I have been experiencing BSOD for more than a month, and I desparately need experts in this forum to get me out of the hell... thanks in advance! It is a long story though...

Mine is a Notebook... FUJITSU Lifebook P7010 (Specs here: http://www.pc-ap.fujitsu.com/products/lb_p7010_specs.html, I upgraded to 1GB RAM at the dealer though). I got the machine in May this year in Hong Kong. Everything went well until October 24th when I experienced my first BSOD. Since then, errors flooded in and I could not figure out what was wrong. I was such a novice that I didn't know I could let the BlueScreen freeze and read the error codes. Crashes could happen anytime, no matter what I was doing (typing in Word, switching between Windows, receiving an ICQ message, or even doing nothing).

After 4 days on October 28th the Windows system files were corrupted. I only got the manufacturer's original recovery DVD, so I had no choice but to use it, formatted my harddrive and reinstalled everything. But the problem was not solved; the system crashed as frequent as before. I had no choice but to take the machine to Mississauga the FUJITSU repairing center for a diagnosis.

(By the way, I am an exchange student FROM Hong Kong and I am at Toronto, so it is very troublesome for me to get to the repair center, and my life relies on my only notebook - that's why I wish to identify the possible reasons for the errors before I take my machine there again)

After 10 days I could finally take back my notebook. They said that it was a harddrive problem and they replaced it (my machine was and is still under warranty). I hoped that everything would go well but it did not. The 3rd day after I got back the machine it crashed. Since then it crashed 4 or 5 times a day, which was less as frequent as before (~10 times a day). I noted the error codes this time; however the codes were all different.

I identified 2 important errors that I made, though. First was that I installed and ran real-time 2 anti-virus softwares simultaneously - Norman supplied by FUJITSU and Trend Micro Internet Security supplied by my university. I uninstalled Trend Micro and reduced the frequency of crashes to ~2 crashes per day. Second was that I used a non-surge protective socket for my plug (I thought that was a very strong reason, because before I plugged my machine directly to the socket on the wall, but on October 23rd which was ONE day before my first BSOD, I switched to a non-surge protective extension. I didn't really know about the difference because all electric equipments in Hong Kong are surge-protective, stupid me ). I switched back to the wall socket, the machine stopped crashing for 2 days (November 27th and 28th), but it resumed with a rate of about once per day till now.

I am attaching the 7 most recent minidump files. They are mostly 0x8E, 0x4E, 0xD1 errors which involve win32k.sys and kmixer.sys (today morning when I was listening to songs using Media Player 10). I got one 0x1A (Memory Management) when I was running the integrity check for Windows system files. For the most recent 10 dumps, I could see the counting of the physical memory dumping from 1 to 99 and then complete. It was not the case before.

The system now is quite unstable too. Often the Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, MS Word and ICQ are not responsive and need to close. I also discovered that less crashes are observed when I run my machine on battery than on the mains supply.

I have run the MS Memory Diagnostic Tool and my RAM should be okay. I also ran the PC Doctor supplied by FUJITSU and all hardware tests were passed.

I don't want to examine the interior of the notebook by myself, because then the warranty will be voided. But I don't really trust the people at the repairing center. So I would like to figure out the possible reasons for my errors before I take the machine there. I am having my final exams soon and my life rely on this tiny notebook. Since it is not crashing very seriously, I don't wish to leave it away from me for another couple of weeks. That's why I am here to post this message to find out more what's wrong with it.

Thanks a lot for reading my lenghty story, and please kindly provide any help =) All kinds of help will be warmly appreciated! :>

Taylor

Hi Taylor,

From the debug report of your minidumps, it crashes with various bugcheck code. They are all related to faulty memory and I believe that the culprit is faulty memory. You can run memtest to stress the ram. If memtest reports the ram is faulty, ram is bad. However Memtest is not a perfect tool to test the memory as some faulty ram can pass memtest.

Suggestion
1. Check the temperature of the CPU and make sure that it is not overheat (ie temperature < 60C)
Make sure that the CPU fan works properly
2. Reseat the memory stick to another memory slot. Reseat video card as well.
3. Downclock the ram. Check to default setting if you video card is overclocked.
4. Clean the dust inside the computer case
5. Make sure that the ram is compatible to the motherboard
6. Check the bios setting about memory timing and make sure that it is on
For example : DIMM1 and DIMM2 do not have the same timing.
DIMM1: Corsair CMX512-3200C2 512 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (2.5-3-3-8 @ 200 MHz) (2.0-3-3-7 @ 166 MHz)
DIMM2: Corsair CMX512-3200C2 512 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (3.0-3-3-8 @ 200 MHz)
DIMM3: Corsair CMX512-3200C2 512 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (3.0-3-3-8 @ 200 MHz)
7. Make sure that your PSU have adequate power to drive all the hardware including USB devices
8. Run chkdsk /r at command prompt
9. Run 3D Mark to stress test your video ram

If it still crashes, diagnostic which memory stick is faulty
1. Take out one memory stick. If windows does not crash, the removed memory stick is faulty.

