[kristi10]

Greetings,

Received a blue screen error a couple of days ago, while on the internet reading a news article on msn. Restarted and continued to receive the same error each time:

Stop: 0x0000008e (0xC0000005, 0x7C4EEDB2, 0xF47D02C8, 0x00000000)

I've spent several hours on the phone with Dell, restored the operating system, and installed a new video card, but the Blue Screen keeps returning.

A couple of different Dell techs have run diagnostics and tests and something led them to blame the video card/drivers. Sorry, but I'm not sure exactly what that was. I have a GeForce 7600GT. So we deinstalled the corresponding drivers and the blue screen didn't return. We reinstalled the drivers in safe mode, once from the original CD that came with that video card and once from the internet , and the blue screen still didn't return. When we tried the same in regular mode, the blue screen returned with the same error.

I went to safe mode and deinstalled the drivers again, removed some recently added software, then reinstalled the drivers. This time the system restarted in normal mode with no problem. A couple of hours later, again while on the internet, the same blue screen error came up.

Today Dell had me run chkdsk again (did it with Dell 2 days ago). It would run, finish and find nothing, reboot and chkdsk would start running again. I couldn't access safe mode and rebooting just caused chkdsk to restart. By this point, I've backed up everything important, so the Dell tech suggested we try a system restore. That went fine, until the system "found new hardware" - the video card. When the card drivers were trying to load the blue screen and same error returned. The tech said he was sure then that I had a bad card. So I went out tonight and bought a GeForce 8600GT. Using the cd that came with the new card, the blue screen returned yet again while loading the new drivers. I can load them in safe mode. When I do and reboot to normal mode, I get a blue screen with new info:

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Stop: 0x0000000A (0x0B3066E4, 0x0000001C, 0x00000000, 0x804F9F4B)

If I remove the drivers in safe mode, restart in regular mode, then try again to install the new drivers, I get the blue screen with the original 0x0000008E.

Since the system restore earlier today, I have not loaded anything except the drivers to operate the keyboard, mouse, etc. and of course attempted to load the drivers for the new video card.

Been on the phone again with Dell and one tech said it could be the card slot or the motherboard going out, another said it could be bad sectors on the hard drive. The warranty expired a couple of months ago, so I'm on my own now I guess.

If anyone out there knows any way to end my torture besides death or a new pc, you'll have my eternal gratitude.

Kristi

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Greetings kristi10,

You are having a bad time of it.

If you google the offending error message there is lots there to follow. Here is just one link that came to my attention you may care to read.

Post back and let us know how you are doing. There are lots of clever techs on here who will come by with their responses and help.

Good luck.

with kind regards,

[tallin]

Greetings kristi10,

You are having a bad time of it.

If you google the offending error message there is lots there to follow. Here is just one link that came to my attention you may care to read.

Post back and let us know how you are doing. There are lots of clever techs on here who will come by with their responses and help.

Good luck.

with kind regards,

[kristi10]

Hi Tallin and thanks for your response,

I'd done some internet searches myself on the 0x0000008e error and seen stuff about memory, among many other possibilities, lol. My company's IT manager mentioned memory also, and acted surprised that Dell hadn't done any specific checks for it. I then mentioned it tonight to Dell, and they said we done done a check or checks(s) that should have shown errors.

But your response and link was enough confirmation. I have 2 ram cards, 512 I think each. So I deinstalled the new video card drivers in safe mode, shut down and took one card out, rebooted to normal mode. Then I tried installing those new video drivers in normal mode, and wa-la, no problem then or restarting 2 more times. I'm gonna cross my fingers, one that it's just the ram card, two that I actually picked the right one to take out first (hehe), three that it doesn't work okay for a while then have problems again like it did the other night after the software was removed.

I'll let you know the outcome. The blue screens started when I was on the internet, but I'm gonna hafta get protection going if I'm gonna surf there to test. And the system restore on a 2 year old pc made some of my other drivers ancient, and of course xp has a million updates. So pending a response of "no no no," I will load security and update basic drivers and xp, then hit the internet and see what happens next.

And if this works, I obviously need to buy more memory. What about the video card though? Should I try the old one, or eat the money from the new one and not go near trying to put the old back in?

I really appreciate your help,

Kristi

[kristi10]

Of course, I spoke too soon. :-P

Microsoft was having a fit to update automatically, guess that was somewhere in the settings after system restore. So I let it. 86 updates, yikes!

