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. STOP messages are identified by an 8-digit hexadecimal number, but also commonly written in a shorthand notation; e.g.,a STOP 0x0000000A may also be written Stop 0xA. Four additional 8-digit
hex numbers may appear in parentheses, usually unique to your computer and the particular situation.

NOTE: Many users search this site for the word minidump which often accompanies these Stop Message errors. The fact that a memory minidump occurred tells you nothing except what you already know — that there was an error. It is the name of the error condition and its 8-digit number that help you determine the actual error condition.

If a message is listed below, but has no articles or explanation (nothing but its number and name), post a request on the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] asking about it. STOP messages of this type are rare, obscure, and usually only of interest to programmers debugging their code. Real-life scenarios of a computer user encountering them are unlikely, so I’ve made it a lower priority to document them here; but we’ll be happy to address this in the Forum (which also will tip me off that I should add more to this present page).

General Troubleshooting of STOP Messages

If you can’t find a specific reference to your problem, running
through the following checklist stands a good chance of resolving the
problem for you. This checklist is also usually the best approach to
troubleshooting some specific Stop messages, such as [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].

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.
    

NOTE: When a STOP message occurs, Windows can create a debug file for very detailed analysis. To do this, it needs a
workspace equal to the amount of physical RAM you have installed. If you resize your Win XP pagefile minimum to less than the size of your physical RAM, you will get an advisory message that your system may not be able to create a debugging information file if a STOP error occurs. My advice is to go ahead with this change if you want, but simply remember the limitation so that you can change it back if you need to troubleshoot STOP messages. Some general troubleshooting principles are suggested in the Resource Kit for approaching STOP messages overall.

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