[LMB] OT:AKICILF-computer troubles

[Mark Allums]

James wrote:
> If the CPU is overheating, Windows will usually end up with a STOP
> error like PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA 

You might also point out for the benefit of the less experienced that a 
STOP error is often referred to by the term BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death), 
because the screen will go bright blue when it happens, except when the 
computer reboots spontaneously, in which the blue screen will flash too 
briefly to see.


 > It's very unlikely to be memory, as memory errors tend to be caught by
 > the OS by bluescreens and panics, or application crashes.

I have had memory fail in just the way Bill describes.  Freezing after 
five minutes is usually heat-related, as others have pointed out, and a 
blue screen due to a driver or something giving up is par for the course 
for bad memory, but my flaky memory apparently did something that 
affected the whole computer, not just the software.  Mine finally 
started refusing to POST, and that's when I tried swapping out the DRAM, 
which fixed it.

Perhaps it's unlikely to happen that way, but I believe it's possible. 
Bill shouldn't neglect it completely while he is diagnosing his problem.


--MArk Allums