BSOD

I've been getting a BSOD while playing a game. Only while playing that one game. I've not encountered it while doing anything else. I can't be 100% sure if the game is actually causing it, though it is the most likely cause. I do however have 4 minidump files from each of the crashes I've encountered so far. I have no idea how to make use of these files though, so if anyone could help me find out if they contain any useful data I'd be very grateful. I want to find out if it's the game itself or if perhaps it's an interaction of the game and something else on my machine that's causing this BSOD problem.

Hello, Would you please tell me what game it is, what operating system you have, how much RAM do you have, and what processor. Chances are it is just a conflict with a driver or program that you have running, but lets start with the basics. Oh, also what video card do you have?

Everequest, Win XP sp2, 4GB (2 2GB sticks), AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual Core 6400+, Nvidia 7600 GT. Using the latest vid drivers and latest Direct X.

Sorry for the delayed responce.
I have found several post where an audio driver caused a blue screen with everquest.
Try looking for the latest audio driver for your computer.

That was one of the things I attempted to update when I started getting the BSOD. I use a Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio sound card. I used the auto update feature and according to it there were no more recent drivers for it. Right now I'm using driver version 5.12.1.621 according to the properties in the windows device manager. SB X-Fi Xtreme Audio, Driver Version 1.4.79 according to the automatic update. The only thing the updater tries to get me to install is their media player.

When you udate your drivers are you going to the manufactures web site?
Microsoft update (and automatic update) do not have the newest drivers.
When you select "update driver" in device manager you are not getting the newest drivers.
Google everquest bsod and you will see several people who had an issue with audio drivers and everquest.
That is the only thing that I found.

Creative has their own automatic update utility that downloads and installs their own drivers directly from them. That is what I used. I got my latest DirectX from the MS Download center, and I got my latest video driver from the Nvidia website. Back to my original question, I have the minidump files from those BSOD's. Is there any way to read what info they have to find out if Everquest was even the culprit?

Well this BSOD has started happening to another game. Everquest 2. (the only two games I've been playing lately) I had started to become suspicious if the errors were being caused by RAM do I ran a memtest for two passes initially with no errors. I have since let it run overnight for 15 full passes and still no errors. I'm fairly satisfied that the RAM is not the problem. I then thought that perhaps I was just overheating. So I decided to dust out my computer. I shut it down, and turned off the power (flipped the switch on the power supply and the power on the surge protector. I used "Blow Off" can dusters to get the dust out. There was quite a bit in there but not really that bad. After I had finished dusting I let it air out for a couple hours and turned everything back on. When it came back online I got a pop-up saying that Windows had recovered from a fatal error. I clicked to check the details of the error report, and it was referencing the first BSOD I had gotten on 7-28. I noticed that I for some reason couldn't get online, so I rebooted again. This time I got more of the "Windows has recovered" messages for each BSOD that I've had lately. Why these messages are only now showing themselves I have no idea. This is actually a good thing as it turns out because it finally let me know that each BSOD had the same error. I had taken a picture of (either the first or second) BSOD that I had with Everquest. It read IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, and the stop code was: STOP: 0x0000000A (0x00000000, 0x000000FF, 0x00000000, 0x806E2EA0) As quoted from the error messages after the reboot: BCCode : 1000000a BCP1 : 00000000 BCP2 : 000000FF BCP3 : 00000000 BCP4 : 806E2EA0 OSVer : 5_1_2600 SP : 2_0 Product : 256_1 Each message contained the same information except that it each referenced a different minidump file. Since then I've been unable to connect to the internet. My on-board NIC card seems to be functional, but it just won't recognize that a cable is plugged into it.(the lights on the Ethernet ports are also off) I've been on the phone with tech support for the motherboard but it's lead nowhere. I have an Asus M2N-SLI deluxe. I've downloaded the latest Ethernet drivers and installed them but it's made no difference. Right now I've been using a laptop to download (and make this post) and a thumb drive to transfer files. I made a post to the Everquest 2 forum hoping it was a none issue because on one of the crashes I actually got an error message from EQ2, though I've yet to receive any reply. I now doubt it's something actually caused by the games themselves. I still kind of suspect a faulty HDD. The only other option I can think of for the motherboard is to either take it back as faulty even though I've had it a while (the only remaining test that I've been advised to take is to run it while removed from the case on a non-conductive surface to make sure it's not grounding to the case), or to try upgrading the BIOS (never even tried upgrading a BIOS before and not sure it's a good idea), or to get a NIC card to plug into my MOBO in an open AGP slot. One question I have about using an AGP NIC card, is will it throttle my speed any having to go through the AGP slot as opposed to the on-board ports I've been using thus far? In pursuing my theory that a HDD could be going bad I decided to do a chkdsk on C:. Initially I just tried "Start -> Run -> "chkdsk C:". This started the chkdsk, but the command prompt closed right before the file check. This had also happened when I tried it on D:. I tried again with the /f and /r parameters, and had to let it scan on reboot. It didn't appear to find any errors, however there's no log of the scan, and it closed and finished booting before I could fully read the text. One thing I've been reading is to get the disk checking utilities from the disk manufacturer. One question I have about that is, will using said utilities put any of my data at risk? In searching for my stop code through google, I've found a surprising number that involve Everquest, but an even greater number that involve the same model of MOBO or one of the similar models. Many are either the M2N-SLI Deluxe, or the M2N32-SLI Deluxe, so it makes me wonder if there's some inherent problem with these motherboards that I was not aware of.

Adding a NIC will not slow down your Internet. I am thinking that the conflict is with your graphics card drivers. Yes, I know that we have been down that road. Yes, your motherboard could be going bad, Is the machine under warrenty?

Good to hear about getting a new NIC. I'll pick one up in a few hours. I built the machine, so no it's not under warranty. I don't believe the MOBO is either. I'd have to check with my local computer shop to see if they'd be willing to replace it.. This is actually the second mobo of this model that i've gone through. The first one had a bad AGP slot. I've tried different drivers for my graphics card, but the problem exists with different versions. EDIT: got a new NIC card (only cost me $29), and can connect just fine.