Recurrent BSODs mainly 0xF4

Hi Burns 2007,

      > I'd like to see this tested by not plugging in that external drive for a while... <

It had occurred to me to try that but when it tested OK I decided it had a low probability. However, I think you're right - it should be eliminated as a possibility. I'll have to wait for at least 24 hours to see if it has stopped the dumps.

      > Do you run Zone Alarm pro by any chance... <

Yes, I do run it: v.6.5.737.000. And you're right about the "heap of forum threads" - I found them too, but the consensus seemed to be that the trouble was with earlier versions of ZAP or with malware subverting VSDATANT.SYS. As far as I can tell, that file is genuine as, without it, ZAP won't run.

      > You can always disable the driver it is referring to... <
      
I'll try that and see if it lets the debug tool work properly... Well, I disabled VSDATANT.SYS and rebooted but the debug tool (WINDBG) stills shows an error pointing to VSDATANT.SYS, with the only difference being that the two lines:-

      "Unable to load image \SystemRoot\System32\vsdatant.sys, Win32 error 2
      "*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for vsdatant.sys"

- are now absent.

I even closed ZAP as well but this made no difference to the debug output.

Thanks for your suggestions

Regards,

Mark

Hi Burns 2007,

      > I'd like to see this tested by not plugging in that external drive for a while... <

I unplugged the AcomData external drive and rebooted. Some time during the next six hours, Windows crashed to a BSOD (0xF4).

So that was not the offending item...

Regards,

Mark

Hi,

      > There seems to be a bit of arbitariness to your crashes. That suggests to me either a hard drive, temperature or power problem. <

Yes, that's about all there is left, apart from an intermittent fault in the mother board.

      > I agree - disconnect that Acomdata hard drive. Any drive that fails diagnostics once, is likely going to bad-if not now, then soon. Sure, a modern good drive can remap bad sectors, but why are the bad sectors occurring in the first place, and at a rate fast enough to trigger diags software? <

As I said in my last posting, I did unplug the (new) AcomData HD and had a BSOD while it was disconnected. So if it is faulty - and CHKDSK gives it a clean bill of health - it isn't the only culprit.

      > Could be a temperature issue. Have you checked the temperatures of the CPU, system board and hard drives in the BIOS setup utility, or using a free program like SpeedFan? <

Temperatures checked with Motherboard Monitor 5:-

      CPU:                  41 C (rising to about 53 C under full load)
      MoBo:                  26 C
      WD2000 HDD:            44 C
      Samsung HDD:      34 C

- these appear to be reasonable to me.

      > Are you certain all parts of the system are getting stable power? You didn't say what brand/model of power supply you're using. Can you check the voltages in your BIOS setup? If so, what are they? Are all the cooling fans on the unit, (CPU, case fans, power supply fans) running at full speed? <

PSU is Antec Model SL350S (350 watt). I have a spare (new) Antec TruePower 2.0 550 watt that I have been planning to fit...

Voltages (from MBM5):-

      CPU Core:        1.37 - 1.42v
      +2.5:             2.58v
      +3.3:             3.23v
      +5.0:             4.93v
      +12.0:            11.84 - 12.03v

- are these within normal tolerances?

Cooling fans:-

      Case:       No value shown but running fast and moving plenty of air.
      PSU:      2636 rpm at present.
      CPU:      1757 - 1985 rpm, rising appropriately with rise of CPU temp.
      GPU:      No reading but running well.

      > Is your video card a PCIe? If so, did you connnect the 12V Molex PCIe plug to the video card, if necesssary? Alternatively, is there a connector on the motherboard for a Molex 12V plug? <

No, it's on an AGP slot.

      > Does your board use 20 or 24-pin power connector. If the latter, did you connect a 24-pin connector, or a 20-pin connector and a 4-pin connector as well, so the board can get full power? <

The Gigabyte 8IPE1000P-G uses a 20-pin power connector. I cannot remember, or see, whether there is a separate 4-pin connector as well or, if so, whether it is plugged in. But I suspect that if it's there, it's plugged in. <G>

Last night Windows crashed with a 0x7A-type error message and when I went to reboot, all I got was another BSOD of type 0x24, which I have since dicovered implies a failure of the NTFS system (specifically NTFS.SYS). The machine would not boot past this error, even into Safe Mode, and required me to use the Win XP CDROM and to go into its Recovery Console and run CHKDSK /R. To my great relief, this corrected the errors on C: and boot-up then worked.

Whether this was a 'primary' fault or secondary to the 0x7A crash, resulting in NTFS.SYS being corrupted, is a moot point.

All my attempts to run WINDBG without having an error pointing to VSDATANT.SYS have been in vain. I tried disabling this file, as suggested by Burns 2007, and then preventing ZoneAlarm loading at boot-up and even went as far as to rename VSDATANT.SYS from the Recovery Console, before rebooting but still get the error.

I have a 'verbose' (!analyze -v) output file from WINDBG run on the last minidump that I can send if you think it would help.

Regards,

Mark

Shplad,

Your first posting:-

      > Those numbers sound reasonably within tolerance. We've probably, but not entirely ruled out power problems. A few things come to mind. I don't buy Enermax any more, but I do know some power supplies, including Enermax, have incompatibility issues running with some brands of motherboards.This is more common for Antec supplies, but it can happen with Enermax too.  I just can't remember which ones. Can anyone jump in here, and remind me if Enermax supplies might have any problems on Gigabyte boards? <

My PSU is an Antec. Never heard of Enermax... The PSU was working fine with the Gigabyte board for several months before the present problems started, so incompatibility is not likely.

      > Do you have firewire or USB ports mounted on the case and wired to the motherboard? I just learned recently that an extra ground connector, or two switched connectors on a USB or Firewire header can gradually destroy a motherboard or chipset. If you do have them, you might want to double and triple-check that wiring. If there's an extra ground lead from the case, and no corresponding ground pin for it on the motherboard header, like there is on my motherboard, don't connect it. <

Interesting! There are two front-panel USB ports which are connected to the MoBo. I have never used them, as I had a bad experience with the last motherboard/case assembly. The first time I used one of the front panel USB ports (as opposed to a USB hub plugged into the rear panel ports), the computer shut down with no delay or warning. I rebooted and tried again: same thing. On the third attempt (I'm a slow learner) the shut down left me with a dead machine. Turned out that the motherboard, CPU and GPU were fried. The dealer where I bought the case, etc., told me that those cases (I forget the name) had had a problem in this regard but that it had been 'fixed'. I was able to get the fried parts replaced under warranty. Once bitten...

