Windows Startup Problems- Blue Screen of Death & More

You’re very lucky if you have not yet faced start up problems in Windows as yet. Thinking logically, this can only happen if you own a Mac or don’t have a computer. Chances are therefore that you have faced startup issues earlier, or at least that’s what we’re going to be assuming in this guide.

In this guide we’re going to look at:

Causes of Windows start up errors
What you can do to fix these Windows startup problems.

Here are some of the most common of startup errors Windows users generally face and ways that you can deal with them.

The Blue Screen of Death

Being as famous (or infamous) as it is, the blue screen of death or BSOD error as stop error is sometimes fondly called, is a formidable opponent for the average computer user. This is because it not only is hard to remove, but is difficult to accurately diagnose. Although it is generally thought to be caused by device driver errors (again if you’re lucky, this might be it), there still exist quite a few other possibilities.

Your best bet is to keep a record of the exact error message you get on the blue screen and Google it somewhere else to look for an appropriate remedy. Microsoft Knowledgebase is a rich source of information on different types of BSOD error messages. Most of the times, you will get a solution to your error here.

Reboot loop

Sometimes, when Windows encounters an error, the knee jerk reaction is a reboot. If the error always occurs at a point critical to successful boot, you might get drawn into a computer reboot cycle, which will prevent you from getting a possible error message. Disabling automatic restart might stall this long enough for you to be able to get a good look at any error message that crops up and take necessary actions.

To disable automatic restart:

Press F8 during system boot to enter the Windows Advanced Option screen.
Scroll and select the Disable Automatic Restart on System Failure option.

Computer Crash

Sometimes, you might encounter a computer crash or you might notice that your computer freezes at a certain point during boot. In such a case, if rebooting doesn’t work, you might want to attempt a system restore.

System restore is a built-in utility in Windows that rolls back most configurations in your system to a previously made ‘restore point’(XP) or ‘system shadow’(Vista).

You may perform the following steps to perform system restore:

Boot your computer in Safe mode. To do this, during boot, press F8 and select the Safe mode option.
When your computer successfully boots in Safe mode, go to Start – > Accessories – > System Tools – > System Restore.
In the System Restore wizard, follow the screen instructions to choose an appropriate restore point. This should be the time your computer worked normally.
Proceed further to complete the process and rollback any harmful changes that happened to your computer since the selected restore point was created.

Slow Computer Startup

Now this could be due to a variety of problems. Here are some of the solutions that you may use:

If the problem is severe you might want to try a system restore (see above).
Use a good anti-malware tool, such as XoftSpySE to scan and remove any malware infections from your PC.
If you haven’t done it for a long time, you may have to clean and defragment your hard drive. To do this, after your computer boots, go to Start – > Accessories – > System Tools. Here, first select Disk Cleanup to cleanup unwanted junk from your computer. Next, select Disk Defragmenter to first analyze and then defragment the fragmented data on your computer.
Too many programs loading at system startup are also one of the major causes of slow computer startup problem. To deal with this issue, at Start - > Run, type regedit and then press Enter. In the System Configuration Utility that displays, open the Startup tab. Here, clear the checkboxes of the programs you don’t want loading at system startup. Once you are done, click OK and then restart your PC when prompted.
Clean your registry using a good registry cleaner to get rid of all junk accumulated within it.

SpeedyPC is an extremely effective tool that provides you with a one-stop solution to perform all these tasks in just one mouse click. So if you don’t have time to manually perform all these activities, Speedy PC is just right for you.

Effectively maintaining your computer goes a long way in ensuring that you get the most out of it and it performs at an optimum level.

SpeedyPC!