Chapter 15 PC Troubleshooting 641
requiring the similar DLL file. While the older game runs perfectly, one or more
of the other games may now run incorrectly or may not run at all.
DLL files usually have a DLL file extension such as mon.dll. Sometimes the
DLL will have an
.exe
file extension. Look at Figure 15-3 to see the results of a
search for files with the “dll” extension. There are 11,497 files that have a “dll”
extension on this particular computer. As you can see, there are thousands of
possible DLL files that can be used as part of software application programs and
hardware drivers.
Blue screen error
The system may also experience a blue screen error. A blue screen error
is a blue screen that appears with an error code and then freezes the system.
Microsoft also refers to blue screen errors as fatal errors, stop errors, and stop error
messages because the system is not recoverable at the time of the error. The system
must be restarted before you can attempt to remedy the problem. Some of the
most common causes for blue screen errors include the following:
✔ Defective hardware, such as memory chips and video adapter cards.
✔ Corrupt files on the hard drive.
✔ System BIOS settings that are beyond the capabilities of the hardware.
✔ Third-party software containing bad code.
✔ Bad code in the Windows operating system.
The error codes displayed on the blue screen can be quite cryptic. You should
copy the error code and use it as a reference when searching Microsoft’s support
Web site.
Figure 15-3.
DLL files are
called by software
applications to
perform common
tasks.
blue screen error
a blue screen that
appears with an
error code and then
freezes the system.
Also referred to by
Microsoft as fatal
errors, stop errors,
and stop error
messages.