[Sweet Daddy Jones]

Help! I have been having intermittent OS crashes (BSOD) and application crashes (usually Firefox) lately. I am running XP SP2 with all the latest security patches installed. Last night, I recorded the crashes I received hoping someone would be able to interpret the results.

First, a little history:
1. I had some crashing problems a year or so ago, but the problems seemed to go away after I upgraded my video drivers.
2. I recently upgraded my monitor to a 19” LCD Samsung. Since upgrading, the video intermittently flickers, especially when minimizing or switching apps. My new crash problem often coincides with the flicker problem.
3. I updated my NAV LiveUpdate software a couple of weeks ago because my old version stopped working. The crash problem got worse about that time, although I can’t say for sure whether there is a connection.
4. I had the stwoyle trojan on my machine 2 weeks ago. I successfully removed it.
5. While removing the trojan, I verified via highjackthis that no other malicous things were loaded on my machine.
6. After Firefox crashed a couple of times, I upgraded to the latest version, but it did not help.
7. Other applications crash or are in use during BSOD’s besides Firefox, it’s just what I usually have open. I have also had crashes while using Quicken, Photoshop, etc.

Now for the stop errors I received last night:
#1: Got this one using Firefox while switching tabs, no error name was given
0x0000008E (0xC0000005, 0x804E2EAD, 0xF14DE790, 0x00000000)

#2: Again using Firefox while switching tabs
DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
0x000000D1 (0x00000001, 0x00000011, 0x00000001, 0x864E8C5B)

#3: Doing nothing this time
0x0000008E (0xC0000005, 0xBF806508, 0xF31EB4F4, 0x00000000)
Win32k.sys – address BF806508 base @ BF800000, Datestamp 422511a2

#4: Debug information on Firefox crash
App: xpcom.dll
Offset: 0003d268

My current list of suspects includes my video card, mobo, and NAV. Any experts have any advice?

System specs:
AMD 1700+
Epox 8k-7A (flashed to latest BIOS)
2x512 MB Kingston RAM
ATI Radeon 7200 VE 32 MB DDR (latest drivers installed)
Soundblaster Audigy
APC UPS

Thank you for any help you can offer.

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Hey, welcome to G2G.

Have you tried posting a HJT log in the appropriate forum to check for parasites on your computer?

Please go to the malware forum in my signature and follow the instructions at the top....Especially the CLICK HERE .

That will give you several steps that will help you clean up 70 percent of all problems by yourself. If at the end of the process you are still having difficulty--and you may not be-- then post a hijackthis log in THAT forum.

If you are still having problems after getting a clean bill of health from the malware expert, please return to this thread.

FKG

[FreddieKrugerGuy]

Hey, welcome to G2G.

Have you tried posting a HJT log in the appropriate forum to check for parasites on your computer?

Please go to the malware forum in my signature and follow the instructions at the top....Especially the CLICK HERE .

That will give you several steps that will help you clean up 70 percent of all problems by yourself. If at the end of the process you are still having difficulty--and you may not be-- then post a hijackthis log in THAT forum.

If you are still having problems after getting a clean bill of health from the malware expert, please return to this thread.

FKG

[Guse]

Now for the stop errors I received last night:
#1: Got this one using Firefox while switching tabs, no error name was given
0x0000008E (0xC0000005, 0x804E2EAD, 0xF14DE790, 0x00000000)

#2: Again using Firefox while switching tabs
DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
0x000000D1 (0x00000001, 0x00000011, 0x00000001, 0x864E8C5B)

#3: Doing nothing this time
0x0000008E (0xC0000005, 0xBF806508, 0xF31EB4F4, 0x00000000)
Win32k.sys – address BF806508 base @ BF800000, Datestamp 422511a2

All three of these stop codes refer to bad device drivers.

There's nothing so far to indicate that this is a malware issue. I'm not saying that it's definitely not, but let's deal with the more likely first: hardware.

Look up your video driver and make absolutely sure that it's the latest. Also, I'd use Google and be sure that there isn't a problem with that driver that would cause these issues.

You flashed your BIOS, which was a really, really good idea. Again, make 100% sure that you have the latest.

If you think that the crash problem could be a software conflict, you can always try to uninstall NAV and install a free virus scanner (on a temporary basis) like AVG. See if the problem remains. If it does stop, you've ruled that out; if it stops, NAV is your culprit.

Actually, that should probably be step 1. Uninstall NAV and go here to download the trial version of AVG professional. Update it, then work a bit to see if the crashing continues.

To make sure a virus/trojan isn't at fault, I'd suggest an online virus scan at Kaspersky by clicking here.

Another possibility would be to uninstall Firefox and use IE for a bit. I don't like IE either, but as a test it's the lesser of 2 evils.

