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BSOD when using VOIP software


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#16
mo713

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So far it has been 18 hours since I started running Driver Verifier, and there have been no BSODs yet.

 

I am OK with giving it the full 36 hours requested, but I have read another support site that suggests once DV is started, to try and manually create your own BSOD doing exactly what you did before to make it happen. They said at least this time it would all be logged and documented and then you could figure out what driver caused it. Do you advise this also? Assuming of course the 36 hours has elapsed without an automatic BSOD. I think I know exactly how to force it every time.


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#17
mo713

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This post will incorporate the previous post.

 

It has now been more than 36 hours that the verifier is running. I am typing this on the problem machine and it has not crashed since the verifier started.

 

Can I turn off the verifier now?

Should I try to force a blue screen with the same operations that created it before?

If yes

  then should I do this while verifier is still on, or after it is turned off?

 

If blue screen is forced manually, what is the next step?

 

If I do not hear back today I will need to turn off verifier anyway bc I need this machine for some work functions. I hope this will not invalidate the whole test that has been running continuously all this time.

 

Please advise as soon as you can :)

 

Thank you again :)


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#18
phillpower2

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Apologies for the delay mo713, I was called to business away from home and have not been near a computer for a couple of days  :(

 

If DV has not crashed forcing the issue would be the correct approach.

 

There is no set limit for the length of time to run DV only that it is allowed for a minimum of 36 hours or less if a crash occurs.

 

I am around all day today btw.

 

.


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#19
mo713

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Glad to know you are back. Hopefully we are close to nailing this problem. Or at least close- ER ;)

 

As noted before, the DV ran for about 48 hours and still no crash. I had to take off the DV in the background so I could resume my work on the computer. It is currently running without DV just as it was before beginning this thread.

 

Do you want me to reboot again with DV on and then force the blue screen with DV running? If this is done, is there another step I can do immediately after the blue screen to make more progress?

 

Or, what is the next step you recommend at this point?

 

I await your instructions.


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#20
phillpower2

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If no crash without DV running leave well alone, if the computer does crash upload the dump file.

 

Please be patient with this as we have nothing to work with at the moment.


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#21
mo713

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I think you misunderstood. I know exactly what causes the BSOD. I did not run that program during the 48 hour DV test. I thought DV would test every driver anyway without me forcing it. Now I would like to "force it" by running the program which was causing it. I never said that everything is running fine, only that DV did not uncover a crash on its own. I still believe I will get the crash when I do the crash-causing behavior.

 

My only question now is, before I attempt to run the faulty program and cause a crash, should I start DV again, or not? Because if I cause it without DV, you will get the same dump like you already have. I don't see what new info it can give you.

 

My ultimate goal is to be able to eliminate the BSOD root cause so that I can run the voip program without a crash (and presumably eliminate other crashes from the same source).

 

In other words, there is no "well enough alone". The problem still exists to my knowledge. If I were able to run the program without any issues for even a decent period of time, I might not care. But that is not the case.


Edited by mo713, 25 May 2014 - 12:02 PM.

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#22
phillpower2

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Enable DV, run the program that you suspect is causing the issue, upload any crash dumps for us.

 

Your last crash dumps pointed towards AVG as the cause of the issue, let us see if any newer ones if they transpire are any different;

 

Windows XP Kernel Version 2600 (Service Pack 3) MP (2 procs) Free x86 compatible
Product: WinNt, suite: TerminalServer SingleUserTS Personal
Built by: 2600.xpsp_sp3_qfe.130704-0421
Machine Name:
Kernel base = 0x804d7000 PsLoadedModuleList = 0x805634c0
Debug session time: Sun May 11 15:11:46.781 2014 (UTC - 4:00)
System Uptime: 0 days 2:53:07.475
*******************************************************************************
* *
* Bugcheck Analysis *
* *
*******************************************************************************

DRIVER_CORRUPTED_MMPOOL (d0)
Arguments:
Arg1: 8a400010, memory referenced
Arg2: 00000002, IRQL
Arg3: 00000001, value 0 = read operation, 1 = write operation
Arg4: 8054e4c4, address which referenced memory
    An attempt was made to access a pageable (or completely invalid) address at an
    interrupt request level (IRQL) that is too high. This is
    caused by drivers that have corrupted the system pool. Run the driver
    verifier against any new (or suspect) drivers, and if that doesn't turn up
    the culprit, then use gflags to enable special pool. You can also set
    HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\ProtectNonPagedPool
    to a DWORD 1 value and reboot. Then the system will unmap freed nonpaged pool,
    preventing drivers (although not DMA-hardware) from corrupting the pool.

