Crashing/Freezing/Blue Screen

Hello,
Heres what I have been through so far http://forums.whatthetech.com/Crashing_Fre…een_t98555.html

Those blue screens included errors such as KERNAL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR, STOP: c0000218 Unknown Hard Error, UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME, DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL.

So I guess after that disk check, and my pc started up normally, what do I need to do to be sure I'm ok? or am I ok? or WHAT IS THE NEXT BEST STEP? I'm scared to play a high CPU usage game, and won't run my avg scanner just yet, because of the hours of restarting my pc, as you can imagine, was worrisome and tiring. As of now my pc seems normal, even though I haven't restarted it. This is the best it's been in a week. Any advice you have is appreciated! We did have a power outage about 2 - 3 wks ago as Tomk suggested could be a reason.

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! Tomk was great in his efforts!

My computer was custom built by a friend and I 14 months ago.
OS: Window XP Pro SP3
AMD(Athlon) 64X2 Dual Core Processor 6400+ 3.21 GHz, 2 GB of RAM
Video Card: GeForce 8600 GT
HDD: TSSTCORP DVD-RW TS-H553A
I use RealTek Audio

Hi prov1,

So I guess after that disk check

You did get check disk or run it yourself? Did it find any errors?

UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME

This would mean that your hard drive is broken, but the chance is very small as your hard drive is quiet new. Both check disk and your hard drive manufacturer's diagnostics tool can diagnose whether there are bad parts. Here are instructions on how to run your hard driver manufacturer's diagnostics tool:

First, you need to determine what brand hard drive you have. Unless you happen to know that information, the easiest way to find out is simply to look at the drive itself, and the manufacturer's name will be on a label on the top of the drive. To do this, turn off your computer, unplug it from the wall and wait an hour. Then open the case and you should have a clear view of the hard drive. The manufacturer will be either:

• Hitachi (or IBM for older Hitachi drives
• Maxtor
• Samsung
• Seagate
• Western Digital

There are a couple of more minor manufacturers, but those are the "big-5" with over a 90% market share.

Once you know who made the drive, close the case and plug the system back into the wall.

Now, go to the manufacturer's web site. Under Downloads or Support, etc., you will find the manufacturer's hard drive diagnostics. You should find two versions, one that creates a bootable floppy, the other that creates a bootable CD. Pick one or the other, whichever is more convenient. Then create the bootable disk following the manufacturer's instructions, boot from the disk, and run the diagnostics - there are usually two of them, a Quick one and a much longer Complete one. Run the Quick one first, and if there are no errors, run the Complete one. It isn't necessary to run the Complete one if the Quick one shows errors.

Post what you discover.

If you decide to download the CD version, that will be an iso file. To burn an .iso file, you need to use something like Nero, and do an image burn. If you do a regular burn the CD won't work. Alternatively, you can grab a free .iso burner here:

http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm

Watch the versions, v1 is for doing the burn on an XP SP1 system, v2 for XP SP2 and SP3. After you download the file, right click on it, and choose Install from the context menu. That will install the .iso burner. You may need to reboot.

After that, navigate to the .iso file, right click on it and there will be a new context menu item called something like "Copy file to CD". Use that, and it will correctly burn the .iso file for you.

Now the following error:

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

A specific driver (file with .sys extension) must have been mentioned. To find a solution we must know what file it is. If you get the error, please note the file which caused it. It should appear somewhere in the BSOD.

Please let us know.

Regards,
John.

Hi Jon B, I decided to try last known configuration at start up(b/c i was tired of safe mode failing for 2 + hours) Sooo, it goes to disk check screen by itself and says its scanning my disk to find corrupt files, stage 1 of 3. And at least 8 corrupt files/errors were deleted in first stage. My disk drive is Maxtor. I will go get the diagnosis tool now. Thanks for you help. I downloaded SeaTools for Windows, and ran Short Drive Self Test: PASS Ran Short Generic Test: PASS Currently Running Long Drive Self Test and it took 6 1/2 hrs.

I didn't see anything about a bootable CD or a bootable floppy. I will go look into it. But here is the log on tests I ran. ————— SeaTools for Windows v1.1.1.0 ————— 1/6/2009 5:52:29 PM Model: Maxtor 7H500F0 Serial Number: H815HR9H Firmware Revision: HA431DD0 Short DST - Started 1/6/2009 5:52:29 PM Short DST - Pass 1/6/2009 5:54:14 PM Short Generic - Started 1/6/2009 5:59:42 PM Short Generic - Pass 1/6/2009 6:01:09 PM SMART - FAIL 1/6/2009 6:02:15 PM Long DST - Started 1/6/2009 6:02:43 PM Long DST Aborted 1/6/2009 6:57:38 PM Identify - Started 1/6/2009 6:57:47 PM Identify - Pass 1/6/2009 6:57:49 PM Long DST - Started 1/6/2009 6:58:08 PM Long DST Aborted 1/6/2009 6:58:18 PM Long DST - Started 1/6/2009 6:58:23 PM Long DST Aborted 1/6/2009 7:21:09 PM Long DST - Started 1/6/2009 7:28:45 PM Long DST Aborted 1/6/2009 7:35:32 PM Long DST - Started 1/6/2009 7:50:51 PM Long DST - Pass 1/7/2009 2:10:20 AM

sorry double post

Did you abort a couple of tests yourself? Does check disk try to recover the bad blocks?