Make sure you try only one of these at a time (the online virus scan doesn't count). Any more and you haven't pin-pointed the issue. Start with NAV and if it continues after a bit, move onto Firefox. If the online scan yields malware, by all means follow FreddieKrugerGuy's advice and post in the Malware forum.

Good luck and keep us up to date!

Edited by Guse, 14 October 2005 - 12:57 PM.

[Sweet Daddy Jones]

Have you tried posting a HJT log in the appropriate forum to check for parasites on your computer?

I haven't posted my log to a forum, but I have checked it multiple times over the last week and feel pretty confident that I'm good there. Nonetheless, I will post it at your link over the weekend.

Look up your video driver and make absolutely sure that it's the latest. Also, I'd use Google and be sure that there isn't a problem with that driver that would cause these issues.

You flashed your BIOS, which was a really, really good idea. Again, make 100% sure that you have the latest.

I doublechecked my driver (I re-installed this driver; see below) and BIOS and they're the latest. The google search is on my to-do list this weekend.

Actually, that should probably be step 1. Uninstall NAV and go here to download the trial version of AVG professional. Update it, then work a bit to see if the crashing continues.

To make sure a virus/trojan isn't at fault, I'd suggest an online virus scan at Kaspersky by clicking here.

I am running the online check overnight tonight and switching to AVG tomorrow.

Based on advice from another forum about the flicker problem, I uninstalled my Samsung monitor drivers, rebooted, uninstalled the MS driver (I think it was the MS driver although XP was still reporting it as Samsung), and re-installed the Samsung driver. While I was at it, I did the same with my ATI drivers. My graphics acceleration was and is turned off, by the way.

I ran sfc /scannow and it didn't report any problems. I am still having the flickering problem, and I've had 4 app crashes tonight. 3 crashes were firefox and 1 was IE. Details as reported by the event viewer are the following:

* Faulting application iexplore.exe, version 6.0.2900.2180, faulting module wininet.dll, version 6.0.2900.2753, fault address 0x0002734f.
* Faulting application firefox.exe, version 1.0.7.0, faulting module firefox.exe, version 1.0.7.0, fault address 0x00204e59.
* Faulting application firefox.exe, version 1.0.7.0, faulting module xpcom.dll, version 1.7.20050.25981, fault address 0x0002a7b3.
* Faulting application firefox.exe, version 1.0.7.0, faulting module ntdll.dll, version 5.1.2600.2180, fault address 0x00011f6c.

However, I haven't had any BSOD's since re-installing the drivers.

Thanks for all the help and I'll report my results from the online scan, HJT post, google search, and switch to AVG later.

[Sweet Daddy Jones]

I've had to change gears a little with my approach because most of the things I've been asked to do result in a crash (thus, I've pretty much ruled out firefox as the culprit). The online scan causes a BSOD. So does running Ad-Aware per the malware forum's "Click Here" link. I also switched to AVG, but still get crashes. Anyway, below is what I've discovered today.

I downloaded PC Wizard and benchmarked my video and Video/ DirectX 3D. The video ran just fine. However, the Video/ DirectX 3D benchmark consistently produces an app crash of PC Wizard. Following are the error messages:

• Faulting application pcwizard.dll, version 2005.1.0.65, faulting module ntdll.dll, version 5.1.2600.2180, fault address 0x00011ec3.
• Faulting application pcwizard.dll, version 2005.1.0.65, faulting module pcwiz32.dll, version 2005.1.6.5, fault address 0x0001cfd3.
• Faulting application pcwizard.dll, version 2005.1.0.65, faulting module ntdll.dll, version 5.1.2600.2180, fault address 0x00011ec3.
• Faulting application pcwizard.dll, version 2005.1.0.65, faulting module ntdll.dll, version 5.1.2600.2180, fault address 0x00011ec3.

Prior to that test, I re-downloaded my vid. driver, uninstalled, rebooted, and re-installed. When my monitor did its auto adjustment after the re-install, it set the display to 32-bit color, 1280x1024 resolution, 60 Hz refresh rate. Previously, the resolution was at 1024x768. The new resolution seems to have solved the flicker problem. I changed the resolution back to 1024x768, and the problem was as bad as ever. When I switched it back to 1280x1024, it went away again. This makes no sense to me. I figured it would work in reverse. Thus, I went all the way down to 640x480 and 16-bit color when the problem first popped up, but it didn't help. Why would this problem be present at lower resolutions but not at higher ones?

As for the DirectX benchmark test, what should my next step be to make sure DirectX is the culprit, and if so, what do I do about it? I'm running ver. 9.0.

Thanks again for the help.