This past weekend, my laptop decided it’s had enough and has given me the blue screen of death. I’ve put it in recovery mode, tried to reinstall windows, the works, and it refuses. I have no idea why. I was logged on, looking something up, and it went kaput. I wasn’t downloading anything, the computer was in it’s sleeve prior, not too wet, cold, hot, etc. Battery is fine, the laptop it’s self is maybe two years old.
My understanding is that Linux is a kind of system that you download the components to a USB or what not and then install it on your machine. Is that something I could do in this case? Or do I need to take it somewhere?
Edit: it seems I may have to check if it’s a hardware problem. The error code is Bad_system_config_info, but it changed to something else at one point but I didn’t write that one down. :(
Could Linux save my laptop?
Depends on the root cause of the BSoD. If it’s a hardware issue, then no, installing Linux won’t fix an underlying hardware issue. What does the BSoD screen actually say? Any specific error code?
My understanding is that Linux is a kind of system that you download the components to a USB or what not and then install it on your machine. Is that something I could do in this case?
Yep, you could do that, but you’ll need a functioning PC to create a USB installer for the Linux OS of your choice. You’ll need a blank USB drive and some software to “flash” the Linux OS installer to the USB drive. e.g.: https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/burn.html
This was the code: Bad_system_config_info
Gotcha. You mentioned you put the PC into Recovery Mode and tried to reinstall Windows, but it didn’t work. What happened that prevented the re-installation of Windows? Did the PC just shutdown during installation, or were you wholly unable to get the Windows installer to run?
If you’re still able to boot into Recovery Mode/Safe Mode, try opening up a Command Prompt and running the SFC Scan and DISM commands outlined here: https://www.howtogeek.com/222532/how-to-repair-corrupted-windows-system-files-with-the-sfc-and-dism-commands/
When I was trying to reinstall, it stopped in the middle and gave me. The blue screen. I can trick it into the recovery ry mode, so I’ll give the command a try. Thank you
What laptop vendor? Most vendors have a hardware tester that you put on a usb and test for hardware issues.
Same for windows. You can download windows usb creator utility and use it to reinstall windows from scratch.
It’s a cheap hp laptop. I was in a pickle when I needed it and I’ve paid the price. 😭
Yeah get on their website and see if you can find the usb tool. Should at least tell you the problem.
It could be something easy like a bad stick of ram that you can just pull out.
I’ll give that a try. Thank you!
I mean if you have a usb lying around, putting ubuntu on it and trying is free. Worth a shot, you could get access to the drive too if it works. If that doesn’t work you could still bring it into the shop to get worked on.
Try a live USB distro first. If it is your hard drive It will eliminate that as a problem temporarily letting you diagnose.
If the windows reinstall won’t run or won’t complete, It could be anything from a dead fan to a bad memory controller.
You should look at event viewer to see what is causing the problems. If the problem is overheating, a bad HDD, or bad ram then I doubt Linux would help.