After the updates, it said that one of the security updates was not installed: windows XP (KB920213)

Then it said the system needed to restart. After restart, I got an error box that the system had recovered from a serious error. The report it generated to send to Microsoft had these:

C:\DOCUME~1\WESTFA~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\WER3bda.dir00\Mini020808-02.dmp
C:\DOCUME~1\WESTFA~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\WER3bda.dir00\sysdata.xml

I let it send the error report, and microsoft came up in ie and said it was ram related and I should run the windows memory diagnostic. I did, the 6 basic tests, all 6 came up clean.

Haven't moved a mm since, lol.

Thanks, Kristi

Edited by kristi10, 09 February 2008 - 03:07 AM.

[tallin]

Hello Again kristi10

I suggest you do a memtest here

Please read thoroughly and follow all the instructions regarding the memtest86+.

My other suggestion if you can manage it would be to do a PCPitstop test/scan so we can get an good overview of your entire system. I would do the memtest first if you can put the stick of memory back, get the computer running and follow the directions in the link above. Then as a second string do the pit test so we can help you further if the need arises. At this stage I am thinking that the stick of memory you removed is faulty...only an educated guess at this stage. The memtest will take some time.

Please Run the PCPitstop Full Tests, here:
http://www.pcpitstop.com
Note: Vista users with UAC must first Right-click IE - Select "Run as Administrator"
Register and create a password
Accept the ActiveX component to allow your machine to run the Full Tests
Registering and accepting the ActiveX are both SAFE and FREE.
Full Tests is the first item in the left hand column of that page.

The Full Tests take less than 5 minutes for most machines.
Once you have your Results, please post the TechExpress Link back here into this thread for review.
TechExpress is the last item on the list in the yellow box in upper right area of any Results page.
Post the entire URL link information back here into this Forum thread.
Note: Vista users, please close your instance of IE "Rrunning as Administrator" after you are finished reviewing your Results.

Caution: During the testing of Video Adapter, a variety of patterns, shapes, colors and text are "flashed" onto the users monitor screen. In the many thousands of daily uses of the PCPitstop Full Tests over several years, two individuals who suffer epilepsy experienced discomfort and temporary dizziness when viewing the flashing patterns.
If you know that you are susceptible to photo driven seizure, please look away from your screen during the Video Adapter testing sequence.
Note: The PCPitstop Full Tests Results is a free service, but is supported by various paid product advertisements for utilities that "could" remedy the OP's problem.
Since we are a "free-help" forum, we do not recommend or endorse purchase of automated utilities, and will assist you in manually correcting any problems and settings necessary to optimize your machine's performance. Ask your questions here. We'll help you walk through any necessary steps.

Post back with any questions you may have as we are pleased to help in all ways possible here on Geeks to Go.

kind regards,

Edit Your further post has come in, but will let this go so you can maybe work on it while I digest you latest thread .

[tallin]

Of course, I spoke too soon. :-P

Microsoft was having a fit to update automatically, guess that was somewhere in the settings after system restore. So I let it. 86 updates, yikes!

After the updates, it said that one of the security updates was not installed: windows XP (KB920213)

Then it said the system needed to restart. After restart, I got an error box that the system had recovered from a serious error. The report it generated to send to Microsoft had these:

C:\DOCUME~1\WESTFA~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\WER3bda.dir00\Mini020808-02.dmp
C:\DOCUME~1\WESTFA~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\WER3bda.dir00\sysdata.xml

I let it send the error report, and microsoft came up in ie and said it was ram related and I should run the windows memory diagnostic. I did, the 6 basic tests, all 6 came up clean.

Haven't moved a mm since, lol.

Thanks, Kristi

Kristi10,

I suggest you take all this very slowly, following my last post to you before researching this link that may help with your WU situation.

kind regards,

[kristi10]

Hi again Tallin,

The memtest took forever, but said no errors found.

The pcpitstop test was quick and didn't cause any problems:

http://www.pcpitstop...PKGSWE1Z1GSRTFG

I did put the stick of memory back in before either test was run. And fyi, I now have two new 1gb sticks sitting here, should we need them.

Happy Saturday, and thanks for helping me out!

Kristi

[tallin]

Kristi10,

Nice machine, with some work to do, but you are well versed in carrying out the tips required to be done.

You have done well while I have been sleeping!

The most important item to address is your not having any Antivirus or Antispyware programs installed with definitions up to date which I will address by sending you my maintenance program that works for me, however it is always your final decision to do what is best suited to you.

Preventative Maintenance program to avoid Hyjackthis log sending
The following is my suggestion only. As it is very successful for me I thought I would share it.

Definitions of all installations must be kept up to date at least weekly if not daily.
Please follow the advice given here to avoid having your computer attacked by Malware and in turn to avoid asking for volunteer expert help to Analise your logs.

