Troubleshooting Windows STOP Messages

STOP Messages literally mean Windows has stopped! These appear only in the NT-based operating systems: Win NT, Win 2000, Win XP, and Vista. Most are hardware issues.

General Troubleshooting of STOP Messages:

1. Examine the “System” and “Application” logs in Event Viewer for other recent errors that might give further clues. To do this, launch EventVwr.msc from a Run box; or open “Administrative Tools” in the Control Panel then launch Event Viewer.
2. If you’ve recently added new hardware, remove it and retest.
3. Run hardware diagnostics supplied by the manufacturer.
4. Make sure device drivers and system BIOS are up-to-date.
5. However, if you’ve installed new drivers just before the problem appeared, try rolling them back to the older ones.
6. Open the box and make sure all hardware is correctly installed, well seated, and solidly connected.
7. Confirm that all of your hardware is on the Hardware Compatibility List. If some of it isn’t, then pay particular attention to the non-HCL hardware in your troubleshooting.
8. Check for viruses.
9. Investigate recently added software.
10. Examine (and try disabling) BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing.

More detailed troubleshooting Windows STOP messages can be found Here.