Sony Vaio laptop: lots of BSOD

[janvanderven]

Hello,

I am new to this forum, and I would be very thankful if anybody could help me with my blue screen problems. I have attached a couple of minidumps.

My computer:
Sony Vaio VGN-AW21M (laptop)
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 DUO CPU
P8600 @2.40 GHz 2.40 GHz
RAM: 4,00 GB (2x 2048MB DDR2-400 Hynux Semiconductor HYMP125s64CP8-s6)
Windows Vista Home Premium, Service Pack 2, 32-bit

The trouble started a few days ago when I tried to open some big After Effects project files. First only After Effects crashed, then the blue screens kept coming more and more often. Now this has come to the point that it's impossible to run multiple programs (even wordpad), my computer is very, very slow (including internet explorer, while download speed is just fine), and the blue screens appear every once in a while (sometimes during start up, sometimes after a few minutes). I can't even think of working on audio or video projects.

The BSOD-codes I get:
- 0x00000050 (PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA)
- 0x0000000A (IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL)
- 0x0000008E
- 0x0000007E

I've tried everything in the "before posting your minidumps"-post, but didn't manage to complete every step (because of blue screens stopping them again and again). I did manage to do 7 passes of memtest86+ though, which reported no errors.Also I tried to uninstall every update (vaio and windows) of the last two weeks, and removing newly installed software, all of this without any result.

Having to finish a video project this week and being a total newbie on this subject, I am quite desperate, so again I would be very thankful if anybody could take a look at my minidumps.

Kind regards,
Jan (the Netherlands)

 

[Route44]

Dumps read but unfortunantly they only listed Windows Operating System drivers and usually they are too general to help. They more often point to the fact that there is a problem rather than being a problem itself.

One error was code 0xA and these are caused by either hardware or a driver attempting to address a higher address then they are permitted and thus cause system crashes.

The other four errors are 0x50: 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).

Reading your post and with the myriad of differing codes and the slowness of your systom do the following:

1. Scan for infections.

2. Run ChkDsk: Start > Run > ChkDsk > Okay

3. Run memtest again but this time on each stick of memory individually for a minimum of 7 Passes.

 

[janvanderven]

Thank you very much, route44.
I am taking the steps you suggested now.

Also I have included some more minidumps, which might contain some extra information(?).

Kind regards,
Jan

 

[Route44]

Error codes are two 0x50, 0xA, and 0x7E and all simply cite OS drivers.


0x0000007E: SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
A system thread generated an exception which the error handler did not catch. There are numerous individual causes for this problem, including hardware incompatibility, a faulty device driver or system service, or some software issues. Check Event Viewer (EventVwr.msc) for additional information and pay particular attention to Yellow Traiangles with exclamation marks or REDXs.


* Also, you might want to test your video RAM:
http://majorgeeks.com/Video_Memory_Stress_Test__d5896.html

 

[janvanderven]

Thank you very much Route44!
I'm happy to say: with your help, i've managed to get rid of the blue screens since yesterday!
(only after effects still crashes, but maybe a reinstall will do)

Cheers,
Jan

 

[Route44]

Please tell us what worked for you/how you resolved it.

Am I reading you correctly that you are still getting crashes or am I reading you wrong?

 

[janvanderven]

I spent a lot of time doing the suggested tests (memory, infections, video RAM check, checdisk, also defrag), and looked at all the drivers. Nearly everything seemed to be fine, but in the end the blue screens seem to have been caused by the video adapter driver.
After updating it (which wasn't easy on my vaio notebook by the way: there are a lot of NVIDIA<->vaio issues), the blue screens haven't shown up anymore.

So I am now completely freed from system crashes, only adobe after effects crashes after opening very big projects (smaller projects seem to work fine up till now). Not sure about the cause, according to other forums this is probably a conflict with third-party software. But even when after effects crashes, Windows Vista still behaves well, so I'm very glad I don't have to reboot every 10 minutes. Thanks!

Greetings,
Jan

 

[Route44]

Good to hear. Adobe is a very bloated software. Are there anyupdates avaliable to correct said issue?