Random Reboots (BAD_POOL_CALLER)

[dash7]

Hi Folks,

I hope someone can help.

I have an AMD Athlon 62 X2 6000+ running on an ASUS M2N32-SLI deluxe with 2gb Memory. Running Windows XP Pro SP3.

All has been fine for the last year, then just as the warranty expires, I experience random screen blanking and lock ups. My local PC repair shop put a new graphics card in and tested for a few days with no faults As soon as it was back home, I was getting random reboots for no reason....two or three in an evening. I disabled auto-reboot and now get BSOD with BAD_POOL_CALLER error BSOD
STOP : 0x000000C2 (0x00000007, 0x00000CD4, 0x02060002, 0x088764B0) although the last two strings do change slightly each time.

I'm no techno-wiz, but Googling reveals similar problems relating to memory probs and sometimes NVIDIA Network Access Manager.

Perhaps someone can offer advise as to what all the numbers mean and what to try next (Minidumps attached)

Thanks in advance,

Rich

 

[Route44]

All of your minidumps cite the same driver as the source of your problem: vsdatant.sys. This driver is part of your Zone Alarm firewall or your ZA + antivirus.

Also in the mix was avgtdix.sys which belongs to AVG antivirus.

Question: Does your Zone Alarm have antivirus and is your AVG anti-virus only or is it a security suit?

 

[dash7]

Thanks for the quick reply.

Zonealarm is the free standalone edition recently upgraded to 8.0.298.000.

AVG is also the basic free edition with anti-spyware (exact version not know at present as faulty maching is running a memory check in DOS)

I'm off to bed soon, but will respond to any more queries tomorrow.

Thanks again,

Rich

 

[Route44]

vsdatant.sys is a driver we see quite a bit here. If ZA's forums don't have an answer you might want to consider the free COMODO firewall or the free version of Online Armor.

We also have tons people coming here with AVG issues.

 

[dash7]

I'm getting a different error now.

BSOD shows Page Fault in Nonpaged Area

Errors 0x00000050 (0xBAD0B148,0x00000000,0x0805BB45E,0x00000002)

Minidumps attached as before.

Is this still related to the AVG/Zonealrm issue??

If I remove both programs and install alternatives, is there anything else needed like a registry cleaner?

Thanks again...I don't know what I would do without such a helpful forum.

Cheers

Rich

Two more BSOD's within a few minutes...Bad Pool Caller again!

Minidumps attached again

I feel a re-install of XP coming up soon!!!

Rich

 

[Route44]

Two of your errors are 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 antivirus software) might cause this Stop message, as may other hardware problems (e.g., incorrect SCSI termination or a flawed PCI card).

Unfortunately they only cited Windows OS drivers which are too general to help.

However, the other two are 0xC2 and they identify the same situtaion as I wrote in my first response to you: vsdatant.sys and avgtdix,sys is blocked from loading. Try first just removing ZA.

A good registry utility that is free is RegCleaner that you can get from MajorGeeks.com. Just remember, messing with the registry must be done with caution. Under the Uninstall tab only look for those things belonging to ZA; leave the rest alone.

Many of us here find CCleaner's Tool option and its uninstall option actually works better than the Windows one. If you are going to uninstall AVG after you do so you've got to then use their AVG Removal Tool.

Try uninstalling ZA first.

 

[dash7]

Thank you my friend.

ZA has been removed and system has been stable for the afternoon.

Fingers crossed that this was the culprit.

Will advise if anything changes, but hopefully this will be my last entry on this subject.

All the best from sunny Southampton, UK.

Rich

 

[Route44]

Good! Keep us uptodate if stability continues (or not). Look into COMODO firewall and Online Armor. If you use COMODO you will probably need to tweak it but they, like OA, have very active and helpful communities.

OA will need to learn your habits but I like that about their product. I run the $ on my main rig and the free on our second PC and my old laptop.

 

[dash7]

BSOD update

Just a quick note to say that all has been fine since my last post. ZA was obviously causing a conflict and was removed and replaced with Comodo although this has since been removed as the pop-ups proved annoying and my Canon DPP software stopped working!. I will give OA a try and report back if successful.

Thanks again

Rich

 

[Route44]

Good to see stability has returned. I think you'll like OA's new release. Keep in mind you will get pop-up boxes from OA as the firewall learns your preferences. Some people find this annoying but I find it is my firewall doing its job.