Page Fault in Nonpaged Area - Can't boot into anything

[kamehamehax]

Hello everybody!

I am a technical person myself, and do low level computer service and repair on the side for others, but I have come up against a problem that I am at a complete loss to fix. It has happened on my own desktop computer, and I am getting really frustrated trying to fix it!

When I turn on the computer, it goes through POST fine, then I see the Windows XP loading screen. It loads for a moment, then I get a BSOD that appears and disappears so quickly you can't read it.

I disabled automatic restart, and this is the information I am given:

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED-AREA

Technical Information:

*** STOP: 0x00000050 (0xBCFF001C, 0x00000001, 0x8051D055, 0x00000002)

This happens no matter what I do. The same thing happens if I try to boot normally, in safe mode, last known good config, etc.

I heard that RAM can be the culprit, so I bought a new stick (because I had two originally and wanted to be sure), pulled out the originals, and installed the new one with the same results.

I even installed to hard drive in another computer with a completely different configuration and I get the exact same errors. That would seem to me to point toward a problem with either the Hard Drive itself, or a corruption in the OS.

I know that there are other threads devoted to this error, but in perusing them, it would appear that mine is quite different. Most of them, for example, can boot into safe mode, which I can't.

I would really appreciate any help you can give me!

Thanks in advance for your time!

-N.

 

[Route44]

Do you have another system that you can slave your harddrive into that system in order to run harddrive diagnostics and virus scans from the system's main harddrive?

 

[kamehamehax]

No mounting brackets!

The second computer I am working with has plenty of openings for SATA data cables on the motherboard, but no mounting brackets for me to secure the hard drive in. I hesitate to, but would my hard drive be alright if I hooked it up and left it in the bottom of the tower instead of mounting it somewhere? I know I won't kick it or anything, but the heat is a worry for me.

 

[Route44]

Yes, that should be fine. As long as you have enough cable length for both power and connection you could sit on a book outside the system.

Just make sure you are static free. Have a fan blow on it.

 

[kamehamehax]

Alright...

I'll do it. While I'm doing that, do you have any particular diagnostics that you would recommend? I'll do a virus scan with AVG.

 

[Route44]

I'll do it. While I'm doing that, do you have any particular diagnostics that you would recommend? I'll do a virus scan with AVG.

Definitely do a virus scan. If you have malwarebytes and Superantispyware run them as well. Eset has a free NO32 online scanner if you can access it. NOD32 is an excellent antivirus.

Second, find the manufacturer of your harddrive and run their free harddrive diagnostic utility on that harddrive.

 

[kamehamehax]

Well...

I did multiple virus and malware scans, and did find a few things. The one of particular interest was an Nvidia IDE Control driver called nvata.sys. I decided to do a removal, then I error-checked the drive, and used the manufacturers drive checking tools. Both of those came out clear.

I decided to try and boot from it now that I had found a few viruses and malware, and instead of getting the BSOD, this time it told me that windows couldn't start because the file nvata.sys was missing or corrupted. I rebooted with the problematic hard drive as slave again, restored the file from the virus vault, and when I try to boot from it, I get the same old BSOD.

What do you suppose my next step would be?

 

[Route44]

First, I am wondering if you are still infected. However, I would do a harddrive diagnostics next. Do both short and long diagnostics. I had an infection so bad one time that all the reformatting and HD diagnostics could not correct the bad sector. I am not saying this is your issue just that infections can be deep and nasty at times.

 

[kamehamehax]

It would appear not...

Well, I did multiple virus and malware scans, and after the first set of viruses that it caught, there hasn't been anything else.

I also did my HD Diagnostic long and short cycles, and it says that there's no problem, and everything passed.

What do you reckon comes next? I realize, of course, that the easiest solution to this difficulty is reformatting my hard drive, but there are programs I'd prefer not to lose.

Thanks!

 

[Route44]

Are you getting anymore BSODs? If not then let it run for awhile in your system and see if any occur. If yes attach the latest minidumps to your next post.

 

[kamehamehax]

No Minidumps!

