Windows Protection Error - System Halted- Restart !

[PaulAlexander]

Hi Guys,

I need your help in solving the following problem:

At first my PC System is an MSI Mobo 6330 with an AMD Athlon 1800+ XP, 512 SDRAM (PC133) & WinMe OS. Modem Motorola SM56K Speakerphone-Data-Fax etc.

The problem occurs during a COLD START. After posting & while loading WinMe a blue screen appears with the message : " WINDOWS PROTECTION ERROR -SYSTEM HALTED - RESTART COMPUTER".
If I restart the PC, the familiar DOS menu appears asking me to choose 1 of the 4 available options (1. Help 2. Bootlog.txt .... 4.Minimal Boot ).
I choose the "Bootlog.txt" option, so that I can create a "bootlog" report.
Apparently this choice most of times leads to one more similar Blue Screens.

Only after restarting the PC for a 3rd time via the "Bootlog.txt" option only then I succeed to load windows!
In some ocassions between 2nd & 3rd restart a "scandisk" in Safe Mode maybe needed.

I can't figure out the reason as to why a Blue Screen appears but I'm able to compare the two Bootlog.txt reports.
One is written during the error & the other without it.

Below I have pasted the Bootlog.txt report split in two parts by an horizontal line.
When the Blue screen occurs the last statement of the report is the one above the line. Obviously the statements below the line are written only during a succesful windows Start Up.
It appears to me that the vtdi.386 device to be the problem or even the (NETWORK\MSTCP\0000) dealing with the TCP/IP communication & Network Adapter in general.
I have already removed & reinstalled the Network adapter and Dial Up Networking plus TCP/IP but the Blue Screen Error message persists.
Can anyone help? What is the actual use of vtdi.386 ?
Thanks in advance.
PaulAlexander !!
Note: PC is 2 & 1/2 years old! Could it be the CMOS battery?
Note: Connection to Internet is via Dial Up networking.
Networking & Internet Sharing are taken off.

[0010E1C4] Enumerating Dial-Up Adapter (ROOT\NET\0000)
[0010E1C4] Enumerated Dial-Up Adapter (ROOT\NET\0000)
[0010E1C4] Loading PNP drivers of TCP/IP (NETWORK\MSTCP\0000)
---------------------------------------------------------
[0010E1C8] Dynamic load device vtdi.386
[0010E1C9] Dynamic init device VTDI
[0010E1C9] Dynamic init success VTDI
[0010E1C9] Dynamic load success vtdi.386
[0010E1C9] Dynamic load device vip.386
[0010E1CA] Dynamic init device VIP
[0010E1CB] Dynamic init success VIP
[0010E1CB] Dynamic load success vip.386
[0010E1CB] Dynamic load device vtcp.386
[0010E1CB] Dynamic init device MSTCP
[0010E1CB] Dynamic init success MSTCP
[0010E1CB] Dynamic load success vtcp.386
[0010E1CB] Dynamic load device vdhcp.386
[0010E1CC] Dynamic init device VDHCP
[0010E1CD] Dynamic init success VDHCP
[0010E1CD] Dynamic load success vdhcp.386
[0010E1CD] Dynamic load device vnbt.386
[0010E1CD] Dynamic init device VNBT
[0010E1CE] Dynamic init success VNBT

 

[bcastner]

Hmmmm.

Try this first:

http://members.shaw.ca/techcd/VB_Projects/WinsockFix.zip

I am guessing that your Winsock service entries in the registry are corrupted.

 

[PaulAlexander]

Hi bcastner,

Thanks for the link.
You wouldn't believe this but I was trying o download this fix last night but I couldn't complete the download! My DAP program keeps timing out!! Now I'll use Microsoft's regular downloading feature.
I'll install it and let you know.

Any other ideas are most welcomed.
PaulAlexander.

 

[PaulAlexander]

Hi bcastner,

Thanks for the link.
You wouldn't believe this but I was trying to download this fix last night but I couldn't complete the download! My DAP program keeps timing out!! Now I'll use Microsoft's regular downloading feature.
I'll install it and let you know.

Any other ideas are most welcomed.
PaulAlexander.

 

[PaulAlexander]

Hi all,

I have installed the winsock Fix and to be honnest I'm not sure wether it made a difference.
The reason I'm saying this is because prior to it's installation & since late last night I haven't had a Blue screen when "cold Booting" the PC.
One thing though I've noticed is that I have no longer access to my connection's Port Settings ie the FIFO ports. The other tag the Advanced Settings is OK & I'm able to write in there AT Modem commands.
I wonder how to reactivate the Port settings switch in order to set both transmit & receive ports to max?
Any ideas will be welcomed.
Furthermore could anyone point out, which part of the register is repaired by theWinsock Fix utility?
Does the utility also modifies parts of the Msconfig file too ?
Thanks in advance.
PaulAlexander .

