On May 29 2008, a neighbor called, after upgrading his media player, he couldn't access his computer. He kept getting a BSOD - BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH - Blue Screen with white letters telling you that your computer is not going to start. This was the main error being reported: PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA.
I tried every trick in the book that I could think of. But unfortunately, nothing. I eventually tried a repair install, but even that would not finish.
It got stuck in a loop where it would freeze up and when I restarted the computer the setup program would try to restart again. I had to use a boot CD to get back control of the computer and unfortunately format the drive and start over from scratch.
I was trying to save his data on his system. But eventually had no choice but to format. He has a burner, so I recommended to him to backup anything he wanted to save on CDs. He was not aware of that he could do that.
BSOD troubleshooting
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-6053684.html
Stop 0x0000000A error -
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314063
STOP 0x0A, 0x01E, and 0x50 Errors -
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=183169
"STOP 0x0000007F" errors -
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=137539
Stop 0x9F Error -
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315249
Error Message with RAM Problems or Damaged Virtual Memory Manager -
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=810093
"STOP 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER" -
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=293078
Windows 2000: "Stop 0x24" or "NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM" -
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=228888
Stop 0xC0000218 Error Message -
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=156640
"STOP: C0000221 unknown hard error" or "STOP: C0000221 STATUS_IMAGE_CHECKSUM_MISMATCH" error message occurs -
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314474
You really don't need any software to backup your personal data. Just burn of your picture folder(s) and documents and whatever to a CD or two.
If you want software to do it a quick search in your favourite search engine will produce many results. Here's some:
Freeware Backup links -
http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Freeware/Backup/
Other Backups -
http://www.nonags.com/nonags/diskbk.html
http://software.techrepublic.com.com/search.aspx?kw=freeware%2C+backup
http://www.freebyte.com/fbbackup/
I don't use any backup software except, Norton Ghost to backup my entire computer. Otherwise, whatever documents, pictures, etc. I want to save I first burn them of on a CDRW (a rewritable CD). When it gets filled up I copy all files to a folder on my hard-drive and the I burn them of on a CDR (burn once CD). Then I erase the CDRW and start all over again.
A procedure I've been using for years. Its easier to do this with software like INCD from Nero. It allows me to use a CDRW like a hard-drive. Copying, overwriting, erasing and so on.
At first I used a similar program from Roxio, called Direct CD, a part of the EasyCd suite. I had only Win98 then ME at the time. When I upgraded to WinXP, I discovered my EasyCD version (at the time version 4), was not going to work on WinXP. So I had to switch to Nero and INCD. Been using it ever since.
I currently use Nero Essentials 7 and INCD Essentials 5.5.1.19 that came with my DVD burner.
My browser of choice is Opera, if you do not want to use backup software here are the main files that I backup:
In Opera click on Help and the About Opera. You will taken to a screen that shows you where all the folders reside on your computer. The main one is your Profile folder. I usually just save the entire folder. If I have to format my drive and/or reinstall Opera it's just a matter of copying all the files from the saved profile to the fresh install.
Remember to empty the cache first.
Tools > Preferences >Advanced >History >Empty Now
otherwise:
You go to all the trouble of formatting and reinstalling and something still doesn't work right. Remember the BSOD guy above, I later got a call from him because Internet Explorer 6 wasn't working right. It keep getting a error message, something about a problem with mshhtml.dll, again I couldn't fix the problem, luckily there is always a work-a-round. I just updated to Internet Explorer 7.
I have WindowsXP Pro on a P2-300mhz system. I figured that I might get better performance from this computer if I formated my drive and put on WindowsXP Home Edition. Reinstalled no problem. Every thing seemed OK until we tried to use the webcam on Windows Live Messenger (Microsofts latest name for MSN).
I personally think these messengers are just bloated security risks but my relatives use them all the time. Anyway the webcam wouldn't work. So I tried using an older version. It installed OK but when we tried to go online, it said I HAD TO UPGRADE. I DON'T THINK SO!!!
I found a little trick to use an older version online. Just right-click on the shortcut that starts MSN and click on Properties, then the Compatibility tab and click on Run this program in compatibility mode for: and chose Windows 2000 from the list.
If you wish you could instead go to the program folder for MSN and right click on the file to start the program but the shortcut way will do.
When it first starts up, it will say something about Repairing, just let it finish and it should work. After all of this, MSN would work perfectly except...the @#$%^& webcam still would not work. In fact the wizard to set up the audio/webcam would not even start up.
Good money was spent on a webcam and it WAS GOING TO BE USED. This unfortunately meant reformatting and putting back the old XP Pro version. I HAVE NO REGRETS FOR TRYING!!!
To find old versions of MSN: www.oldversion.com