Route 44,

When I make the messed up hard drive the master by disconnecting the original one from the computer I am working on, I still get the same BSOD message upon attempting to boot, just as described above. This is, of course, after all the viruss scanning, malware scanning, and HD diagnostic-tooling of it.

In order to work with the malfunctioning hard drive, I have re-attached the working one, and slaved the broken one again to find the minidump files to attach.

This is where it gets tricky... There are no minidumps on either the hard drie with the working OS, or the hard drive with the nonfunctional OS! I am set to see hidden files and folders, and the minidump folders are empty on both hard drives.

What do you suppose I should do next?

 

[Route44]

This may sound like a stupidly simple question but have you tried different cables?

Also, while the malfunctioning HD is slaved you should be able to access the programs you don't want to lose and transfer them to either a flash drive or burn them to CD/DVD disks.

I know computer issues can be a real pain but you have done excellent diagnostic work. Let's see...

1. Malware and Virus scans have detected infections and all is cleared up, correct?

2. The harddrive passed both short and long tests.

3. Have you tried a Windows repair?

 

[kamehamehax]

In Answer...

Don't worry about stupidly simple questions... The best IT Specialist in the world needs reminding sometimes... That said, I am far from the best, but better than average

Sadly, I have tried different cables and we still have the same problem.

1. The Virus and malware scans did find infections, but they have been cleared up. One of the infections, when removed, actually proved to be an Nvidia driver file needed to launch windows, so I restored it back to its place so we could even get the BSOD again.

2. The HD did pass both the short and long tests, and did so without a single hickup. This leads me to believe that it is a corrupt OS rather than a hardware problem. Do you think I am right in that assumption?

3. I did try using the Windows Recovery console, launched from my original OS installation media. I ran a fixboot command before I got onto the forums and began to talk to you, and it had a curious effect. I still got the BSOD, just like before, but I actually saw the windows loading screen for about 2 seconds before I get BSOD'd. Before the fixboot, I wouldn't even see the loading screen! I was unsure whether to do a FIXMBR at that time because I was afraid of what I might do to the computer doing so, especially being unsure whether I was infected with a virus or not. Do you think I should do it? Is there a chance of data loss, so I should try pulling my important files and programs off first? Are there any other recovery console commands you recommend I try, before I resort to attempting to get as much data as possible and re-installing windows?

Also, where are my minidumps? Why do you suppose they would disappear?

Thanks again! Sorry for the wall of text, but I am trying to give you as much information as possible. I know that sometimes the smallest details can reveal a lot.

 

[Route44]

I am just wondering if your issue is with the Nvidia chipset drivers. Nvidia has been known to cause issues with their IDE controller drivers. From the testing you have done the HD appears fine which has me suspecting Nvidia drivers especially when you reintroduced missing ones resulting in BSODs.

I would certainly back-up all important information to CD/DVD and/or flash drive while your HD is slaved. There is no such thing as having one's files backed-up too much. And if you find you have no other recourse than to reformat at the very least you have saved the files you want and can then restore them after the reformatting.

0x00000050: PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
Requested data was not in memory. An invalid system memory address was referenced. Defective memory (including main memory, L2 RAM cache, video RAM) or incompatible software (including remote control and antivirus software) might cause this Stop message, as may other hardware problems (e.g., incorrect SCSI termination or a flawed PCI card).

 

[kamehamehax]

Nvidia Drivers, eh?

Alright, I think that there is a possibility that you may be right with the Nvidia driver problem. If so, though, here is the million dollar question...

Is there anything I can do about it with the current state in which I can access it? Is there a way to access the system restore functions on a slave disk without applying the restored attributes to the master drive? I'm sorry if I am unclear, but I realize that sentence may be.

Let me rephrase, just in case. Is there a way to access the system restore points created in the broken HD OS, choose one from before this BSOD boot-loop error began to occur, and restore JUST THE BROKEN DRIVE'S Windows Installation without upsetting the functioning HD OS? I can only access the broken HD through slaving the disk, so I wonder what would happen if I system restore using a restore point from one drive through the functioning OS of another one.

Is there a way to do that?