Debugging Details:
------------------

TRIAGER: Could not open triage file : e:\dump_analysis\program\triage\modclass.ini, error 2

WRITE_ADDRESS: GetUlongFromAddress: unable to read from 80567ce8
8a400010

CURRENT_IRQL: 2

FAULTING_IP:
nt!MiFreePoolPages+45d
8054e4c4 897310 mov dword ptr [ebx+10h],esi

CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT: 2

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: DRIVER_FAULT

BUGCHECK_STR: 0xD0

PROCESS_NAME: System

LAST_CONTROL_TRANSFER: from 8055182d to 8054e4c4

STACK_TEXT:
f78ce370 8055182d 3f800000 87e97000 8821e008 nt!MiFreePoolPages+0x45d
f78ce3b0 f7b53ddb 87e96000 00000000 f78ce5a8 nt!ExFreePoolWithTag+0x1ba
f78ce3c0 f7b53ffb 87f22d60 87e96000 f7b53fc5 Ntfs!NtfsDeleteMdlAndBuffer+0x31
f78ce3cc f7b53fc5 804eb07e f78ced2c 8821e008 Ntfs!NtfsCommonWrite+0x1889
f78ce5a8 f7b53c18 f78ce5b8 8821e008 0110070a Ntfs!NtfsCommonWrite+0x182a
f78ce71c 804e1343 8a2ce020 8821e008 8a2d92c8 Ntfs!NtfsFsdWrite+0xf3
f78ce72c f748e3ca 00000000 8808bb08 f78ce770 nt!IopfCallDriver+0x31
f78ce73c 804e1343 8a2dc950 8821e008 8821e008 sr!SrWrite+0xaa
f78ce74c f74a3e9b 8a0b1b40 8821e008 8a0b1738 nt!IopfCallDriver+0x31
f78ce770 f74a406b f78ce790 8a0b1b40 00000000 fltMgr!FltpLegacyProcessingAfterPreCallbacksCompleted+0x20b
f78ce7a8 804e1343 8a0b1b40 8821e008 8821e008 fltMgr!FltpDispatch+0x11f
f78ce7b8 f77890ee 8a2ca5d8 89d51b10 8802d828 nt!IopfCallDriver+0x31
WARNING: Stack unwind information not available. Following frames may be wrong.
f78ce800 804e1343 8802d828 8821e008 00000000 avgidsfilterx+0x20ee
f78ce810 804eec52 e3735680 00001000 e16a6658 nt!IopfCallDriver+0x31
f78ce824 f7b7413c 8a2ca50c 8a2d2938 f78ce8c8 nt!IoSynchronousPageWrite+0xaf
f78ce8f0 f7b74089 e16a6658 e3735680 e141d700 Ntfs!LfsFlushLfcb+0x429
f78ce914 f7b7551f e16a6658 e3735680 8a2ce310 Ntfs!LfsFlushLbcb+0x81
f78ce96c f7b74cf8 e16a6658 000000e0 00000001 Ntfs!LfsWriteLfsRestart+0x16a
f78ce9b8 f7b75278 e1012a10 00000068 f78cea20 Ntfs!LfsWriteRestartArea+0x158
f78cebe8 f7b75174 f78cec1c 8a2ce100 00000000 Ntfs!NtfsCheckpointVolume+0xe0a
f78ced7c 804e2325 00000000 00000000 8a330818 Ntfs!NtfsCheckpointAllVolumes+0xd2
f78cedac 80576330 00000000 00000000 00000000 nt!ExpWorkerThread+0xef
f78ceddc 804ec1c9 804e2261 00000000 00000000 nt!PspSystemThreadStartup+0x34
00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 nt!KiThreadStartup+0x16


STACK_COMMAND: kb

FOLLOWUP_IP:
avgidsfilterx+20ee
f77890ee ?? ???