      > Once we elminate the above factors, I would seriously consider the possiblity of a faulty hard drive. As you said, you reformatted the hard drive for a while, and reinstalled Windows, and things worked for a week. Perhaps the drive is faulty. That fault doesn't always show up in diagnostic tests. Have you double-checked your drive cables also? I find SATA cables to be very loose for proper stability. <

Yes, I tried replacing the two SATA cables with an new, unused one and the same with the ATA cable. Made sure they were plugged in firmly. I see that some newer MoBos now have locking SATA sockets.

      > Do you have another drive you would be willing to damage, if necessary? If you can for certain eliminate all the other factors I've mentioned above, then I'd consider changing two new variables now:

      > 1. Re-format and reinstall Windows using another, used, but known good hard drive.
      > 2. Install using another Windows CD. It's possible your original source CD is damaged or corrupt.

      > I say "willing to damage" because, theoretically, hard drive problems could be the symptom, and not the underlying problem. There could still be a power problem, and I'd just like you to be aware of the risks before trying a new drive. <

I see where you're going but I think I'll leave that course for last, as I don't have a spare HDD available. As for the Windows CDROM: Is it likely that it would develop faults when it worked OK for the initial installation - several months ago?

      > Does your second SATA drive test out okay in a full surface scan? Have you done a full surface scan on your primary drive, using a more serious tool, such as MHDD  (www.hdguru.com) or HDTune? <

Haven't done a full surface scan for some time. I must get MHDD or HDTune, as I hadn't heard of them before.


Your second posting:-

      > Stop 0x7A is KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR.

      > I say lazy, because I just replaced my own faulty drive because I was experiencing the same errors. You think I would've remembered. Anyways, it only took me 2 minutes after my last post to realize that this generally only happens for 3 reasons:

      > 1. Faulty hard drive
      > 2. Bad power or RAM, corrupting data on hard drive.
      > 3. Corrupt pagefile.

      > Since #3 is the easiset to test/fix, I'd start with it first. <

I tried this earlier but not by the method you describe, so I've now tried again and assigned the pagefile to my second SATA drive. But I noticed on rebooting that My Computer can now 'see' only the C:, D: & G: logical drives on the first SATA HDD. Drives E: and F: are inaccessible. They can, however, be accessed by the command prompt and also by O&O Defrag and O&O Drive LED. Strange!

I shall now have to wait and see if the BSODs cease, as it usually takes several hours after reboot for them to show up. Fingers crossed. <G>

      > Sorry for the long-winded explanation. <

Likewise!

Regards,

Mark

Shplad,

Crossing fingers was no help, as the darned thing just threw me another 0x7A, the Kernel_Data_Inpage_Error.

That was after moving the paging file to the second SATA HDD.

Before the crash, I managed to run CHKDSK from the Recovery Console on all my logical drives. The plain version showed nothing amiss but with /P all showed errors and I: (the non-SATA drive - the oldest one) showed "Unrecoverable Problems". I then ran CHKDSK /R on them all - a very long-winded and tedious pursuit - and it specifically corrected errors on C: & D: but didn't mention any corrections on E:, F: or G:.

I think my next step should be to disconnect the non-SATA drive in case its Unrecoverable Problems are causing these crashes.

I then used O&O DiskImage to make images of all the drives on the No.1 SATA disk and placed them on the external AcomData drive. I now at least have up-to-date backups if all hell breaks loose!

As you can see, I'm a fan of O&O. I have found their utilities to do what they claim and to be reliable. I didn't know that the NTFS API was so badly understood - but then that would apply to all defraggers, woudn't it? And they can't be that dangerous as they are so widely used and recommended...

      > Hope I'm not losing my credibility by suggesting so many options. I'm only doing it because I know how frustrated I get when I get crashing; I look for as timely a solution as possible. <

Not at all! Clutching at straws seems to be the name of the game.

Can you suggest why I can no longer access drives E: & F:? Could it be that they have had the Hidden attribute activated? If indeed a drive can have such an attribute. If this is so, I cannot see how to find it. Using the command prompt and ATTRIB, I can show the attributes of the folders on these drives but not of the drives themselves. Maybe there's somewhere else I should be looking for this.

Regards,

Mark

Shplad,

      > I'm fairly certain that at least your boot drive has physical, and I would guess, irreparable damage. I'd say a long-duration, thorough physical surface scan with something like MHDD is in order.
      
      > As I said, though, I'm still willing to bet that the main issue is that your primary drive has physical damage. You might even want to try running disk tests on your drive while it is in another machine. Again, MHDD is excellent for this-once you can figure out the interface. It's a bit...er....Egyptian with the hieroglyphs and all. <

I've got myself MHDD and you're quite right about the hieroglyphics! After I made its floppy, I had to reboot for another 0xF4 dump and forgot to remove the floppy first. Quite a shock seeing all that weird stuff come up uninvited... Of course, I hadn't finished printing MHDD's docs when the crash came, so thought I'd better not give it a whirl till I knew what I was doing - it can obviously cause mayhem if not used carefully.

So I found HDDScan on the same site and am running that as a first step. If it finds nothing on my boot drive, I'll reboot to MHDD, which is probably more searching. HDTune also found no errors on either SATA disk.

      > I doubt the IDE drive would be causing unrecoverable crashes, but it's certainly possible. <

As you have now noticed, you were quite right that the IDE drive was not the cause of the problems, as it was disconnected when the last crash occurred.

      > Here's a wild theory: Maybe your SATA controller has problems, or the driver is incorrect damaged, and that causes problems on your SATA drives. That file corruption damages the NTFS filesystem driver, which then in turn causes corrupted data on your IDE drive. That seems a  more likely option to me than both controllers going bad, although the latter could be possible, I suppose. <

And how the heck would I test for any of that? <G> I assume the SATA controller is on the main board and therefore irreparable. Are the SATA controllers what Device Manager --> IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers calls "Intel 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers"? They have drivers called ATAPI.SYS, PCIIDE.SYS and PCIIDEX.SYS and all these check out as 'working properly'.

