Sudden XP BSOD/restart

[g4mer]

I was doing something in Photoshop, it was minimized and i was watching some videos on YouTube. I closed Firefox and my PC froze immeadiatelly for about 10 seconds. I thought that it had something to do with Firefox because it's buggy anyway, and that it will recover. So after about 10 seconds i got slamed by some BSoD which lasted only for a moment, and my PC restarted. When Xp loaded again, i got a message "system was recovered from a serious error". I clicked details and i got this:
Error Signature
BCCode: 10000008e BCP1: E0000001 BCP2: B8398925 BCP3: B2CF18BB
BCP4: 00000000 OSver: 5_1_2600 SP: 2_0 Product: 256_1
On more details, i had the location of a minidump.
Then i went to Event Viewer and found that line. Rclicked on that line and went to properties and this is what it had:

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Reason im writing this is because i didn't have any problems and didn't had any hardware/software changes for quite a long time. I saw here that someone put site about windows stop messages, but i can't find mine and i dont' really understand it.
Minidump is not where it said it should be. I don't know why. If you need my specs, you have them in "System specs" in the upper right corner.

 

[Route44]

For clarification, the minidump folder did not contain the minidump file, correct?

In some cases freezing can be brought about by high temps. Open your side panel and see if there is dust build-up.

 

[g4mer]

There was no minidump folder at all. Even search couldn't find it. I checked my temperatures with SpeedFan, and i saw nothing wrong. I'm cleaning my PC case often and there is no dust build up atm.

 

[Route44]

Enabling Minidump Files


For XP:

1. Right click My Computer > click Properties > click Advance tab

2. The Advance Screen at the bottom right has Error Reporting. Click this on.

3. Click Enabled error reporting and also check both boxes underneath: Windows operating system and Programs.

4. Now click Choose Programs and click All Programs. Then click Okay and that screen will close. At the next screen click Okay and that will close.

5. You are back to the Advance screen. Find the Start up and Recovery which has underneath it System startup, system failure, and debugging information. Click the Settings box.

6. Another screen will open. You want the System failure section. Enable all three boxes.

7. Under these boxes is Write debugging information. Choose the option Small memory dump (64kb). Click OK and that screen will close.

8. Click OK one more time and you'll be finished. Now the ability for your system to write minidumps should be enabled.

 

[g4mer]

Thanks. I did that. I probably can't create another minidump. Is there any solution availible without it?

 

[Route44]

Well 0x8E errors are almost always caused by hardware (though sometimes drivers can be the issue). And it can be a strong indicator of bad RAM.

For diagnostic purposes I would run Memtest on your memory. Do you know how to run Memtest?

 

[g4mer]

I know to run it, but for how long should i keep it running?

 

[Route44]

I am not sure what you mean by "how long to keep it" but I'll assume you meant length of testing (?). A minimum of 7 Passes and the more Passes after 7 the better. Keep in mind, this test is measured by Passes and not hours.

 

[g4mer]

I was about to do the memtest, but I got that BSoD 2nd time now. Again while I was watching video on YT like like the last time, but now on Google Chrome. On restart, I got report which is not the same like the one before, but it looks very similar.
Heres the pic of what I got:
Error report: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/89/dddxze.jpg/
Event Viewer: http://imageshack.us/f/819/seconderror.jpg/
-Sorry if you have to click the link instead of seeing them on this page, but I can't go to direct link on Google Chrome like on Firefox.
This time I had minidump which had manifest.txt, Mini070411-01.dmp and sysdata.xml
I don't know which one should I upload so I'll upload them all. I couldn't attach the xml file, not supported.
I would appreciate if you look this minidump up and see if there's any proof that this is my hardwares fault. I'm playing games like WoW, TF2, Unreal Tournament 2k4, CoD6, etc, and I never had any problems/restarts while playing any of them.

 

[Route44]

The dump cited the Nvidia display driver nv4_disp.dll as the cause of your issues.

1. Download Driver Sweeper 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 Sweeper and remove ONLY the video card drivers. I had someone use it on their chipset drivers! If it doesn't find any video card drivers that is quite okay; just leave all other drivers alone.

4. Reboot and install new video card drivers.

 

[g4mer]

Thank you for the help. You're the best!.

 

[g4mer]

It happend again

Ok, today I got this BSoD again. Can you please check the minidump and see what it's causing it. If it's nv4_disp.dll again, I'll probably have to install older drivers due to possible incompatibility.

 

[Route44]

If it's nv4_disp.dll again, i'll probably have to install older drivers due to possible incompatibility.

It is the Nividia driver as you suspected and what you have planned is actually a very viable option. Many people find reverting to the previous driver or two or three works. The rule on drivers is that if it isn't broke leave it be.

* Keep us updated.