For about two months now my computer has either been going black or crashing with random restarts. Sometimes I'll come into the room and the screen will be black, or it will be stuck on the Gigabyte screen after a crash. Other time it will crash and actually reboot. I can use the computer for hours with no problems, and sometimes not very long at all. It doesn't happen at a specific time or when I'm doing something specific.

I'm using bluescreenview to see the cause of the BSOD's, and it's usually different reasons, but usually always tied to hal.dll. Since it was so random I thought it was memory, but all four sticks passed memtest. i used the hard drive diagnostics and the drives passed as well. I've scanned for spyware and viruses and I'm all good there. I don't what to check next.

Here's the last round of mini dumps seen by bluescreenviewer;

==================================================
Dump File : Mini101309-02.dmp
Crash Time : 10/13/2009 7:16:19 AM
Bug Check String : NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM
Bug Check Code : 0x00000024
Parameter 1 : 0x001902fe
Parameter 2 : 0xb84fb2c8
Parameter 3 : 0xb84fafc4
Parameter 4 : 0x8056a209
Caused By Driver : Ntfs.sys
Caused By Address : Ntfs.sys+dff0
File Description : NT File System Driver
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Company : Microsoft Corporation
File Version : 5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2111)
Processor : 32-bit
==================================================

==================================================
Dump File : Mini101309-01.dmp
Crash Time : 10/13/2009 3:12:47 AM
Bug Check String : MEMORY_MANAGEMENT
Bug Check Code : 0x0000001a
Parameter 1 : 0x00000781
Parameter 2 : 0xc06e26c0
Parameter 3 : 0x00000000
Parameter 4 : 0xe441e0c0
Caused By Driver : hal.dll
Caused By Address : hal.dll+2aa8
File Description : Hardware Abstraction Layer DLL
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Company : Microsoft Corporation
File Version : 5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2111)
Processor : 32-bit
==================================================

==================================================
Dump File : Mini101209-02.dmp
Crash Time : 10/12/2009 4:19:10 PM
Bug Check String : THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER
Bug Check Code : 0x000000ea
Parameter 1 : 0x894a8da8
Parameter 2 : 0x8972b770
Parameter 3 : 0x8afdb138
Parameter 4 : 0x00000001
Caused By Driver : nv4_disp.dll
Caused By Address : nv4_disp.dll+c3b89
File Description : NVIDIA Compatible Windows 2000 Display driver, Version 191.07
Product Name : NVIDIA Compatible Windows 2000 Display driver, Version 191.07
Company : NVIDIA Corporation
File Version : 6.14.11.9107
Processor : 32-bit
==================================================

==================================================
Dump File : Mini101209-01.dmp
Crash Time : 10/12/2009 7:26:56 AM
Bug Check String : PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
Bug Check Code : 0x00000050
Parameter 1 : 0xe572c440
Parameter 2 : 0x00000000
Parameter 3 : 0x00000000
Parameter 4 : 0x00000002
Caused By Driver : hal.dll
Caused By Address : hal.dll+23b8
File Description : Hardware Abstraction Layer DLL
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Company : Microsoft Corporation
File Version : 5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2111)
Processor : 32-bit
==================================================

==================================================
Dump File : Mini101109-02.dmp
Crash Time : 10/11/2009 10:10:43 PM
Bug Check String : MEMORY_MANAGEMENT
Bug Check Code : 0x0000001a
Parameter 1 : 0x00000781
Parameter 2 : 0xc06de3c8
Parameter 3 : 0x00000000
Parameter 4 : 0xe570ddc8
Caused By Driver : hal.dll
Caused By Address : hal.dll+2aa8
File Description : Hardware Abstraction Layer DLL
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Company : Microsoft Corporation
File Version : 5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2111)
Processor : 32-bit
==================================================

==================================================
Dump File : Mini101109-01.dmp
Crash Time : 10/11/2009 7:19:30 AM
Bug Check String : MEMORY_MANAGEMENT
Bug Check Code : 0x0000001a
Parameter 1 : 0x00041284
Parameter 2 : 0xc3ff3001
Parameter 3 : 0x0000074a
Parameter 4 : 0xc0e00000
Caused By Driver : hal.dll
Caused By Address : hal.dll+2aa8
File Description : Hardware Abstraction Layer DLL
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Company : Microsoft Corporation
File Version : 5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2111)
Processor : 32-bit
==================================================

==================================================
Dump File : Mini101009-03.dmp
Crash Time : 10/10/2009 9:13:09 PM
Bug Check String : IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
Bug Check Code : 0x1000000a
Parameter 1 : 0x00000000
Parameter 2 : 0x00000002
Parameter 3 : 0x00000000
Parameter 4 : 0x8051b45a
Caused By Driver : hal.dll
Caused By Address : hal.dll+2aa8
File Description : Hardware Abstraction Layer DLL
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Company : Microsoft Corporation
File Version : 5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2111)
Processor : 32-bit
==================================================