Ah, HDDScan says both my SATA disks have no "Bads". Now I'll set MHDD loose on them.

And that shows no "Errors" on either SATA disk - but on the boot disk it reports "Warning: 374841075".

I also find that the boot disk shows a value of 21 against the SMART category "Reallocated Sectors Count". The other two disks show zero for this parameter. Do I take this to mean that several sectors have been repaired or excluded? Certainly my use of CHKDSK over the last few days has shown that this disk has had errors that CHKDSK has corrected.

If so, it looks as if you are right and the culprit is that WD2000JD boot disk.

So is that enough evidence to ignore factors like the SATA controller, etc., and take steps to replace that HDD?

Regards,

Mark

Shplad,

      > ...hard drive defects can cause software corruption, which can end up being considered a "pure software problem"... <

Yes, that makes sense.

      > "Check your system file integrity (sfc /scannow)".<

SFC /SCANNOW requires XP Professional, which I don't have...

      > Normally, the SATA controllers should be listed under the SCSI category in Device Manager. <

There are no SCSI categories in my Device Manager.

      > Uninstall all traces of ZoneAlarm. I mean every last trace of it, including manually removing registry entries for it, and see if that makes any difference. <

If I were to do this, it would mean disconnecting the computer from the Internet for a protracted period to avoid being infected with malware. In any case, I was running ZAP for months before this problem arose, so I think it unlikely that there's a connection here.

      > Go into the setup utility and reset all BIOS settings to their defaults again. <

BIOS is set at default.

      > Borrow another Windows CD, as your source files could be corrupted. Note this is legal, as long as you have your original license, because you are legal as long as you only have one copy of Windows installed per license, and if your CD is defective, that's not your fault.

      > Install Windows onto one of the other hard drives using that other CD. <

I have three copies of Win XP Home Upgrade - one for each computer - and could use one of the other copies. But will Windows let me install it on two partitions at the same time? And what about registering it with MS? Would I have to re-install all my programs for this second Win XP? I'm sorry, but this sounds like a real hassle just in case my original copy of XP is corrupt. See next section:-

      > ...you may want to run a program like CDCheck on your Windows CD. It could be corrupt. Is it a backup copy of your original Windows CD or the pressed one from the factory. The former tend to become damaged more easily. Heck, it could be something as seemingly benign as fingerprints on the disc. <

Ran CDCheck on my bootable slipstreamed Win XP-SP2 Home Upgrade CD: No errors.

      > Where did you obtain the drivers for your IDE and SATA chipset? Perhaps those are corrupted.

As far as I remember, they came with the main board.

      > Before you give up on your current install, you might try, immediately after checking the disk again for errors, installing a diff. version of your motherboard's SATA and IDE chipset drivers. And those drivers would best come from the manufacturer's website. <

Gigabyte drivers for 8IPE1000P-G downloaded and installed.

In general, I think it is safe to assume (if not exactly 'scientific' <G>) that the problem lies primarily with the boot SATA disk, as you have suggested.

Thinking back, there have been a number of untoward events such as my inability to install Microsoft Updates for Office 2003, which required a complete uninstall/reinstall TWICE due presumably due to the Office installation being corrupt. And recently, after each crash, I have had to reinstall Firefox, which had problems needing it to close as soon as opened.

Accordingly, I have ordered a new SATA HD and shall transfer my existing C:, D:, E:, F: & G: drives to it. If that doesn't solve the problem, at the worst I shall have a spare HDD!

I don't suppose you can hazard a guess as to why, immediately after changing my paging file the other day, Explorer (and Disk Jockey File Viewer) should no longer be able to 'see' Drives E: & F:; whereas they can both be accessed from the Command prompt and via Disk Management? I tried reverting the paging file to its original setting, with no difference.

Thank you for all your most helpful efforts on my behalf - it was reassuring to have input from someone who has a great deal more knowledge than myself.

Regards,

Mark

Shplad,

      > Uninstall all traces of ZoneAlarm. I mean every last trace of it, including manually removing registry entries for it, and see if that makes any difference.

      > You've got XP SP2;  Why not just use Windows XP firewall temporarily? It'll do for as long as you'll need to test whether ZA is part of the problem. <

Yes, you're right! I always forget about Windows Firewall... So I have just totally uninstalled ZoneAlarm Security - and installed Grisoft AVG Antivirus.

We shall see if this stops the crashes. <G>

      > At this point, I'm a bit exhausted with this problem after feeling I've gone 11 rounds with your machine. :-) I'm still betting on the main system drive as the problem. <

I can sympathize and I'm afraid my impatience showed itself in my last posting!

      > If you don't want to reinstall Windows until you've got a new drive, then by all means wait. Just be aware that the consequences could be severe if in fact, the problem is the main system drive. I wouldn't rely on your current setup for any work or data of any consequence. <

This problem has been festering on for so many weeks that - touch wood! - waiting a couple more days won't be likely to trash the whole works. And in any case, I've made backups of all my drives.

      > Have you run some SMART software to analyze the SMART statistics of the disk? You might try installing SpeedFan, as it's a free, excellent all-around program for hardware monitoring, and includes hard drive SMART statistics... <

There is a SMART section incorporated in O&O Drive LED and I see that HDTune has this capability, too. The latter shows that my boot disk has a Reallocated Sector Count of 21 - whereas all the other HDDs have a RSC value of zero. MHDD gave the same results. However, I've now got SpeedFan, which looks useful, and it shows the same RSC values as the other utilities.

Forgive me, but the moniker "Shplad" aroused my curiosity, so I Googled it and find that you are 38 years of age and reside in Canada. So do I - Vancouver Island actually - but I am nearly twice your age...

      > Please let us know what you find, and thanks for being so patient. <

And thank you, too.

Regards,

Mark

Shplad,

Well, removing ZoneAlarm Pro made no difference. I've had about seven BSODs since, including a couple I hadn't seen before. CHKDSK showed problems with nearly all the drives on my boot disk.

So, having now got a new SATA HDD, I shall transfer all my stuff to it and see what happens.

