I'm getting blue-screened to death

dgal · Aug 20, 2008

I've been getting the blue screen of death several times a week, if not several times a day, for several months now. It almost always comes when I am surfing the internet, especially--but not particularly--when I'm accessing video sites such as Hulu or MSN Video, although I don't even need to be playing something in such sites--if the window's even up, it will likely give a blue screen somewhere in the next hour. Lately, though, just running a browser can cause it to blues creen.

My blue screen says at the top something to the effect of: driver-not-less-or-equal; I've never been fast enough to catch the specific numbers, but I can try if they're needed.

I've tested this in the latest versions of: IE, FF, Opera, Flock, and Safari and all equally cause a blue screen crash.

I have an Acer E380 8 month old system with:
Vista SP1
AM2 Socket MB (I believe, and don't know the exact model)
Athlon 64 X2 4400+ @ 2.31 GHz
NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430 (I now just installed a NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT and it did not remedy anything)
Realtek High Definition audio
2GB DDR2 RAM
320 GB Western Digital HD
Came with 250W PSU (I put in a 750W PSU to try some upgrades with the new graphics card, but somehow that combination gave more blue screens so I took both of them out)
I have about 6 USBs hooked up drawing various amounts of power and I use a Wacom tablet as my main mouse/input, but the problem started way before that...so don't know if that means anything.

I also have an old tvtuner card plugged into a PCI slot that was installed once but since uninstalled--but I haven't removed it because for whatever odd reason removing it makes my PC slower. (Thank you Vista.)

I might be pulling at strings, but this problem might have been less before I installed the Vista service pack 1, but then again, I've had blue screens for a long time.

From that exhaustive list...can you think of anything I might do to remedy this problem before I end up frying my system with all these blue screens??? ANY help would be appreciated--and yes, I'm still under warranty, but I'd rather do everything I can to fix this myself rather than send it in and lose 3 weeks worth of work.

One more thing: I've swapped PSU's several times for testing purposes; could I have somehow tugged my MB power connector out of whack to cause this blue screen problem? Probably a stupid question, but I'm willing to consider anything at this point.

Thanks for your help!

jcgriff2 · Aug 20, 2008

Hi dgal. . .

Welcome... to your first thread in the TSF Vista Support Forum.

I see that you have been a member since last November, but this is your first thread and post. Sorry it had to be under a BSOD watch. Let's see if we can locate the cause.

I need some items and I have a few things for you as well. There is a zip file attached to this post containing a batch file named minidump-msinfo32.bat. Please download it and extract it to your desktop. Right-click on the desktop batch file icon and select Run as Administrator. The black "DOS" command screen will appear and scroll followed by the smaller Vista screen while msinfo32 runs. Give it a few minutes, then go to your documents folder where there should be a new folder named TSF_08-21-08 containing the dump files (with names similar to Mini082008-01.dmp), a text file and the msinfo32 NFO file. Zip the entire folder up and attach to your next post.

In the interim, please check WERCON - Windows Problem Reports and Solutions as it usually does contain information on the system crashes that may prove to be helpful.
START | type wercon.exe into the start search box | right-click on wercon.exe under programs above | run as admin | view Problems to Check & Problem History.

Also check the Device Manager for any red/yellow flags.
START | type dev man into the start search box | right-click on Device Manager up top under programs | run as admin

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

.

dgal · Aug 21, 2008

jcgriff2,

Thank you so much for your reply!

I ran the program you said and zipped the output, along with 2 of the wercon report files from the BSOD (don't know if that helps but figured it wouldn't hurt.)

I also looked in device manager, but couldn't run it in admin mode--or maybe it was already. There were no flags, though.

Reading another post about someone with BSOD problems, I also redownloaded and installed my Belkin USB adapter drivers. I haven't had a BSOD since then (yesterday), but then again, sometimes it lies dormant a few days and makes me think I've beaten it.

Any help you can give is very much appreciated! (Thanks!)

macten · Aug 22, 2008

Early on, Nvidia graphics cards caused something like 29% of the crashes. I have no idea if they've got their act together since. I went with ATI and have had something like 2 blue screens in 8 months. And those came after I installed a program called Log Me In.

I strongly suspect that many of the problems are hardware specific.

jcgriff2 · Aug 25, 2008

Hi. . .

The four mini kernel dumps all had the same bugcheck except for the last parameter which is the memory address of the object that referenced the memory that resulted in the system crashes.

