New Type of CRASH Please HELP!

Got a new problem…this time computer crashed while awake…message: PFN_LIST_CORRUPT STOP: 0x0000004E (0x0000009A, 0x000B602C, 0x00000006, 0x00000002) Any ideas? Thank You!

Hi Howied Sorry to hear you get BSOD's, they are never fun, and hard to troubleshoot. But this particular error is very often related to bad RAM modules. How much RAM do you have and more importantly, divided on how many sticks? If you got more than one RAM stick, first thing to try would be to remove one stick and see what happens. Swap them around if need be. Remember to take anti-static precautions whenever you rumage with the interior of your PC, by touching bare metal. If you only have one RAM stick, please tell, and I can give you directions to some test programs. Regards

Abydos, Thanks for the help!…I have 3gb of RAM but I have no idea about the sticks or how many I have..etc…My computer was crashing in sleep mode only before…so I don't let it sleep anymore…Maybe you could send me some testing info…I am really not experienced at all with hardware issues…please advise and thanks again! Howied

Hi Howied With 3GB of RAM you most likely have them divided on 3x1GB. But if you are uncomrtable rumaging inside your PC, you might prefer some software tools to do it, altho, I must say that doing it by hand is the speediest method. Some of these tools can take several hours to run. If you want a precise guide on how to swap your RAM's just say so. It may also just be a matter of a RAM stick needing reseating, in which case a software tool always will report an error. Also to have in mind, is that your Graphic card contains memory, which also could trigger this behaviour. So if the normal RAM checks out, we have to check that to. As you are using windows Vista, I would like to hear if you got a Vista CD? Reason being that Vista have its own memory diagnostic tool. So before I go ahead recommend this option, the vital component is a CD. If you have none, I will go ahead list some memory diagnostic tools for you. Regards

Abydos, I have three recovery discs that were made by the techs when I got my computer…yes, I have Vista but I did not get a vista cd…at least I don't think so…I will double check…but I'm 99% sure I did not get a Vista cd….Please let me know what's next….thanks! Howied

Hi

Have a look on this page, read through to understand what you have to do. Maybe print it out
so the info is at hand. There is also a download link on that page for the tool also.
It needs to be burned to a CD, as either a image or ISO file. But everything you need to know
should be explained on that page.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazin…yspotlight.aspx



Among those 3 CD's you sure there is none of them you could use to boot with?
Anyhow, I'll a link on how to use the tool if you find you do have a Vista bootable CD.
How to use the Vista Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool


Regards

Hi Abydos! I ran the diagnostic tools and everything came back clean, what is next to do, if anything? Let me know….Thanks again! Howied