BSOD nightmare

Most of you know that I use a MacBook Pro laptop. I started out with it since I could switch between Windows and Mac operating systems. I’ve been a hard core pc user since the DOS days, but I have been increasingly frustrated with how buggy windows has become. I’ll share more about my windows/mac views in a future post.

When I first got the computer, I just occasionally used Mac OsX, and spent most of my time in Vista. Now I’m completely reversed. The only time I boot up into Windows is to get our presentation software ready for church on Sundays. We use EasyWorship which is Windows based. This past saturday, I tried to boot into Windows and I got a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death for those who have not experienced the pain yet) After researching a little, I think the problem was due to a crash when using Parallels, which is a software program that lets me run windows inside of a window when I’m using the Mac operating system. I saw that many other people had the same problem and there wasn’t an easy solution.

I tried booting into the last good known configuration – No luck. I tried booting into safe mode – no luck. I tried repairing windows using the installation cd – no luck. I tried system restore – no luck. I tried clearing the parallels info from the windows installation – no luck.

Finally, I just broke down and decided to reformat. I had a backup of everything, so I knew nothing would be lost. I also wanted to change partition sizes, so it was a good time to do it. I removed the bootcamp partition, created a new one, and reinstalled windows. I then had to install all the windows updates. I then restored the files I needed for easyworship, and I was ready to go. I was doing all of this while finishing up my sermon for Sunday. At about 2:3oam, I was done and ready for bed. The moral of the story is that I should have decided to format earlier. It was easy, painless, and fast. Completely different from trying to troubleshoot a crazy windows computer problem. And just another good reason to have a good backup plan. And another good reason to just use a mac. And after this, I think I will be ditching parallels and using VMware Fusion instead. I’ve had too many weird and strange problems that are indirectly linked back to parallels.

Mike

I am a former design engineer who now pastors Cornerstone Community Church in Galax, Virginia. I'm passionate about following Jesus and I love technology. I've been married to Jennifer for 28 years, and we have three adult children.

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1 Response

  1. Jenni says:

    blah blah blah blah
    I love you even if you are a card carrying member of the geek squad:)

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