I have a Dell Inspiron 1525 and it wont turn on. I mean i can turn it on but it doesn’t go directly to windows like it always does but instead it just does a blank screen with a blinking cursor on the top left. Before my laptop just freezes and turns off by itself or sometimes freezes then a blue screen appears and then after 2 weeks that thing happened it doesn’t turns on. Please please please help me!!

Sounds like this is hard drive failure. The laptop starts with a blinking cursor on the top left side of the screen because it cannot see the hard drive or the hard drive doesn’t work properly.

You can test the hard drive with SeaTools utility available for download from Seagate site. This utility works fine for most hard drives and can tell you if your hard drive is failing. Download the utility, burn it on a CD and boot the laptop from this CD. Run hard drive diagnostic test.

If the hard drive fails test, you’ll have to replace it with a new one and reinstall the operating system. You can reinstall the operating system from the recovery disc which usually comes with the laptop. Insert the recovery disc into the DVD drive and restart the laptop. It should start booting from the disc. Follow the instructions on the screen.

I have a Dell Inspiron 1505 and I have the blue screen of death can somebody please give me some help. I have no idea what to do have had this laptop for 3 years and this is the first time this happened.

I cannot tell what is causing the problem without running some diagnostic tests. This could be either software or hardware related problem.

You can try some of the following suggestions.
1. Turn on the laptop and press F8 when the logo appears on the screen. From the boot menu select Last Known Good Configuration press the Enter key.
2. Can you boot the laptop in Safe Mode? Try using the system restore utility and take it back the last restore point when the laptop was running fine.
3. It’s possible that one of the memory modules is bad. If you have two modules installed, remove them one by one and try starting the laptop with each RAM module separately. If the laptop works with one module but you getting the BSOD error with the second module, most likely the second module is bad. If you have only one module installed, try replacing it with a known good module.
4. This problem could be related to the hard drive. Turn on the laptop and listen for the hard drive noises. If it makes repetitive clicking or grinding noise, apparently the hard drive is bad.
Remove the hard dive and find out who made it. Go to the manufacturer’s website and download the hard dive diagnostic utility. Test the hard drive.
5. If you think that the hard drive and memory is good and steps 1 and 2 do not help, try reinstalling the operating system from the recovery disc.

I have a HP pavilion ze4900 & it has broke again (and I think it’s my ram).

This has happened to me before, where I would just have my computer on & running with programs and a blue screen with white text appears.

and it looks like:

http://www.nilpo.com/pub/images/Windows_XP_BSOD.png

Last time, someone repaired my computer by replacing a ram stick (256mb)

Right now i have 2 (256mb); one that was replaced & one that came with the computer

- the blue screen of death has come back again. At this point, what should I do?

- if i were to replace the ram, would you recommend upgrading up to a 512mb? (for one slot)

First of all, you have to find out what is causing this blue screen. It’s possible that the memory module is bad again or you might have a faulty memory slot on the motherboard.
According to Crucial.com your laptop has two memory slots and this will help you to narrow down the problem. You’ll have to test both memory modules installing them one by one into each memory slot. You can test memory with Memtest 86+, make sure to test each module 3-4 times, so it fails or passes a few times in a row.
Install module 1 into slot 1 and run the test, then install the same module into the slot 2 and run test again. Repeat the same with the second memory module. If both memory modules pass the test in the slot 1 but fail in the slot 2, you have a problem with the slot 2. If module 1 passes the test in both slots, but module 2 fails in both slots, the second module is bad. You got the idea, right?
If you have bad memory, replace the module. You can buy a bigger one. It looks like each slot will take up to 1GB DDR PC2700 module.
If you have bad memory slot, you have two options. First, replace the motherboard. Second, use the same motherboard with only one memory slot occupied. I would go with the second option.

