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Hi. I am a complete novice with computers - used to rely on the ex to sort out problems! I have been experiencing lots of system crashes over the past couple of months which is followed immediately by a the BSOD! I have tried a system restore but that didn't work. My packard bell pc had XP installed when it was purchased but then was upgraded to Vista Ultimate. There are mini dmp files that hold information about the errors but I cannot access them as it won't allow me! Is there anything I can do myself to try to fix the error, or should I just take it to a friendly pc repair shop?!

Thankx 4 ur reply - sorry I didn't respond earlier but I was on the wrong page and didn't see ur response! I have managed to attach some files (I hope they are the right ones!). I couldn't open them myself as it said I need Administrator rights - thought I had those already?!

Just a thought - whilst looking for a solution to my BSOD problem I came across an update for my Santiago motherboard but cannot run it as it is for XP (which my pc was originally) and I'm on Vista!

Hello and welcome to PCHelpForum.

We have a great Tech team who will help you with your issues.

I have marked your thread as "Open" in readyness for the team.

JB.

Hey tracie, welcome to PCHF.

I can see a memory problem of some kind, but I'm unable to narrow it down any further. First of all, can you ensure you have enough disk space on your local disk. Go into Computer, right click on your local disk and go to Properties. You should see your free space here. Click on the Tools tab, and under "Error Checking", click Check Now. Tick both options listed here, and press Start. Your PC will reboot and begin checking for HDD errors.

However, it seems more like faulty RAM. If the disk checks out, please can you use: Memtest86.com - Memory Diagnostic (click on Free Download) to check for memory errors. You'll need a floppy drive, with a spare floppy disk. Alternatively, a PC running Nero, with a spare CD and CD-Writer. Restart your PC with the Floppy/CD insterted into the drive and memtest will start. Memory problems will show as faulting addresses highlighted in red.

If you have problems anywhere along the line, please let me know.

Thankx 4 trying to help Madmonkey but I'm giving up trying to deal with this myself. I ran the first test which didn't find any problems but I'm unable to download Memtest86.

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that Tracie, what was the problem? Are you taking the PC in for repair or somethng?

Hi Madmonkey. I've called a man out who will take the computer away for a dianostic and he mentioned about possibly reinstalling XP. I don't know if this is the answer or not but I'm just fed up with the crashing! I tried to download Memtest86 but even though I put a cdrom in my computer either didn't recognise there was one in, or when I tried to format the disk first it failed formatting! I just decided I don't know enough and I didn't want to risk making a bigger problem! However, this morning I discovered there is a Memory Diagnostic tool on my pc already so I ran it and sure enough it said there was a memory problem and to contact the pc manufacturer. However, there doesn't seem to be any way of contacting Packard Bell except to ring a premium rate number - I don't suppose you have any suggestions??! I really appreciate you trying to help!! ;-)