SYMBOL_STACK_INDEX: c

SYMBOL_NAME: avgidsfilterx+20ee

FOLLOWUP_NAME: MachineOwner

MODULE_NAME: avgidsfilterx

IMAGE_NAME: avgidsfilterx.sys


DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP: 4ef46e6b

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: 0xD0_avgidsfilterx+20ee

BUCKET_ID: 0xD0_avgidsfilterx+20ee

Followup: MachineOwner
---------


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#23
mo713

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Attached File  Mini052514-01.zip   39.99KB   241 downloads

 

 

The attached file contains 2 dump reports from the same operation while DV was enabled.

 

I hope this gets us farther :o


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#24
phillpower2

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The advice is still the same, uninstall AVG and install something lighter on resources such as Avast or MSE.

 

Your last two dumps were caused by the Voip software and the Realtek HD audio drivers, both of which can be compromised by AVG Watchdog


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#25
mo713

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I removed AVG. Rebooted and tried the voip program again.

 

Crash again.

 

Below is the dump report.

 

Attached File  Mini052514-03.zip   16.91KB   185 downloads

 

 

 

 

 

As I stated earlier, I have a second machine with almost identical specs and AVG installed. There are no blue screens when running the same program.

 

What next?


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#26
phillpower2

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A few checks for you to do listed below, they are list in the quickest and easiest order;

 

Your latest dump file only points towards Zoiper.exe again and no particular driver (see below) have you tried reinstalling VoIP from scratch, can VoIP be installed in Safe Mode with Networking.

 

STACK_TEXT:  
f78b6c50 804e8732 0000000c 00000001 20206f49 nt!ExAllocatePoolWithTag+0x66a
f78b6c74 80582b52 00000004 00000028 20206f49 nt!ExAllocatePoolWithQuotaTag+0x46
f78b6d00 80588d00 00000464 000004c0 00000000 nt!IopXxxControlFile+0x533
f78b6d34 804dd9ab 00000464 000004c0 00000000 nt!NtDeviceIoControlFile+0x2a
f78b6d34 7c90e514 00000464 000004c0 00000000 nt!KiSystemServicePostCall
WARNING: Frame IP not in any known module. Following frames may be wrong.
040efa54 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 0x7c90e514
 
Also from your dump file is MODULE_NAME: nt which can point to memory corruption btw.

 

Restart the computer in Safe Mode with Networking and then use VoIP, does the computer crash.

 

Use msconfig to determine what is causing the problem

These are good tutorials on using msconfig in XP, Vista or Windows 7:
How to use msconfig in Windows XP
How to use msconfig in Windows Vista
How to use msconfig in Windows 7 and Windows 8

Click on Start then Run, type msconfig and press Enter.
Click on the Startup tab (for Windows 8, the Startup tab has a link to open Task Manager/Startup tab. Use that.), record what is currently starting then click the Disable Allbutton.
Reboot and see if it runs better.
If yes then use msconfig to enable several items at a time till you find the culprit.

If no, start msconfig and click on the Services tab.
Check the Hide All Microsoft Services box, record what is currently starting then click the Disable All button.
Again, do a regular boot, see if it runs normal.
If yes then use msconfig to enable services till you find the culprit.

Once you've found the culprit, uninstall it or find out how to eliminate it from your system. Simply disabling it in msconfig is a temporary fix at best.
Enable everything else you disabled. 

 

 

Running chkdsk can be done without downloading and burning a disk so I suggest that is done before running Memtest86+

 

Go to Start and then to Run
Type in Chkdsk /r Note the space between k and /
Click Enter ...It will probably ask if you want to do this on the next reboot...click Y

If the window doesn't shutdown on its own reboot the system manually. On reboot the system will start the chkdsk operation
This one will take longer then chkdsk /f

Note... there are 5 stages...
It may appear to hang at a certain percent for an hour or more or even back up and go over the same area...this is normal...

