Vista 32-bit, BSOD+sudden restarts

[gretilina]

Hello guys, I really hope you can help me since my laptop providers don't seem to care enough to find what the problem is.

I took my laptop from the repairman last week and they said that the programs that start automatically when I boot up my laptop are making it restart, but I think that is not the case. I have my laptop for 5 months and never had such problems before. The only programs that start in the beginning are Skype and BitCommet so I doubt they can make the laptop restart 4 times in a row. In addition, it doesn't only reboot on start up. It once restarted when I was using an Internet Browser (Google Chrome) and often happens when I play some game. Recently, it started showing BSOD and repairing itself. Maybe I should mention that they repaired my laptop before that. They changed its RAM because it was giving blue screens and wasn't able to start, repair, or reinstall. My laptop is Compaq Presario CQ61, Intel (R) Core (TM) 2 Duo CPU T6400 @ 2.00GHz.

P.S. Reinstalled Windows after I got my laptop back from the repairman.
P.P.S. Attaching dump files.

 

[Archean]

Please just zip your minidumps and post them here; for some reasons these files are not opening with debugger. Regards

 

[gretilina]

Hope it works now.

 

[Archean]

1st dump analysis:

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
0x0000000A = Normally this would indicates that windows or any of the kernel-mode driver(s) accessed paged memory at DISPATCH_LEVEL or above.

Suspects in your case:

Symantec:
SRTSP.SYS
NAVEX15.SYS

Java:
ssvagent.exe (java)

2nd dump analysis:
0x8E
Srtsp.sys = which is a driver related to Symantec antivirus

This error is usually caused by memory hardware failures/ or more (very seldomly) by device driver issues, viruses, or hardware failures other than RAM.

3rd dump analysis:
BugCheck 4E;
PFN_List_Corrupt (4e) = Usually is caused by drivers passing bad memory descriptor lists, faulting process is ntkrnlpa.exe.


These dumps points at much varied drivers/processes. However, to start with, I'll advise you to uninstall symantec antivirus (or any of their other solutions you may be running completely, after uninstalling it, you should download Symantec Removal Tool and run it as well).

I would suggest that you may consider using Avast or Avira as your primary AV solution.

Secondly please download memtest, and let it run for the whole night, run no less than about 8-10 passes; more is better though.

Please keep me updated and if you get more BSODs don't forget to post your minidumps. Regards

 

[gretilina]

Gonna do it tonight, thanks for your time

 

[gretilina]

I ran the test all night and I got no errors. I uninstalled Norton as well, and ran the removal tool. I will post again if the laptop keeps restarting.

 

[Archean]

Ok, thats good, please keep things update here in case you need any further assistance, don't forget to install either of the above antivirus software I suggested, Regards.

 

[gretilina]

Hello again.

After 2 days without a single restart, the laptop restarted twice today while I was playing a game. Haven't got any blue screens though so I can't update any new info. Any suggestions what else could be going wrong?

 

[Archean]

Have you checked your system logs? Go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, and open Event Viewer, and scan through all events specially with red/yellow tags and look for clues.

 

[gretilina]

Hello again.

Sorry for not replying recently, but I had no time to check the logs. However I got another blue screen tonight. I attached the minidumps.
Regards

 

[Archean]

I've gone through the latest BSOD; and it cites dxgkrnl.sys (DirectX) as the source.

Now directx related BSODs can be caused by either faulty graphics driver or even overclocking. However, as you are using notebook, I think you may not be overclocking anything here.

To start with, please download latest graphic drivers for your notebook. Then uninstall your current ones, also don't forget to download driver sweeper to clean out any remaining files after un-installation. Then reboot, and install new drivers.

Also recently, Microsoft released an update for DirectX, you can download that as well to update your directx on your machine. Regards

 

[gretilina]

After doing everything written above, I just got another BSOD...

 

[Archean]

This dump lists ecache.sys as one of the processes involved in the error.

This problem occurs because of an issue in the third-party flash memory drive and this problem only occurs when the system experiences a low-memory condition.

 

[gretilina]

Another one... But can you please tell me what the previous one means exactly? Hardware problem? Can I do something about it?

Regards

 

[Archean]

I was talking about having an USB storage device (probably USB Flash stick); so if you use one, it would be appropriate if you uninstall its driver.

Exactly the same error, same driver is involved again.

 

[gretilina]

oh, I see. I am using a USB mouse. I guess that's the problematic flash device.

 

[gretilina]

Hm, my laptop keeps restarting, but now the screen blinks for a couple of secs and then goes off. ..some white light. Any idea what might cause that? And sorry for bothering you for so long with my machine, I probably have to get it fixed at the providers

 

[Archean]

Does your system complete POST (Power on Self Test)? before it boots windows.

 

[gretilina]

No, I don't think I ever see that. It is always just black screen and then Windows starts up, even when I boot it up normally.

 

[Archean]

My suggestion (based upon assumption that it is still under warranty) is to take it back to HP, and ask them to either fix it, or get you an replacement; as no software issue can cause a system not to POST/ or turn itself off while POST.

Also check your system logs carefully as I suggested sometime earlier, you can do so by going to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Event Viewer and looking for red/yellow tagged log entries. May be there is some clues about the potential problem(s).

Lastly, some BIOS provided ability to record logs as well about what issues may be have occurred while previous system boot; check your BIOS for that option, if it is present it may give some information as well.