Hello

Recently I left my computer in standby mode for about 10 hours, and when I clicked a key, I saw the desktop area, got a pretty long error message (from windows) which I didn't manage to read because immediately after, a blue screen appeared and then a restart (Automatically restart ticked).

I will also mention that I left my computer in stand by mode for 2 times, 2 nights before that, and there wasn't a problem for it to get back to desktop and keep working normal.
Before that I did not put it in stand by mode for many months. I just left it on during days/nights.

A while ago, in an older thread I asked about a problem with BSODs while gaming, but it seems I have solved that by removing one memory stick. Since then I did not have a BSOD while gaming or at all, until yesterday.

I am interested to know if this minidump file I attached will tell you anything regarding what the problem may be, software or hardware.

My system:
Windows XP SP3 with the latest windows update hotfixes
X-Fi extremegamer with latest driver 2.18.0013
8800GTS 512 GPU with drivers 196.21 (older) no OC
Corsair 620HX PSU
Q6600 no OC
3 sticks x 1 GB OCZ RAM. I think 2 are as dual channel.
3 Hard Drives
ASUS P5E MB with initial BIOS (I think it is '0107' Bios, date:12.10.07)

And another question, I have a 3gb pagefile located on the hard drive which I store data on, since I did not want it to set it on the OS drive.
But I also created another very small pagefile on the OS drive, because I learned that a minidump file can only be created if I have a pagefile on the system drive.
Is this set up OK like this, or is it preferred otherwise?

Thanks.

KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR (7a)
Bugcheck 0x7a_c000000e
The requested page of kernel data could not be read in.

This Stop message is usually caused by a bad block (sector) in a paging file, a virus, a disk controller error, or failing RAM. In rare cases, it is caused when nonpaged pool resources run out. It is also caused by defective hardware.

Go through 8-steps as elaborate din Virus and malware forum and post these on the appropriate forum for advice.

On the hardware side, I suggest you to test your RAM with memtest, then stress (Run Chkdsk /f /r on the system partition) your HDD to see whether there are issues with it. Please get back with results of these tests / let me know if I could be of any further assistance. Regards

I just had another BSOD while gaming, so something is definitely wrong.

I recently moved the computer another apartment so maybe it has something to do with it, since it worked fine for months.

I will format and install updated drivers just to rule some things out. Its time to reinstall anyway.

After a fresh install I will see if this continues and if it does we will see how to solve it.

I attached the minidump created it might give you some info. I was in a game for a couple of hours then it happened all of a sudden.

Your latest crash involved NetLimiter (i.e. nltdi.sys). Now unless you tell me about the results about what you plan to do/earlier suggestions etc. I am unsure here how to proceed further. Till then I think you should uninstall it / or use some alternative program.

Update, please advise

I have chose to format and do a clean XP install to avoid other tests and to make it simpler to find the problem. It was about time for a clean install as well.

Currently I am on a fresh XP install so I figure if this BSODs continue happening, it would most likely point to hardware and not software.

Since I formatted and just installed the OS;
I guess there is now no point in running the 8-steps virus/malware tests?
Should I still run Chkdsk on system partition? (its a 30GB partition of a bigger 465GB hard drive, the other partition I use for data files).

Regarding testing my RAM with memtest, is there a point in testing it again? Since I tested each memory module individually about 6 months ago, when I had a BSOD issue while gaming
There were no errors. But I still assumed its RAM related, so what I did was run games for several hours with 1 memory module, then with 2, then 3 then 4, and see with when I got a BSOD. Eventually I found the memory module which I got a BSOD with while gaming, removed it, and since then I use 3 memory modules instead of 4, with no problems.
Of course I couldn't be absolutely sure that there was a problem with that specific memory module, since it passed memtest fine with no errors. I assume it was, because since I removed it, computer games ran fine, until I created this thread.

And regarding the latest BSOD which happened when I was with an older OS install (minidump that showed nltdi.sys); I do use NetLimiter for years now, and now have installed it again after the new OS install.
I use an older program version v2.0.10.1 from 2007, I could try to install the newer version 2.0.11 (it seems its being updated very rarely). Or:
If you think that that program may have caused the BSOD, I will uninstall it and find an alternative program to monitor/limit bandwidth.

Some info regarding new OS install: New windows installation went fine, then I installed updated drivers and some programs.
I did have a BSOD after installing the mouse driver, which I hope was a one time thing related to software conflict, and not related to the earlier BSODs.
Since then, I continued working on the computer for a day with no BSOD at least yet.
Still, I attached that latest minidump file, maybe it will provide more info.

Thank you.

The crash was caused by danew.sys (probably your mouse driver).

Please keep things updated about your progress, and if you need further help. Regards

Well I just got a blue screen again when browsing... I assume this file will shed some light on the cause, since it happened when I was using updated drivers. Attached, waiting for your reply.

I only now uninstalled NetLimiter, to rule that out if i get another BSOD.

vsdatant.sys
It is part of ZoneAlarm software. I have seen ZA causing some issues to many users; so perhaps you may consider switching to something firewall solution like outpost or comodo or Online armor etc.

So now it seems that the problem is caused by ZoneAlarm firewall software?

In my previous OS install I did not use ZA or any other firewall, and there were BSODs.

Now after new OS install, it seems the cause is ZoneAlarm? For my understanding a BSOD is not happening so often. I assumed if there was a problem with software, for it to exit, give an error or something similar, but not a blue screen with so ease.

I am confused about what is the actual cause to this. What do you suggest?

For now I will uninstall ZoneAlarm... Will see if the problem continue.
If you have more suggestions from this and my earlier reply, please reply.

