Random Blue Screens in Vista

[DarkHorse]

Hi.

I have Vista Home Ultimate running on a Sony VAIO VGN-CR31S/L. Out of the box I started getting some random blue screens. I rebuilt Vista in case it was due to some bloatware. Unfortunately the problem still exists

I have run MEMTEST and Hard disk diagnostics. They all pass fine, the only hint of something wrong is that CHKDSK stalls at 12% for about 1 hour during phase 4 but eventually passes

I'm at my wits end and would love any help that you guys can give

Minidumps attached

Thanks,
Dark Horse

 

[Route44]

I have read all your minin dumps and there are nine different error codes and only two of the 10 are the same. Most point to hardware issues though they cite essential Windows drivers which are too general to help.

There are two minidumps that cite third party drivers as causing issues.

The first 0xC4 and it points to atikmdag.sys which is an ATI Radeon Kernel Mode driver. If you google this along with Vista there are TONS of people on the Vista Forums that have had issues with this.

The other is 0xD1 and these are caused by faulty drivers or buggy software. In this case the dump cites NETw4v32.sys driver as the culprit and this is an Intel Wireless WiFi Link driver.


But getting back to the hardware error codes there are two things that concern me. First and foremost is that CHKDSK stalls for an hour before passing. This shouldn't be. Couple that with the fact that you have an 0x24 error and it looks like you may have a harddrive failing or at least has some bad sectors.

0x00000024: NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM
A problem occurred within NTFS.SYS, the driver file that allows the system to read and write to NTFS file system drives. There may be a physical problem with the disk, or an Interrupt Request Packet (IRP) may be corrupted. Other common causes include heavy hard drive fragmentation, heavy file I/O, problems with some types of drive-mirroring software, or some antivirus software.


Do this first. Find out the make of your harddrive and go to their website for their free utility to run harddrive diagnostics. If you can't find that information use Seagate's SeaTool utility. It works with many brands and if you do use it make sure you run the Long DST.

Get back to us with the results.


The other error of note is 0x4F and this is a strong indicator of corrupted memory. In fact it specifically noted corrupted memory. I know you ran Memtest but for how many passes? The rule is a minimum of 7 passes and as good as this test is bad RAM has been known to pass it. You might want to try running with one stick in to see if that brings stability and then switch. Or run Memtest per stick.


* I suggest backing up all your important information.

 

[DarkHorse]

Results

Well the good news..if you can call it good is that the Long DST passed a couple of times and also memtest ran for 13 passes with no issues

The bad news is I got another couple of blue screens ..which are attached

Any advice would be appreciated

 

[Route44]

One is 0xD1 and cited hardware. The other 0x8E and cited a Windows core driver. So try these next steps:

A. Scan for infections.

B. Update your Intel Wireless WiFi drivers.

C. Update your video card drivers.

1. Download Driver Cleaner Pro (free version) to your desktop screen and install.

2. Download the latest diver(s) for your video card but don't install them.

3. Uninstall your video card drivers and reboot your PC into Safe Mode. Run Driver Cleaner Pro. If it doesn't find any video card drivers that is quite okay.

4. Reboot and install new video card drivers.

* Again, get back to us with your results.

 

[DarkHorse]

Well I did as I was told and ....it was all going well until this evening when I got another blue screen...does the attached shed any more light on it

Thanks in Advance

 

[Route44]

Error 0xD1 and it cited the Windows OS driver usbuchi.sys which belongs to the process UHCI USB miniport driver; Microsoft USB Universal Host Controller miniport driver. Nothing more ddefinitive was given.

Were you using anything that required USB when the BSOD occured?

 

[DarkHorse]

Yep...I was looking viewing some files on a usb stick drive in Windows Explorer

 

[Route44]

Yep...I was looking viewing some files on a usb stick drive in Windows Explorer

Try that stick in another USB port and try to repeat what you did before. Do you get a BSOD?

 

[DarkHorse]

I tried the stick on all the USB ports and I couldn't reproduce the BSOD. The series of BSOD's that I have been getting have all been apparently random and I can't recreate them.

Should I just return the laptop? Will they even accept it?

 

[Route44]

Is it still under warrenty? If so that is definitely one option.

Before doing so another option is to go to Sony's website, find your particular model and download the latest updates they have for it.

The idea that memory came up in one of your reads sticks with me. I am wondering what would happen if you ran with just one stick fo awhile and see if you get BSODs and then switch out sticks and run again for awhile.