last night I tried booting up my computer and got the dreaded BSOD. Tried booting from safe mode and from last good configuration and still had the same probllem.
I did a google search on the particular problem (on another computer obviously) and found pretty much the same information on each site:
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Stop 0x00000050 or PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
The Stop 0x50 message indicates that requested data was not in memory. The system generates an exception error when using a reference to an invalid system memory address. Defective memory (including main memory, L2 RAM cache, video RAM) or incompatible software (including remote control and antivirus software) might cause Stop 0x50 messages.
Possible Resolutions:
• If you added new hardware recently, remove and replace the hardware to determine if it is causing or contributing to the problem. Run diagnostics software supplied by the hardware manufacturer to determine if the component has failed.
• Stop 0x50 messages can also occur after installing faulty drivers or system services. If the file name is listed, you need to disable, remove, or roll back that driver. If not, disable the recently installed service or application to determine if this resolves the error. If this does not resolve the problem, contact the hardware manufacturer for updates. Using updated drivers and software is especially important for network interface cards, video adapters, backup programs, multimedia applications, antivirus scanners, and CD mastering tools
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I couldn't find much helpful information anywhere except to run MEMTEST86+ program on bootup to check for memory problems. I figured out how to do this, and found the memory to check out OK. Still can't boot XP.
I haven't installed any new hardware or software on the computer in ages, (the computer is about 7 years old) I use it mainly for storing family pictures and playing video games.
Can anyone give me a clue as to what to do next? I've already considered buy a new PC, but will still need to get the pictures and tax records off the hard drive (Yes I know, I should have made backups, but at least I burned everything to CDs up until february of this year). From the reading I did on this subject I couldn't seem to find much success in fixing this problem and on some forums, it sounded like the people who had this problem also had problems recovering data- but they didn't sound much more technically inclined than I am (which isn't saying much).