The Furious Angels
FA Discussion => Off Topic => Topic started by: Tbone on November 03, 2006, 02:00:54 pm
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Here's my situation - new laptop, a Dell M1710 bought off of eBay. Works great EXCEPT for these annoying blue screens I seem to keep getting, without much consistency as to when and why. The first two times was while I was playing a game (I've had two other times where it has frozen but no blue screen), but recently it's been happening while I'm afk (and usually downloading something). Without further ado, the screens:
BSOD #1 - I've gotten this once twice while running a game:
NMI: Parity Check / Memory Parity Error
*** Hardware Malfunction
Call your hardware vendor for support
*** The system has halted ***
BSOD #2 - appears while I am afk, usually leaving the computer downloading
This blue screen blames kmixer.sys. I also sometimes see KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
BSOD #3 - new one I received while afk last night
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
Stop 0x0000000A
Stop Errors Recorded
Got the last few days stop errors:
0x1000008e (0xc0000005, 0x805befa5, 0xb591cc94, 0x00000000)
0x1000007e (0xc0000005, 0xb353b539, 0xb4a24c18, 0xb4a24914)
0x1000007e (0xc0000005, 0xb2074f68, 0xb35d6c0c, 0xb35d6908)
0x1000000a (0x00000000, 0x00000009, 0x00000001, 0x805444ad)
Troubleshooting
Most of my research has pointed to either bad memory or corrupted device drivers. I was pretty sure it was my RAM, but after running all the tests Dell recommended I do, I received no errors (meaning Dell won't replace my RAM). I've also downloaded updates dealing with kmixer.sys (most recent blue screen didn't point to that file). I've run a complete disk scan. I've reseated memory. I've double-checked my pagefile size. I've defragged. I think my next step is going to be running the Windows CD and trying to repair the installation in case something happened there. I can't find a way to really pinpoint the source of the problem, and even if I do, I'm not sure how to fix it. Any help would be much appreciated!
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Bad memory. Get the bootable MS RAM checker CD, but I would wager you a few drinks it's bad memory
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I've run a few different memory checkers from bootable disk (memtest.org) as well as the tests that come with Windows (fn boot) and even done it alternating sticks of RAM. The memory passes every test - EVERY test. I was sure it was bad memory too, but I'm screwed if I can't prove it. There's also the possibility that it is not the RAM at all.
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Just do a second repair on it (repair install). Or if you can roll back your system before you made those driver changes.
If there is nothing that you need on the machine just format and reinstall. If you get blue screen errors DURING a fresh install then it's bad hardware. XP install is the best hardware checker around.
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Here are the last four minidumps:
http://liquiware.net/tbone/Mini102806-01.dmp
http://liquiware.net/tbone/Mini102906-01.dmp
http://liquiware.net/tbone/Mini103106-01.dmp
http://liquiware.net/tbone/Mini110306-01.dmp
Timestamp is part of filename, so you can kinda follow the odd pattern of crashes. Yeah, I think I'm about to try the repair of Windows and see if that does anything. It's hard to know for sure. I didn't have a crash for three days and thought I had fixed it, but suddenly there it was again. Perhaps those dump files will help someone determine the source of the issue?
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Could be the RAM is overheating. Could also be a faulty PSU of course
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yeah it sounded like to me it was a overheating type of problem weird crap happens when things over heat... had a message very similar to that when i was overclocking a bit over the limit and my memory was getting a tad too hot.
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hmm well i asked him about things overheating a while ago...yes i am talking about the lappy :P
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ok so i just looked at your auction you got it from. did you get windows media edition or xp pro? he said he was going to do a full system recovery. something may have gone wrong when he did that. maybe you should do a clean installation.
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I would think it would be more prone to overheat while in use rather than while it is idle. It's only blue screened on me twice while I was actually there at the computer.
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Well, repairing Windows officially f*cked my pc. It won't even load now. It goes straight to the blue screen "Hardware Malfunction" every time.
...
Oh, I also got errors when trying to install mscorwks.dll and mscoree.dll, though I don't think it has anything to do with this.
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If you have bad sectors it will cause it to lock up durning idle, as well as in use.
I have some software you can use to test..I'll dig it out and try to get it out this weekend, or Monday.
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I can boot in safe mode, but when trying to use System Restore, it simply doesn't work. It says there are no points for today and won't load up any other day and won't even switch to last month. Bahhh....
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I know you hate it so I'm gonna hide it in a cough...
*cough*format*cough*
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Fixed the blue screen on startup. Had to reinstall all the Dell drivers from the Dell CD. Going through Windows Update now. Only time will tell if I did anything that fixed it.
*So take that you f*ckin format nazis!!!
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Did you format the computer when you got it?
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I would have just formatted it anyway, its not like it has information on there you need.