I have a toshiba m35-s456 which i bought 9/04. Was working fine till one day “windows cannot start because file missing or corrupt.” figured hard drive failing, took it out, set it up as usb drive to transfer what data i could before it died (which is readable but slowly)… bought replacement hard drive and installed it, restoring with the original toshiba dvd. This is xp (not yet sp2, would have to get that after restore to bring it back up to speed.) seemed okay for just a few minutes and then began frequent shutdowns with blue screen of death… i assume it’s motherboard issue as this is now with new hard drive, which says it doesn’t need a separate driver itself. Am I way out of this extended warranty by now? Help. Thanks

You can get this error message because of faulty memory module. Test memory with Memtest86+. If you have two memory modules installed, remove them one by one and test the laptop with only one module in place. Try different memory configurations, for example, module 1 in slot A, module 1 in slot B, module 2 in slot A and module 2 in slot B. Find out which memory module or memory slot is causing the problem. Replace the module if needed.
If you have only one memory module, try moving it into a different slot, just in case if you have a faulty memory slot on the motherboard.
Anyways, I think it might be just a faulty memory module.

Hi, I bought a Toshiba Satellite M55 about 4 months ago. Two months ago I started getting blue screen errors, and every time it would say it was my video driver. I sent it back to the manufacturer twice, they have replaced my hard drive and my motherboard. It worked fine for about a month, and then, of course, about two weeks after my warranty is up I started receiving the blue error screens again. I have tried almost everything possible to fix it myself. I was finally able to update the ATI driver from X200 to X1300, and it seems to be the best solution I have tried in that it will stay on for a day or two without it being turned off due to the blue error screen (before I was getting it nearly every half hour if I was able to get it to turn on in the first place). It will go through maybe a few hours of receiving blue screens constantly, and then it will be fine for another day or two before I receive anything again. I’ve tried updating my bios, but I cannot update it any higher than version 1.80.
Here is just some other information, just in case it helps. It seems to run fine in safe mode, and before I was able to update my video driver if I turned down the screen resolution and coloring it would stay on longer before getting the blue screens. Occasionally the screen will flicker and then simply black out, or it will just freeze all together. Occasionally I will get a blue screen but the computer will shut off within a second of it flashing on the screen and then it will automatically reboot without me having to do anything. After receiving the blue error screen and trying to reboot the system it will take several tries to get it to boot up and then stay on. I also had problems downloading the new driver even though I followed the instructions given to me (after uninstalling the old driver and then trying to install the new one I kept getting messages saying the download was not complete b/c I do not seem to have a VGA display), but after about a day or messing with it I was finally able to get it to download properly.
Any other suggestions on what the problem could be? It was suggested to me that it could simply be my video card, but I do not want to replace it until I know for sure that that is the problem.

Yep, it could be a failing video card, but unfortunately on this model the video card is integrated into the main board and if the video goes bad, you’ll have to replace the entire main board.
I think it also could be a failing memory module. Here are some points that made me think that way. You said that after Toshiba replaced the system board, you still getting the same blue screen errors. Is it right? In my opinion, it’s unlikely to get the same blue screen error with two different motherboards, so it could be not the system board (video card) problem. This model implements dynamically allocated shared graphic memory. What if a part of the memory that is allocated for the video memory is failing?
Here’s my suggestion. Download and run Memtest 86+ utility to test the laptop memory, make sure that the memory passes the test for a few times. Reseat the memory module, just remove it from the memory slot on the system board and put it back. If you have only one memory, most likely it’s installed into the slot located under the keyboard (step 13). You’ll have to remove the keyboard in order to reseat it. If you have two memory modules, remove them one by one and test the laptop after remove each module. If the memory installed in the slot A, try moving it into slot B. (it’s possible that one memory slot is bad and the laptop work fine if you use the second slot). That’s would be nice if you can find a spare memory for test.
Also, I would remove the modem and the wireless card and test the laptop without them.
I don’t think that’s a software problem, because you mentioned that sometimes the laptop will not boot at all. You still should be able to turn on the laptop and get a video on the screen even if the hard drive is completely blank or not installed at all.

I have had my Acer TravelMate 4501LCi laptop for nearly 2 years. I switched it off as normal yesterday but when I switched it on today for some reason it wouldn’t boot up. It starts and as it tries to load Windows I get some error message on a blue screen which only stays on for about a second so I can’t read it. Then it reboots itself and I get a message saying there has been an unexpected error etc and asks me whether I want to try booting again normally, or in safe mode etc. I’ve tried in safe mode and all the other options but it just does the same thing. When the Windows XP logo appears and it seems to be loading, it then takes me to this blue screen with an error message and then straight away reboots itself. I’ve had no problems like this before, and it seemed to be working fine when I switched it off yesterday. Any ideas and suggestions would be much appreciated.

