Not your average WinXP "pagefault" case

[g3rsiu]

Hey guys,

The BSOD monster might have finally got to me. As tech savvy as i am i cant troubleshoot this one. here it goes:

After a repair install and a few restarts the x50 pagefault error constantly pops up as the user logs on but the wierd thing is that it is user account specific - if i log on using administrator account for example the OS is stable.

The bsod also pops up in safemode and have tried clearing the startup entries and ran the usual scanners to check for malware and registry problems.

To put it simply i ran out of things to try - maybe you can pitch some ideas as i want to avoid reinstalling the OS or migrating the data to a new user account.

Any idea what to do to see what exactly is crashing ? no file is reported as the cause in the bsod screen and the fact that it is user account specific kinda makes me thing it cant be a service/driver issue but i could be wrong.

So any ideas ?

Thanks.

 

[Route44]

How to find and post your Minidump Files:

My Computer > C Drive > Windows Folder > Minidump Folder > Minidump Files.

It is these files that we need (not the folder). Attach to your next post the five most recent dumps. Notice the Manage Attachments button at the bottom when you go to post the next time. You can Zip up to five files per Zip; if you only have one or two you don’t need to zip them, just attach as is. Please do us a favor and don’t Zip each one individually.


* This is sounding like a hardware issue, but this is only a guess at this time.

 

[g3rsiu]

dumps

slim chance its hardware since if I create a new user all is good - I just ran out of thing s to try to do to the user account thats causing the problems.

dumps attached - thnx for the help

 

[Route44]

All three errors are the same 0x00000050: 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 antivireus software) might cause this Stop message, as may other hardware problems (e.g., incorrect SCSI termination or a flawed PCI card).


All three files cited the same Goback2k.sys driver .sys which is a Norton GoBack Engine Driver - Norton GoBack - Symantec Corporation. So as you felt it wasn't hardware but this software.

 

[g3rsiu]

thnx

thank you - will get rid of that blody software suit and report on monday

 

[Route44]

You're welcome. What eactly is GoBack?

 

[g3rsiu]

the machine had some kind of roxio rebranded norton go back product for restoring partition states to earler versions.

since the admin account wasnt logged on (ever) and not configured as active, the goback install didnt put startup entries in it i guess - thats the only explanation why logging in on admin works without crashing - i did remove the go back service but i guess the sys file somehow still loads.

 

[Route44]

We have dealt a lot here with Norton/Symantec antivirus/security suit driver issues. The thing with Norton is that they are notorious for leaving remnant drivers and they still try to engage causing system crashes.

It is such a problem that Norton was forced to develop a special Removal Tool for each and every version of their product in order to make sure a system was fully free of all drivers.

I am wondering if they have such a tool for GoBack.

 

[g3rsiu]

mostly av issues

symantec trash - thank god i dont use it - i just have to repair screwed up customers machines

 

[Route44]

symantec trash - thank god i dont use it - i just have to repair screwed up customers machines

Exactly. My mom, even though I warned her not to, updated her Norton just before it expired. Long story short, Norton really messed up her system. So she had it completely uninstalled and went with kaspersky Internet Suite. Hasn't had an issue since.

 

[g3rsiu]

not there yet

well , sadly its not IT this time

problem persists after removing all related goback registry entries and files from win folder

same as before, logging in on administrator account works but the user account leads to bsod with same error msg.

more minidumps attached

ps. somehow i doubt that it can be fixed

 

[g3rsiu]

minidumps

ups - minidumps

 

[Route44]

One dump specifically cited the same Goback2k.sys driver.

We here at TechSpot strongly warn against registry cleaners and repairs because they cause far more damage than any help they purport to do. A core rule is: Stay Away from the Registry.

However, I have used on very rare occasions RegCleaner. It makes a list of drivers in your system. For what it is worth you could download and install, allow to make a list of drivers, search for this particular driver and delete this driver only. Leave all other drivers alone.

But be careful.

 

[g3rsiu]

what about the other dumps - anything interesting you could say about that ?

the first might be from the first boot i attempted this morning while the later are from after removing the file and registry entries.

i do some reg poking regularly and don't often use reg cleaners - i agree sometimes they can mess things up rather than help but ill try

where could something be stored in the user account that makes this a user specific error >.<

 

[Route44]

They are opnly citing OS drivers and OS drivers are usually too general to be of much diagnostic help. You might need to do a Windows Repair.

 

[g3rsiu]

well i gave up after doing another repair of the OS and just migrated the data to another user account - somehow i belive there was a problem in the ntuser.dat (i know its reg entries) but i didnt have any more time to spend on it.

thnx for the help.

ps. for "posterity" consider this case as a possible "fix" or test to do when u get pagefault errors after logging in the user account even in safe mode.

 

[Route44]

Sorry we couldn't do more. I'm wondering if the harddrive might have had some bad sectors.

 

[g3rsiu]

nope - nothing bad with hdd/ram or cooling. just your "unusual" software crash. i'm guessing something loaded that caused everything else to randomly fail.