I was sitting at my desk– listening to some mp3s on my Winamp player. I decided to check my email. I think I alt-tabbed to bring up Outlook when suddenly the blue screen of death appears with the following message:
Beginning dump of physical memory
If this is the first time you’ve seen this Stop error screen restart your computer. If this screen appears again follow these steps:
Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed.
If this is a new installation ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any Windows 2000 updates you might need.
If problems continue disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components restart your computer press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options
and then select Safe Mode.
I didn’t panic. I wasn’t alarmed. I rebooted my machine. It ran through BIOS fine but then I get a screen that reads: Operating System Not Found. I rebooted again and got the same message. I turned it off and unpluggged the power cable and let it sit for awhile. When I rebooted again, the message was still there. If I go into BIOS it can’t find my hard drive.
Is it what I expect? Did my hard drive crash? Have I lost EVERYTHING? If anyone has a clue, please help.
If the box can’t find your hard drive, the drive may have failed, but it could just as easily be the result of the drive cable working loose, from either the back of the drive or its connection on the motherboard. (I’ve had this happen once.) Detach the cable at both ends, reattach it, and try again, letting your BIOS do Auto-Detect if it’s an option.
That’s eerie. Mine has been doing that same thing. Going blue, saying the “Physical memory dump” thing then restarting. A few times it said to reboot in safe mode. Virus? Huh?