A blue screen error might occur because of corrupted software or a faulty hardware and there is no way to say what’s causing the problem without some testing. Very often you might get a blue screen error (BSOD) on startup because of a bad memory module or a bad hard drive and you should test these parts first. If you have two memory modules installed and you can easily access them, then try removing them one by one and start the laptop after each removed module. If you have only one memory module, then you’ll have to test it. Download Memtest 86+ for memory testing and Hitachi Drive Fitness test for hard drive testing. Both utilities are free and they are pretty accurate. When you test the hard drive, run the utility in advanced mode (not quick). If the memory module or the hard drive failed the test, then most likely you found the problem and you’ll have to replace it to fix the laptop.
If the memory module and the hard drive pass the test, then I would try to reload the operating system back to factory defaults. I’m not sure about Acer laptops, but usually you can do that if you use a recovery DVD or set of CDs. To start the recovery process you have to place a recovery media inside the CD/DVD drive and make the laptop boot from the drive. After that you follow the wizard to finish up recovery.
Before you reload the laptop back to factory default, you have to back up any important data from the hard drive because it would be erased and reformatted. To access the data, you can remove the hard drive and connect it to any working desktop PC using a USB hard drive enclosure (slower data transfer) or laptop IDE hard drive adapter (more advanced but faster data transer).

I have a Toshiba Satellite P20 laptop and I am experiencing booting problems. My laptop suddenly turned off while I was defragmenting drive C. Now when I turn it on it shows the Toshiba screen then a screen requesting to chose between normal starting of Windows, safe mode etc but whichever I chose I get the Windows XP screen then a blue screen and then the machine restarts and all over again. I would appreciate any help from you. Thank you.

I think you have a bad hard drive. You can test the hard drive with Hitachi drive fitness test utility; it should work fine with most laptop hard drives. This utility is free and I use it almost every day. Toshiba Satellite P20 doesn’t have a floppy drive, so you should download a CD image and burn it on CD. After that you boot the laptop from the CD by pressing F12 on laptop start up and choosing CD drive. It’s pretty easy to start the test and if you have any question you can download a user manual. If the hard drive fails the test, you’ll get a red window at the end. In this case you’ll have to replace the hard drive.

I have bought Toshiba Satellite a100-528. After a few weeks of using the laptop problems started. Blue screen appears (not windows-like blue screen), and is says that computer got to be shut down to avoid serious damage, and that problem may be caused by some lately installed hardware. After shutdown and another boot window shows message that system recovered after serious problem, it also says that graphic card (ati radeon xpress 200m) may be the reason of malfunction. I’ve been trying to install “normal” windows without installing video card drivers, and then installed drivers (only one that I found was on Toshiba website) – nothing helped… Currently I’m using software “Toshiba recovery tool” and still experience this problem.

From your description I understand that you purchased this laptop recently and the laptop might be still under the manufacturer warranty. If it is still under warranty, take it or ship it to Toshiba authorized repair center and let them fix the problem.
I would test the memory first. The laptop has dynamically allocated shared graphics memory; it has no dedicated memory and uses part of the main memory for video purposes. I guess if the main memory is going bad, you can get an error message related to the graphic card. For memory test I usually use Memtest86+ utility, it’s free and works really well. I am not familiar with this particular model (Satellite A100-528), but I believe it has 2 memory slots available for upgrades. If you have only one memory module installed, test it with Memtest86+ utility or try to replace it with a known good test memory module and see if it fixes the problem. If you have 2 memory modules installed, try to remove them one by one and start the laptop after each removed module. It is very unlikely that both memory modules fail at the same time and if your laptop starts with one module, most likely the second memory module is bad.
It is also possible that the memory slot on the motherboard is defective itself. Try to move the memory module from slot A to slot B and try to start the laptop. If the laptop works when the memory installed in the slot B and fails when the memory installed in the slot A, them most likely the slot A is defective itself and the motherboard has to be replaced.

Here is a disassembly guide for Toshiba Satellite A105 laptop. I think it would be similar to Toshiba Satellite A100.