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One of our PCs, a Hewlett-Packard model with an AMD processor and 64-bit Windows Vista had a catastrophic failure in which the following screen display kept coming up:
You've heard of and have often seen, I would suspect, the classic "blue screen of death" which comes up in the event of a non-recoverable or "fatal" software error, but this screen was a far worse thing to see because it was indicative of a hardware failure.
Fortunately, the PC was still under warranty and was repaired by HP.
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John,
Having been in the industry for years the first thing to check are the electrolytic caps in the power supply. This is the most common failure due to wear(heat) and replacing them has brought many PCs (desktop) and flat panels back to life. Cap failure increases ripple voltage and current and creates a downward spiral.Have done it many times and suggested it with success.
Suggestion only.
Posted by: Paul | October 07, 2011 at 08:32 AM
I concur with Paul. Graphics cards in particular seem to be succeptable to this failure mode, which will result in the bluescreen error referring to a (commonly) nVidia or ATI driver error. I've extended the life of several video cards over the years by replacing caps.
Posted by: Vince | October 07, 2011 at 12:10 PM
Warranty repair is always the best action. Glad that PC fit that situation.
Posted by: Dave | October 07, 2011 at 02:19 PM
Since there seems to be some people experienced in repairing PCs here, I'd like to ask a somewhat related question. Does anyone know of an alternative source for a replacement LCD panels (cracked, not repairable) other than HP? I really don't like their price.
Posted by: George | October 10, 2011 at 09:38 AM