Minidump help (BSOD)

[DruidElf]

Hi all,
Was wondering if anyone could take a look at the attached minidumps for me, Ive added minidump for the last 3 days.
I am constantly getting random crashes.
At a loss here
Thanks

 

[nobardin]

All 3 of your minidumps are

BUGCHECK_STR: 0x8E
Probably caused by : win32k.sys

win32k.sys is a common BSOD, but unfortunately not device specific. Might be an antivirus, firewall, display driver or even a hardware issue.

Since we know nothing about your computer (make/model, ammount of ram, operating system, video card, what firewall you are using, what antivirus you are using, etc.)..it is difficult to lay out a specific troubleshooting plan. I know you stated the crashes are random, but is there anything specific you are doing when it does crash?

There are a few things we can try however.

1) Download memtest from HERE

Memtest CD:
Download the ISO current version to your PC.

-Extract the .zip file to a location that you know, like the Desktop or Downloads folder or next to the .zip file.

*Note* If you have WinRAR (or similar) installed, it will look like an unzippable archive with nothing inside. Do not open it with WinRAR.

-Go to your favorite CD burning software, and choose to burn from an image file. Simply point to the memtest.iso file and hit the "burn" button.

Eg: Nero>Disk Image or Saved Project>[select the memtest iso file]Ok>Next etc.

-Insert a blank CD into the drive and let it do its magic.

-Presto, you have a memtest bootable CD. Simply leave the CD in the drive and boot from CD by pressing a key (if needed) then running the test.

Let memtest run for a minimum of 7 passes. Please note: There are several tests performed per pass.

2) Download Malwarebytes from HERE install then update it, then do a full system scan.

3) Update your computers drivers. ie: Graphics card, sound card, ethernet controller, wireless card, motherboard chipset to the latest versions available.

4) Look in the "event viewer" Click start--->Rclick my computer--->click manage--->find and click the + sign next to event viewer and check the logs in there for any red circles with a white X in them that correspond to the time of the crashes.

5) Start your computer up in safe mode and see if it blue screens on you. There are a couple of ways to get into safe mode:

5.1: restart your computer.after the bios POST screen tap F8 and select safe mode from the list

or

5.2: Click start--->run--->type msconfig and click OK or press enter and the system configuration window opens. Click the BOOT.ini tab and tick the box beside safeboot then click ok. You will be asked to restart your computer. Click restart and your computer will start in safe mode.

If you do option 2, after you are finished with safe mode Click start--->run--->type msconfig and click OK or press enter and the system configuration window opens. On the General tab put the dot in normal startup and click ok..you will be prompted to restart your computer..click restart and your computer will start normally.

This is just generalized troubleshooting steps because we don't know anything about your computer or when the crashes happen.

After doing the above stated please post back and let us know how it went and if the issue is resolved or not. Also, please post back with more information as we can only work off information provided.

 

[DruidElf]

Thanks for the info nobardin and sorry for the lack of info, I thought the minidump would provide enough information.
My system is self-build (7 years ago )
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2400
Video: Nvidia Geforce 6600
Network adapters: Linksys Wireless-G PCI Adapter
Realtek RTL8139 (disabled, currently running on wifi)
2 Hard disks: Excelstor Technology J240 (40 GB) => OS installed on this HD
Maxtor 6Y120L0: data disk
OS: Windows XP Professional with SP 2
RAM: 1024 MB Kingston

Virusscanner: AVG
Firewall: COMODO
Spyware scanners: Spybot search& destroy, lavasoft adaware

I had read some topics about these kind of crashes and i've updated all my drivers to the most recent available.
I've also scanned for spyware/malware (also with the tool you suggested), and scanned for virusses with AVG.

I ran the memtest but that revealed no mistakes in RAM.

Error from the event viewer is:
Error code 1000008e, parameter1 c0000005, parameter2 bf80487b, parameter3 bae6f46c, parameter4 00000000.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at fwlink

0000: 53 79 73 74 65 6d 20 45 System E
0008: 72 72 6f 72 20 20 45 72 rror Er
0010: 72 6f 72 20 63 6f 64 65 ror code
0018: 20 31 30 30 30 30 30 38 1000008
0020: 65 20 20 50 61 72 61 6d e Param
0028: 65 74 65 72 73 20 63 30 eters c0
0030: 30 30 30 30 30 35 2c 20 000005,
0038: 62 66 38 30 34 38 37 62 bf80487b
0040: 2c 20 62 61 65 36 66 34 , bae6f4
0048: 36 63 2c 20 30 30 30 30 6c, 0000
0050: 30 30 30 30 0000

The category is 102 with event id 1003, source system error.

Pinpointing the source is difficult because i have had in several occasions. I must say that 80% of the crashes happen when using a tool that connects to the network (surfing with firefox, starting msn, starting mIRC), but I also had it when playing a game which i installed without network options and can not connect to the network.

I have yet to try if starting in safe mode gives the error, but maybe you can derive some new information from this post
Many thanks for the help so far

 

[nobardin]

I know you have updated the drivers already. However, go HERE (linksys wireless support page) select your device and download the driver. Then uninstall the wireless driver via the add/remove programs list and restart your computer. Once your computer reboots if the add new hardware wizard opens up, cancel it. Then install the driver you downloaded.

Sometimes it is possible for faulty ram to pass memtest. If you have more than 1 stick of RAM in your computer you could try this.

Power your system down and unplug it then press and hold the power button for 5 seconds to discharge any stored power. After that, remove all but 1 stick or RAM then power the system back up and use it normally to see if a crash happens. If it does, or if it doesn't follow the same procedure to test the other stick(s) of RAM in the same way.

If it does crash with either of the sticks in there it is a possibility that stick of RAM is faulty. If it doesn't crash then the next step would be to try starting your computer in safe mode to see if it is a driver or service that is causing the problem.

After doing the above stated, please post back and let us know if the issue is resolved or not and we will be more than happy to either cheer with you, or assist you further in diagnosing this issue.

 

[DruidElf]

Hi,
I've updated my network driver (been busy with work so not much time to be on my own pc).
PC has run twice since then each for a time period for about 2 hours in which i kinda stress tested the network card, by opening as much network connections at once, uploading and downloading data within my homenetwork.
So far it looks promising If no crash by the start of next week then I think you found the root cause.

 

[nobardin]

Thank you for reporting back and letting us know the issue has been resolved. Glad we could get this sorted for you.

 

[DruidElf]

Hey,
Gving an update on the situation. After 3 days the crashes returned and i decided to reinstall windows. One important thing i did not install was COMODO firewall.
Now i think i found the problem why windows crashed. With comodo firewall installed, I could connect to any number of p2ps without the limitation within windows of TCP/IP connections. After the reinstall i ran the same torrents and one torrent wouldn't start, and i got in the event viewer the message that max number of TCP/IP connections was reached. So i somehow think that COMODO alters the TCP/IP connections with BSOD as a result. Is just a theory but now it works again Thanks for all of the advice