DO NOT SHUT YOUR COMPUTER DOWN WHILE CHKDSK IS RUNNING OR YOU CAN HAVE SEVERE PROBLEMS

This can take several hours to complete.

When completed it will boot the system back into Windows so that you can test VoIP.

 

 

If no joy test the Ram;

 

Guide to using Memtest86+



Memtest is a small boot loaded program that allows a user to detect faults in his or her RAM . It comprises of a series of tests that puts the RAM under different stresses such as transferring different amounts of data across the channels quickly thereby testing how well it copes, and at the same time checking for accuracy and errors in the data transferred. 

Common symptoms of bad ram

There are many indicators of bad memory, some of which can be completely overlooked but generally they come down to the following:

  • Computer not booting at all, beeping endlessly
    The computer may display just a black screen with the computer still being on or restarting. Also a POST beep may be heard which indicates hardware faults. There are different sequences of beeps and so research must be carried out to ascertain whether its a RAM fault or not. 
    However remember different motherboard manufacturers have different POST beeps and so the correct sequence of POST beeps for one motherboard may not mean bad RAM on another. 
     
  • Distorted graphics on the screen. 
    One of the stranger indications of bad memory. Ive seen so many users put this down to graphics cards. The user has then gone and bought themselves a new £100 graphics card to find out their £20 stick of RAM was the fault. This is a great point to which to use Memtest, just to make sure of the fault.
     
  • Blue screens of death during the installation of Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Vista. 
    This is an obvious sign of faulty RAM. Blue Screen Of Death is an error screen displayed by some operating systems, most notably Microsoft Windows, after encountering a critical system error which can cause the system to shut down to prevent damage. 
    As there is no driver that can go wrong here and other hardware wont have fully been configured, faulty RAM will be the reason for the error in most cases.
     
  • Crashes or Blue screens during normal operation of the system (emails, web surfing etc.)
    General use of faulty RAM will produce a Blue screen. However again don't automatically assume this is RAM associated. There are hundreds of different items that could cause these symptoms and so diagnostics are required. 
     
  • Crashes during memory intensive tasks such as using Photoshop, playing 3d games etc..
    When intensive programs are used there is a greater risk of hardware over-stressing itself, thus causing errors. This is actually an area of testing completed by Memtest to check for RAM stability. 
    The general term for this would be stress testing. This is were hardware is put under extra pressure to perform large task. Faulty RAM would not be able to cope in most instances under this pressure thus singling it out as faulty.

Setting up Memtest.

Now that you have diagnosed faulty (or the possibility of faulty) RAM you should carry on to set up Memtest. There are 2 versions to choose from but i will be using the CD version due to the easier and much quicker install.



  • First Download Memtest from This Link.
  • There are several downloads to choose from. For this CD Version you require the link that says: 
    Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)
  • Download the file to your desktop.
  • If you are using Windows XP or Vista then you can right click the file and choose Extract All

    extracta.jpg

    If you do not have Windows XP or above or are running other Operating systems:
  • Click This Link to download 7Zip. Windows user require the Top link in the list for the .exe version. 64 Bit users should select the 64 bit version.
    Others users eg Mac Users should go to the heading below that says Some unofficial p7zip packages for Linux and other systems and download the relevant version. 
     
  • Download that to your desktop. Then double click the 7Zip installer and allow it to install on your system.
  • Once 7zip is installed right click the Memtest folder (called something like memtest86+-2.11.iso.zip)
  • Then click 7 Zip > Extract Here.
    7zipcopy.jpg

    You will now have a .iso file on your desktop called memtest86+-2.11
  • Now Click This Link to download ImgBurn.
  • Download that to your desktop and launch the installer by double clicking the ImgBurn installer icon. Follow the instructions, keeping the settings as the defaults.
  • Now when that is installed double click the program icon to launch 1154810681.jpg
  • Then click Write image file to disk
  • Then insert your Blank CD
  • Next click the Browse for File button folder_icon.gif and load the memtest.iso from your desktop.
  • Then click the large Write file to disk button modes405.png.
  • The program will then create your boot disk.

