Random reboots minidump included

[mantis]

Hello all and many thanks in advance.

OS is WinXP and system is an Abit Is7 with a 2.6GHz P4 CPU. 4 512MB sticks of Corsair Value are using up the RAM slots and timings are 2.5 3-3-3. It only has 1 HDD (a WD 120GB SATA) and a Radeon 9600SE AGP card.

I get reboots mainly during heavy Photoshop and Adobe Bridge usage. I have looked over the BIOS to make sure everything is good there.

Thanks again.

 

[altheman]

The crash was caused by memory corruption, but it is difficult to be certain with only one dump file. Zip up at least 4, and post them back here.

 

[mantis]

Thank you. I uploaded a zip file with 4 minidump files in place of the other one.

 

[altheman]

One crash at "afd.sys", which is part of Windows Winsock Driver.

A kernel mode program generated an exception which the error handler didn’t catch. These are nearly always hardware compatibility issues (which sometimes means a driver issue or a need for a BIOS upgrade).

Download the Window Winsock Fixer and run it, hopefully that'll fix it.

1 crash by "win32k.sys" with a bugcheck of 7F

Stop 0x7F messages are typically due to defective, malfunctioning, or failed memory hardware.

Running the CPU beyond the rated specification, known as "overclocking," can cause Stop 0x7F or other error messages due to heat buildup.

Faulty ram seems to be the problem. Download memtest, and check your ram. If you have overclocked, then change the values to stock defaults.

Another crash with memory corruption, with a bugcheck 4E

Can be caused by corrupt physical RAM, or by drivers passing bad memory descriptor lists.

Same as above, check your ram.

4th crash also caused by memory corruption.

If memtest passes, but you still have bsods, then remove one stick of ram at a time, and hopefully, you'll find the faulty one.

 

[mantis]

Thank you for the reply. I ran memtest86 for quite a while without any errors. I have heard it may not be 100% reliable for finding bad RAM so I'm not sure that my RAM is really OK.

The RAM was purchased in pairs and the original 2 sticks ran flawlessly for a couple of years without issue. After I added the second pair the system ran fine for about 6 months (a guess).

I also used compressed air to clean out the inside of the case. I did this after the memtest86 was run. I guess I should have mentioned this in my original post.

 

[mantis]

I just ordered some new RAM. Corsair XMS PC3200 Platinum (2x1GB).

The current RAM passes memtest86, but the minidumps (system crashed again yesterday) continue to point to memory problems.

The new RAM should stabilize things.