Blue Screen of Death

[djkwik]

I've been here often and am back yet again.  I have a Dell 530 Inspiron S (slim) computer running on Windows XP Home originally with SP2 but allowed SP3 update.

I have never before gotten the Blue Screen of Death.  This was a couple of days ago.  In fact it happened the very day I downloaded the upgraded AVG Free 9.0.  I got the BSoD twice in 2 days, so I had had enough.  I've already been getting some wierd crap where my toolbar (File/Edit/View/Favorites/Tools/Help) and the Favorites and Tab bar would both go black and I have found the way to get rid of the black by right clicking on the desktop, and changing the theme and changing it back, but have never found a permanent fix for the problem.  That started right after the latest and greatest http://images.thetechguide.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\'\' /> Internet Explorer 8.

So, I spent the past Sunday doing a fresh install of my XP.  Sure enough, today, Tuesday, only 2 days later, I am getting the BSoD again!  I have saved the error report in a notepad page to post here.

Since having to reload my Windows, I no longer have RSIT/HJT on my desktop and didn't save the programs.  Could you please give me your trusted links to get these again?  I really need to stop this crap.  This Dell is barely over a year old.  Long enough to be out of Warranty from Dell of course.  I swear when this thing dies, I am bypassing the option to give Windows-7 a chance and defecting to MAC!!  I don't care if they cost more, nothing is for free.  If I have to pay a little more to NOT have to spend more time fixing my PC than I do using it, it will be well worth it!

Also, one other thing, after reloading my XP., I had problems getting online.  Turns out the CD that came with the Dell with all the drivers did not automatically load all the drivers.  I found out I had to choose the drivers for it to install.  Well, I can get online now (obviously), but in the Device Manager, I am still showing 2 yellow question marks.  They are labelled:

PCI Simple Communications Controller
SM Buys Controller

I was just wondering if that could be causing the current BSoD or not.

Let me know if the error report tells you anything.  Thanks.

[guestolo]

Make sure you get all your correct drivers installed, either from CD or Dell link

Here's a link to your drivers
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/...anConsent=False

You probably still need to install Chipset and Communication drivers

[djkwik]

[quote name=\'guestolo\' post=\'466120\' date=\'Nov 5 2009, 07:52 PM\']Make sure you get all your correct drivers installed, either from CD or Dell link

Here's a link to your drivers
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/...anConsent=False

You probably still need to install Chipset and Communication drivers[/quote]



I've used the supplied cdroms that came with the computer and have installed every driver that did not give me a warning that I did not have that software installed (perhaps upgraded versions of my computer?)  I've spent countless hours googling this and see a lot of people having the same problem.  I found out that I have an Intel G33/31 Express Chipset using the intel download to detect it.  Then I go to their driver download link and find that there are 2 drivers, one for G31 and one for G33.  Can't understand why their own utility couldn't define which chipset I do have.  So when I click on either one of them, a new page comes up with a list of 10 drivers.  I don't know which one I am supposed to use.
  when I go to the link you put above, I download the driver for the chipset I have and after unzipping the files, I get a warning window telling me "The computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing the software".  How is that possible that a computer with that chipset can't install that chipset's driver?  I just don't get it.  I get the actual devices name and google that and still I can't find anything other than links to the intel or the dell drivers sites!  This is way too frustrating.

I've even downloaded Windbg and the Symbols file, but can't seem to understand their instructions for initializing the symbols file.  I was hoping Windbg would read the minidumps and pinpoint precisely what needs to be done to fix my computer and explain it in simple english, but that was a pipedream.

Also, I got the bsod before I did the reinstall of XP (which brought me to the decision to just start fresh and clean) and there were no yellow question marks in the device manager before the first crash.  I'm finding it hard to believe that the sm bus controller is causing the crashes, but what do I know, I'm just another hapless Microsoft victim.  

I finally just left the computer on all the time and it hasn't crashed on me.  It seems to only happen when bringing the thing out of stand-by/sleep mode.  Just like before when this thing would seize up on me when waking it from sleep mode.  Even holding the start button in for 5 seconds(or longer) would not turn the thing off.  It had just never crashed with bsod before the one event.  It was 2 more bsod's when I decided to do the clean reinstall.   Now I've gotten five of them since.  What I've read, the sm bus controller does control temp and voltage settings for the motherboard?  That lead's me to believe this has been the trouble all along.  I am just at a total loss on what to do next. http://images.thetechguide.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':unsure:\' />

[guestolo]

I linked you to Dell's website, did you go there
Choose your operating system and download/install Chipset driver?

[djkwik]

[quote name=\'guestolo\' post=\'466153\' date=\'Nov 7 2009, 08:02 AM\']I linked you to Dell's website, did you go there
Choose your operating system and download/install Chipset driver?[/quote]

I guess the Dell website did not finish loading the page after I clicked my operating system before I scrolled down the list and clicked on the chipset driver download, which apparently overrode the page-loading of my operating system.  Haven't seen a page open that slowly in a long time.  So I finally got the drivers installed and restarted...without a bsod so far and now the yellow question mark is fianlly gone.  Thank you.