Thanks.

I still believe there is some issue with a hardware device. But, at the moment I'm unable to get any meaningful information from the dumps in this regard. However, why don't you try to use your system with one stick at a time, and see how it behaves (it will be slow yes !!).

So assuming there is a hardware issue and I will find and fix it, do you think I could install NetLimiter/ZoneAlarm, will they work normally?
For now I have those uninstalled. If I will get another BSOD I guess I will try to use the system with one memory stick at a time, until getting a BSOD, to see which memory stick is causing this / if its related to the RAM at all. The problem is the BSOD can happen all of a sudden, after 1 hour or after 12 hours.
Is there anything else I should try eventually? Or just the memory sticks? Should I run memtest again?
And maybe test some other hardware somehow? I get the feeling RAM is the most common thing that can cause BSODs?

I will also mention that in the past month I see graphic error with games. It happened when I updated the graphic driver to a newer one, but yesterday since the format, I installed the newest driver and I still have the same problem.
I attached a picture you could see what I talk about instead of trying to explain it.
I could try to install the older driver I did not have trouble with and see if its solved. If not, could it be I have a problem with the GPU that is causing these BSODs?

If there were some OS kernel related BSOD's I would have asked you to run driver verifier to get to the root of it, which would also have given us clues what is causing them, but since that is not the case I am ignoring that option for a now.

Also if my memory served me well, there were some issues with 8000 series cards earlier on, and considering the information you provided it can be a very good suspect as well for game related issues, so if you can find an secondary graphic card switching to it should give you the right answer (preferably from newer generation).

Well a couple BSODs happened while I was not gaming. And I played one specific game for a couple years with no problems. I doubt its game related.

So, now when I have a fresh OS install, uninstalled ZA and NetLimiter which Might have caused the BSODs, the suspects are: RAM and GPU?

As for the RAM, I could run memtest for each stick individually, and if no errors, maybe try to run windows with one stick and then add another until the BSOD returns. But its so random and now for example I run windows for several hours with no BSOD.

As for the GPU, I have tried 3 different drivers (older and newest), and I have the problem I mentioned earlier in more than one game. Since I have the card for 2 1/2 years, and never encountered that graphic error, I come to a conclusion that there's a problem with the GPU. Whether its causing the BSOD or not I do not know.
I will see if I have warranty on it. Hoping the store will replace it, I will see if I get the same graphic error again, and more to the point, if I get the BSOD again.

This can take a while, but I will post here when there is an update.

If you have any suggestion for me to test/rule things out, please let me know.

Can you please post these dumps? May be we can find bit more information helping us get near to some conclusion about the issues.

I was talking about those I already posted (mostly last one in reply #7).

The minidumps posted in my:

Reply #1 - BSOD after returning from standby. This was the first to happen for a long time, since my earlier thread here, well I wrote about that already.
Reply #3 - BSOD not long after the earlier one, this time while gaming. You wrote that it had something to do with netlimiter.
Since then I formatted and installed clean OS to make it simpler to find the problem.
Note I only read the reply after a new OS install and netlimiter (and later ZA) install.

After fresh OS install and basic configuration and driver installation (mobo, gpu, sound card...):
Reply #5 - BSOD a few minutes after installing the mouse driver (not while gaming, when on desktop). I can only assume it was mouse driver related and a one time, maybe I had to restart right after installing the driver.
Reply #7 - BSOD while just browsing the internet. You wrote it had something to do with zonealarm. Since then I Uninstalled netlimiter and zonealarm, also cleaned the computer and made sure the connections are OK.
Since then until now there wasn't any BSOD. Though I wrote some replies (#9 and on)

Basically I replied with details after every BSOD I got.

I was mistaken in thinking that you were talking about some newer ones. I guess, the few things you have planned to do along with couple of suggestions i gave you in post # 12, #10 etc.

One reason for the earlier suggestion is if its graphic card there is very good chance it wont give any errors while in normal desktop use, as you are not stressing it in any meaningful way.

What earlier suggestion are you refering to?

Still no BSOD since last. And I played for a while. But I guess it will come sooner or later if indeed its RAM/GPU related. Will update when there is something new.

If you get BSOD while playing games again, I would suggest to borrow a graphic card from some friend (if you can) and try playing games with that, as i pointed out earlier there were some issues with 8000 series geforce cards (especially some early batches), so that is one option i would look into as well.

Infact, few weeks back while trying to help someone, I remember stumbling upon another forum's thread, where it took the OP about a year to get to the root of it, and eventually get his 8000 series graphic card replaced as it was one of the those faulty batches product.

An update:
I ran memtest v4.00 (default test) for a while and there were no errors.
I ran it while all the 3 memory sticks were on the motherboard.

Does that mean I can rule out the memory as the BSOD cause, or not?

Since I uninstalled NetLimiter and ZoneAlarm (see earlier posts) I did not have another BSOD, but I had one screen freeze. It just stopped responding while I was browsing, but I had a game running on background.
Music was playing, and it continued playing for 5 minutes after the freeze, only then it stopped... eventually I had to click the reset button as it seemed as nothing would respond again.

So from what I understand, the suspect right now seems to be the GPU. Not memory (?), not software (?), or other hardware components (?).

My next step will be to test a different GPU, then I guess I would just wait and see if I will get another BSOD during few days. I hope I could then install again netlimiter and zonealarm.

If it doesn't found any errors during more than a dozen passes, I guess memory may be less likely suspect.

When the system froze, did you checked the system logs (through event viewer) to see whether it caught any useful information?

Was there any activity of HDD when the system froze (HDD light being constantly on etc.)?

About GPU yes please do so.