bsod's in xp

[sup3rcarrx7]

My friend seems to get BSOD's every now and then. What usually causes them? Is it something wrong with windows or usually a program? Thanks.

[VHockey86]

For the most part I'd say they are triggered by programs or hardware issues

Does that make it windows fault? Depends how you look at it I guess

I just had my first BSOD in months while running a program with mediocre stability (AVIPreview that comes with Kazaa Lite) =(

[sup3rcarrx7]

Ya, i'm thinking it might be a memory problem or something else. Any other suggestions?

[VHockey86]

Well you could always test the memory with a free utility at www.memtest86.com

How often do his BSODs occur? Do they seem occur at any specifiic times?... While playing games... encoding/image editing or any other system intensive operation?

I suppose if we're looking into hardware a 2nd guess for BSODs/system instability is the power supply. Whats the wattage? How old is it? Is it generic?

After looking back at that I guess its a ton of questions.. just trying to get a better idea of whats actualy happening so its easier for someone to troubleshoot

[Siliconjunkie]

The big clue will be in the stop code. Check event viewer for it, then google for it or check http://www.microsoft.com/technet . Usually, you just need the first bit of it, like STOP 1A or STOP 7F. That will usually lead you down the right road.