Blue Screen - White text !

[#1]

Not had one for years and years.... but this morning, got a Blue Screen with white text on it.... it disappeared before I could read it all....... what is the point of that ???? 
Part of the text reads.... " windows encountered a problem, and has shut down your computer, to prevent further damage"... or words to that effect.... 
"Oh, thank you, that is kind of you to do that... "...then it re-booted into the black screen with the usual options to re-start windows, and the "start windows normally" highlighted... which of course I accepted... and it is running fine.... after boot up completed, there was a small message box, that said, something like.... "windows encountered a problem" , and listed some bits and bobs I did not understand    and went on to say,  windows will try to find a solution.... moving red bar, and it disappeared... no other messages to say it had fixed it or I needed to do anything else...
Has windows finally got it`s act together, and found a way of sorting this "BSOD".... rather than doing nothing, and the user having to get a new HDD with all the hassle of installing a new copy, and then trying to get the information off the old HDD... 
Or.... was I just "lucky" ?
The secondary point about all this is....... in both scenarios... What "further damage to the computer" is worse than not being able to access the HDD with windows on it ..... ?  seems a bit OTT to state that Windows is shutting down to prevent further damage to your computer......
Oh and before the Linux mob get stuck in.... yes, I do have a HDD with Linux Mint on it, and a second HDD with windows Vista as a back up... so I don`t have problems recovering the stuff....

[#2]

'Further damage to your computer' almost certainly means 'corruption of operating system files' or similar - in Microsoft speak the 'computer' is the OS software, not hardware.

[#3]

Yeah, but....... if you get the BSOD.. it is already corrupted ? No???

[#4]

Indeed BSODs a rare these days. The only recent examples I can think of are all hardware related :
# A DDR memory stick not quite inserted correctly.
# DDR Memory failing whilst in use - was possibly not using the SPD value
# A USB device just being a pain in the a*
# A fluttering PSU
You can still get BSODs from software, but if the software is bedded in and nothing new has been installed, then the balance leans towards a hardware issue.
Did your computer beep when it happend? There might be a 'beep' code which gives you a clue.

[#5]

I get them quite a bit on Windows 7 on my laptop.  I suspect it's because my drive is on the way out.

[#6]

OK.. O.S. = Windows Vista Home Premium..... all updated.
No, I did not get any beeps. when the blue screen apeared.... normally, I just switch on the laptop and go and make a cuppa, or start brekky.... then it is all ready for me when I am done.
When it first happened, I had already gone past the "LOG IN" screen and the desktop opened, briefly, before the blue screen appeared.   then it auto booted, and I had to choose the option.
then the laptop seemed to be working normally....  when I posted the original post...
( it seemed to be playing up a bit last night, when I was on Youtube, the soundtracks sounded very rough,  (on-line only...... other "local" video/soundtracks are OK ) ..... as if being played back on a rusty record !... although the video side seemed to be ok...)
went out after posting this morning...... came in, booted up  and as before.... logged in.... normal desktop, ( no beeps). blue screen and re-boot.
this time I chose SAFE with Networking....  downloaded Avira and Avast.... but these would not install in Safe mode... so re-booted... installled avira... it did an initial "Luke Filewalker"  ( which I presume is their "funny" version of an initial scan... did not report any thing..
uninstalled that.... then did the same with Avast.... again the initial start up scan did not report anything.  ( I thought maybe MSE had let me down   )... so things seem to be OK at the moment.... The HDD is not very old.... about 12 to 18 months .... but I do "use" it a lot, playing videos .... but not excessively (i.e. not every night for hours on end)....
I have not installed any new software, ( apart from MSE a week ago)...    ( when I dumped my antivirus prog  [avast] ).....

[#7]

If you check the 'Event Viewer', the cause of the BSOD should be logged.  (not sure about Vista, but it's under Windows Logs, System on Win7)
If you want to stop it rebooting automatically (so you can read it), goto the Control Panel, System Settings.  Advanced System Settings,  Startup and Recovery Settings, and untick Automatically Restart.
From the sound of it,  I suspect a file has become corrupt for a program that is launched when you login.
Probably wise to run an disk check on the main drive  (possibly with the scan and attempt recovery of bad sectors option selected)
It might also be worth playing with the startup settings in the System Configuration (msconfig.exe) to see if you can narrow down the culprit.

[#8]

Have run a chkdsk c: and did not see anything in "bad sectors".....  so I then did chkdsk /f c: and re-booted..... again... did not see anything in bad sectors...
the laptop seems to be running ok at the moment.... but have disabled the Automatic Restart, as you described..... ( also increased the time for display from 30 to 60 secs ) so if it happens again, I should have more time to see what is going on...
Thanks for the help and advice, so far....

[#9]

Have you tried a chkdsk /f /r if so what was the result
Also in elevated cmd prompt thats (right click and choose run as administrator) run scf /scannow (notice the space between the f and the / )
Also did you make the changes as per your other thread to stopping the VLC calling home at startup for updates

[#10]

Yes, I did do the changes to stop the progs calling home.... but unfortunately none of my efforts has stopped the "stuttering" starts on Youtube vids...  ( they sometimes stutter whilst running too ! ..)
will do a chkdsk /f /r now... and see what that kicks up !...

[#11]

Here we are again...... chkdsk /f /r completed at 19:56    report......  " The Volume is Clean"..... 

[#12]

I suspected the volume to be clean
Have you ran the sfc /scannow for the cmd prompt with administrator rights ?

[#13]

No,.... will do... ( probably tomorrow, as I want to listen to you tube vids now !..)  Tks for help and advice. 

[#14]

I had a friend drop off a HP Envy laptop the other day as it was BSOD'ing regularly - I took a photo of the BSOD text when it happened then noticed it was a graphics driver that was mentioned in the text.
It turned out a whole load of HP machines were "taken out" by a Microsoft Update - the thing is, it didn't happen immediately and sometimes required a certain combination of updates for the fault to manifest.
I uninstalled the particular update and it's been fine ever since.

[#15]

If it happens again....... hopefully, it will stay on screen long enough for me to get my camera focussed on the screen....( it is always within arm`s length, no matter where I am ! )  ( well no,... not when I`m in bed ! ! ! )..