First and foremost verify that your disk has burned correctly. 
Go to My Computer or Finder on a Mac and go to your CD/DVD drive. Make sure the Disk is called Boot. If not then the burn has been unsuccessful. However if it is called Boot your CD is ready to go  :thumbsup: 


  • Now leave the disk in the drive and shutdown your PC.
  • Open the side of your Case and remove all but 1 sticks of RAM. You should only have one stick of RAM installed when running Memtest.
    upgrade-pc-ram-2.jpg

    Pull the white clips to the side and the stick of RAM should pop out.
    DO NOT put your RAM sticks on the carpet or on anything that can create static. This is a sure fire way to kill the components. Place them on some cardboard or in an antistatic bag to reduce the risk
  • Turn your PC back on.
  • Memtest should now boot. If not, go to the FAQ below.
  • No more user involvement is required at this stage. Memtest will automatically start the tests. The images below show Memtest scans in progress.
  • Once Memtest has completed its scan note down any errors that occurred. However usually you will be the one to stop the scan. You can stop the scan at any time but I would advise you run it for at least test number 8 as shown in the image below near the top right hand corner of the screen.
  • Then repeat the steps above for the remaining sticks of RAM by opening the case and swapping the existing stick with the one that has not been tested and then re run Memtest.

What it means:

The image below outlines the various areas of the Memtest screen.

memtestimg1copy.jpg

Other Tests
This image shows a current scan being performed with Memtest86+

memtestimg2.png

Failures
The image below shows a system with failures within Memtest. As you can see in the left hand Column it shows the failures were all made within test 3. Any failures would normally lead you to have to replace the RAM module as its usually something that isn't repairable.

memtestfail.png 

FAQ

Memtest didn't run when i turned on my computer

This is the most common problem with Memtest and falls down to a problem in your BIOS.

To fix this:


  • Turn off your PC wait 10 seconds and then Turn it on again.
  • When your PC loads and gets to the POST screen it will say something along the lines of Press DEL (delete) to enter setup. See This Image as an example.
  • When you enter the BIOS use your arrow keys to move to either the MainAdvanced or Advanced BIOS Features Tab.
  • You will be looking for a list that says Primary Master, Primary Slave etc. See This Image for help.
  • Then Navigate down to Primary Master (using the arrow keys) and then using in most PCs the + and - keys change the primary Master to CD-ROM /DVD-Drive or something similar
  • Then change Primary Slave to Hard Disk or Hard Drive what ever is available.

Is this test 100% accurate?

These tests are here to try and ascertain errors in your RAM. Some tests could come back as failing due to other reasons such as the program itself. Therefore the results will not be 100% accurate.

I have an error, now what

Most errors found in Memtest will require you to replace your RAM. This is because the problems are found more in the hardware of the RAM and how it works. Therefore it would be difficult for the Average user to repair. Please see the Hardware-Components-Peripherals Forum for more help.

I have more than one stick of RAM, does this matter?
Yes. Being able to diagnose each RAM stick individually is important as only one stick of RAM could be faulty saving you money if a replacement is required. When scanning with Memtest make sure you only have 1 stick of RAM installed at a time to improve the scanning results.

You can also check out This Video contributed by Ferrari if you need more help or if the steps in this guide don't quite work out for you 

Thanks also to rshaffer61 for helpful advice and corrections given. 


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#27
mo713

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The first thing I tried (which surprises me I didn't think of it before) was to just boot into safe mode w/networking. I ran the Zoiper program and dialed and it did NOT crash. However, since it was safe mode, there was no sound and no mic . The status display and call timers showed that it was connected though and either the other line dropped the call or I ended the call on my end. Both ways the call ended normally, and there was no blue screen. But there was no sound so I could not confirm "full" operation, but still it was encouraging.

 

So, is this new data significant? Are we getting closer? Or does safe mode working mean nothing special?

 

I do not know how to enable sound in safe mode, and I am unclear as to how to proceed with your other steps with this new finding. Please walk me thorough the best course of action at this point, given the new data.


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#28
mo713

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I have a lot of extra information to report after much experimentation today.

