Summary of the Case Study - Academic Web Pages



PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING

Exhibit Three

System Crash

Prepared by Gary Rush

CIT115 Information Technology: Hardware and Software

June, 2007

Community College of Allegheny County

Summary of the Case Study

Recently, I was using my Gateway notebook computer when it started to experience odd behavior. The first thing that happened was I received an error message saying a program, MSN Messenger, encountered a problem and needed to close. After I clicked the “OK” button to clear the screen of the error message, I received another error message saying that the program Outlook Mail had encountered a problem and also needed to close. After pressing the “OK” button to clear the message, yet another message appeared on screen saying a program had encountered an error and it needed to close. This time it was the system file named explorer.exe. Soon after this message appeared, about 2-3 seconds, my computer crashed and I was staring at the one of the worse sights know to computer users worldwide: The Blue Screen of Death (Figure one).

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Figure One

The Blue Screen of Death (BSoD, bluescreen, or stop error) is an error screen displayed by certain operating systems, most notably Microsoft Windows, after encountering a critical system error. Bluescreens can be caused by poorly-written device drivers, faulty memory, a corrupt Registry, or incompatible DLLs. Bluescreens have been present in all Windows-based operating systems since Windows 3.1. (Wikipedia, retrieved 2007)

Summary of References and Materials Used

Help menu of Windows XP

The help menu of Windows XP gave very little useful information regarding a BSoD and pointed me to the online Knowledge Base.



The Microsoft site has a very extensive knowledge base covering a broad range of software and hardware related issues. After searching the knowledge base I was able to narrow down the problem to faulty memory, which fixed the dilemma.

Komando, K. (2007). 4 common PC problems you can fix yourself.

An article covering some computer problems may seem immensely complicated at first glance, but some are relatively easy to fix by an average user.

Posey, B (retrieved 2007). Demystifying the ‘Bleu Screen of Death’.

I found this article to be very informative. The author does a nice job of breaking down the BSoD into four basic sections, making it easier to understand what is going on.

Solutions Derived from Applying the PBL Model

After seeing the BSoD I shut down the computer and proceeded to do a cold boot. However, the computer would not boot into Windows. I then tried to booting into safe mode. Again, the computer would not boot into Windows. I then decided to try to re-install a fresh copy of Windows XP. I found my recovery disk and put it into the CD drive. After following the on-screen instructions it started to install Windows. Everything seemed to be going fine until the progress bar got to 18 percent. At this point the installation quit and I got another BSoD.

Not having a second computer in the house, I did not have access to the Internet to research the problem online. So I decided to try to fix the problem myself. I assumed that the problem was from a faulty hard drive. I proceeded to the nearest electronics store and bought a hard drive. I installed the new hard drive and proceeded to install Windows XP on the new drive. Again, everything went fine until I got to the 18 percent mark.

At this time I was stuck. I really had no idea how to fix the problem. I would have to wait until work the next day and use the Internet to research the problem online. At work I was able to search the Microsoft Knowledge Base and found what some of the possible causes were. I found that the error I got, UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP, could possibly be from faulty RAM. (Posey, retrieved 2007)

The fact that the problem may have been caused by faulty RAM never crossed my mind. The memory sticks I was using were basically new. I bought and installed two 1GB DDR SDRAM modules roughly six weeks earlier. When I returned home I was determined to put my newly found information to work. I started by removing one of the RAM modules from my computer and tried to install Windows XP. The first try was a failure, receiving the same BSoD at 18 percent. I then returned the memory module and removed the other one, followed by re-installing windows. To my amazement, and relief, the installation carried past the 18 percent progress mark and continued to successfully install Windows XP.

Observations and Personal Comments

If you have ever used Windows, chances are you have experienced the famous Windows Stop Error or 'Blue Screen of Death.' This frequent, although less so in newer operating systems, error occurs whenever Windows senses software, hardware or driver error which will not allow it to continue operating properly. As I am aware now, Windows operating systems can crash in all sorts of interesting ways. Most often, the basic solution is to re-boot your computer. In this case you should expect to lose all the data changes or entries you have made since your last save preceding the error message. In the worse case scenario, the re-boot process will not work, and may require a complete re-install of your operating system, possible hardware replacements, and total loss of stored data. Given the range of possible crashes and stop errors, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of every possible BSoD. Websites do exist which contain lists of known stop errors and some potential solutions, and I would advise you to check them for a cure.

It is also critical to regularly back up the data (files) stored on the hard drive of your computer. If your hard drive crashes or a situation develops that prevents you from accessing the hard drive, the data is lost if you do not have a back- up copy. In general, the safest choice is to back up your critical data to an external medium. Some popular options are CDs, DVDs, USB Flash drives, external hard drives, and Zip disks. The option you use will most likely depend the amount of data you want to back up. I personally use an external hard drive connected via USB port.

Thoughts in Applying the PBL Model

I think Problem Based Learning gives students an opportunity to examine and try out what they already know, discover what they need to learn, and be more flexible in their approach to solving problems. I believe the aim of PBL is to stimulate student learning and to improve the process of understanding through the freedom of learning by discovery without being told what to do.

References

Posey, B (retrieved April, 2007). Demystifying the ‘Bleu Screen of Death’.

Komando, K. (retrieved April, 2007). 4 common PC problems you can fix yourself.

Microsoft Support Page. Retrieved April, 2007,

Wikipedia (retrieved June, 2007) Definition of ‘Blue Screen of Death’

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