Major computer problems (blue screen)

[BigBucksT]

My desktop won't start up at all. It sends me to a blue screen telling me that there is a hardware failure. In uppercase letters, the screen says

BAD_POOL_COLLAR

What do I do? How do I find out what piece of hardware is broken?

 

[sPlAtOiD]

I would strip it down to just the Cpu and memory an Video card.
And if you have two Ram chips try just one at a time.

 

[COCOCOOKIE]

Does the message tells you specifically that is a hardware failure? If not, "Stop 0xC2 or BAD_POOL_CALLER" Blue Screen can also be caused by a faulty driver or software recently installed. If you can, start the PC and press F8 immediately once per second to get into Booting Options and choose Safe Mode. If you get Windows started without any problems then it's a device driver or software causing the crash. Post back,ok? Good Luck!

 

[BigBucksT]

I did boot with safe mode and it went right on back to the blue screen. I don't know how to find out exactly what hardware piece is faulty.

 

[RicoDirenzo]

I would strip it down to just the Cpu and memory an Video card.
And if you have two Ram chips try just one at a time.

and then begin adding things until you get BSOD. Then you will know the culprit. If that does not work you will need to reformat and reinstall windows.

 

[BigBucksT]

If I reformat my comp, will all my Itunes songs be lost?

 

[BigBucksT]

bump

 

[M733mhz]

Don't reformat, Just reinstall windows and you won't lose anything. Make a different partition if you'd like. Everything will still be there, but in a different windows profile (Your old one).

 

[BigBucksT]

But the computer is telling me that some piece of hardware is broken. I'm sort of a noob to comp hardware. I don't want to break anything. If I reinstall Windows, will I lose all my data. Remember, it won't even let me boot up in safe mode.

 

[penfold]

I recommend you do as the above said, and remove everything (hardware) and work your way up.