoft
and when the last update completed and the
computer rebooted, I got the dreaded blue
screen and cannot open Windows. What can I
do to get things back to normal?
A.
For those not familiar, the "Blue Screen of
Death" also known as a stop error, BSoD, bluescreen, or Blue Screen of Doom is
a term used for the error screen displayed
by some operating systems, most notably
Microsoft Windows, after encountering a
critical system error which can cause the
system to shut down to prevent damage.
This BSoD
is frequently caused by a defective or
incorrect hardware driver. The
video driver is the most likely culprit. Many times the video card
furnished with a computer by the
manufacturer is built especially for them
and can differ slightly from the normal
production model.
Windows
may detect that there is a security issue
with a particular model of video card and
recommends or sends a update for it. Having
no way to know that your particular card is
different from the production model and
cannot use the new driver, the new driver is
made available, your computer will download and
install it, and the BSoD occurs.
So what
you have to do is get rid of the
non-compatible driver and re-install the
correct one. The hard part is finding out
which hardware component is the problem. So
here's what you can do to find out and fix
it.
Restart
your computer and boot into safe mode. If
you have received the BSoD and reboot, you
will be given the menu where you can select
Safe mode automatically. If not, rapidly
press the F8 key during the early boot up
sequence for this menu. Choose a user that
has administrator privileges. In XP there
will be a user called Administrator that you
can select. Also in XP you will be presented
with a screen like this.
If you don't know which update caused your
problem, click No to open System Restore. In
Vista, you have to boot to the desktop, and
then click the Start icon, and enter System
restore to open it.
Restore your system to a time before the
latest update. It will be called something
like "Software Distribution Service". Just
choose a point that was before the latest
update. Once the restore has completed, the
computer will reboot, and it should now boot
all the way to the desktop.
Now, to prevent the same update from being
downloaded again, XP and Vista are now very
different so I'll do XP first. Click Start,
All Programs, and then Windows update. When
it opens, choose "Custom". When the list
appears, look for a hardware update,
especially one for your video device. Find
it, uncheck the box in front of it, then
click the little + and you will get
something like this:
Check the box in front of Don't show this
update again and click OK. That will prevent
it from being automatically downloaded and
installed again.
In Vista, open the Control Panel, then
select Windows Update, then Check for
updates. When the check is done, click on
"View available updates". Find the one that
has caused the problem, right click on it
and choose Hide Update.
Now, run the Windows update in and download
all those updates that you removed when you
restored the system to an earlier date. The
driver that caused you the initial problem
will not be downloaded or installed either
by the automatic updates or a manual one
until you unhide it. |