Regards,

Mark

Shplad,

      > How many drives can you have on one disk? I'm assuming you mean partitions? <

Sorry. Not being a professional, I sometimes use the wrong terminology <G>. Yes, I mean "partitions"...

      > ...I urge you to try another Windows CD. <

Several days ago I ran CDCheck on my Windows CD, as you had suggested, and this showed no errors. Is this trustworthy?

I'll report back with my results when I've installed the new HDD.

Regards,

Mark

Shplad,

I can now report a stable Win XP platform... but see below.

This required fitting a new Western Digital 250 GB SATA drive; partitioning it with Partition Magic to match the old drive: C:, D:, E:, F: and G:; copying the programs and data across to D: - G: and having O&O DiskImage restore a backed-up 'forensic' copy of the original C: partition to the new one.

Of course, it wasn't just that simple. There were errors in the Windows files - probably from the numerous inelegant reboots that had been afflicting me - that caused several freezes but no BSODs, until I remembered seeing an article by Fred Langa called "XP's No-Reformat, Nondestructive Total-Rebuild Option":-

http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticleSrc.jhtml?articleID=189400897

From this I was able to make the Win XP CD rebuild Windows without having to reinstall all my programs and so far all is OK.

Well, I spoke too soon. Just had a crash of type 7A, KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR, after the machine had been running overnight.

I found the following: "Stop 0x7A can be caused by bad sectors in the virtual memory paging file, disk controller error, virus infection, or memory hardware problems... Another cause of Stop 0x7A messages is defective, malfunctioning, or failed memory hardware, such as memory modules, Level 2 (L2) SRAM cache, or video adapter RAM."

Appended is the output of WINDBG run on today's Minidump file. It points to NTOSKRNL.EXE, but you can probably glean more information from it than I can.

I am beginning to fear that I have a faulty main board but have no idea how to test this.

Regards,

Mark

_______________________________________________________________________________


Microsoft (R) Windows Debugger  Version 6.6.0007.5
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.


Loading Dump File [C:\WINDOWS\MINIDUMP\MINI033007-01.DMP]
Mini Kernel Dump File: Only registers and stack trace are available