Now if somebody can tell me how to permanently fix the black menu bar situation.  In fact when I opened this website, the menu bar and tabs bar are black right now.  The latest thing I've read is that it is because I customize my desktop.  All I really do is choose a jpeg from my pictures and center it on the desktop and change the background color from the blue to black.  The website I was reading says I should stick with the Windows Classic theme which I prefer to the XP theme anyways, and choosing to customize my desktop color only within the options for doing so without any 3rd party themes or software should not be the cause.  This began immediately after updating to Internet Explorer 8.  I know I am not the only person suffering this as there are several sites showing the quick fixes for it.

One last thing.  Is there a trustworthy and free service that can scan all your drivers and give you a list of those that are not necessary so I can delete them?  I've used the Norton Registry cleaning utility in the past, but not enough to know if that will do this.  Any advice would be appreciated.

[guestolo]

Please check out this link and let me know if you have any luck with the black bars
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/816

[djkwik]

[quote name=\'guestolo\' post=\'466156\' date=\'Nov 7 2009, 02:09 PM\']Please check out this link and let me know if you have any luck with the black bars
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/816[/quote]


Well, I followed their instructions, I guess all I can do is wait to see if they come back.  At least I know now that it does seem to be an issue with IE8.

As far as the bsod's:  After my last response stating that I finally got the correct chipset driver installed, the very next time I turned on the computer, I got the bsod again!  What I have done since is open the tower, blew out all the dust around the heatsink/fan and now just leave the thing running 24/7.  It only crashed when coming out of sleep mode or when turning on from complete "off".  And then just turning it on from the complete off rarely did it at all.  There is something that is causing conflict in my power management settings.  I always used to leave my old computer on 24/7 but the motherboard burned up on it...granted, I had never cleaned the guts of dust on that one so that could be the reason it burned up on me.  I've even heard horror stories of an insect getting inside and causing a short between two circuits, but that sounds like urban legend to me. http://images.thetechguide.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dry.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\'<_<\' />

Would still like to perform a scan of my computer that can tell me which drivers have no corresponding program/software/hardware so I can delete them from my system. Can you send the link for RSIT/HJT and take a quick look at the reg?  I've seen some other scanners that seem to go substantially further (the logs seem to be twice or three times as long as an RSIT log), but can't remember the name as it was just something I read in some forum during the hours of googling I had done.

[guestolo]

Download [color=\"blue\"]random's system information tool (RSIT)[/color] by [color=\"#6600cc\"]random/random[/color] from >>[color=\"red\"]here[/color]<< and save it to your desktop.

• Double click on RSIT.exe to launch program.
  
  
• Click Continue at the disclaimer screen.
  
  
• Your firewall may alert you that RSIT is requesting Internet access. Please allow it.
  
  
• Once it has finished, two logs will open:  log.txt[color=\"red\"]<-- this will be maximized[/color] and info.txt[color=\"red\"]<-- this will be minimized[/color].
  

Can you post Both those logs please

[djkwik]

[quote name=\'guestolo\' post=\'466242\' date=\'Nov 11 2009, 08:10 PM\']Download [color=\"blue\"]random's system information tool (RSIT)[/color] by [color=\"#6600cc\"]random/random[/color] from >>[color=\"red\"]here[/color]<< and save it to your desktop.

• Double click on RSIT.exe to launch program.
  
  
• Click Continue at the disclaimer screen.
  
  
• Your firewall may alert you that RSIT is requesting Internet access. Please allow it.
  
  
• Once it has finished, two logs will open:  log.txt[color=\"red\"]<-- this will be maximized[/color] and info.txt[color=\"red\"]<-- this will be minimized[/color].
  

Can you post Both those logs please[/quote]



Here they are...

[guestolo]

Try the following
Access your Add and Remove Programs and uninstall your copy of
Debugging Tools For Windows

Then go to the following link
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/deb...installx86.mspx

Download and Install version
Previous Release version 6.8.4.0 - October 18, 2007

After installation
Download and Save from Windowsbbs debugwiz.zip
Extract the contents to desktop
Double click to run debugwiz.exe
If you find it shows "debugging key not found...."
Select the Advanced box then beside "Location of debugging tools for Windows"
Click the "Browse" button and navigate and select the following file
C:\Program Files\Debugging Tools for Windows (x86)\cdb.exe

Afterwards: Browse to Dump file to be analyzed in the C:\Windows\Minidump folder
Select a log, select one of the last 3 dump files and click Generate Log
Let it finish analyzing, the log can be found c:\debuglog.txt

Can you upload a few logs please
NOTE: after analyzing one log, rename debuglog.txt to debuglog1.txt, then debuglog2.txt
Because debuglog.txt will be overwritten each time run