0x000000d1 (0x00000008, 0x00000002, 0x00000000, 0x*4thparm), listing the probable cause as the Microsoft native wifi miniport driver nwifi.sys.

0x000000d1 = 0xd1 = indicates that a kernel-mode driver attempted to access pageable memory at a time when it should not have.

Looking further into the stack, another driver showed itself that I believe to be a likely candidate contributing to the BSODs - if not causing the Microsoft driver to be named. That driver is netr28u.sys belonging to your RT2870 USB wifi card, timestamp = Mon Apr 30 07:29:11 2007. I believe this driver should be updated if one can be found as it is a wifi driver as is the Microsoft driver named.

I have included a bugcheck summary below and have attached the full dbug logs.

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

.

Bugcheck summary

Code:

BugCheck D1, {8, 2, 0, 95bd4d5b}
Probably caused by : nwifi.sys ( nwifi!Pt6RepackRecvNBL+57 )
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
BugCheck D1, {8, 2, 0, 9694ad5b}
Probably caused by : nwifi.sys ( nwifi!Pt6RepackRecvNBL+57 )
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
BugCheck D1, {8, 2, 0, a04d4d5b}
Probably caused by : nwifi.sys ( nwifi!Pt6RepackRecvNBL+57 )
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
BugCheck D1, {8, 2, 0, 96ae7d5b}
Probably caused by : nwifi.sys ( nwifi!Pt6RepackRecvNBL+57 )

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
.
Built by: 6001.18063.x86fre.vistasp1_gdr.080425-1930
Debug session time: Wed Aug 20 08:45:59.929 2008 (GMT-4)
System Uptime: 0 days 1:31:37.630
BugCheck D1, {8, 2, 0, 95bd4d5b}
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for netr28u.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for netr28u.sys
Probably caused by : nwifi.sys ( nwifi!Pt6RepackRecvNBL+57 )
PROCESS_NAME:  DVDMaker.exe
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Built by: 6001.18063.x86fre.vistasp1_gdr.080425-1930
Debug session time: Wed Aug 20 05:53:41.007 2008 (GMT-4)
System Uptime: 0 days 3:17:51.724
BugCheck D1, {8, 2, 0, 9694ad5b}
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for netr28u.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for netr28u.sys
Probably caused by : nwifi.sys ( nwifi!Pt6RepackRecvNBL+57 )
PROCESS_NAME:  SearchIndexer.e
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Built by: 6001.18063.x86fre.vistasp1_gdr.080425-1930
Debug session time: Sat Aug 16 19:41:19.600 2008 (GMT-4)
System Uptime: 0 days 0:03:25.394
BugCheck D1, {8, 2, 0, a04d4d5b}
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for netr28u.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for netr28u.sys
Probably caused by : nwifi.sys ( nwifi!Pt6RepackRecvNBL+57 )
PROCESS_NAME:  System
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Built by: 6001.18063.x86fre.vistasp1_gdr.080425-1930
Debug session time: Thu Aug 14 20:21:48.438 2008 (GMT-4)
System Uptime: 0 days 5:57:44.248
BugCheck D1, {8, 2, 0, 96ae7d5b}
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for netr28u.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for netr28u.sys
Probably caused by : nwifi.sys ( nwifi!Pt6RepackRecvNBL+57 )
PROCESS_NAME:  System
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

dgal · Aug 25, 2008

Thank you very much, jcgriff2! I'll definitely search that driver out and see how I can fix it.

Thanks!

jcgriff2 · Aug 28, 2008

Hi. . .

You are welcome. I do hope that this driver update solves your BSOD problems.

I found a Belkin UK site for your F5D8053 wifi adaptor with a new driver released in May 2008:

http://www.belkin.com/uk/support/article/?lid=enu&pid=f5d8053uk&aid=9114&scid=0

Here is the info obtained from msinfo32:

Code:

Name	[00000007] Belkin F5D8053 N Wireless USB Adapter
Adapter Type	Ethernet 802.3
Product Type	Belkin F5D8053 N Wireless USB Adapter
Installed	Yes
PNP Device ID	USB\VID_050D&PID_8053\5&243C16E2&0&1
Last Reset	8/21/2008 5:11 AM
DHCP Enabled	Yes
Driver	c:\windows\system32\drivers\netr28u.sys
             (2.1.0.0, 539.50 KB (552,448 bytes), 8/15/2007 10:49 PM)

Please let me know how you make out.

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

.

I'm getting blue-screened to death

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