Symbol search path is: C:\SYMBOLS
Executable search path is: C:\WINDOWS\I386

Unable to load image \WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe, Win32 error 2
Loading symbols for 804d7000     ntoskrnl.exe ->   ntoskrnl.exe
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for ntoskrnl.exe
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for ntoskrnl.exe
ModLoad: 804d7000 80701000   \WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
Windows XP Kernel Version 2600 (Service Pack 2) MP (2 procs) Free x86 compatible
Product: WinNt
Kernel base = 0x804d7000 PsLoadedModuleList = 0x805644a0
Debug session time: Fri Mar 30 09:11:05.000 2007 (GMT-8)
System Uptime: 0 days 12:13:43.568
Unable to load image \WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe, Win32 error 2
Loading symbols for 804d7000     ntoskrnl.exe ->   ntoskrnl.exe
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for ntoskrnl.exe
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for ntoskrnl.exe
ModLoad: 804d7000 80701000   \WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
Loading Kernel Symbols
.ModLoad: 80701000 80721d00   halmacpi.dll
.ModLoad: f7987000 f7988b80   kdcom.dll
.ModLoad: f7897000 f789a000   \WINDOWS\system32\BOOTVID.dll
.ModLoad: f7438000 f7465d80   ACPI.sys
.ModLoad: f7989000 f798a100   \WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\WMILIB.SYS
.ModLoad: f7427000 f7437a80   pci.sys
.ModLoad: f7487000 f748fc00   isapnp.sys
.ModLoad: f7497000 f74a5e80   ohci1394.sys
.ModLoad: f74a7000 f74b4000   \WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\1394BUS.SYS
.ModLoad: f789b000 f789d480   compbatt.sys
.ModLoad: f789f000 f78a2700   \WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\BATTC.SYS
.ModLoad: f7a4f000 f7a4fd00   pciide.sys
.ModLoad: f7707000 f770d200   \WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\PCIIDEX.SYS
.ModLoad: f798b000 f798c580   intelide.sys
.ModLoad: f74b7000 f74c1500   MountMgr.sys
.ModLoad: f7408000 f7426880   ftdisk.sys
.ModLoad: f770f000 f7713900   PartMgr.sys
.ModLoad: f74c7000 f74d3c80   VolSnap.sys
.ModLoad: f73f0000 f7407480   atapi.sys
.ModLoad: f74d7000 f74dfe00   disk.sys
.ModLoad: f74e7000 f74f3200   \WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\CLASSPNP.SYS
.ModLoad: f73d1000 f73f0000   fltMgr.sys
.ModLoad: f73bf000 f73d0f00   sr.sys  
.ModLoad: f78a3000 f78a7000   OODrvled.sys
.ModLoad: f74f7000 f74ffb80   PxHelp20.sys
.ModLoad: f73a8000 f73be780   KSecDD.sys
.ModLoad: f731b000 f73a7480   Ntfs.sys
.ModLoad: f72ee000 f731aa80   NDIS.sys
.ModLoad: f72cc000 f72ee000   oodivd.sys
.ModLoad: f7507000 f7512000   oodivdh.sys
.ModLoad: f7517000 f7522000   oodisrh.sys
.ModLoad: f798d000 f798f000   speedfan.sys
.ModLoad: f72a9000 f72cc000   oodisr.sys
.ModLoad: f728e000 f72a8580   Mup.sys
.ModLoad: f7a50000 f7a50680   giveio.sys
.ModLoad: f7527000 f7531580   agp440.sys
.ModLoad: f7557000 f755fd00   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\intelppm.sys
.ModLoad: f703f000 f7246000   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\ati2mtag.sys
.ModLoad: f702b000 f703e780   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\VIDEOPRT.SYS
.ModLoad: f7747000 f774c000   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\usbuhci.sys
.ModLoad: f7008000 f702ae80   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\USBPORT.SYS
.ModLoad: f774f000 f7755800   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\usbehci.sys
.ModLoad: f6f8e000 f7008000   \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\ctaud2k.sys
.ModLoad: f6f6a000 f6f8d980   \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\portcls.sys
.ModLoad: f7567000 f7575b80   \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\drmk.sys
.ModLoad: f6f47000 f6f69680   \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\ks.sys
.ModLoad: f6f14000 f6f47000   \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\ctoss2k.sys
.ModLoad: f775f000 f7767000   \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\ctprxy2k.sys
.ModLoad: f6ed9000 f6f14000   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\yk51x86.sys
.ModLoad: f776f000 f7776000   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\fdc.sys
.ModLoad: f7577000 f7586d80   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\serial.sys
.ModLoad: f793f000 f7942c80   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\serenum.sys
.ModLoad: f6ec5000 f6ed8900   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\parport.sys
.ModLoad: f7587000 f7593e00   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\i8042prt.sys
.ModLoad: f777f000 f7785000   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\kbdclass.sys
.ModLoad: f794b000 f794d980   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\gameenum.sys
.ModLoad: f7597000 f75a1380   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\imapi.sys
.ModLoad: f7957000 f7959680   \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\pfc.sys
.ModLoad: f75a7000 f75b3180   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\cdrom.sys
.ModLoad: f75b7000 f75c5080   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\redbook.sys
.ModLoad: f75c7000 f75d0000   \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\incdrm.SYS
.ModLoad: f779f000 f77a7000   \SystemRoot\System32\DRIVERS\InCDPass.sys
.ModLoad: f77a7000 f77ae000   \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\GEARAspiWDM.sys
.ModLoad: f6a26000 f6dfd000   \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\ALCXWDM.SYS
.ModLoad: f7bd7000 f7bd7c00   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\audstub.sys
.ModLoad: f75d7000 f75e3880   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\rasl2tp.sys
.ModLoad: f796f000 f7971580   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\ndistapi.sys
.ModLoad: f6a0f000 f6a25680   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\ndiswan.sys
.ModLoad: f75e7000 f75f1200   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\raspppoe.sys
.ModLoad: f75f7000 f7602d00   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\raspptp.sys
.ModLoad: f77cf000 f77d3880   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\TDI.SYS
.ModLoad: f69fe000 f6a0ee00   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\psched.sys
.ModLoad: f7607000 f760f900   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\msgpc.sys
.ModLoad: f77df000 f77e3580   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\ptilink.sys
.ModLoad: f77ef000 f77f3080   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\raspti.sys
.ModLoad: f7617000 f7620f00   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\termdd.sys
.ModLoad: f77f7000 f77fca00   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\mouclass.sys
.ModLoad: f7995000 f7996100   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\swenum.sys
.ModLoad: f69ca000 f69fd200   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\update.sys
.ModLoad: f7983000 f7986c80   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\mssmbios.sys
.ModLoad: f7627000 f7631c00   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\rxpvbus.sys
.ModLoad: f7647000 f7650480   \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\NDProxy.SYS
.ModLoad: f7677000 f7685100   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\usbhub.sys
.ModLoad: f799b000 f799c280   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\USBD.SYS
.ModLoad: bafce000 bb000000   \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\hap17v2k.sys
.ModLoad: baeca000 bafce000   \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\ha10kx2k.sys
.ModLoad: bae9d000 baeca000   \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\emupia2k.sys
.ModLoad: bae76000 bae9d000   \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\ctsfm2k.sys
.ModLoad: badda000 bae76000   \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\ctac32k.sys
.ModLoad: f781f000 f7824000   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\flpydisk.sys
.ModLoad: f79a5000 f79a7000   \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Fs_Rec.SYS
.ModLoad: f7ad2000 f7ad3000   \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Null.SYS
.ModLoad: f79a9000 f79aa080   \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Beep.SYS
.ModLoad: f7ad5000 f7ad6000   \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\avgclean.sys
.ModLoad: f7837000 f783c200   \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\vga.sys
.ModLoad: f79ad000 f79ae080   \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\mnmdd.SYS
.ModLoad: f79b1000 f79b2080   \SystemRoot\System32\DRIVERS\RDPCDD.sys
.ModLoad: f6e21000 f6e24000   \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\InCDrec.SYS
.ModLoad: bad79000 bad92000   \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\InCDfs.SYS
.ModLoad: f7847000 f784ba80   \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Msfs.SYS
.ModLoad: f7857000 f785e880   \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Npfs.SYS
.ModLoad: f6e19000 f6e1b280   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\rasacd.sys
.ModLoad: bad66000 bad78400   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\ipsec.sys
.ModLoad: bad0e000 bad65a80   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\tcpip.sys
.ModLoad: bace6000 bad0dc00   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\netbt.sys
.ModLoad: bacc5000 bace5f00   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\ipnat.sys
.ModLoad: f7697000 f769f700   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\wanarp.sys
.ModLoad: baca3000 bacc4d00   \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\afd.sys
.ModLoad: f76a7000 f76af700   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\netbios.sys
.ModLoad: f76b7000 f76c3000   \??\C:\Program Files\SuperAdBlocker.com\Super Ad Blocker\SABKUTIL.sys
.ModLoad: f786f000 f7876000   \??\C:\Program Files\SuperAdBlocker.com\Super Ad Blocker\SABDIFSV.SYS
.ModLoad: f6e01000 f6e03580   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\hidusb.sys
.ModLoad: f76c7000 f76cfd80   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\HIDCLASS.SYS
.ModLoad: f787f000 f7885180   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\HIDPARSE.SYS
.ModLoad: bac77000 baca2180   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\rdbss.sys
.ModLoad: bac08000 bac76380   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\mrxsmb.sys
.ModLoad: f7b06000 f7b06b80   \??\C:\WINDOWS\system32\mbmiodrvr.sys
.ModLoad: f76d7000 f76df880   \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Fips.SYS
.ModLoad: f7b0a000 f7b0a860   \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\BANTExt.sys
.ModLoad: bab40000 bac07620   \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\avg7core.sys
.ModLoad: f79bb000 f79bc080   \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\avg7rsw.sys
.ModLoad: f7767000 f776e000   \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\avg7rsxp.sys
.ModLoad: f7787000 f778d780   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\USBSTOR.SYS
.ModLoad: bab1d000 bab40000   Fastfat.SYS
.ModLoad: f69c6000 f69c9b00   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\usbscan.sys
.ModLoad: f69b6000 f69b8f80   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\mouhid.sys
.ModLoad: f7797000 f779d000   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\point32.sys
.ModLoad: f77b7000 f77bbb00   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\HidBatt.sys
.ModLoad: f77c7000 f77ce580   \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Modem.SYS
.ModLoad: f6ea5000 f6eb4900   \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Cdfs.SYS
.ModLoad: baadd000 baaf4480   \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\dump_atapi.sys
.ModLoad: f79db000 f79dc100   \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\dump_WMILIB.SYS
.ModLoad: bf800000 bf9c0380   \SystemRoot\System32\win32k.sys
.ModLoad: f7827000 f782b500   \SystemRoot\System32\watchdog.sys
.ModLoad: badb2000 badb4900   \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\Dxapi.sys
.ModLoad: bf9c1000 bf9d2580   \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\dxg.sys
.ModLoad: f7b33000 f7b33d00   \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\dxgthk.sys
.ModLoad: bf9d3000 bfa17000   \SystemRoot\System32\ati2dvag.dll
.ModLoad: bfa17000 bfa64000   \SystemRoot\System32\ati2cqag.dll
.ModLoad: bfa64000 bfab0000   \SystemRoot\System32\atikvmag.dll
.ModLoad: bfab0000 bfd3d7c0   \SystemRoot\System32\ati3duag.dll
.ModLoad: bfd3e000 bfe78d00   \SystemRoot\System32\ativvaxx.dll
.ModLoad: bffa0000 bffe5c00   \SystemRoot\System32\ATMFD.DLL
.ModLoad: b88d1000 b88d4280   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\ndisuio.sys
.ModLoad: f77d7000 f77dc000   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\pnarp.sys
.ModLoad: f77ff000 f7805000   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\purendis.sys
.ModLoad: b8628000 b8654400   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\mrxdav.sys
.ModLoad: f7a3d000 f7a3f000   \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\ParVdm.SYS
.ModLoad: b84f7000 b8537380   \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\HTTP.sys
.ModLoad: b83dc000 b842e180   \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\srv.sys
.ModLoad: b7e9f000 b7eb3400   \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\wdmaud.sys
.ModLoad: b8204000 b8212d80   \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\sysaudio.sys
.ModLoad: b8795000 b879a000   \??\C:\Program Files\SuperAdBlocker.com\Super Ad Blocker\SABProcEnum.sys