Summary of your debug report
Mini112405-01.dmp BugCheck 23, {604b7, 2, e1317310, 0}
Owning Process 86160320 Image: GNOTIFY.EXE
Mini112405-01.dmp Probably caused by : Fastfat.sys ( Fastfat!FatCommonCreate+968 )

Mini112405-02.dmp BugCheck 4E, {99, 2f70f, 0, 0}
Owning Process 854f0b28 Image: SVCHOST.EXE
Mini112405-02.dmp Probably caused by : memory_corruption ( nt!MiDeleteValidAddress+123 )

Mini112605-01.dmp BugCheck 1000008E, {c0000005, bf804996, f6dba508, 0}
Mini112605-01.dmp Probably caused by : win32k.sys ( win32k!HmgDecrementShareReferenceCount+37 )

Mini112905-01.dmp BugCheck 1000008E, {c0000005, bf820258, ed8cbba0, 0}
Mini112905-01.dmp Probably caused by : win32k.sys ( win32k!DestroyThreadsObjects+55 )

Mini112905-02.dmp BugCheck 1A, {41284, d5ad0001, 513d, c0c00000}
Owning Process 863b7830 Image: <Unknown>
Mini112905-02.dmp Probably caused by : memory_corruption ( nt!MiLocateWsle+c0 )

Mini113005-01.dmp BugCheck 4E, {7, 2c924, 2c3a3, 0}
Owning Process 8569f778 Image: <Unknown>
Mini113005-01.dmp Probably caused by : nvcoafl51.sys ( nvcoafl51+f8f )

Mini120105-01.dmp BugCheck D1, {51ec8b57, 2, 0, ed873980}
Owning Process 80558e80 Image: <Unknown>
Mini120105-01.dmp Probably caused by : kmixer.sys ( kmixer!AgeIrps+0 )

cpc2004 and Rick, thanks so much for your help and suggestions =) I've run all the 10 Tests in MemTest and no error was reported. (Though I wanted to know if it is normal for the %complete of Test 10 to go beyond 100...)

And, stupid me that I am a computer ***** could you please give me more detailed instructions on how to do the following tasks you've suggested?

1. Check the temperature of the CPU and make sure that it is not overheat (ie temperature < 60C)
Make sure that the CPU fan works properly

I suspect that temperature is a problem, because I have got a wooden table surface. my room's ventilation is poor, and heat is often trapped. The fan is always noisy and sometimes I'm really afraid that the fan cannot blow out all the heat, and I use another real (though small, those for the desk) fan to blow at the machine occassionally.

I once downloaded a temperature monitor but I could not figure out how to set it up. I could not figure out which motherboard FUJITSU is using and I could not find online manuals ...


2. Reseat the memory stick to another memory slot. Reseat video card as well.

I better leave it to the last resort because of the warranty issue...


3. Downclock the ram. Check to default setting if you video card is overclocked.

How could I check the overclocking settings? I believe that I have not done anything to it because I don't know how to ^^"


4. Clean the dust inside the computer case

Oh yea, dust is possibly another problem.. it is always dusty in downtown Toronto! Though I'm afraid that if I do it, my warranty will be voided. I better ask the repair center to do it for me (to compensate for my time and effort of another visit! haha)


5. Make sure that the ram is compatible to the motherboard

I suppose so... I got it from the official dealer. I'll check with them, though.


6. Check the bios setting about memory timing and make sure that it is on

How can I do it?~ I have totally no idea.


7. Make sure that your PSU have adequate power to drive all the hardware including USB devices

Well, I suppose a notebook is designed in the way that it is able to power up all the devices... isn't it? Anyway, how can I check for this?


8. Run chkdsk /r at command prompt

I always do that...... it's helpless though ><"


9. Run 3D Mark to stress test your video ram

Where could I get a copy of the software? I googled but I was confused by many similar products...



And to both, yup, I better inform the service center about the issue, at least to let them know that their solution didn't work!!

Thanks a lot and shall I discover something new I'll update here!!

Taylor

Hi Taylor,

This is hardwar problem. Your notebook is still under warranty. Take your notebook back to hardware service centre.