I woke up this morning to the delightful sight of a Blue Screen of Death - similar to the one shown on the left - preventing Windows from starting on my laptop. As I work in the IT industry this was not a problem for me, and within a couple of minutes I had been back up and running again.
Computer Technicians see this type of problem over and over again, but I had to ask myself how many of those could explain:
a) Why the problem with the blue screen occurred, and;
b) How to prevent the problem from re-occuring.
In my particular case I had a blue screen that was easy to decipher. The majority of blue screens often contain valuable information that can help the user identify the problem and begin to rectify the fault. A good starting point is to note down the seemingly meaningless numbers after the word "STOP", and search the internet for it's "average joe humanly-worded definition" - I imagine that's probably how you ended up here.
Depending on the way your computer is configured, you may or may not be able to see the error message quick enough because your computer restarts too quick for you to be able to read it. This is due to you (or your computers manufacturer) specifying an option to "automatically restart on system failure". This is not too much of a problem however, as there is an easy override option:
- Turn on your computer, removing all floppy disks, CD-ROMs and USB Flash Drives. This will ensure we are booting from the hard disk drive.
- Just before the Windows loading screen, keep tapping the F8 key on your keyboard. If the Windows XP logo is displayed, you're too late! Try again.
- You are now presented with a menu containing options including "Safe Mode", "Start Windows Normally" and more.
- Using the arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll down to "Disable automatic restart" and hit ENTER.
You will now be able to see all the details from the blue screen, and your computer will not restart. There are many different error codes that can be shown, and they each have their own individual meanings (and of course, fixes, which can be applied).
Returning to the main point of this post, I would like to concentrate on the exact STOP code that had been presented to me this morning.
STOP: 0x00000024. Before I give you the fix, let me take this chance to explain exactly what has happened here, and how we can prevent this in the future.
The code 0x00000024 tells me that I have some sort of NTFS file system corruption. I know this from experience, but if you Google the code you will likely come up with similar explanations. These words probably still mean nothing to you, so let me explain in a clearer manner;
NTFS - this is the "file system" that my hard disk drive uses, and the easiest way to visualize this is to think of it as a way of organizing files and folders on your computer. Imagine you have a filing cabinet containing your recent bank statements, household bills and other important paper documents. You have likely separated these in to categories in your cabinet, so that you can easily pick them out when you need to find them. This is your own "method" of organizing, and NTFS is basically a method of organizing the structure of files, folders and security on your computer. For background information, there are many other types of file system including FAT32 (which can also be used with Windows XP but is more commonly found in previous versions such as Windows 98 and ME).
Corruption - you can get corruption when something went wrong, or did not complete fully for whatever reason. You can think of corruption as incomplete or garbled information. Imagine you have a bank statement in your filing cabinet, but for some reason you do not have the bottom half of the piece of paper. That bank statement is now incomplete, and is therefore not very useful.
Your computer needs specific information in order to start Windows. For example, it needs to know how to operate certain features of your hardware, and it needs to know what settings you prefer on your desktop. Without these vital pieces of information your computer cannot start because it simply would not know what to do or how to proceed.
We are receiving the blue screen error message with code 0x00000024 because the computer has identified a problem with a file, set of files, or the way in which files are organized, on the hard disk drive.
Why did this happen?You can often realize the cause of a computer problem simply by thinking back to what you were doing before the issue occurred. In my case it was completely my fault that I received this error message and I only have myself to blame.
Late last night I had been happily working away on a personal project on my laptop. Time got on, and I began to get tired so I decided to call it a night and go to bed. The laptop had been taking a while to shut down and I got impatient, so I switched it off at the mains without letting Windows shut down fully.
BAM! This was the cause.The Windows shut down sequence is actually very critical, and it's there for a reason. While you have been using your computer, you have been opening files, saving and retrieving information, and adjusting settings. Even if you were only browsing the internet, you have still committed to some type of hard disk drive activity. The Windows shut down process closes any files that were still open. It saves any important contents in the RAM (the working memory) to disk. It saves any personal settings or preferences that you have made.
By interrupting the shut down process, you have accidentally caused "file corruption". Windows had been in the middle of saving your information but you stopped in half way. It now does not have all the information it needs to get started again, and the result is our blue screen problem.
Imagine you are writing a novel, when suddenly your publisher storms in, snatches the paper you are working on, and tears it in half. The information on that page is no longer complete, and the novel is ruined until you can replace that information. This is similar to what has happened with our computer issue.
It is worth noting that you cannot always cause an error message or problem by simply turning off your computer without letting it shut down properly. It is purely down to timing, and whether Windows has saved the information that it needs to get going again.
Fixing the problemNow that we know why the problem exists, we can get to work on fixing it. Luckily for us, there are several utilities that exist which will help us here, and most of them are free. For this article we will use a Microsoft utility called CHKDSK. It's name quite literally explains what it does, it "checks the (hard)disk".
We cannot access our computer to run this utility, so we need some other means of starting the program. The easiest way of doing this is to use the Microsoft Recovery Console, which you can find on a Windows XP installation/setup CD-ROM. You likely have one of these already - they are usually gold in colour and have a holographic top side - but if you don't, you will almost definitely have a friend that can lend you a copy. Obtain or locate your Windows XP CD-ROM, and follow the instructions below;
- Turn on your computer and insert the Windows XP CD into your CD/DVD-ROM drive. Remove any floppy disks or USB Flash Drives.