 

[bcastner]

It does nothing to msconfig.

The registry changes focus on entries for Winsock, Winsock2, TCP/IP, Netbt, Dun service, and your routing tables.

You can find the entries in the winme.reg files in the distribution.

 

[PaulAlexander]

Hi bcastner,

Thanks for the Info it is been very enlightening.
One thing I noticed after the installing of the Winsock Fix is that the downloading speed was noticably out of tune.
This doesn't mean necessarily that the fix was the cause of it.
If by any chance the fix resets in the registry parameters like RWIN and MTU I can understand the slowing down, since I'm using Modem Booster to optimize the above parameters which probably are reset by the fix.

Having pointed out that I was unable to open the port settings in the Modem properties, I decided to use the ERD.EXE utility to unistall the winsock fix hoping to reactivate the port settings.
But still I can't get into the port settings, which indicates that Winsock Fix wasn't the cause of this problem. I'll try to check this mishap through the Device Manager.Maybe there is something I'm missing in there!!

However, as far as the Windows protection blue screen is concerned, there is no sign of it for 3 consequetive days!!
This is good news since the main objective appears to have been solved.
The question is how do I reactivate the switch of the port settings in the Modem properties.
Any ideas will be much appreciated.
Than You. PaulAlexander

 

[bcastner]

The only restiction on ports would be from a firewall.

I think you are referring to the possibility of adjusting the FIFO buffers.

This is completely an issue of whether the chipset supports adustable FIFO, and a driver issue for your modem. Your operating system could care less, and does not offer features to adjust the FIFO buffering other than a limited slider to set a cache size.

 

[PaulAlexander]

Hi Becastner & tek-tips devotees,

Thanks for keep responding to this thread.

Latest report - This is the 7th day & No sign of the blue screen. Still I'm unable to comprehend what caused it in the first place!!

As far as the FIFO port settings is concerned, I would like to add that the port settings switches for COM2 & COM1 (ports not used) work OK and ie I'm able to adjust them.
The culprit is COM3 which is used by my modem occuping IRQ 5, this is the one not allowing me to adjust the FIFOs.
Having said that, the modem is working OK and I found no conflicts in the Device Manager section.

The memory range allocated to modem is also OK & non conflicting with any other device.

BIOS settings regarding the modem are also correctly set.

I have to admit though that during a clean installation my modem prefers COM2 & IRQ3 and not COM3 & IRQ5 !!
In a way I have forced the modem to operate via COM3 & IRQ5 and I wonder wether this is the reason for allowing the COM2 port settings to be adjusted while deactivating those of COM3??

Thank you. PaulAlexander

 

[PaulAlexander]

Hi Guys,

Latest report on the above.

I can't really say that the Windows protection error - restart your computer message at startup has gone away!!
It keeps coming back and a couple of restarts are required coupled with a scandisk operation in Safe Mode before the PC boots OK.

As far as the modem FIFO buffer settings is concerned it had to be tackled through BIOS & the OS.

As you may recall I was unable to modify the FIFO buffers through the Port Settings switch found in the modem properties > Connection > Port settings.
It appeared to me that my modem a Motorola SM56K data-speakerphone was fussy regarding the choice of the COM port.
Hence, I disabled the PnP BIOS setting in order to allow Windows PnP to take over and I uninstalled the modem through the Start > Settings >Control panel > Modems.
I also made sure that the modem was deleted from the Device Manager Tree List.
Furthermore I deleted the Wave sound emulator which usually accompanies speakerphone modems and it is usually located under the Sound Video & Game controllers section of the Device Manager.
Next it was important to SHUT DOWN the system.
No need to unplug phone lines and auxiliary telephone receivers connected behind the PC.
One minute later I switched on the PC which detected automatically the modem seeking the communication's software needed for the installation.
I noticed that my Modem favoured COM2 & not COM3 and retained it's old IRQ5. When everything was OK I restarted the PC and voila the Port settings switch was operative and the FIFO buffers could be adjusted.
To be honnest with the reinstallation of the Modem I was hoping to solve the Windows protection error as well but I was not so lucky!

My Modem's FIFO buffer settings are usually MAX for RECEIVE and HIGH for SEND.
Some people in order to achieve easier connection in noisy and busy phone lines choose MEDIUM or even LOWER settings.
Then final step was to re-enter BIOS and re-enable the BIOS Plug n Play setting.

So at least one of the two problems is dealt with !!
But the windows protection -system halted error still appears from time to time!!
It seems to me that this is a NETWORK TCP/IP error during which the PC is unable to load important drivers like the VTDI.386, VIP, MSCP etc . The question is how you do it.
If you have any ideas on how to deal with this one please keep posting.
Yhank you. PaulAlexander..