WinXP Crashed... help?

[Plague]

My brother was getting BSOD while booting today. This was the error message (no driver mentioned):

stop 0x0000008E (0xC0000005,0x03020100, 0xF7A7E4F8, 0x00000000)

The number after the 'A' has been 8 and 6 as well. I tried a repair install, but that didn't work. I can boot into safe mode. Help?

[Jeff250]

Try booting the last known good configuration.

Installed any new drivers or software lately?

[Plague]

Tried that, it doesn't work. And no, I haven't.

[Plague]

Boy would that be easy... except System Restore was turned off (I guess to save disk space or whatnot). There is no system restore point.

[AceCombat]

woah, no sys restore? bad choice... so it does boot into safe mode...any new programs?

[CDN_Merlin]

Boot with the XP cd and tell it to repair.

[Flatlander]

Safe Mode - Start - Run - msconfig - Selective Startup - uncheck Load Startup Items - reboot and see what happens.

Or, if you have high-speed Internet access: Safe Mode with network support - http://housecall.antivirus.com

Or, try running memtest86

[AceCombat]

My brother was getting BSOD while booting today. This was the error message (no driver mentioned):stop 0x0000008E (0xC0000005,0x03020100, 0xF7A7E4F8, 0x00000000)The number after the 'A' has been 8 and 6 as well. I tried a repair install, but that didn't work. I can boot into safe mode. Help?

actually not all BSOD's are driver based. conflicting hardware, fatal errors in program files, a whole list of things can cause a BSOD.

[fliptw]

actually not all BSOD's are driver based. conflicting hardware, fatal errors in program files, a whole list of things can cause a BSOD.

Most BSODs on NT platforms happen around the HAL.

errors on user mode apps rarely crash the machine on NT by themselves.

BSOD's on 9x can happen anywhere, but thats 9x.

[Plague]

I got into safe mode with networking and backed everything up. Now it's on a nice clean install of Windows (with System Restore on this time). Thanks for the help!

[AceCombat]

Most BSODs on NT platforms happen around the HAL.

errors on user mode apps rarely crash the machine on NT by themselves.

BSOD's on 9x can happen anywhere, but thats 9x.

you know what, you just gave my memory a kickstart, i retract my statement. apps usualy are forced closed by NT and XP automatically, if not requested by the user. they throw up that "This Program has caused a Error and will be closed" and then close the program force wise.

[AceCombat]

i agree.. i have mine set @ 8% and it keeps at least 1-2 months of restore points

[MD-2389]

Umm....thats not good (the BSOD). That particular one is hardware related. (in particular CPU and/or RAM) This is not something that "system restore" can solve (matter of fact, I've yet to see that POS thing actually work, which is why I turn it off on every computer I build.)

You might want to go into your BIOS and check your temps right after it happens.

Closest related MSDN article I could find

You need to download a copy of Memtest86 and let it run overnight. If it doesn't error out, then your memory is good. (Make sure to run ALL the tests, not just the standard 8.) It will continue to run until you tell it to stop.

If you get no errors, download Motherboard Monitor 5. Use this to check your actual temperatures upto the point of crashing. (note: Your "case" temperature is actually your northbridge sensor.)

[AceCombat]

download Motherboard Monitor 5. Use this to check your actual temperatures upto the point of crashing. (note: Your "case" temperature is actually your northbridge sensor.)

i had to find out the hard way, that it was my NB Sensor instead of my case sensor.