Analysis of BSOD screen?

barebare,

You need to simplify if you are to have any chance of solving this problem.

Assuming you have a good firewall, select just *one* good ant-virus programme as your real-time scanner and use others 'on demand' only. If there are multiple real-time scanners it is almost inevitable that, from time to time, they will conflict, which would be fine if one appeared as the faulting module but, more often than not, a system file appears to be the fault. This is highly improbable, particularly if you have run sfc /scannow from the command line. I've been there. Typically, they produce these random BSOD's at irregular intervals.

Auto updating drivers too can cause problems, particularly if nvidia is involved. It is better to update and test each driver individually before installing another because upgrades can, and sometimes do, cause conflicts. There is also the risk that certain updates may require 'complete' uninstallation before the new driver is installed.

I suggest you read this, particularly the section on verifier.exe to improve your prospects of resolving this issue:- http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic66350.html

I am behind a Linksys router and run no software firewall.

The only antivirus I run is V-Com System Suite (Trend Micro).

I have been running multiple anti spyware (Spysweeper, Trend Micro, Pest Patrol) , and since removing SpySweeper have no more BSOD ( at least till now 8AM Fri PST )

I have intermittent 1003 DHCP warnings w/ an occasional 1003 error in Event Viewer.

Windows Update shows an available Radeon driver with no version number to reference--the one I downloaded from Radeon via their driver update system for my card is dated 2 weeks newer. I am hesitant to make changes in that area till I'm more certain that removing SpySweeper from startup has stopped the BSODs.

I have bookmarked the link to your article and will keep it as a permanent reference---I consider it one of the best I've ever encountered and am taking its advice accordingly.

I didn't auto update the drivers, but rather went to each manufacturer and used their update search tools for each particular hardware item.

More later about verifier and sfc--have to go now

Have been gone 4 hrs since last post, just came home to blue screen.

Technical data 0x0000008E ( 0xC0000005, 0x1F800BD5, 0xF6510A38, 0x00000000 )

Strongly suspect a driver issue since SpySweeper is disabled. Can you tell from attached debug log whether its NVidia or Radeon?

Windows Update shows an available Radeon driver with no version number to reference--the one I downloaded from Radeon via their driver update system for my card is dated 2 weeks newer.

Will wait for advice on next move

Try deleting Spysweeper altogether... and run a registry cleaner after doing that

Hi TMagic,

I just now (215PM Fri.) deleted everything except the virus scanner from my startup group---see the attached .jpg.
Note that all of the NVidia, Soundman, and Adobe stuff has been kept disabled from the time they first appeared in the startup group.
Based on that do you still want me to uninstall SpySweeper completely, or wait to see if disabling the other spyware utilities has done the trick?

I have run JV16 powertools reg cleaner several times a day, and just now did so again.

I'm pretty certain I may have a driver issue if I get another BSOD---my registry and system cleaners don't seem to be showing issues

You have a lot of spysweepers... go ahead and stop the ones you want and see how your system stablizies

Hi Tmagic,

Thats what I did--everything in that .jpg without a checkmark next to it is fully disabled---Everything is stopped except for the one and only virus scanner I have ever run----tried to resend and can't--you'll need to look at attachment in my last post
Am off to work, back approx 1145PM PST, will advise developments when I get home

Hi Tmagic,

Just got home from work and have another blue screen, its 1230AM Sat PST.

I had the Stanford Folding At Home program running in the background; am now going to run without it overnight and see what happens. All other stuff is still disabled per my last post.

I am attaching screen shots of my system summary done by PC Wizard---had done so several posts ago, but this way you have them right here and can see all the data re what I have for my chipset and video card.

I do have an ATI graphics card with an nVidia chipset motherboard.

I did line by line updates of every item in Device Manager at New years when it was first suggested that the BSOD's pointed to a driver problem. I will do an ATI reinstall tomorrow ( am too tired to concentrate on that right now).

After you review the data in the attached screenshots, I also will redo any other drivers you advise me to.

Here is the data from the latest BSOD---its VERY similar to that generated by the one before.