Firstly you need a Fire alarm - Zone Alarm Free. http://filehippo.com/download_zonealarm_free/

Download and install the following program.
One Antivirus software program only as more than one will conflict.
AVG Free http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/

Online Free Malware scan cleaning utility
http://www.johannrain-softwareentwicklung....r-8-English.htm

Several Antispyware programs run manually, randomly, and not enabled at Startup.
AVG Antispyware Free http://free.grisoft.com/doc/download-free-...pyware/us/frt/0
SuperAntispyware Free Edition http://www.superantispyware.com/
Spyware blaster http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sbdownload.html
Spyware Search and Destroy http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/Popu...h-Destroy.shtml
CW Shredder http://www.intermute.com/spysubtract/cwshr...r_download.html
AVG Rootkit free http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/AVG-...load-48738.html
A_squared free http://www.brothersoft.com/downloads/a_squared.html
Syware Guard http://www.javacools...ywareguard.html

Temporary Internet File Cleaners and other Cleanup Utilities.
Here are three I suggest for you to choose from, however please choose only one.
Cleanup 4.5.2 http://www.stevengould.org/index.php?optio...8&Itemid=70
CCleaner http://filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/
ATF Cleaner by Atribune http://www.atribune.org/content/view/19/2/

Also go to start>settings>accessories>systemtools>diskcleanup and follow the prompts.
Defragging Utilities
Defragmenter Analyser . http://www.raxco.com/analyze/
Use the Windows default defragmenter program this way: start>allprograms>accessories>systemtools>defragmenter.
OR
IObit Smart Defragmenter http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=5318
Auslogics degragmenter Free http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/download

1) 'Scan' for Adware, Spyware and all Malware WEEKLY/DAILY.
2) 'Clean your 'Temporary Internet files' and 'History list' every 3 Days.
3) 'Clear your 'SSL state 'every 3 Days.
4) 'Clear your 'Java files' in your Java console every 3 Days
5) 'Empty the 'Recycle bin' every 3 Days.
6) 'Defrag' your hard Drive every 5 Days. (I actually analyse mine and only defrag when necessary)
7) 'Scan' for Viruses and Trojans every 4 Days.
8) 'Degauss' your monitor by turning it off completely and back on, every 5 days
9) 'Completely turn off' your machine every 5 Days. This is different than re-starting.
~~When you re-start, it does not shut down 100%~~

Now I suggest you open "control panel" and then "Internet options." With the 'internet options' open, you will see the general tab. Next click on the "content" tab. You will see "clear SSL state." This normally is performed automatically but I have come across old data left in here. While you are here, you should clean the "auto complete" as well. There is a lot of data stored here that can breach your security and privacy. It is best to uncheck all the three boxes and never use this feature, however if you like this feature, keep it.
To just clean the stored data, click the "auto complete" button and then the "clean passwords" and then OK and then the "clear forms" and then OK. It will wipe all of the stored information.
Now let's move on to the Java files. Open "control panel>settings and find "java plug-in" and click
on temporary internet files>settings>delete files>enable Applications and Applets, and Trace and Log file> okay.
Now while we have it opened, let's adjust the size from 'unlimited' down to "maximum 4 MB" and you
will be ready to go.

Another item that seems to get overlooked on today's maintenance routine is the "C:\windows\temp" folder. You should delete everything that is in this folder, BUT not the folder itself. If you have never done this, it will have a ton of stuff in it.
So run your disk cleanup, defrag, delete cookies etc often. There are other variations of these utilities
available although I have yet to find a problem with the ones that Windows provides.
To flush DNS cache click start, run, type cmd, and type ipconfig /flushdns and press enter. (Note the space between the g /)
DNS = Domain Name Server, the cache referred to is where Windows stores all IP addresses it collects as you surf typing the IP to the domain name to surf to, this cache can grow large over a period of time causing a slowdown on your computer surfing and interaction.

The second suggestion is for you to follow the Customised Tune UP Tips suggested by the pit scan summary. Please excude the Updating Device Drivers tip as with your machine unless you are having trouble with drivers this would not be priority at this time.

Did you address the Windows Update link I sent? If you are still having problems with (KB920213)
we can further research what to do. I do have a suggestion for you, but will wait until you answer.

Feel free to post back if you have any questions.

Please tell us how your computer is running after all suggestions you choose to do have been attended to

kind regards,

[kristi10]

Hi there Tallin,

Thanks for commenting that the machine is nice, that motivates me to save it and not kill it, lol.

We built it through Dell and it came with a McAfee suite. When that expired in mid-December, I upgraded with them and bought Security Center. With the system restore, I lost it of course, and the original McAfee stuff reinstalled. I needed to remove the old and reinstall the new, but didn't want to proceed without your okay.

