I might be the stupidest person on Earth...

[Taem]

I know the title is a bit misleading, however does anybody know the following, because I could not find it out:

Q: What happens when you run a x32 bit version of Windows 7 on a x64 bit processor machine?

A: I'm not sure, but I'm almost 100% positive that's why my wife's computer keeps blue-screening and won't update windows successfully. Now I have to reinstall Win 7 x64 on her computer... I'm so stupid. How did I mess that one up? Lol, and I honestly thought her computer was fried or something.

But I do have a serious question, my ASUS motherboard supports both x86 (x32 bit) and x64. I forgot that when I upgraded it years ago, I put in an AMD Dual Core x64, but when I reinstalled Windows XP, I installed the x32 bit version. I just verified that right now after my wife's computer fiasco.

Q: Will the x32 bit version of Win XP conflict with the x64 bit processor, or will the motherboard be able to translate it correctly since the motherboard is x86-64?

The reason I ask is I've been having similar issues on my computer, where when I try to open documents, it will occasionally blue-screen. I only does this when opening certain documents which I believe is because it's trying to access some part of RAM which I previously thought might be corrupt, but now I think the IO functions just weren't there at all in a x64 bit processor. Am I correct in my assumption? If so, then I installed the wrong version of XP on MY computer also years ago, which has got to win me some kind of prize for stupidest person on Earth.

[Zippyy]

Your blue-screening is probably a different issue. You can run a 32-bit OS on a 64-bit architecture with no problems.

To narrow it down, try googling the error code that is displayed during the blue screen. If you can't see the error code, you can configure Windows to NOT automatically restart when a blue screen happens. That will give you the time to write down the code. Sorry, I don't remember exactly where to go to change that setting; I've been using Linux primarily for many years.

Hope this helps.

[Nystul]

I think half the world has run 32 bit Windows on a 64 bit processor over the last few years so that isn't your problem. It does not sound like a RAM issue either (if it is stable aside from one application), but the error code should give you some clues.

[LochnarITB]

I found WhoCrashed when trying to figure out random crashes I could not pin on anything. It pointed me directly to the culprit and I was able to fix the problem on my machine, which I was getting ready to blame on faulty hardware on an almost new machine, and I was able to fix my parents computer so my Mom didn't crash while playing her Pogo (and I didn't have to blame Pogo every time I asked if her machine was working OK because I could not find anything else to point my finger at ).

[Taem]

I figured out, using a program I downloaded from Major Geeks called BlueScreenViewer, what the problem is. Apparently it's my external USB Sound Card causing the problem. The irony here of course is that I disabled my onboard sound card from the Motherboard and all the start-up files for it in services because I was blue-screening before from the onboard soundcard. Now I honestly have no idea what the problem is. Says its the soundcard, but I think it's got to be something on the Mobo trying to process the sound signal incorrectly. Humm, doing to post the crash dump on a BSOD tech site and see what I can come up with.

[Taem]

Nope, that's what the BSOD was. I tried causing a BSOD every way possible it happened before and no more blue screens. Thanks guys for suggesting I look into it! And to think I was just going to purchase a new computer for this... Well, I still want one for D3, but that's another story. It's funny because sometimes I can be very knowledgeable about computers, and at other times, simple problems just elude me. I love learning about new stuff.

So I still have to fix my wife's computer. Are you guys suggesting my install of the 32x bit Win 7 on her 64x only system would still be compatible?

[Zippyy]

Happy to help, glad you figured it out.