1. Find the error description located just below the 'A problem has been detected...' message. It will appear in the form of uppercase words and letters connected by underscores (for example, 'IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL').
2. Read the proposed troubleshooting suggestion that follows the uppercase message. The most common message, which appears on nearly all stop error message prompts, is'If this is the first time you've seen this error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any Windows updates you might need.If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Start-up Options, and then select Safe Mode.'

3. Restart your computer, or follow the steps outlined (check new installations, disable or remove new installations, install required updates, move to Safe Mode and so forth).
4. Note the technical information that follows the troubleshooting suggestions (the first of this series of numbers/letters is called the hexadecimal number error code). It will appear similar to'Technical Information:
* * * STOP: 0x0000000A (0x0008047A0, 0x00000001, 0x0840D57F, 0x00000000)
* * * ati3diag.dll -- Address ED80AC66 base at ED87E001, Date Stamp 3cdc42d0'
5. Read the final entry, which almost always is 'Beginning dump of physical memory. Physical memory dump complete. Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance.' This message informs you that Windows XP has dumped the system memory contents to a hard-disk file.
6. Visit the Microsoft Help and Support site (see References). Click on 'Advanced Search,' type the error message (such as 'STOP: 0---0000000A IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL') in the box provided, choose 'Windows XP' in the 'What Product Do You Want to Search?' box, choose the sites you want to search and click 'Search.' A list of search results will appear that can walk you through the problem.