Loading User Symbols
Loading unloaded module list
..............
Loaded dbghelp extension DLL
Loaded ext extension DLL
Loaded exts extension DLL
Loaded kext extension DLL
Loaded kdexts extension DLL
*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.

BugCheck 7A, {c0388f54, c000009a, e23d5438, 372ca880}

***** Kernel symbols are WRONG. Please fix symbols to do analysis.

***** Kernel symbols are WRONG. Please fix symbols to do analysis.

Loading symbols for f7983000     mssmbios.sys ->   mssmbios.sys
Probably caused by : ntoskrnl.exe ( nt+60832 )

Followup: MachineOwner
---------
_______________________________________________________________________________

Shplad,

Your second one first! :-
----------------------

      > ...boot from a known-good Windows XP CD, let the setup run, and select the emergency recovery console. That allows you to logon to your XP install, and delete files... <

I set up the Recovery Console as a boot option some time ago and find it very helpful. Thank goodness I cut my teeth on DOS before Windows was more than a gleam in Bill's eye.

So I'll use that to delete PAGEFILE.SYS.

I have now set pagefiles to "No Pagefile" and  I'm defragging my C: drive as I write this - using good old O&O Defrag... but during the defragging, I suffered a crash to:-

IRQL_NOT_LESS_0R_EQUAL
STOP: 0x0000000A (0X00000010, 0X00000002, 0X00000000, 0X8050D901)

- which is a new one to me! See: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314063

I finally got XP to restart after several mandatory CHKDSKs. While I was booting-up, I took the opportunity to use the Recovery Console to look for any copies of PAGEFILE.SYS and found there were none. So I have re-created the pagefile; in fact, I have made two: a small (200MB) one on C: (as this is necessary for memory dumps) and a larger (4096MB) on the second SATA drive H:.

      > ...if it's too much trouble to get a copy of UBCD4WIN or BartPE... <

I do have UBCD4WIN but have not yet copied it to a CD.

How do you define a "known-good Windows XP CD"? I have my original CDs for this and the other two computers in the house and the CD with a slipstreamed SP2 copy of the disc for this computer. I have been using the latter (which checked out OK with CDCheck), followed, of course, by the 69 MS downloaded updates...


Your first posting:-
------------------

      > I know you're battle-weary at this point - I've been there. <

Indeed! And the last two weeks have been particularly bad: we have had to get a new dishwasher, a new microwave and have all the house guttering replaced; then one of our dogs had to be put down. It can only improve!

      > Interesting. I did a Google for your motherboard model number, and next to nothing came up in terms of specifications. The closest I could get was this: http://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=251737 and that doesn't even describe the "-G" model. More on this at the end of this posting. <

Here's the URL for my motherboard, GA-8IPE1000 Pro-G:-

http://tw2005.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_GA-8IPE1000%20Pro-G.htm

      > Ensuring of course, that you have the correct, and best chipset and SATA and IDE controller drivers for that motherboard installed in Windows. I say this because I could not find any reference to that motherboard model on GB's website, nor could I find any drivers on the Net. <

I found Gigabyte's list of drivers at:-

http://tw2005.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/Support/Driver/Driver_List.htm

- for Chipset & LAN. So I've downloaded and installed them. Some of the other drivers in their list, e.g. SATA and VGA, did not work...

I have been having repeated episodes of messages as Windows loads saying: "Registry Recovery. One of the files containing the system's Registry data had to be recovered by use of a log or alternate copy. The recovery was successful." I cannot find any relevant info on this on the Web. I am trying running a Registry Restore from RegCure to see if that fixes it.

I'll report on whether the rebuilt pagefile has stopped the crashes.

Thanks for your very much appreciated help - it gives me hope when all else seems to be failing. :-)

Regards,

Mark

Shplad,

No, not overclocking. Being a wimp, I've never dared try that - too many tales of fried CPUs, etc. :-)

      > ...The words of Schulz from Hogan's Heroes keep coming to my mind... "I know nothing". <

Also said by Manuel in Fawlty Towers!

