Author Topic: Random BSODs on Windows XP (Read 4121 times)

Cephiro · « **on:** February 20, 2008, 08:03:29 AM »

Hi there guys.

About 8 months ago, I started getting BSODs at random on Windows XP Professional SP2, and so far, nothing I did seemed to solve it. It happens at random, but seems to happen more often if I happen to be playing something, but it still happens when only firefox or windows explorer is open. Some said that system files could be corrupt, so I formatted and reinstalled windows. That didn't do it. So, people said it could be the RAM. I ran memtestx86, and got no errors, but since I was still getting problems, I bought new RAM and replaced the old. That didn't help as well. I thought it could be the Video Card, and as it dies on me 2 days ago, I thought that might be it. So then I bought a new Video Card and I am still getting the same errors all over again. I don't know what to do, since I've seen pretty much every BSOD error in the book, and all that microsoft OCA could tell me was "possible causes: hardware or software error" Â¬Â¬
Would upgrading to Vista solve something?

Well, I hope someone here can shed some light on the situation, as I don't know what else to do.

My computer was it was before:
Windows XP Professional Edition SP2 (all updated)
Intel Dual Core 2,8 GHz
HD Samsung 160 GB SATA
1GB RAM (2x 512MB DDR 400MHz Kingston)
XFX GeForce 6200 256 MB AGP
MB Gigabyte (I'll check about the model, but it has an Intel 865G Chipset)

As it is now:
Windows XP Professional Edition SP2 (all updated)
Intel Dual Core 2,8 GHz
HD Samsung 160 GB SATA + Maxtor 500GB USB
2GB RAM (2x 1024MB DDR 400MHz Kingston)
GeForce 7300GT 512 MB AGP
MB Gigabyte (I'll check about the model, but it has an Intel 865G Chipset)

guestolo · « **Reply #1 on:** February 20, 2008, 07:33:32 PM »

The exact error message might help

Can you disable auto restart if set and post the BSOD message
Long stringed number and file name if one

Check to see if auto restart is set
Right click MyComputer>>Select Properties>>Advanced>>setting under Startup Recovery

Uncheck "Automatically Restart"
OK out of there

Cephiro · « **Reply #2 on:** February 20, 2008, 09:36:55 PM »

Thanks for the reply. Auto restart is already disabled.

The message always changes, but the most common is 0x0000000A (IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL), and recently (after installing the new video card) the 0x0000008E (KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED) has become more common.
Nevertheless, I've already gotten 0x0000004E, 0x00000050, 0x0000007F, 0x00000080, 0x000000C2, 0x000000D1, 0x000000FC as well as many others.

They appear at random, and point at random drivers, but some months ago nv4_disp.dll was the most common, and now win32k.sys has become the most common.

As far as I have seen, none is linked to any action on the computer. Sometimes I get one of those 2 minutes after windows has finished booting. =/

guestolo · « **Reply #3 on:** February 20, 2008, 09:56:15 PM »

What make was the old video card you removed?
did you uninstall drivers before installing new card drivers?

If you look in device manager do you see any problems?

Cephiro · « **Reply #4 on:** February 20, 2008, 10:06:49 PM »

The old video card was a XFX GeForce 6200 256MB AGP. Drivers were removed, and whatever was left was removed with Driver Cleaner. Then I installed the most up-to-date drivers.

There are no problems in Device Manager, but I find the fact that some things are sharing the same IRQ quite strange.
No errors in the Event Viewer either.

guestolo · « **Reply #5 on:** February 20, 2008, 10:10:38 PM »

Do you have any dump files?

Navigate to x:\Windows\Minidump folder

Try uploading the last 4 to a reply back here, they will have dates
Zip them up first to the same folder

Cephiro · « **Reply #6 on:** February 20, 2008, 10:16:42 PM »

There you go. Dunno if these can help though. =/
I don't save a dump file every time it crashes.

[quote name=\'guestolo\' post=\'422219\' date=\'Feb 21 2008, 12:10 AM\']Do you have any dump files?

Navigate to x:\Windows\Minidump folder

Try uploading the last 4 to a reply back here, they will have dates
Zip them up first to the same folder[/quote]

guestolo · « **Reply #7 on:** February 20, 2008, 10:41:16 PM »

I was hoping the 4 logs would point to one thing, but they're pointing to a few
May be driver related

It appears that you may have blue screened a few times today
One pointed towards Avast, however I don't think that's the problem

I would try and clean boot of XP and try running like that for awhile and see if it blue screens
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353

Note: If you run software firewall besides the one built into Windows
If you do disable it for troubleshooting purposes, ensure to enable the XP firewall afterwards

If it doesn't blue screen, we may be able to trial and error the problem

Cephiro · « **Reply #8 on:** February 20, 2008, 10:53:34 PM »

Yeah, my computer crashed randomly a few times today...