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That was gonna be my next question in that post...but i thought it would be quite obvious to either sell it formatted... or to format it as soon as you get it.
LOL, yes i am the format Nazi!
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Tbone+computers=trouble
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Hehe Destyn I'm the man who forgot to screw his Mobo down :D LOL
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You never bothered to check the battery, did you!? I'm telling you. My mom was having the same problem with her Gateway. Same error messages, all pointing toward faulty memory. Take the battery out, and run the computer using just the power cord. If it doesn't happen anymore, you need a new battery. ;) If it does still happen, well, then, I was wrong. :p
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I'd be willing to wager that the laptop was overheating. Might want to invest on a cooling pad for the laptop (nifty little goody you put your laptop on that has fans built into it to draw the heat build up away from the laptop. It's pretty spiffy, and I used to have one for when I was in laptop classes in high school).
The other thing I see as a problem is the kmixer thing. By chance, did you get some sound drivers called kX? If so, remove them immediately. They're touted as having the best sound on earth for Live! and up audio based cards, but they also cause an ass-load of problems, especially with games. Go back to your default sound drivers.
If those things don't work, it's time for a reinstall, my man.
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Well, so far no blue screen. I'm not going to change anything for a few days and see if my repair and reinstall fixed it.
Overheating could be a problem, but I move my laptop around quite a bit. Also, it tends to happen while I'm afk (while the computer is idle), rather than while I'm doing 10 things at once (when it is actually likely to overheat). No weird audio driver - just the one that comes with the computer. I did reinstall it, though, and I think that will help (installing in safe mode seemed to make the installation hang...maybe tht was part of the problem).
As for the battery, I did run some battery tests and removed it at some point, but no, I haven't tried just removing it. If I STILL get blue screens, that'll be one of my next steps, though I'd rather have the option of using my laptop with a battery. Heh.
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As for the battery, I did run some battery tests and removed it at some point, but no, I haven't tried just removing it. If I STILL get blue screens, that'll be one of my next steps, though I'd rather have the option of using my laptop with a battery. Heh.
Well. look at it this way... If it is the battery, and you don't bother to take it out and test the computer without it, you're going to continue to have the problem.
If it is the battery, you order a new one and have to wait what, 2 days, maybe? It's not like you'll never be able to run the computer ever again...
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My battery isn't one of the ones needing recall, btw...
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Doesn't have to be. The recall is just for the exploding batteries. Doesn't mean that your battery isn't bad. Bad cell, or something else.
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Hmmm, just looking at the stop errors on your first post, it looks like there may be a serious issue as it's pointing to various different problems; multiple issues are usually the fault of one problem down the chain.
Particularly sound hardware management....
It is quite important to install the chipset drivers for your motherboard.
This will handle the bus management of the north and south-bridge controllers, which bascially interact with all the other hardware. It may well be installed, but if not that would definately be a good cause for these symptoms.
BSOD is not a Windows problem. It is a driver/hardware problem.
Wrong driver or faulty hardware. It's a bastard, but thankfully most BSODs are driver.
Some drivers CAN become corrupted (the actual software), especially if crashes leave files in an "open" state when restarting the PC, thus not allowing them to tidy up properly.
However, heat IS a major issue, because the chips can't perform if to hot, therefore not delivering data, and hence giving an error. I'm not thinking it is a memory issue.
If you can, format, then get some stress tools to really put the heat on the board. If it survives then it's not heat.
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If you can, format, then get some stress tools to really put the heat on the board. If it survives then it's not heat.
If it doesn't, then you need a new computer :)
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Ket's right, like I said as well, it's something to do with your sound driver. 2 things should have fixed it either reinstalling those sound drivers or repairing windows. You did both. But there's still a lot of damage to your registry and more than likely a lot of crap left over from the "upgrade install"s.
Still if you bought this machine used and you have not formatted, you need to do so no matter what troubles you may have. Who knows what software/data could be on there. You need to do so ASAP. I or anyone could sell you a computer that allows me to spy on you undetected by any off the shelf software.
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Although this ain't blue screen blues, I'm having black screen blues :P When I play I freeze then the screen goes black for 15 secondsish then comes back, extremely annoying in PvP, I'm currently doing a Spyware and Virus sweep.... I'll do a defragment too.... Any ideas (I'm running on 512MB RAM too if that's any help).
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Got the Hardware Malfunction blue screen again. Once while visiting websites and once while afk overnight while downloading. *Sigh*....
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perhaps time to use that guarantee old boy?
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I can't get on my cpu at all now.... I go to a blue screen and it says "Virtual memory dump" at the bottom :'(
PS. I'm on the family cpu :P
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wow so your computer is like 100% fried?? no chance of getting into safemode or anything now eh?