- Configure your computer to boot from the CD drive first, before the hard disk drive. There are several ways to do this. The easiest method is to look at your screen when you first turn on your computer. Messages such as "Press F12 to enter Boot Menu", "ESC to enter boot device selection" or similar are your best bet. Pressing the key that is highlighted in that error message will hopefully present you with a menu that will allow you to choose the CD drive. If you get this far, simply select the CD and skip to step 4 below. If you do not, follow the instructions below in step 3.
- THIS STEP IS ONLY FOR USERS THAT DO NOT HAVE A BOOT MENU OPTION ON THEIR SYSTEM AND NEED TO ENTER THE BIOS. CHECK THE PREVIOUS STEP TO SEE IF YOU NEED THESE INSTRUCTIONS. You will need to enter your BIOS to change the boot device sequence. By this, we mean that we want to tell the computer where to look, and in what order, to attempt to start things from. The key to enter the BIOS is different on many systems, but usually you will find it by tapping the F2, F10 or DELETE key on your keyboard when your computer starts up. If you are successful, you will be presented with a menu full of weird and wonderful options. If you cannot get this far, refer to your computer or motherboard manufacturer instruction manual for details on how to enter the BIOS setup.
Once you have entered the BIOS, we need to change the boot order. Again, this is different in many computers and the exact method varies, so this is difficult to explain. In short, you need to look for an option that relates to "First Boot Device", "Boot Device Priority" or "Boot Device Order". You may need to use the left and right arrow keys on the keyboard to locate this option. Once you have found it, set the "first" device to your CD or DVD drive, and the second device to your hard disk drive. When complete, exit the BIOS by pressing the ESC key on your keyboard, and saving the changes when prompted. Your computer will now restart.
- Your computer will now begin loading files from the Windows XP CD-ROM. If you see a message saying "press any key to start from CD...", then hit any key on the keyboard. You will be presented with a blue screen containing the words "Windows Setup" near the top left, and a grey coloured information bar at the very bottom of the screen. Give it a few minutes, and you will be presented with a message saying "Welcome to Windows Setup".
- Ignore the message, and press the R key on your keyboard. This will start the recovery console, which will appear on a black screen with white writing. Leave it to do it's thing, and you'll eventually be asked which Windows installation you want to use. At this point, press the number "1" key on your keyboard. If you are asked for a password, simply enter your normal Windows password. If this does not work, try pressing ENTER to skip the password prompt.
- Assuming we entered the correct password, we are now in a working environment and can finally start the CHKDSK program. To do this, simply type "CHKDSK C: /P" (without the quotes), sit back and relax. The CHKDSK program is now checking your hard disk drive for problems, and is fixing anything that it finds. When its complete, you'll be told of it's status.
- For luck, and mainly down to the results of my personal experience, it is always best to run the CHKDSK program again. Simply type "CHKDSK C: /P" again (without the quotes) and let it run for a second time. When complete, you'll be told of it's state once more.
- We're done! Type the word "EXIT" (without the quotes) and your computer will now restart. Remove the Windows XP CD from the CD-ROM drive. Providing that the only problem with your computer was the "STOP: 0x00000024" error, you should now find yourself back in your computer and can continue working again. The problem is now resolved.
Thats right, there's no joke. By putting in a CD-ROM and typing 3 words we have fixed our problem. The CHKDSK program has located any bad information that it has found and has corrected those problems. I will not go in to detail as to how this program works, but all you need to know is that it is very powerful and often a life saver for many computer users.
So, how can we prevent this from happening in the future?Honestly, we just need to be more careful. No matter how long it takes, and no matter how tempted you are, you should NEVER switch off your computer without correctly shutting it down. If you have a laptop, NEVER let the battery run out completely before shutting down - this is just the same as switching it off! Always allow the computer to shut down correctly, even if it takes a few minutes to complete.
You should also seriously consider another possibility that the problem may be down to faulty hardware, namely a faulty hard disk drive. It is absolutely possible that you have been shutting down your computer correctly, yet you have still resulted in this error message. If you are getting the error frequently then this may be a sign that your hard disk drive is failing.
Hard disk drives are fragile mechanical components, and can wear with age. They are very sensitive to knocks, drops and bumps, so be particularly careful when handling a laptop, and do not kick or hit your desktop computer out of frustration if it is taking too long to process something.
In any case you should always back up all of your personal data once you have fixed the problem with your blue screen error message. There are many local computer shops which will offer a free diagnostic test on your hard disk drive if you take your computer to them, and it might be worth the trip just to be sure. If your drive is found to be failing then you should replace it immediately.
I can't recommend any particular companies, however the best repair outfit by far in my area (Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK) is PC Ideals in Southsea. They're on the main Albert Road, and will always be there to help.
On a final note, I want to mention that changing settings in the BIOS can be dangerous if you do not know what you are doing, and can stop your computer from booting if you play with options that you are not familiar with. I cannot be held responsible if you let your imagination go wild and end up with a completely non-functioning computer.
