Getting a lot of BSOD's :-(

I was wondering if anyone could help me in regards to a problem that I have?

The problem is that I am getting quite a few windows crashes - the dreaded Blue Screen Of Death.

I am running Windows XP and have made a few system changes recently. I have upgraded my firewall from ZoneAlarm freeware version to the ZoneAlarm Pro version. Also, I have upgraded my AV system from Norton 2002 to Eset NOD32. Could this be the cause of my woes? Other than those changes, nothing else has been touched. I am really stuck with this. It has only been happening recently and as I said, I have absolutely no idea WTF is going on. I have patched my system from the recent virus attacks and regularly run AV to check for nasties.

Please....... HELP!

ANY help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I'd uninstall NOD32 for a while and see if it goes away. If it does that was your problem. If not, go back to the regular version of ZoneAlarm. If it goes away reinstall NOD32 and see what happens.

If it continues after both changes I would begin looking at the memory and work your way through other hardware.

It may be the software added but doubtfull, both of those have been tested with winxp. Any hardware added recently? You say you have patched for the recent worm, did you have all the prerequisites for xp for the patch (i think it wanted the latest service pack.). Antother posibility is virtual memory,, is your HD almost full? A final option may be a bad pice of hardware, is the HD makeing noise, run a scan disk run a ram tester on your ram.

You didn't mention whether you are having Windows Update automatically apply patches. It is not unknown for a Microsoft patch to bomb a system with some combinatin of hardware/software they didn't anticipate and test against. Or some completely normal setup, actually.

If updates/patches have been applied recently (usually recorded in the add/remove software function on control panel), you may also want to sequentially remove them as Tiger Shark suggests for the other AV program and ZA Pro (assuming that doesn't have any effect.) By the way, I have had no problem with ZA Pro on WinXP Pro.

I forgot to ask the all important temp question. has it been ratehr hot where you are recently, is your room air conditioned? If the system is overheating that caould cause BSOD. Also pop open the box, make sure the fans are running and loook for anything odd, you would be amazed the number of times I have found animals causeing odd system errors.

Quote:

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Originally posted here by bballad
It may be the software added but doubtfull, both of those have been tested with winxp. Any hardware added recently? You say you have patched for the recent worm, did you have all the prerequisites for xp for the patch (i think it wanted the latest service pack.). Antother posibility is virtual memory,, is your HD almost full? A final option may be a bad pice of hardware, is the HD makeing noise, run a scan disk run a ram tester on your ram.

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Nope, I have added no new hardware, only the software. I had all the critical Windows patches and updates installed before I patched the Blaster flaw.

Quote:

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Originally posted by bballad
I forgot to ask the all important temp question. has it been ratehr hot where you are recently, is your room air conditioned? If the system is overheating that caould cause BSOD. Also pop open the box, make sure the fans are running and loook for anything odd, you would be amazed the number of times I have found animals causeing odd system errors.

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No bballad, it's not a temp issue. I got a new case about 2 months ago. It's a lot roomier than my previous box. I had to upgrade because I was getting BSOD's in the smaller case. THAT was due to heat dissipation. I've checked the fans too. They're A-OK (all 7 of them).

Quote:

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Originally posted by GandalfTheGrey
You didn't mention whether you are having Windows Update automatically apply patches. It is not unknown for a Microsoft patch to bomb a system with some combinatin of hardware/software they didn't anticipate and test against. Or some completely normal setup, actually.

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No, I don't trust it to update itself (lol). I regularly check manually for critical updates and whatever else I deem necessary at the time.

Upload a copy of the kernel dump so we can see where/what is bombing out. That usually gives you an idea of what is causing the problem.



-Maestr0

Do *NOT* upload a copy of the kernel dump - it will almost certainly contain privileged information, possibly including passwords.

It's fairly likely to be faulty RAM. I have seen this a lot. Get memtest86 and leave it running for a few hours - if it finds nothing, then your RAM is probably ok.

Slarty

Hmm,
forgot about that......sorry. OK, I have an idea!|Test you RAM! :) LOL
If that doesnt pan out look at your dumps and if you can discern what is causing the crash(particular executable or .dll maybe, IRQ problems.etc)

Slarty, thanks for keeping an eye on me, sometimes I get a little dangerous....lol


-Maestr0

DUDE, your problem is Windows XP... Uninstall it, and install something that will put hair on yer chest.... I have XP on my laptop, and it slows it down, and crashes daily.... ITS 256 FREAKING MB!!!! When it comes back from repair, imma partition it, and install *nix on it again :D

Otis, you have to be kidding me.

Free Simon Vallor (aka GOBO)?? Are you ****ing kidding me?! The ******* who released viruses after the September 11th attack and then got busted after bragging about it in a chat room?!

To quote you, "Dude" you are hangin on the wrong site.

For the others here, I'm sorry that I'm off the thread subject but when I see **** like this, it makes me insane.

For those who don't know about the clown Otis wants to free, here is a little taste:

Simon Vallor, the man who sent e-mail viruses after September 11th
claiming to be from Microsoft, was jailed yesterday in the heaviest
sentence yet under the Computer Misuse Act 1990.

Vallor admitted creating three viruses at his home in Llandudno and was
sentenced to two years in prison for each of three offences, to run
concurrently. Vallor's viruses were said to have spread to 42 countries
and were known as Gokar, Admirer and Redesi. Some of the e-mails claimed
to have come from Microsoft and offered protection against online
terrorism. When opened the e-mail released a virus which interfered with
a computer's memory three months later. The court heard that Vallor was
caught when he boasted of his viruses on internet chat rooms.

thehorse13: completely understandable. Also telling a user to rid of WinXP is also insane because it is a person(s) choice to install or rid of any OS not based on what somebody else thinks. If a person runs Windows, *NIX, OS/2, DOS or whatever is OK as long as it performs the job it needs to. Sheesh.

As for the BSOD, I have only seen Win2000 (and variants) do that maybe twice.