I keep getting BSOD

[walkingepidemic]

Hi, guys. Recently I upgraded my machine from Windows XP to Windows 7. Over the last 2 days, it has been crashing at random points (seems to be when it's idling, as when I come back it complains about an unexpected shutdown).

I don't know what's causing this, as when I have seen the bluescreen, it flashes past too fast, and I have no time to read the error description. I don't know whether this could help anyone, but I have the dump files on my desktop if anyone wants me to upload them.

Additionally: One time I was at the computer when this happened, I noticed that the audio suddenly dropped out with a strange popping sound from my headphones (the headphones are fine, I tested them elsewhere and they worked perfectly). Also, the computer suddenly became extremely slow, with the mouse cursor lagging across the screen. I happened to be playing a game at the time, although in the other occurrences I wasn't even at the computer. I have run a full scan with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free, so I don't think it is a virus on my machine.

My system specs are: 3.06GHz Pentium 4 (Northwood, Socket 478), Creative Soundblaster Live! Value, Nvidia GeForce 6600GT 512MB AGP, 1GB DDR 400 RAM, 250W PSU.

So based on this information, I hope you guys can help me solve the problem.

Thanks in advance,
Walkingepidemic

 

[avenseth12]

Make sure to download and install all the updates for Microsoft Windows 7

 

[Fokissed]

I'd place my bets on the Soundblaster or it's drivers.

 

[christop]

I would say your psu would be the problem. You might want to upgrade your whole system and not invest in such old hardware.

 

[te100]

use whocrashed to read the dump files and it will give you an idea.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

Should have stuck with XP on that hardware. While it does (barely) meet Windows 7 minimums, you'll never be happy with the performance.

 

[Fokissed]

As far as I can tell, there is no driver for Windows 7 for your sound card. The latest (and only ) driver is for XP x64, from 2005.

Link: http://support.creative.com/downloads/welcome.aspx?nLanguageLocale=1033&nDriverType=1#type_1

 

[walkingepidemic]

As far as I can tell, there is no driver for Windows 7 for your sound card. The latest (and only ) driver is for XP x64, from 2005.

Link: http://support.creative.com/downloads/welcome.aspx?nLanguageLocale=1033&nDriverType=1#type_1

No, there was a x86 driver, as I was running it on XP for the last few years. But, yes, it could be that the drivers are not compatible with Windows 7. Thank you.

 

[hedwar2011]

How did you come across the upgrade from XP to 7?

To my knowledge there isn't a direct upgrade path from XP to 7 due to incompatibilities and potential driver conflicts.

Did you run the Upgrade Advisor for Windows 7 before attempting to "upgrade"?
Did you perform a "clean reinstall" of the OS eliminating any partitions and formatting them?

 

[walkingepidemic]

How did you come across the upgrade from XP to 7?

To my knowledge there isn't a direct upgrade path from XP to 7 due to incompatibilities and potential driver conflicts.

Did you run the Upgrade Advisor for Windows 7 before attempting to "upgrade"?
Did you perform a "clean reinstall" of the OS eliminating any partitions and formatting them?

Yeah, I always do a clean install, in fact i've never had to upgrade, as I always just copy important files onto a USB, and reinstall all my programs.