Computer help: random error

[Halliday]

This happens about once a day.

I'll be on my comp (Compaq, 1.2ghz, 512mb ram, ati 9200 vid card, 40gig HD, WinMe, IE 6, Norton Anti-virus 2001) and it will just randomly give me an error. Sometimes I'm moving the mouse or typing when it happens, other times I'll just be sitting there looking at the screen and I get the blue screen of death. It gives me the option to ctrl-alt-delete out, but that never works. So then I have to manually power off the comp. Here's the kicker.......when it boots back up it's frozen. So I have to power off again, go to safe mode, run a scandisk that never finds anything, and start over.

Today's error message:
0E : 019F : BFF8E64B

Any ideas? If you need more info I will try to provide it.

Thanks

[fire1811]

did a search on google
its not looking good for you most are saying just to ditch winme

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=BFF8E64B+error&btnG=Google+Search

[fire1811]

its probably a corrupted system file

i think lol
look around on google

[Dryden]

Ouch. Magic 8-Ball says "Outlook not good"

First, I would recommend shutting down and removing the case. Check basic things, like are fans spinning on the processor, power supply exhaust, and video card?

Second, check the video board for signs of damage. High end AGP video boards actually have a MTBF of only about 1000 hours. I blew the capacitors out on a GeForce Ti-4200 a few months ago, and it demonstrated symptoms similar to yours. Check the tops of any capacitors on the board. If they appear to have any corrosion, or signs of leaking (brown, hardened - like battery acid) it will likely be there.

Third, disable all memory allocated software and try running for awhile without it - see if the problem repeats with the PC isolated and doing basic things. Disable anti-virus software and the network card (if any).

Fourth, download MemTest 86+ and run. Instructions are on the site for how to make a boot floppy. Should take less than a half-hour to run a test on 512Mb RAM. Pretty simple software to use (and free). If your RAM is bad, or just not compatible with your mobo, this software will do the trick.

Fifth, visit (shameless plug) my site for my rant why you shouldn't run Windows ME even if the MS-Police are holding a gun to your head.

[Halliday]

I'll add that my computer fails to boot all the way about 40% of the time. I'll turn it on to a frozen screen.

Thanks for the advice so far.

[lord1234]

welcome to the wonderful world of WINME

an upgrade to win xp seems near in your future my son.

[i_baked_cookies]

xp is nice, but it isnt a vast improvement

i remember last year, the 300 kids at my school who have the exact same computer as i do got the blue screen of death around 7 times a day. we all have xp pro... then a update came out and pretty much fixed it

[sharpshooter1286]

i also have a win me problem (sometimes i tpye and it does functions or just beeps) and i was wondering, i heard XP will slow my computer down and stuff like that. im runnin a compaq presario 1200 with 20gb hard drive, 312 mb and intel celeron processor. will xp work on my computer? will ne thing negative happen, like will it slow down at all?

[Halliday]

Well the MemTest jammed so that caused a reboot.

XP: I've thought about upgrading but I don't know if I need the full or upgrade version. ME was pre-installed and is on the Compaq recovery cd and not it's own. will the upgrade read from that?

[Dryden]

Originally posted by Halliday
Well the MemTest jammed so that caused a reboot.

Do you have one 512 module, or two 256's, or some other configuration?

If so, try pulling them all, then rerun the Memtest with only one module in at a time. It's most likely only one went south, so you can use Memtest to isolate which one.

[Halliday]

Some other config I think.

[RT pRo AuToMaG]

If you get xp, make sure to get professional, the home version sucks. Personally I'd go with linux but then you cant use all your windows programs without an emulator (only reason why I don't use linux)

[Tron]

Originally posted by RT pRo AuToMaG
If you get xp, make sure to get professional, the home version sucks. Personally I'd go with linux but then you cant use all your windows programs without an emulator (only reason why I don't use linux)

There is no difference that he would notice besides one saying home and the other saying pro...