 

First, I removed AVG and downloaded MSE to replace it (from a download site, MS doesn't offer it anymore!). It installed fine, but then it alerted me to update it, which I did. After the update, now I get a warning every time I start windows, that MSE is no longer supported along with the end of XP support. And the whole time, the systray icon for MSE is solid red with an X, saying PC status:at risk.  Also, I had heard for a long time before anyway that MSE is extremely weak at catching virus and malware, letting many items slip by that other programs catch.

 

Question: Should either of the 2 observations above concern me? (expired product and poor protection)

 

 

Now, for the blue screen issue.

 

I removed all items from startup and rebooted. Tried Zoiper and did not get blue screen. Re-enabled everything but AzMixerSel.exe, which is part of the Realtek sound driver package. Still did not crash, but weird things happened with the built in mic. When testing the recording in sound control panel, no voice was detected. When trying sound recorder, no movement in the voice graph indicator (showing no input detected), but on playback, there WAS recorded sound. It picked up my voice even though it didn't show modulation. Why is this? If I plugged in an external mic, the sound was picked up on the screen and the control panel recognized the input.

 

When I re-enabled AzMixerSel, there was no indication in task manager that any process was running, but I was able to reconfigure the input settings and register the internal mic with sound recorder. Zoiper actually worked once without crashing. But  a bit later, another try....Of course, now Zoiper crashed again with wdmaud.sys.

 

This leads me to believe the culprit is azmixer.....

 

Question: Do you agree with the above conclusion?

 

A little more examining.....

 

Azmixer is listed 9 times on my hard drive. Sometimes exe, sometimes ini, and one time in a zip file, which was something I must have downloaded years ago to update the driver. It occurs in the following directories: system32\autorun\drivers\audio\config, windows\prefetch, progfiles\realtek\audio\drivers, progfiles\realtek\audio\installshield,

 

Question: How can I clean all this out for sure, and then enable a SINGLE, GOOD, CLEAN  version that will work without crashes? And is my thinking correct or is there more to do?


Edited by mo713, 26 May 2014 - 09:49 PM.

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#29
phillpower2

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I suggested that you start in Safe Mode with Networking because only the bare minimum of Windows drivers are installed, if the issue had of been present in safe mode it would have pointed towards a hardware as opposed to software problem.

 

Good work on your behalf identifying and confirming that the Realtek drivers/software are causing issues which has been the case for many a year, please see here

 

Before removing the offending drivers/software, download and save to your desktop the latest drivers for the device, to help with this, run DriverMax to see if any driver updates are suggested.

 

Please note that you are only allowed to download two drivers a day for free and be sure to uncheck the “install AVG toolbar” option box.

 

Install the new drivers in Safe Mode and remember to always create a new restore point before updating any drivers.

 

For clearing out the multiple dated entries before reinstalling you can use CCleaner which you can get from here Please note that the Registry cleaning option is not being suggested here and it should not be used under any circumstance.

 

 

RE MSE: Not sure where you heard that MSE is weak, everyone is entitled to an opinion but when they start airing an opinion that is nonsense you would be wise to close your ears.

 

MSE end of XP support article here

 

Microsoft Security Essentials (or any other antivirus software) will have limited effectiveness on PCs that do not have the latest security updates, this means that PCs running Windows XP will not be secure and will still be at risk of infection no matter what, Speccy showed that Windows auto update was disabled and that is correct for an XP machine that was fully updated, do you have all important updates installed including the one that I mention here

 

In addition to the above, get rid of IE8 as it is putting you at even more risk when you are online, only have one browser installed and running and after confirming that XP is fully updated disable the Windows Auto Updates setting.


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#30
mo713

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http://lifehacker.co...-eff-1441135677

 

The above link talks about how MSFT itself allegedly said MSE was less secure.... just what I read, not taking it as the final word.

 

 

I will work on the driver stuff a little later today, but how do I remove the current (buggy) audio driver before installing the new one?

 

Since my other machine does not crash, should I just revert back to the original factory driver version on the crashing computer? I subscribe to the if-it-aint-broke-dont-fix-it model ;)


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