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A Guide to Blue Screens of Death: Data Bus Error

This article is part of a continuing series on Blue Screen of Death errors. A Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) is the error screen you see when Windows has a major issue. It halts the PC and displays some very important information.

Depending on the error message you get, the steps you need to take are different.

Error Name:
DATA_BUS_ERROR

You may also see this error under a different name, but with the error code STOP 0x0000002E at the bottom.

This one is related to a hardware failure, and almost always results from bad memory: either system memory, or memory on your video card.

If you recently installed memory or a new video card, it may be faulty. Put in your old memory or video card and see if the problem goes away. If it does, you may need to return your bad hardware.

This may also be caused by existing memory that has gone bad over time. If you are able to do so, boot into Windows and run a memory test.

Testing Memory

  1. Click Start
  2. Click Control Panel
  3. In the search box, type Memory
  4. Click Diagnose your Computer’s Memory Problems

In the Memory Diagnostic Tool, you can either choose to restart immediately and check for problems, or check the next time the PC reboots. If there are problems, Windows will tell you about them at that time, and you’ll know whether you need new memory.

Upgrading Memory

In case you do need to replace the memory in your PC, here’s a guide to RAM that will tell you what you need to have in mind as you upgrade.

A Bad Video Card

If memory on your video card is at fault, try removing the video card and see if the problem clears up. If so, then you’ve got a bad video card, and you’ll need to replace it. Memory does degrade over time, and luckily, video cards are inexpensive. You can even add a card if you’re using integrated video (in other words, you don’t have a video card installed).

A Virus in the Master Boot Record

A virus could be invading the Master Boot Record, or the info at the very beginning of a hard drive that tells Windows how the drive is set up, or partitioned. This virus could lead to this Blue Screen of Death. If so, you’re going to want to run a reputable virus scanner, such as Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, that can scan the MBR and eliminate the problem. Here’s our guide to escaping a virus attack.

You can choose to reboot and check memory immediately.

 

More Information from Microsoft

Here’s a page on Microsoft’s website about this specific BSoD error. It’s pretty technical, but worth checking out if the above solutions don’t work.

Good luck!

Steve Horton

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