==================================================
Dump File : Mini101009-02.dmp
Crash Time : 10/10/2009 9:00:17 PM
Bug Check String : MEMORY_MANAGEMENT
Bug Check Code : 0x0000001a
Parameter 1 : 0x00041284
Parameter 2 : 0xc319e001
Parameter 3 : 0x0000098a
Parameter 4 : 0xc0e00000
Caused By Driver : hal.dll
Caused By Address : hal.dll+2aa8
File Description : Hardware Abstraction Layer DLL
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Company : Microsoft Corporation
File Version : 5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2111)
Processor : 32-bit
==================================================

==================================================
Dump File : Mini101009-01.dmp
Crash Time : 10/10/2009 8:28:04 PM
Bug Check String : IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
Bug Check Code : 0x1000000a
Parameter 1 : 0x00310034
Parameter 2 : 0x00000002
Parameter 3 : 0x00000000
Parameter 4 : 0x8051b45a
Caused By Driver : hal.dll
Caused By Address : hal.dll+2aa8
File Description : Hardware Abstraction Layer DLL
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Company : Microsoft Corporation
File Version : 5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2111)
Processor : 32-bit
==================================================

What do you see in your Device Manager... any red, black, or yellow flags? (Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager)
Those parameter reports tell what you need to know about hardware issues.
Have you run scans with antivirus and spyware programs such as Alwil Avast, Avira Antivir, MalwareBytes, SuperAntispyware or others to see if you have an infestation?

Sometimes it is this "missing or corrupt hal.dll" error which indicates you have a missing or damaged DLL file called hal.dll. It may have been deleted, or just corrupted or damaged in some way... but this can include virus or spyware damage. Or Hal.dll could have been moved by other software from your intended location.

But it can also indicate that you have a damaged or corrupted hard drive, or damaged or missing boot.ini file.

How old is the computer, and how old is your hard drive, and what is its configuration?

I don't believe it's software related. i have two hard drives, one running windows XP Pro and one running Windows 7, it crashes on both systems. I used superantispyware and spy doctor as well as ESET Nod32, and it all checked fine.

Just wondering if you've tried using just one or two sticks of memory in your system. If not, then try doing so and see if there are any further crashes.

BTW, what are your system specs?

No I haven't tried removing memory because they passed Memtest.

Motherboard : Gigabyte P35-DS3P
Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 @ 3000 MHz
Memory : 6144 MB (2 X 2GB Crucial Ballistix), (2 X 1 GB Crucial Ballistix)
Video Card : NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
Monitor Type : Samsung SyncMaster - 20 inches
Network Card : RTL8168/8111 PCIe Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.01.2600 Service Pack 3
DirectX : Version 9.0c (October 2008)
Sound Card : Soundblaster X-Fi Gamer
Hard Drives : Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3500630AS 500GB
Maxtor 300 Gb
Power Supply : Thermaltake W0106RU 700W

I ran MemTest 3.4 on boot up and everything passed, but when I ran MemTest 4.0 through windows I got memory errors. I pulled out two sticks and the test passed. it looks like memory was the problem this whole time, but why would it pass one test and not the other? It's crucial ballistix so it has a lifetime warranty.

I love Crucial memory. Many people love Crucial memory. Crucial is one of the biggest manufacturer's of memory in the world. They are a Tier 1 memory maker.

However, their Ballistix line has a long history of fail in DDR, DDR2, and I am not sure of DDR3. I have run their Ballistix (DDR) in my socket 939 in a 4x512 configuration. After 6 months I was getting BSODs. It was one of my four sticks that went.

Run each stick individually and find which one(s) is bad. Then contact Crucial's RMA department. If your RAM came in a kit you will have to ship the full kit back to them. They sent me a new stick and haven't had any issues with my Ballistix since and it has been over 3 years now.

As good as Memtest is, bad RAM has been known to pass on occasion. This is why running the test for more than 7 Passes is a good thing; certainly no less than 7 Passes.

I ran memtest 3.4 for 8 hours and it still passed. 4.0 failed immediately. The part that sucks is that it was 2 X 2GB set that's bad, so I'm left with with 2 X 1Gb set. Windows 7 64 bit can tell the difference let me tell you.

Yeah, that is the problem with kits and thanks for the info on Windows 7 and only 2 gigs of RAM. Keep us up-to-date on the resolve. I do know that Crucial won't let you hang and if they do I'll be extremely suprised.

Any contact with Crucial? Any other signs things are going better?