      > It's just a guess... that the Stop 7A error was because of a lack of memory due to defragging without a pagefile. <

That sounds very reasonable: the defragger needs somewhere to store the files as it shifts them around. I'll run a defrag on the same drive (H:) now and see what happens. Interestingly, after that crash, Windows demanded that it run CHKDSK on H:, as well as on C:. I demurred at first and was rewarded by an immediate crash as soon as Windows tried to load! That'll teach me.

(Later) Well, O&O Defrag got as far as 84% on drive H: and then the mouse cursor got 'sticky', finally freezing, and immediately a dump occurred (Stop 0x7A).

      > ...please do try all the things I mentioned above... <

As I inferred, I was unable to find any appropriate Gigabyte drivers for IDE or SATA on this page:-

http://tw2005.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/Support/Driver/Driver_List.htm

- but I did get: DRIVER_AUDIO_REALTEK_WHQL.EXE; DRIVER_CHIPSET_INTEL_INF.EXE and DRIVER_LAN_MARVELL.EXE and installed them. There was a SATA/RAID driver on the Gigabyte site but I wasn't sure it was correct, so discretion beat valour... Maybe you can point me in the right direction for these drivers?

I am still getting the "Registry Recovery" error messages as Windows loads. Restoring the registry to a previous backup hasn't helped.

      > If you have several Windows CDs, you have little to lose by trying one of the other ones. Just don't bother installing the 69 patches before we've diagnosed the problem... <

Yes, it's suddenly occurred to my old befuddled brain that if I use one of the other original Win XP CDs to install on a different drive, I don't have to register/authorize it for 30 days - by which time I sincerely hope this has all been cleared up! So I'll try "installing Windows to boot from the IDE controller", as you suggested. I copied all the files off the IDE disk and reformatted it the other day. This will mean leaving it to run with no added programs for a day to give it time to crash if it's going to.

I suppose the best way to do this is to shut down, disconnect the two SATA HDDs and then boot from the Win XP CD. I don't want to open another can of worms by trying to have a dual boot setup...

BTW, I finally found out how to regain Explorer/My Computer access to Drives A:, E: & F: (I mentioned this a few posts ago). Googling for this, I found that Tweak UI could hide logical drives. I had had Tweak UI on this machine way back when but never used it to hide drives. However, I downloaded it again and on running it discovered that it showed those drives as 'hidden'... Voilà!

I'll wait for your reply before installing XP on the IDE drive.

Regards,

Mark

Shplad,

      > I presume that the Intel chipset executable allowed you to install ALL the chipset drivers, including that of the motherboard's SATA and/or IDE controllers...  You could always check your storage controllers in device manager and look at which date and version drivers are loaded for them. <

As far as I can see, the Intel Chipset executable may well have installed some chipset drivers but I am not convinced that it affected the SATA and IDE controllers. In Device Manager/IDE/ATAPI controllers I find the following:-

      Intel 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers (both):-
      
            ...\DRIVERS\ATAPI SYS      |      Dates: 2004-03-25
            ...\DRIVERS\PCIIDE.SYS      |      Version: 5.1.0.1009
            ...\DRIVERS\PCIIDEX.SYS      |

      Primary IDE Channel (both primaries and secondaries):-
      
            ...\DRIVERS\ATAPI.SYS            |      Dates: 2001-07-01
            ...\SYSTEM32\STORPREP.DLL      |      Version: 5.1.2600.2180

- which don't seem very up-to-date to me. Furthermore, I see no evidence in Device Manager of SATA controllers, as such. Should these appear separately from the ATA and IDE controllers, or are they 'included' in them?

Before setting out to install a clean copy of Win XP Home on my formatted IDE HDD, I have run CHKDSK /P from the Restore Console on all my logical drives. All of them showed errors.

I'll now disconnect the two SATA HDDs and install XP on the IDE drive. After letting it run for at least 24 hours, I'll report back. Fasten your seatbelts!

Regards,

Mark

Shplad,

      > ...you should probably try the approprate set here:

      > http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/sb/CS-009241.htm

      > But only with a fresh install, immediately after installation. Even better, if you know how, I would extract the drivers on a different computer, and put the .INF, .SYS and .DLL files for the storage drivers onto a floppy disk. That way, you could install Windows, and when the installer first starts, hit the F6 button when you are prompted to install 3rd party storage drivers. You can do this for all drivers. You cannot run the SETUP.EXE program of course, but you could point Windows to the raw driver files BEFORE Windows is installed. <

I went to the above Intel page and downloaded the .EXE file INFINST_AUTOL.EXE, which seemed the appropriate Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility for the Intel® 865PE Chipset (although all versions of the 865 appear to have the same download). I ran INFINST_AUTOL.EXE -a -a and it produced a directory INFINST, under C:\PROGRAM FILES\INTEL, containing the following subdirectories: VISTA, WIN2000, WIN2003 and XP. Of course(!) XP is the one I need, this dir. contains 70 files, about half .CAT and half .INF and one file: INFAnswr.TXT. It also contains a subdir. SP with 5 each of .CAT and .INF in it. There is no SETUP.EXE anywhere.

Intel's page:-

http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/inf/sb/CS-009278.htm?iid=chipsets+infmain&

- says: "If you need to upgrade to the latest version, then you will need to install the utility using the have-disk installation method. The setup.exe installation method cannot be used because it will prevent you from upgrading if the utility has already been installed."

The Have-Disk Installation Instructions say that you should use the Device Manager for installation.

I copied XP and XP/SP to a floppy and, once the Win XP CD had booted, put it in the A: drive. When Windows asked for any 3rd party drivers, I hit F6 but got an error message saying that it couln't find TXTSETUP.OEM. (I later searched my C: drive but the only .OEM file I have is for my Sony DVD writer.) I decided to go ahead with the Win XP installation on to my IDE HDD, which I had previously formatted, but Windows said it was unable to use that partition and offered to format it. I accepted this, only to be told that the partition was unformattable!

I have since used Partition Magic 8.0 to reformat this IDE drive and have made sure it is set Active. Win XP's Disk Management shows it to be 'Healthy' and CHKDSK /F has found 'No problems'.

