In early June my Toshiba Satellite Laptop (A105-S2071) developed a severe case of the blues. I would be in the middle of something and windows would crash and I would be confronted with a blue screen of death. This screen contained a lot of text, most of it pretty much incomprehensible text unless you are a Microsoft engineer.
I was pretty sure that the problem was with the software and not hardware. Why? Because I could make the blue screen appear by just logging into my Amazon affiliate account. Odd or what? Of course, the BsoD also appeared when I didn’t expect it way too often.
I tried several things to fix my laptop:
- System Restore – didn’t work
- Norton Anti-Virus full system scan – half way though the blue screen appeared
- Searched the internet for help
- Sent a error report to Microsoft
Microsoft sent me to a very helpful page entitled Microsoft Windows Error Reporting: Blue screen error caused by device or driver which suggested taking the following steps (in order) to fix the problem.
- Download and install the latest updates and drivers
- Remove any new hardware or software to isolate the cause of the blue screen
- Scan your computer for viruses
- Check your hard disk for errors
- Restore your computer to an earlier state
I proceeded to work my way through the steps.
- No problem getting windows updates
- Didn’t have any new hardware so I started removing programs and files installed in the last month. I suspected then and still do that the problem was an out-of-date graphics program. I couldn’t prove that it was the culprit and removing it didn’t fix the problem, but I won’t be installing it again.
- As I said above, blue screen appeared about half way through the virus scan.
- No significant hard disk errors were found.
- System restore couldn’t restore the system to any of the 5 or so dates I tried.
I was beginning to think I would have to buy a new laptop. I found myself running my HP Mini netbook along side or instead of my Toshiba laptop. BTW the HP Mini has a great keyboard!
I did want to lose my files or programs, so I went looking for a portable hard drive an Amazon. I find the reviews very helpful and I settled on the Seagate Free Agent Go Portable Hard Drive 250GB model. Since the Laptop drive was only 80GB, I figured 250GB would be plenty and it was. The drive weighed less than 6 ounces and came with a USB travel cable but no power supply.
I would have ordered the drive from Amazon but I needed it immediately. I was able to pick one up at a local Walmart for $69.82.
I proceeded to back up my files using the built-in software.
As a temporary solution I picked up a refurbished HP Slimline Vista Desktop. It was a machine from hell! It worked fine for about 10 days and then all of a sudden it couldn’t get Windows Updates because it wasn’t recognized as a “genuine windows machine.”
The factory refurbished desktop came with a faulty hard drive. One of the HP alerts described how I was supposed to fix it. No thanks. I returned the machine to MicroCenter with no problems.
So I’m back to my Toshiba BsoD machine and my netbook.
On June 30th I backed up my laptop again, ran the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard, and proceeded to restore the laptop to an earlier state. Although I hadn’t seen any suggestion online to restore to factory settings, that’s exactly what I did.
First I had to locate the original manual and disks so I would have the necessary registration information and keys.
I went online to see what was involved in resetting the laptop and I found it was incredibly easy to do.
It took about an hour to restore the original factory settings. The process also erased the hard drive.
Once the system was restored I had to spend a bit of time downloading all the Windows updates and removing the software I didn’t want. After that was done, I installed Windows XP Pro and Office 2003. Then I started moving files from the Free Agent drive back to the laptop.
My Toshiba laptop is now slim and trim and works better than ever. I’m happy to report that I haven’t seen blue screen since June 30.
Disclaimer: I am not giving advice about what to do with your laptop, I’m just sharing my personal experience. If you are getting repeated blue screens, seek professional help before you resort to restoring the original factory settings.
