sysdata and "mini.dmp error".

[linkisspartan]

Whenever i play Call of Duty II or Age of Empires III, i get random crashes followed by the blue screen of death. After i restart windows and go back to the desktop, it says i got a serious error, and the contents of the error include the files Mini062307-04.dmp and Sysdata.xml, which are both in my Temp folder. I know its not the game because i reinstalled a few times and i've got the latest drivers for my ati radeon x800 xl. I did delete all the contents in my temp folder, but it still seems to create the file itself!I need help urgently, because i cant play these games in peace!Thanks yah

 

[peterdiva]

Post a few of the *.dmp files. Look in C:\Windows\Minidump. You can attach 5 at a time in .dmp file format.

 

[linkisspartan]

I attached the zip file. It has a error report in there which writes which files im having trouble with. Hope you can help!

 

[Tmagic650]

All minidumps point to "Unknown Image"... Maybe coming from a corrupt file on the C drive. Run CHKDSK and check hard drive's condition

 

[linkisspartan]

i ran a disk check for c and it said it found some errors and cant fix them because i didnt add /F to the end of CHKDSK. Well, i did add the /f disk and tried it again but it said it needs exclusive access to scan and fix the errors. My c drive is FAT32 by the way. Would i need to reformat it and install windows again?

 

[Tmagic650]

You should have been given the option to have CHKDSK check the dive at boot up. Not to scare you but, the drive may be on its way out. Back up your important data now

 

[linkisspartan]

The problem started happening when I installed my new x800 xl graphics card so I dont think its the hard drive!I uploaded new minidump files for you to check out, as well as a error report.

 

[Tmagic650]

All these "new" minidumps point also to Unknown Image...

You stated that you are getting errors running CHKDSK. This is not good! It is highly possible that data is corrupted on your drive, and this corruption is causing the BSOD's. This data corruption must be fixed. Did you run CHKDSK in the repair mode?

This data corruption probably happened when you installed the drivers for the video card

Go to My Computer, right-click on the hard drive. Select Properties, Tools, Check Now. Check "Automatically Fix File System Errors", and check "Scan for and Attempt Recovery of Bad Sectors". A box will pop up asking if you want to run a check of the hard drive at restart. Select YES and reboot your system. If this check fails or you still get the BSOD's, you may have no choice but to format and reinstall Windows. I strongly suggest that if you have to format, that you format in NTFS not FAT32

 

[linkisspartan]

I did that, and the c drive was checked and it didnt say anything about errors...

 

[Tmagic650]

i ran a disk check for c and it said it found some errors and cant fix them because i didnt add /F to the end of CHKDSK. Well, i did add the /f disk and tried it again but it said it needs exclusive access to scan and fix the errors. My c drive is FAT32 by the way. Would i need to reformat it and install windows again?

So these errors are gone?

 

[linkisspartan]

So these errors are gone?

well, when windows scanned the c: drive when booting into windows, it didnt say anything about errors. I dont know, but even if there were errors, they were probably fixed. Thanks anyway, but i still dont understand by the minidumps point to a unknown image...arnt they critical windows files?

 

[Tmagic650]

In all my experience interpreting minidumps, I have never seen 10 dumps pointing to the same thing "Unknown Image"... Minidumps are just one tool to help diagnose system problems. Just a BSOD regardless of what the error is denotes an unstable system. This "Unknown Image" tells me to check memory and the hard drive first.

Basic steps to troubleshoot a system are:

1. Check memory
2. Check hard drive
3. Scan for spyware/malware
4. Check power supply

You could try an XP repair:

http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/How-to-repair-Windows-XP-t138.html

This won't destroy your data or system settings

 

[linkisspartan]

my c drive is pretty old, like 10 years old. I got it from my old computer and put it in my new one. I also have a secondary 160gb western digital HD on it which is like a few months old. Maybe its because the c drive is FAT32. Should i convert the c drive to NTFS?could i do this with the drive xp is installed in(c: )?And most importantly, would it erase all the data in the drive?Would that have to do anything with it?Anyway, i know power supply is out of the picture, so ill have to troubleshoot the remaining three. Ill use memtest86 for memory and for c drive ill just do a software check?Ill find a way

 

[Tmagic650]

linkisspartan,
If you are serious about the age of the C drive, copy its contents to the 160GB secondary using a program like Seagate's DiscWizard. Use the 160GB as the "new" C drive. Remove and discard the 10 year old drive altogether

 

[linkisspartan]

linkisspartan,
If you are serious about the age of the C drive, copy its contents to the 160GB secondary using a program like Seagate's DiscWizard. Use the 160GB as the "new" C drive. Remove and discard the 10 year old drive altogether

ye, thats the plan, but ill lose all my data on both drives if i do that, so no.

 

[Tmagic650]

You will not loose any data using Seagate's DiscWizard. Your 10 year old C drive can't be that high in capacity. Surely your 160GB can hold C's data. All you do is copy C's data to the 160GB and make the 160GB the boot drive through DiscWizard

 

[almcneil]

I usually find in these cases in which you get crashing/BSOD playing video games, it's because you're not using enough RAM. Make sure you're using at least 1 GB