So I am now going to re-attempt installing XP (from an unmarked, unscratched, un-fingerprinted CD :-) ) and see what happens...

Regards,

Mark

Shplad,

      > Are you partitioning all your drives with Partition Magic before you install Windows? I sure hope not, as some versions of it were buggy and/or caused compatibility issues with different versions of Windows. <

Yes, usually, but in the present case the IDE drive is unpartitioned. After reformatting it with Partition Magic 8 (I had previously done this to wipe the drive of its existing contents) I made sure it was set Active - which may not have been the case previously - and XP Home accepted it as a suitable place to live.  :-)  BTW, I have never had any 'issues' with PM...

I then started the computer with all the other (SATA) drives disconnected and allowed it to run, with no added software, for about 24 hours undisturbed. No crashes or other errors occurred. (This was before I received your posting about the alternative way to install the Intel drivers.) This would seem to me to rule out hardware problems as a cause of the BSODs.

At this point, by pure chance, a colleague of my wife came to the house on a matter pertaining to her. I had not met him before and, chatting as he was leaving, the conversation turned to computers. I mentioned that I had been grappling with a problem for some time and he asked if I had access to a computer technician. I, of course, mentioned Experts Exchange and the help I was receiving from you guys, and he said, "Well, if you need someone to come and take a look at your machine, I know a fellow who we call in when our computers are giving trouble. He's very good and lives just up the highway. If you like I'll give him your number." I agreed to this - not expecting much - and was surprised when the next day this tech phoned and said he'd be glad to call round on Saturday. Gabriel duly arrived and we spent a couple of hours discussing the problem. He suggested three things for me to try: get rid of much of the anti-spyware, etc., that I had installed; upgrade the existing 350 watt PSU to the 550 watt unit that has been sitting on the floor here for months (!); and set the Power Options to turn off the HDDs after 30 mins of inactivity and go to System Standby after 1 hour. He opined that the problem was almost certainly due to software configurations but that upgrading the PSU would be beneficial from a stability standpoint.

I should add that Gabriel says he got his first computer at the age of 9  - he's now in his late twenties - became fascinated by them and decided to make this his livelihood. He has previously worked as a programmer for such firms as Symantec and Proctor & Gamble. So I think he knows what he's talking about.

After he left, I removed the software he recommended and reset the Power Options. The computer has now been running continuously (from the original Win XP installation) for over 24 hours with no crashes. I am hopeful!

I'll install the 550 watt PSU after Easter when I hope to have sufficient time.

Meanwhile, I followed the suggestions you made about installing the Intel drivers, which I did on the original Win XP installation rather than on the new one on the IDE drive. I looked in Device Manager for "MPS Uniprocessor PC -OR- MPS Multiprocessor PC" but found "ACPI Multiprocessor PC" instead. (I assume this difference is unimportant?) I also found "Intel 82801 PCI Bridge - 244E" rather than any of the six alternatives suggested.

I finally updated the following Intel Drivers:-

      Intel 82801 PCI Bridge - 244E
      Intel 82801EB LPC Interface Controller - 24D0
      Intel 82801EB SMBus Controller - 24D3
      Intel 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers
      Intel 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers
      Intel 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24D2
      Intel 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24D4
      Intel 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24D7
      Intel 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24DE
      Intel 82801EB USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 24DD

- then rebooted and all seems well.


Whether the errors will continue remains to be seen. I'll report back after a few days.

Regards,

Mark

Mark:

I'm thrilled to hear it. I normally wouldn't say this, but in this case, after this much work, I hope
I actually get some credit for this one.

Either way. Let's keep our fingers crossed.


Shplad

Shplad,

      > I'm thrilled to hear it. I normally wouldn't say this, but in this case, after this much work, I hope I actually get some credit for this one. <

Of course you get plenty of credit for all your much appreciated help! You were an ever-present help in my times of trouble and enabled me to eliminate a great number of possible causes for the crashes. Thank you!

Well, apart from one episode on Monday 9th of STOP: 0x7A (pointing to CLASSPNP.SYS, described in Properties as "SCSI Class System DLL"), there have been no further dumps. I have, since then, installed the Antec 550 watt PSU (with a great deal of difficulty owing to space problems in removal past the CPU heat sink/fan assembly!). The computer then ran for over 38 hours without a crash, which it has not done since the problems started, and this period may well have been longer but for a required re-boot for a Windows update.

So I am cautiously optimistic...

What the root cause of the BSODs was, I may never know, nor would I care but for knowing how to avoid future episodes.

At present, the 'only' problem remaining is the appearance of 3 or 4 Registry Recovery error messages every time Windows loads. I would appreciate some pointers on what could be causing this and how to stop it. The registry files appear to me to be intact but how would I know?

One other question: Having a surplus SATA drive - presumably in working order, since replacing it made no difference - I wondered if it could be installed. The motherboard has two SATA sockets, both of which are occupied as master drives, is it possible to run a third SATA drive as a slave device? And, if so, are SATA cables available to split between master and slave, à la IDE cables?

Regards,

Mark

Shplad,

Before this question is closed - if I'm not too late - I thought I should add something.

In brief, I have not had any more BSODs since 20 May 2007.

On 26 Apr 2007, I reinstalled Win XP Home on my old IDE drive, as we had been suspicious of the SATA system. But the BSODs continued.

There had been a series of crashes, approximately daily, up to 20 May and the final one was a STOP: 0x7A, referring to AFD.SYS. Microsoft then produced a message suggesting I refer to their article "How to Use Memory Pool Monitor (Poolmon.exe) to Troubleshoot Kernel Mode Memory Leaks", which I did and the next day ran the Global Flags Editor (Gflags.exe) utility and enabled Pool Tagging. I ran PoolMon but was unable to make much sense of the information it displayed...

I left Pool Tagging enabled, in spite of the artcle's advice to disable it after debugging was complete.

The same day, I ran the MS hotfix for their update KB935448, as I had heard that this was necessary.

Since then I have had no more 'involuntary' reboots. I have left well alone and not disabled Pool Tagging in case this was responsible for the new-found stability!

In closing, I'd like to thank you for all your most welcome help over the weeks since March. I have certainly learnt a lot about the more arcane workings of computers as a result!

Regards,

Mark