all the times it says ABORT, are the times I aborted myself. As you can see that test took 6 1/2 hrs, so I aborted it a lot thinking the progress bar wasn't moving. What do you mean check disk recover bad blocks? As I said I've only seen that screen twice in the past year, and I haven't turned my pc off in the past 3 days.

just to update…I have turned my pc on and off with no problems. my comp is doing ok(meaning better than all last week), but I have had 2 BSOD, with KERNAL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR. Even with that my comp turned back on with no problems that I can see (such as repeatedly having to reboot just to get to safe mode, pop ups, etc). I went and researched the Error a little, and read that it could be bad RAM so… I ran MemTest86 and PASSed. I will now attempt to run AVG scanner for viruses, and will report back with results. Any other ideas? Any advice is appreciated.

Please post the parameters if you can get hold of them. KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR has more than one definitions and by knowing the codes that came with it (0x00 bla bla) we can determine which it actually is.

one of them was STOP: 0x00000077 (0xc0000185, 0xc0000185, 0x00000000, 0x03EE6000) and i got a BSOD running my AVG.

Read through this MS article: "Stop 0x00000077" or "KERNEL_STACK_INPAGE_ERROR".

Running chkdsk as the article suggests may help if this is being caused by a file system error of some kind.

i read the article, and after 2 times of trying to run AVG and failing, I decided to try manually running Check Disk. I then restarted as told by the article, and my computer failed to reboot for the next 2 hours. i turned it off and gave up. Later I restarted and CHKDSK ran first time. It took 5+ hours for it to run through the 5 stages. It verified all 5 stages while reporting no errors, and restarted correctly, so I came straight here to report. So, running my AVG i get BSOD's saying KERNAL_STACK_INPAGE_ERROR. I don't know what to do other than NOT run my AVG, and don't play MASS EFFECT.

Hi, Ok 1 Firstly, I take it that all Windows updates have been installed and that all your drivers have been updated? and is your back up/copy/archive 100% up to date, accurate and reproducible and kept safely on removable media? 2 Does it include everything on your machine that is important to you? 3 If on concentrated reflection, the answer to either 1 or 2 above is "no" then your next step is clear……..( your hard drive could be about to fail, it's by no means certain but a possibility…….) 4 Lastly never turn off your machine whilst you are running chkdsk (except as a last resort) as it's possible to do a lot of damage this way. 5 chkdsk does take time to run and 5 hours or so is towards the upper range of what is "normal"……for a system of your size 6 I suggest you run chkdsk again with the R switch ( the f switch is implicit) 7 Click on Start Click on Run type in the white box chkdsk /r ok accept the warning and restart as required (note the space between the k and the / its essential) 8 Let chkdsk complete all 5 passes, restart and then run it again……( yes it is a long job!) 9 Lastly run sfc you may need your Microsoft Windows XP installation disc if damaged/missing Windows Protected System Files are found. 10 Click on Start Click on Run type in the white box sfc /scannow OK (note the space between the c and the / is essential) Insert the disc referred to above if sfc requests it If you cannot locate your disc then it's Ok for this purpose only, to borrow a copy from a chum ( make sure it's the same version of Windows and Service Pack level SP2 or 3 etc) This scan should take around 20 minutes or so but no explicit output file is produced. Lastly uninstall both your troublesome programs ( that cause the crashes) with a restart between each uninstall and then reinstall them with a restart in between.. Let us know how you go as if this does not fix the problem then you will probably looking at drastic solutions! Regards paws

hi paws! thx for your post. i have looked for every update possible for my software and hardware, so i think im covered in that area. I do not have any backups, or an external drive. I'll be looking to buy one this weekend. And I can't find my WINDOWS CD(i pretty sure my friend has it , as he is the one who installed it on my pc). I have seen some BSOD, with an error saying, file missing windows/system32/blah/blah, to fix enter your CD and repair. So I think that will fix it. I'm going to wait to run chkdsk as I just did it and my pc is working, and I want to see what the Windows CD does for me. I am wondering why my RealTek HD audio device pops up every 5 minutes while I was running avg, telling me that I plugged in my mic when I obviously hadn't, and I think it causes the crashes, b/c I didn't catch it one time. And the crash occurred. Same thing or reason Mass Effect was crashing, I would get the same thing in game, and have to alt tab out to click ok in RealTek Audio Device, then come back in game, only later on the game crashes. I'll report back as soon I have news. Thanks for you help.

Don't forget that "number one priority" is that back up/copy/archive………….. Good luck Regards paws