Heres the story: About a month ago my block had a power surge. After that my computer started acting very, very wierd. I would get BSOD's and random shut downs. Thinking it might be the HD I got a brand new HD and did a clean win xp install. Except I am still getting the BSOD's. I thought it might be memory so I got it more powerful RAM, still BSOD's.

When I experience BSOD's is usually whenever I try to do anything online. Sometimes it will BSOD right on start up, or when I try to get online, or connect to trillian. When I stay offline it will usually got a while before BSOD's.

It not BSOD's but sometimes it straight restarts or get a windows needs to shut down in a minute error message.

The errors I've gotten so far:

NTFS.Sys File Error
IRQL Not Equal or Less
Page error in nonpaged area

IRQL and NTFS.sys errors point to NTFS.Sys file being a big problem.

Its really inundating me the number of errors I am getting and my comp isn't letting me online long enough to really post it. I'll try to see how many time it restarts until I can post the last 7 minidumps here (I am posting from my mac and the Rar file says its invalid when I try to post it)

Two errors are 0x8E and these are almost always causd by hardware though sometimes it can be due to drivers.

One driver cited is NDIS.sys which is a Windows OS driver and usually OS drivers are too general to be of much help. However, this driver is network related and can be (certainly not the sole reason) a sign of either NIC drivers neede to be updated or the NIC card itself is faulty.

The other driver is sptd.sys and this belongs to Daemon tools and this driver has caused many issues for people. Many people have found that uninstalling this software brought stability.


The other error I want to call your attention to is 0x0000009C: MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION
This is a hardware issue: an unrecoverable hardware error has occurred. The parameters have different meanings depending on what type of CPU you have but, while diagnostic, rarely lead to a clear solution. Most commonly it results from overheating, from failed hardware (RAM, CPU, hardware bus, power supply, etc.), or from pushing hardware beyond its capabilities (e.g., overclocking a CPU).

Straight Up: This is a very difficult error to work with. Seriously, it can be any piece of hardware in your system. The minidump cited the Realtek driver alcxwdm.sys and if you were going to update go to your motherboard manufacture's website and update from there.

Still, this error is a hardware error. There might be issues with your motherboard, but this is only a possibility of many possibilities.

What is an NIC Driver and card?

I just uninstalled Daemon tools, I hope that will bring some relief.

I am running an IP-95 Abit mobo with a intel dual core 3.20 mhz processory. Nothing is overclocked. I am using win xp sp 3.

My mobo is running hot. I used compressed air but only brought them temp from 150 f to 140 f when idling in bios. I have some arctic silver I am going to put on to hope it bring down the temp.

NIC = network card

How are your fans working? Excessive heat will shut down a system fast.

BIOS Info

CPU Vcore: 1.248 v
Vdimm: 1.792
+ 3.3v: 3.248
+5v: 5.026v
VBat: 3.216
CPU Fan speed: 3082
Sys fan: 0
Pwr fan: 0
Cpu Temp: 60c/140 f
Sys temp: 55 c/131 f

Updated my net card. Ima put in thermal paste tomorrow and see the temp. Could the overheating be the hardware problem?
Is there anyway I can tell generally what hardware I need to replace? I am thinking its power supply but not quite sure.

As I said earlier 0x9C errors are very difficult to pin down because it can be any hardware. I know of one person here whose issue was his DVD drive, another his NIC card, and still another it was the dust build up around his cpu. Once he air canned the dust out all came back to normal.

Let us know if the steps you have taken work first and if not there is another suggestion.

I have air canned. I am about to install my thermal paste. I updated my NIC card but I don't know how to tell if its just not working at all. I've also burned recently on my drive so I am not sure if that disqualifies it from being the problem.

Still need help please.

My best suggestion is a long process but with this error it is often the only thing to do. I know tech support people who hate to deal with this error.

Remove all pieces of hardware from your system except PSU and CPU; this includes video card, monitor, mouse, cables, harddrive, NIC card, etc.. Boot up and see if it starts and remains so. Shut down and then one at a time add a piece of hardware, say one stick of RAM and then reboot. If you have stability shut-down and add another piece of hardware, reboot, etc.

* One person I was helping learned it was his harddrive; another his NIC card, and still another their CD drive. As I have said, it can be ANY piece of hardware you have.