Hello. I would greatly appreciate any help anyone can offer. For a couple days now I have been getting the Blue Screen error. To explain how this started, I had finally rid my computer of a virus, or so I thought, by running malware bytes. Everything seemed to be running fine until suddenly I had a brief power outage which caused my computer to shut off because my battery or charge adapter no longer works so I keep my laptop plugged into an outlet. From then on I have been getting the Blue Screen. At first, I was able to boot in safe mode, but now I cannot boot into anything. Safe mode freezes when I try to load from it. I tried a couple of things but to no avail so if someone can please walk me through on how to possibly get my laptop back up and running I would be so appreciative. I have another dilemma that makes this all the more frustrating to fix... My CD Rom no longer works. I would like to try everything possible to restore my laptop. I thank you for your help in advance. Below are some details about my laptop....

HP Pavilion dv7 Notebook
Intel (R) Core (TM) 2 Duo CPU P8600 @ 2.40GHz
Speed: 2400 MHz
Memory: 6144 MB
BIOS: F.26
Factory Installed OS: Vista

Error receiving: Blue Screen: Error: Page Fault In Non Paged Area: Technical Information: 0X00000050

Thanking you for your help in advance!

Hi Lisha07 ,

Carefully remove a stick of RAM (assuming you have two 3000ish cards of ram), and try booting up.

If similar results try swapping the SODIMM (ram) over to find the bad/faulty RAM card.

Make sure netbook is turned off, battery removed, and unplugged from the power between each stage.

Follow these instructions to backup your data: https://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/use-windows-7-install-dvd-to-backup-files-from-your-windows-pc?replies=1

You say your DVD unit doesn't work, you will need to create the bootable USB drive. Or maybe try pressing F8 repeatedly and select "Repair my computer" from there (instead of "Safe Mode"), to access the recovery partition which will be similar to the Windows 7 install DVD.

You can try to run System Restore from there too, this will restore your system to a previous state, try to select a restore point before these problems started.

Hi Lisha07

Below is a manual for your Laptop, it will show you how to remove various components, if all else fails you can remove the hard drive and connect to another PC/Laptop and recover your data that way, before you use the recovery partition option.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c03043778.pdf

This is a device for connecting the hard drive to another computer, you should be able to purchase something similar.

http://www.dabs.ie/products/best-value-emprex-eds-001-hard-drive-docking-station--2-5----3-5---861J.html?src=2

If you can't advance past the "Select an Operating System" window it is probably because your OS is 32-bit (x86) and your install DVD or USB is 64-bit (x64) or vice versa. But don't worry, you don't need to download everything again to backup your files. Below the list with your Windows Vista OS at that screen, there is an option to "Restore your computer with a system image that you created earlier". Select that option, press "Next", and when the next error (probably) shows up because there is no system image, cancel twice and you will be in the "System Recovery Options" screen, do just as in the tutorial I posted. Continue from there.

If after backing up everything you want to reinstall Windows Vista, there is a procedure to create a similar bootable USB and install Windows Vista from there, although it is a little bit more complicated (not too much). If you want to do so, ask us and we will provide you the files you have to download. For any further help just ask.

EDIT: I just saw you have a recovery partition, if you can reinstall from there then it will be much easier.

I would recommend the recovery before removing RAM, because you have not found any problem so far with the Windows 7 install USB, which is indeed a small and clean Windows 7 (called Windows Preinstallation Environment or Windows PE). This makes me think that a clean Windows install should not have the blue screen problems you described. If RAM was causing any problem, i think they would have been present while running the Windows USB too.

Hello everyone! I was able to back up my files and am now in the process of recovering. I got to the point where I had to restart the laptop where from there it continued to do its thing. Now it's to a point where the screen says "please wait while windows continues setting up your computer...", but it has been on this screen for almost 2 hours now. Is this normal? If not will I further damage the laptop by shutting it off and starting over?

Thanks for your help!

I had to step out but I ended up leaving my computer running. The screen it is currently on is just black and its been like that for awhile, running pretty loudly, so I'm hoping that's just the process. In the mean time do you all know what would be a good virus protection I can use? Is malwarebytes and AVG pretty good?

Thanks!

I don't think the recovery should take that long. Leave it for some more time, but if you find you can't restore your computer you should maybe think of reinstalling Windows Vista from a bootable USB (like the Windows 7 one).

Look at the sticker with the product key that should be attached to your computer. It should indicate which version of Windows Vista you are running (Home Premium, Business, Ultimate). From your computer specs I understand you have a 64-bit (x64) Windows Vista.

You can download the official Windows Vista setup files from here (instructions included, you will need your product key during installation):
http://www.askvg.com/direct-download-links-download-official-original-and-untouched-windows-vista-rtm-with-sp1-setup-files-32-bit-and-64-bit/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AskVG+%28AskVG%29

Only Windows Vista Ultimate is available, and only in English, French and German (I would always recommend choosing English anyways, even if you speak German). Get the three files for "Windows Vista Ultimate with SP1 (64-bit or x64)". Link with instructions on how to create the bootable USB is in the same webpage. Once the Windows Vista install USB is created, if you need to install a non-Ultimate version, delete the two lines near the bottom of the \Sources\Inf\SETUP.CFG file in the USB. They look like this:

[DefaultImageSelection]
Value=VFWBB-HAJJV-G996G-QWGJY-2V7X9

More info about this: http://jimcofer.com/personal/?p=6119

If you have any doubts just ask.

On a side note, Microsoft Security Essentials is a good choice, as warlock says.

Then I recommend resintalling from USB. Download the three files I told you. Place everything inside a folder and run the EXE, it will extract all the needed files to install. You can use the first program here to create the bootable USB. Remember to follow the instructions to install a non-Ultimate version if needed.

Once you get to the install process, select a custom install (not upgrade). Then you will get to the partitioning screen.
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/operatingsystems/ss/windows-7-clean-install-part-1_10.htm

I recommend doing like in this tutorial (for Windows 7). Delete all your partitions (including any strange HP_TOOLS or recovery partition), and once you have a single "Unallocated Space" label, install Windows Vista there. (This will create an additional partition to enable a "System Repair" option on the F8 boot menu.)

If you have any doubts, ask us.

Good news indeed! Congratulations! Good point using recovery again, it is much easier than my approach. I will remember that for other cases.

Since firstly you backed up your files with the USB method I posted, and (I assume) you now have them in an external drive or whatever, I would just copy them manually from there to your PC again. I don't know how this automatic backup you speak of actually works.

I'm glad I could help you, thanks for reporting back, and come back if you have any other problems. I recommend creating separate new threads for your other problems, so more people will see them.