0x0000008E ( 0xC00000005, 0x1F800B5D, 0xF65A0A38, 0x00000000 )

Debug log is also attached.

Will await your further instructions

If this were my problem I would disable/uninstall anything I don't *need* - as opposed to *want*, and, for those needed would, as far as possible, use the Microsoft apps. They may not be as sophisticated as some of the commercials but are very unlikely to conflict with the system.

For example, why do you use a start-up manager when you have msconfig, or a commercial backup programme when there is one already aboard? Also, go to system32, find verifier.exe, double click and choose the option which allows you to see which drivers are unverified; list them and Google each individually to decide whether you really*need* those programmes. If not, then uninstall. But *don't* run verifier until you've done the necessary reading.

Be ruthless about it. You may not find what the fault is, but you will know what it isn't, which is progress, of a sort.

I would also try experimentally disabling any non-essential hardware, if any, and rolling back drivers which even *might* be suspect.

But don't do it all at once or you'll be no wiser.<BG>

Hi Hatrick,

I've been disabling things out of startup per your earlier advice.

Last night after coming home to a blue screen, I stopped running the Stanford Folding At Home protein folding research program which I have had running in the background 24/7. Its too early to call yet, but based on everything I've disabled and the order I did things in, if the BSODs stop and stay stopped, then the Stanford thing is most likely the culprit. Only time will tell, and I will continue to advise of any and all developments.

The system made it through the night with no Event Viewer errors or BSOD---per your advice I am now holding off doing more till I see whether things have stabilized.
I have that startup mgr just because I like the interface/convenience ; the backup program because of its options that aren't available w/ the MS program.

Thank you so much for your continuing time, support and advice! Your input is most informative and helpful. Its 11Am Sat now, will probably be away from system till about 10PM, and will advise developments at that time.

What does <BG> mean?

Hi Hatrick and Tmagic,

Its now 11 PM Sat PST .

I just got home from work and am happy to report that since rebooting from the last BSOD at 1230AM Sat and then not running the Stanford University Folding At Home project , the system has not done a BSOD and there are no error messages in Event Viewer.

Other than not running the Folding at Home program since rebooting from the last BSOD, I have made no other changes to the system since disabling things per earlier posts

I will post again tomorrow AM re developments overnight and look forward to further comments you feel relevant based on this report.

Thank you both so much again for sticking with me through this odyssey!

Hi Hatrick and Tmagic,

Just received the following comment from another forum in regards to the attached debug log from my last BSOD

"Again the dump indicates hardware. The processes at crashing are Windows processes which also leads one away from driver issues.

The hardware most suspect to my eye would be your graphics card.

Do you happen to have another that you could try?

I also notice that your card claims to only support DirectX 8.1 whereas you have installed the default SP2 DirectX 9.0c. I am not sure if this is a critical conflict or just a curiosity.

You might also try turning off Hardware Acceleration on your card. "


I don't have another card to try, but have turned off Hardware Acceleration per the above comments.

Will post again Sun AM w/ latest developments

Hi Hatrick and Tmagic,

Its 240 PM Sun. PST and no BSOD or Event Viewer error messages since my last post.

Will be back from work about 1030PM and advise developments-----hopefully things continue w/ no problems!

Best, Peter

So far so good Peter...

I used to run Stanfords Folding at Home graphical interface, and when it was running I couldn't play any games without having them reduce to the taskbar immediately when started. On a completely different system F@H Graphical interface did the same thing

Hi Tmagic and Hatrick,

Its 1030PM Sun. PST

I just came home from work, there was no BSOD.

I sat down at the computer and as my first action clicked on my Firefox Preloader icon in the system tray.

That action triggered a BSOD w/ the following data:

0x0000007F ( 0x0000000D, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000 )

No other information about the crash was shown on the BSOD.

I have had Firefox Preloader installed for about a month.
The issue of spontaneous rebooting, and then BSOD generation after turning off automatic restart via the "advanced" tab has been going on for at least 6 months. Accordingly, I don't think the program itself was the cause of the BSOD

This is the first time I recall having ever clicked on a system tray icon, or for that matter any icon anywhere in the computer at any time, and generated a BSOD.

