Driver problem?

Question

Ok...
I use a Dell lattitude D510 laptop with a intel pentium 4 processor and windows xp service pack 2 installed.
The problem i'm having is that when i try to install some things my computer starts to make wierd noises and then a black screen comes up displaying text which lasts for about 1 second. It then resets itself and once booted up and i've error reported it says there is a problem with one of my drivers. I have tried to update my drivers but it won't let me because it does exactly the same as what i said above.
Is there any way to sort out the offending driver as it's really annoying me?

Answer 1

Sounds like either a bad driver update or possibly a virus, or even a hardware problem depends on the type of noise, and what the screen says about the error. But, the easiest way to roll back installs or driver problems is to boot to safe mode using F8 key just keep hitting the key at boot and windows will prompt you to boot several different ways. Pick safe mode and then run system restore. Sys-restore is located under start, accessories, system tools. If it's not located there go to start run and type "rstrui.exe" and press enter. Pick a date that you can remember the system boot OK. Only draw back is anything installed after the date you pick will need to be reinstalled. If in fact it is a virus I would do a command scan using AVG-free edition. The other think you may want to check into is the system still under warranty. If so call Dell.

Answer 2

The problem is Windows XP tries to hide the blue screen from you. In order to track this problem down, first you have to find out what the problem is. There are two ways to do this. The first is to right click My Computer, go to properties, click the advanced tab and then under Startup and Recovery click Settings. Uncheck the box that says Automatically restart and click OK until the System Properties box is gone. Then, the next time you have this problem instead of a restart you'll get a blue screen which should list the Stop error code, the error message (a driver error will usually be something like IRQL NOT LESS THAN OR EQUAL) and it should also list the file involved in the crash (though this isn't always 100% accurate cause software interactions are complicated). The other way of finding out the problem is to click Start, go to control panel, then administrative tools, then event viewer, click on System, and look for some of the Red X icons that indicate error messages and correspond with the time of the last crash. It should list the same information you'd see with the blue screen error. Once you've got the stop error code, the message, and the file involved, you should be able to find out what is causing these errors for you. As always, any further details earn further advice.

Answer 3

Try Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore to roll back your PC to the day before this happened.

If that doesn't help, re-install Windows.

TIP: You must use your Recovery disks to avoid driver problems, not a store-bought XP disk.

The Recovery disks may be ON the hard drive, so Read The Friendly Manual FIRST to find out how to make your own Recovery disks.

Answer 4

Without indepth troubleshooting have you gone to devices under the system in the control panel to see if anything is highlighted as not working? There is an error code file created on boot up and I believe is stored in the windows directory. It is plain text and can be read with notepad.

Answer 5

Change the uniform of the driver, otherwise I am also using the same one and always facing some problems but people says that it is good and world class but I have to keep changing the uniform every now and then

Answer 6

You could try searching the internet for the driver if it's causing a problem from a cd-rom disc. If it it the cd-rom disc then either it's a corruped cd or the drive itself needs replacing hope this helps .

Answer 7

You need to talk to Dell as the motherboard is creating conf;licts with the hard disk that is not enabling it to use the drivers for windows. Talk to Dell.