Preserved Topic: winXP blue screen

from time to time i am getting these annoying blue screens on my winXP prof. and with no special cause.

right now, i was away from the computer in the other room, when i noticed that winamp stopped playing. when i checked back i just found this blue screen creating that memory image (what's that for? and where can i access that?).
this happens about every 3 hours. anyone knows what could be wrong? i guess it's some hardware issue...
or do you know where else i could try to find help? thanks!

Yes I belive it's do to a hardware conflict, I had the same problem, it would crash and show a dumb blue screen. Most of the time it would do some kind of a memory dump. saying an error has occured and in windows and is being shutdown to prevent further damage "something like that". Anyway I went to windows update and downloaded all of their compatability updates and I haven't seen one since. Also check your hardware and software manufacturers for updates as well.......

hm. could be temperature related... sure that nothing get's too hot in your system?

1 click on the Start menu
2 go to Programs
3 scroll to Administrative Tools
4 click on Event Viewer
5 browse Application - Security - System for a full error report
6 now you should know what's causing the blue screens



::UltrA::

quick troubleshooting guide to windows xp professional and to how to get rid of all instability and whatnot issues:

1. remove all VIA and related hardware from your pc
2.


done.

fgfx.com * image
fgfx/rff * noise

temperature is normal.

ultra, thanks for the quick guide! that cleared things up a bit for me.
i'll be back when i figured out the real cause.

thanks, everyone!

Hey, VIA & AMD rules!

yea, i dont think it's some bios issue.

in the event viewer protocol the error is always:

True Vector Engine
Apache Service
with an Error

and

Microsoft Fax
with a Warning

Grumble, try to disable ZoneAlarm (that's what TrueVector Engine is) and see whether you'll get BSOD again or not...

im not using ZA anymore since i upgraded to XP. i rely on the XP built-in firewall.

but that scares me a little bit... could it still be running in the background or somewhat?
i dont see any suspect processes.

but, my statistics show:
after all, i figured out that the BSOD doesnt appear, when i leave the computer idle a few minutes after the startup.
(dont touching keyboard, not starting any programs)
if i start any progs for example right after it has booted, BSOD will appear sooner or later (could also be 2hours later)

Well, since it appears in error log (check date field to verify that you're looking at the most recent log), ZA engine is still running. Check computer services and disable True Vector Engine there...

ah, yes. two true vector services were still running. i uninstalled ZA now completely.

but again, i got an BSOD from apache i think. here's the error:

The Apache service named Apache.exe reported the following error:
>>> [Mon Jan 07 22:34:54 2002] [warn] pid file c:/programme/apache group/apache/logs/httpd.pid overwritten -- Unclean shutdown of previous Apache run? <<<
before the error.log file could be opened.
More information may be available in the error.log file.

Hmm, I doubt that Apache generated BSOD in this case (reported error is harmless), but to be certain disable it temporarily and see what will happen...

ok. i doubt too.
reason:
in the event viewer protocol i have
under application:
07.01.2002 23:01:41 Apache Service
and under system:
07.01.2002 23:01:01 acpi

which may be my cd-burner. and infact i was burning a cd (damned! it's destroyed now! )
but im not always bruning a cd when BSOD appears.
but when i check the log nearly everytime acpi is involved in the system-category. i always thought only the application-category counts.

edit: details of the acpi-error (german)
AMLI: ACPI-BIOS versucht, in eine ungültige E/A-Portadresse (0xcf8) zu schreiben, die sich in "0xcf8 - 0xcff", einem geschützten Adressbereich befindet. Dies kann zu Systeminstabilität führen. Wenden Sie sich an den Systemhersteller, um technische Unterstützung zu erhalten.

btw: this is a very very old burner. mitsumi 2x. could that be the problem?

[This message has been edited by GRUMBLE (edited 01-07-2002).]

could be. is it winxp compatible/logo certified? i doubt. is it smart to use non certified hardware with winxppro unless you _know_ it works _100%_ right? no.



fgfx.com * image
fgfx/rff * noise

that bruner is more than 4 years old i guess... how could it be winxp certified (how do i check?)?

well, i unplugged it now, let's see...

if it's really that bruner, im off to the shop for a new one. i saw that sony 24x very cheap lately...

just got the BSOD again while i was unraring something with winrar.
the burner was unplugged. and in the event viewer protocol it still says acpi.
could it be my dvd? hope not!

do a clean re-install. your xp is rotten.

how it has gotten to that state, though, sure is beyond my knowledge and ideas. =\

*knocks wood*

fgfx.com * image
fgfx/rff * noise

ok, so you mean i should format my disk?
how do i do that with NTFS?
fdisk wont do it...

why?

you could just reinstall winxppro.

i hope you ARE running or at least do have xp pro.



fgfx.com * image
fgfx/rff * noise

why are you doubting?

Grumble, just from my current similar problems, I get such BSOD and similar behaviours when:

1)I noticed that the CPU fan is not working at all! no really! sometimes it works, other time it doesn't
2)heating! all of the time, I notice lots of heat...again when I do something heavy
3)a hardware is not good , last time my motherboard with dying and causing these problems.

Good luck...

Check http://www.microsoft.com/hcl/ It´s the Microsoft Hardware compatability list
if you don´t find your CD burner there then it´s not suported by Microsoft and could
therefor be causing problems.

yup my english sucks

lallous. no it's not the temperature or anything like that. thanks, anyway.

delphi, thanks for the link, but as i already said, i dont think its the burner, cause i crashed also when i had it plugged off.


meanwhile, i searched google groups for that problem. and some other people have the very same issue with this acpi (whatever it is).

doubting?

fgfx.com * image
fgfx/rff * noise

I remember a friend of mine having a similar problem -- later he discovered that something was wrong with his CPU fan that caused his CPU to overheat -- often causing restarts.

just in case you are interested:
as i suspected first, it WAS apache! i upgraded from *20 to *22 and no BSODs more since 24 hours.

edit: nevermind! it just happened again, but it IS apache!

error-message is still: Unclean shutdown of previous Apache run?

[This message has been edited by GRUMBLE (edited 01-12-2002).]