I just talked to McAfee and got what I need to reinstall security center. I used add/remove programs first to remove the older McAfee items. That required a restart which got me a blue screen with the following:

Stop: 0x00000007 (0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

I have been surprised that I have been operating since late last night with the drivers installed that came with the new video card, and no blue screens popping up. When we bought the card last night and tried to load the drivers the first time or 2, the installation would stop and go to a blue screen. But the last time we tried, after I removed that stick of memory, it worked (until this restart), even after I put the stick of memory back in.

I am currently in safe mode. Before, if I deinstalled the drivers I could get back to regular mode, but I have not tried that yet, nor have a proceeded with loading the new McAfee items.

I do really appreciate you sharing your maintanence program! Since the McAfee is paid for until sometime in 2009, I guess I can't use much of it at this point because of incapatibility.

Yes, I did review the link you provided. I had service pack 2 before, but the system restore got rid of that also. I'm holding off moving forward with that, and your other suggestions, until I know if I should try to deinstall those drivers and get back to regular mode, or do it in safe mode.

The system restore also put a bunch of junk back in my computer like aol and earthlink options. I do want to remove some of these, but removing programs often results in a restart, which I am avoiding as much as possible.

Thanks, Kristi

[wannabe1]

Hello kristi10...

tallin has asked me to look in on your problem. Looks pretty frustrating, have you begun to pull your hair out yet?

Is your machine still trying to run the chkdsk every time you start it?

Let's move out of Safe Mode and see if we can pinpoint the problem. While in Safe Mode, click Start, then Run, type msconfig in the "Open" field, ans click "Ok". Click on the "Services" tab. Tick the checkbox at the bottom to "Hide all Microsoft services" then click on "Disable All". Apply the change and reboot into Normal Mode. If you get another blue screen error, please note the number and see if there are any file names mentioned on the error screen.

Let me know about the chkdsk as that may point to a memory address problem that we can deal with fairly simply...I think.

wannabe1

[kristi10]

Hello wannabe1 and thanks for your post,

Thank tallin for me also for his help and for asking you to take a look at my problems (hated making that plural).

The chkdsk problem stopped when Dell helped me do the system restore, thank goodness. I have not tried to run it again.

I disabled the services as you asked, restarted to regular mode and no blue screen. Yeah! Er, I think.......is that progress? The only thing that seemed to cause that same effect before was de-installing the video drivers in safe mode and then restarting to regular mode. Dell had me do the msconfig, hide the microsoft items, and disable the other items when this first started. There are 2 differences: one, it didn't work that time, and two, there were only 8 items in there to disable tonight thanks to the system restore, haha. Might pin things down a bit.

Thanks, Kristi

[wannabe1]

If the machine will run this way without a blue screen, go back in and enable one of the disabled services and let it run for a while again. Keep doing this until it blue screens again. The last service to be enabled will be the culprit. Let me know what that is...or if you have another blue screen before you enable any of them.

I will certainly thank tallin...though I fully believe he will be keeping a close eye on this topic.

[kristi10]

That was a quick test!

I restarted again first just to make sure it would work again, and it did. So I went to enable 1 of those 8 services. Had to laugh when I realized that 1 of the 8 was a NVidia Display Driver Service. The consistency is there so I enabled that one only, restarted, and got a blue screen:

Stop: 0x00000007 (0x00000005, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

No file names were mentioned on the error screen.

I restarted to safe mode, disabled that NVidia service again, and restarted to regular mode with no problem. Then I jumped ahead and enabled the other 7 and left the NVidia disabled and again, no problem.

So I guess after 2 years my pc wants a divorce from NVidia?

Thank you, Kristi

[wannabe1]

Do you know which version of the NVidia drivers you have? Are they the ForceWare 169.21 drivers from the NVidia website?

[kristi10]

Hi again wannabe1,

The card I've had for 14 months was a GeForce 7600GT. The driver on my system when this problem started this week was from Oct 2007, but I don't know what the version number was. Over the past couple of days on the phone with Dell, we have deinstalled that driver and tried reinstalling the original ones that came on the cd when I bought the card, reinstalling that same Oct version from Nvidia's website, and installing a Dec 2007 driver from their website. The blue screen persisted with each of these attempts.

After the system restore, we attempted the install with the cd drivers that came with the card, and the blue screen came up again pretty quickly. Dell diagnosed my card as faulty, so last night I bought a new one, a GeForce 8600GT.

The only driver installation I have tried with it thus far is the drivers on the CD. It's version 6.14.11.95 from 3/7/07.

Kristi