The generated dump data is attached.

Please advise your thoughts and instructions on how to procede.

Hi TMagic and Hatrick

After my last post, I did some searching and found the following info:

STOP: 0x0000007F (0x0000000D,0x00000000,0x00000000,0x0000000)

Stop 0x0000007F or UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP

The Stop 0x7F message indicates that one of three types of problems occurred in kernel-mode:

* A condition that the kernel is not allowed to have or intercept (also known as a bound trap).
* Software problems.
* Hardware failures.

Interpreting the Message

This Stop message has four parameters:

1. Processor exception code.
2. This value is 0x00000000 (zero).
3. This value is 0x00000000 (zero).
4. This value is 0x00000000 (zero).
The first parameter is the most important and can have several different values, indicating different causes of this error. You can find all conditions that cause a Stop 0x7F in any x86 microprocessor reference manual because they are specific to the x86 platform. Here are some of the most common exception codes:

* 0x00000000, or a divide by zero error, occurs when a divide (DIV) instruction is run and the divisor is 0. Memory corruption, other hardware failures, or software problems can cause this message.
* 0x00000004, or Overflow, occurs when the processor carries out a call to an interrupt handler when the overflow (OF) flag is set.
* 0x00000005, or Bounds Check Fault, indicates that the processor, while carrying out a BOUND instruction, found that the operand exceeded the specified limits. BOUND instructions are used to ensure that a signed array index is within a certain range.
* 0x00000006, or Invalid Opcode, is generated when the processor attempts to run an invalid instruction. This typically occurs when the instruction pointer is corrupted due to a hardware memory problem and is pointing to a wrong location.
* 0x00000008, or Double Fault, indicates an exception while trying to call the handler for a prior exception. Normally, two exceptions can be handled serially, but there are certain exceptions (almost always caused by hardware problems) that cause the processor to signal a double fault.

Less common codes include:

* 0x00000001: A system-debugger call.
* 0x00000003: A debugger breakpoint.
* 0x0000000A: A corrupted Task State Segment.
* 0x0000000B: An access to a memory segment that was not present.
* 0x0000000C:An access to memory beyond the limits of a stack.
* 0x0000000D: An exception not covered by some other exception; a protection fault that pertains to access violations for applications.




Based on the info in the last 2 lines above ( * 0x0000000D: An exception not covered by some other exception; a protection fault that pertains to access violations for applications ), could this possibly be a one time freak event?

My specific reason for asking this question is that since installing Firefox Preloader (about a month ago per my last post) as a startup tray item, I have made no adjustments to the program settings and have clicked on that icon 30-40 times a day with absolutely no trouble till it generated the BSOD.

I am most interested in your thoughts on this matter and want to also restate that I have made no changes of any sort to anything in the system hardware or software since my last action around midnight Friday ( that was stopping the running of the Stanford Folding At Home program ). I did update ( per the auto-prompt from the program re an available definition update ) my anti-virus, but that was AFTER rebooting from the BSOD.

Will, per my last post, wait to hear from you before doing anything

May not be the thing you wanna here but reinstall Windows (with format).

Hi TMagic and Hatrick,

Based on the information about ( 0x0000000D: An exception not covered by some other exception; a protection fault that pertains to access violations for applications. ) in my last post, I wonder if the following scenario could possibly have contributed to/outright caused the latest BSOD?

I rebooted twice from the BSOD and both times, although disabled from the startup group, an alert from SpySweeper popped up saying that the program "...had encountered a problem in the previous session and had to close."

I immediately checked the programs settings in its main screen, found that "start on Windows startup" was checked, and unchecked it.

I then rebooted again, and that pop-up message was gone.

Wait to hear from you

Peter,
it's time for a format and an XP reinstall. Save you pennies for a new copy of XP

I agree. The process of reinstalling XP and restoring all the apps is tedious and time consuming, but probably less so than continually tweaking, without a favourable result.

May I suggest that you get some drive imaging software as well. It's a godsend in circumstances like these.

Best wishes.