Blue Screen of Death

[Hitchy]

Where to begin ...

Initially, it began when i bought some new hardware. 2x 256MB Geil RAM, Asus A-17 Motherboard, Intel Processor 3.0Ghz. This took a while to install and get going, due to problems with Hard drives etc.

Once i had XP pro installed along with the other programs, i.e photoshop, dreamweavr etc, all was going fine and dandy. However, one day the blue screen of death came up, with a message, being on of the 2 following: BAD_POOL_CALLER, or IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL can't remember which with this being some time ago. So i rebooted and this seemed fine and i carried on working on the PC as normal thinking that the problem had (hopefully) gone away.

However, every so often (approx. once a week) for a month the same Blue Screen decided to appear again. Each time i rebooted and the problem seemed to reside back into the stupid metal body from whence it came. The message on the screen seemed to change from one to the other (above 2 error messages). Then, a couple of days ago the pc had been on all morning and i came back from a match i had just been at, clicked on something and the message came up again. 'ok' i thought just reboot again and should be fine. It was fine for about 3 minutes and then the blue screen came up again. And then again. So i shut the computer down and looked up the 2 error messages on the internet, and it was suggested that driver verifier (verifier.exe) was used, as this error message was linked to driver problems.

Soo ...i ran the verifier.exe and created a standard procedure check, rebooted as requested and waited for it to start up. The login screen came up and so i put in the password and waited for it to load up. However, it stayed at the 'applying your personal settings' screen, and then decided to reboot. As usual, thinking hopefullt that this was a one off, let it reboot and tried loggin in again. To my bitter frudtration, it continues to reboot and get no further. I am now stuck. I have lost the will to keep fighting unless somebody can give me a reason to carry on by providing some help, concerning either the Blue Screen error messages or the constant rebooting or both! Would be greatly sppreciated.

Thanks greatly, Hitchy

 

[Hitchy]

I know it seems to be a hardware problem but from every error report I send to microsoft to see if this gives me any clues, it always is coming up with:

Error Caused By A Device Driver


Hmm...

*Just thinking out loud*
Hitchy

 

[LloydSev]

yes, but a driver will crash your system if the hardware doesn't act normal.

Computer/Network Technician
CCNA

 

[Hitchy]

Ahh ok. Didn't know that. Sounds simple really but if you don't know it you wouldn't think it. Not me anyway

Right so the next thing that i will be trying is to get some other RAM and see if the problem still occurs then, unless something else is suggested beforehand.

Hitchy

 

[Hitchy]

Ok i am now using different RAM, also from my fathers machine. Another query, have had this once before ...On startup the screen saying 'Have recovered from a serious error' appears, accept it is saying, 'Generic Host Process for Win32 Services'. In the technical information it says:

C:\DOCUME~1\Hitchy\LOCALS~1\Temp\WERf3c0.dir00\svchost.exe.mdmp
C:\DOCUME~1\Hitchy\LOCALS~1\Temp\WERf3c0.dir00\appcompat.txt

Anybody?? (anything to worry about or ...?)

Thanks
Hitchy

 

[Hitchy]

Ok the new RAM has been in and it underwent the same test i have been doing for since i replaced switched the garphics card aswell ...HL2 DEMO. At certain points its gets too much and the comp just reboots again. THe same happened again even when i have a different GRAPHICS CARD and RAM. NOw can i turn my attention to the MB?? Here is the technical information from the error report:

C:\DOCUME~1\Hitchy\LOCALS~1\Temp\WERac3e.dir00\Mini050205-03.dmp
C:\DOCUME~1\Hitchy\LOCALS~1\Temp\WERac3e.dir00\sysdata.xml

THanks
Hitchy

 

[LloydSev]

maybe you should open to xml file??

Computer/Network Technician
CCNA

 

[linney]

Those two files you have mentioned are the error dump files containing information which your machine sends to Microsoft for analysis, they are not a specific error message.

314084 - How to gather information after a memory dump in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314084&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

315271 - How to Use Dumpchk.exe to Check a Memory Dump File

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315271&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

254649 - Overview of memory dump file options for Windows 2000, for Windows XP, and for Windows Server 2003

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;254649&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

315263 - How to read the small memory dump files that Windows creates for debugging

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315263&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

To get further information about the actual errors look in your Event viewer.

Look in the System or Application folder.

 

[jimp56]

i think you have narrowed down the issue to either the motherboard and/or your hard drive setup. you might open another post in the hardware forum to see if anyone there has had experiences with your specific motherboard. good luck, sorry we couldnt narrow down to a specific component for sure.

 

[Hitchy]

NP. You guyz have been fan-tas-tic. Thanks for the info.

Hitchy

 

[bcastner]

1) Download and install the Debugging Tools from Microsoft:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/installx86.mspx

2) Locate your latest memory.dmp file, its probably in C:\windows

3) Start, Run, CMD

cd \program files\debugging tools for windows\
kd -z c:\windows\memory.dmp
kd> .logopen c:\debuglog.txt
kd> .sympath srv*c:\symbols*

http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols

kd> .reload;!analyze -v;r;kv;lmnt;.logclose;q

5) You now have a debuglog.txt in c:\, open it in notepad and post back to this thread.

 

[Nelviticus]

It's along shot but one possibility that I haven't seen mentioned is the power supply. If you have lots of power-hungry hardware - optical drives, modern graphics cards etc. - but only a weedy PSU, it's possible that a piece of hardware that isn't getting enough juice will malfunction. The hardware itself might be fine but could still behave badly if it's under-supplied, possibly resulting in a driver error. What wattage is your PSU?

Nelviticus

 

[stduc]

You can make a rough check of your PC's power needs using this link. Cliock on your type of CPU to start.

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/Power_Supply_Calculator.php?

 

[Hitchy]

I only hve a 350W power supply and have been told that with my current spec i should have around a 550W power supply to prevent any malfunctions.

 

[Nelviticus]

Well there - possibly - is your answer. Just in case, I'd try borrowing a bigger power supply if possible to see whether that solves anything. If your motherboard really is at fault then you don't want to waste money on a new PSU as well.

Nelviticus