The thing with this computer is, whenever you change something major (i.e drivers, memory placement, startup programs) it stays stable for a week or two, then it starts crashing again. That's the most infuriating part, because you never know if you are doing something right or not. It stays stable for a couple of weeks, than goes into an unusable state for 2 or 3 days, keeps stable for a week, then 2 or 3 more days of crashing...

By the way, I got a BSOD within 20 minutes after a clean XP install, when it only had a couple of things installed, but strangely enough, it happened only after I installed the nVidia drivers.
Maybe changing to custom drivers solves something....

guestolo · « **Reply #9 on:** February 20, 2008, 10:57:10 PM »

Where did you get the drivers from for your video card?

Cephiro · « **Reply #10 on:** February 20, 2008, 11:00:52 PM »

The official website, http://www.nvidia.com

[quote name=\'guestolo\' post=\'422224\' date=\'Feb 21 2008, 12:57 AM\']Where did you get the drivers from for your video card?[/quote]

guestolo · « **Reply #11 on:** February 20, 2008, 11:05:19 PM »

Quote

keeps stable for a week, then 2 or 3 more days of crashing...

Are you doing anything different at the time?
running any particular program or using any different hardware that may cause the problem?

running any scans in the background?

Think hard, it may help

Cephiro · « **Reply #12 on:** February 20, 2008, 11:10:56 PM »

As far as I remember, when the computer is behaving like that, it crashes over simple things, like browsing google on firefox, watching a video on Media Player Classic, or simply using Windows Explorer. At most, BitComet, Emule and Winamp might have been running then, but they are running most of the time (even now). Most of the time it crashes when I'm only reading something on the internet (nothing resource consuming running or anything).

No scans were running, as far as I know.

[quote name=\'guestolo\' post=\'422226\' date=\'Feb 21 2008, 01:05 AM\']Are you doing anything different at the time?
running any particular program or using any different hardware that may cause the problem?

running any scans in the background?

Think hard, it may help[/quote]

guestolo · « **Reply #13 on:** February 21, 2008, 08:21:56 AM »

Quote

At most, BitComet, Emule and Winamp might have been running then, but they are running most of the time (even now).

It may very well be Emule or BitComet causing problems
You could try troubleshooting it on your end, if it Blue screens without those programs running in the background
They may be the cause

Cephiro · « **Reply #14 on:** February 21, 2008, 09:00:46 AM »

I already tried that. Sometimes it crashes before I can even load anything on windows.
And sometimes, like today, it blue screens before windows is completely loaded.
I tried unloading WindowBlinds, so let's see what happens. If it still crashes, I'll try changing the video drivers to custom ones. It that doesn't help, I'll probably format everything and upgrade to Vista.

[quote name=\'guestolo\' post=\'422244\' date=\'Feb 21 2008, 10:21 AM\']It may very well be Emule or BitComet causing problems
You could try troubleshooting it on your end, if it Blue screens without those programs running in the background
They may be the cause[/quote]

guestolo · « **Reply #15 on:** February 21, 2008, 09:06:29 AM »

WindowsBlinds has been know to cause bluescreens
What USB devices do you have plugged into computer?

Cephiro · « **Reply #16 on:** February 21, 2008, 09:19:42 AM »

Well, if it solves something, I'll have to do without WindowBlinds... I hate the normal windows UI, but oh well...

As far as USB devices go, normally only my printer/scanner, a Lexmark X1195 is connected all the time. But it is also off most of the time. Lately, I also have my USB joystick and External HDD, but I didn't have those when the computer started crashing.

[quote name=\'guestolo\' post=\'422246\' date=\'Feb 21 2008, 11:06 AM\']WindowsBlinds has been know to cause bluescreens
What USB devices do you have plugged into computer?[/quote]

guestolo · « **Reply #17 on:** February 21, 2008, 09:29:03 AM »

What's exact make/model of computer
Did you ensure to install latest motherboard/chipset drivers?

Cephiro · « **Reply #18 on:** February 21, 2008, 09:37:34 AM »

The computer is a custom build.
The specs are as stated on my first post, and the mother board is a GA-8I865GME-775 from Gigabyte.
I updated the motherboard and chipset drivers as soon as the problem started happening. Seemed to solve it for 3 days or so.

[quote name=\'guestolo\' post=\'422248\' date=\'Feb 21 2008, 11:29 AM\']What's exact make/model of computer
Did you ensure to install latest motherboard/chipset drivers?[/quote]

Cephiro · « **Reply #19 on:** February 21, 2008, 10:20:41 AM »

Just crashed again. 0x0000007F =/
I'm sending the dumps for the 2 times it crashed today (2 times in 2 hours).
WindoBlinds was disabled when it crashed, so...
Removed one of the RAM sticks. Let's see how it works.

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Author Topic: Random BSODs on Windows XP (Read 4121 times)