[Josh Popbi]

I have a Toshiba Satellite X205-SLi1
- Windows OS: Vista Home Premium 32 bit
- Realtek High-Def Sound card
- 2 GB of RAM
- NVIDIA 8600 video card
- Intel Wireless network card
- 2 Hitachi Hard Drives
- Toshiba Modem.

I have not updated or taken out anything on these. However, I am concerned.

In January 2009 my laptop started acting up and my video card died. This resulted in an 8 month long fight with Toshiba to honor their warranty against defective parts.

About 2 days after getting it back in August 2009, my computer started getting the BSOD. It lasted for nearly 5 months before crashing in January 2010 and only started working again in January 2011.

Now I get the BSOD very often. I have counted it to 38 BSOD crashes and 15 boot failures in 45 days. These BSODs are often conflicting, saying their is something wrong with this .sys file and then this one and etc etc. Some are Win32k.sys, nvdmn.sys, "msdiske.sys", not certain on that one though.

I took it in to a computer repair shop and he said that there is something wrong with my registry. However, even after removing the no longer used registry keys, it still keeps acting up and I get irritated, because I can never tell, "Hey is it going to crash right now?" And on several instances, I have turned on the computer and it goes throught the BIOS, no problem, straight to the Windows Logo, and then gives me another BSOD. This is happened 3 times in the last 2 days.

Now before I gave my computer to Toshiba, it never once suffered from a BSOD and then when I got it back, it just started. The computer repair guy told me to get the Toshiba Recovery CDs and try to slick the hard drive and then restore it to default settings. Those weren't included when I bought the laptop. What do I do? Any help would be greatly appreciated, because I have harbored the thought of using the laptop for target practice and getting a desktop.

 

[jcgriff2]

The computer repair guy told me to get the Toshiba Recovery CDs and try to slick the hard drive and then restore it to default settings. Those weren't included when I bought the laptop. What do I do?

Did you obtain the Toshiba Recovery discs?

Toshiba - Recovery media - Toshiba Forums

Does the system have an HDD recovery partition? Check and see -

Shut system down.
Hold '0' (zero) key down, power up system, when it beeps, release 0 key

Look for option to restore system to factory default settings.

Be sure to back up your important files first.

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

`

 

[Josh Popbi]

I don't have the recovery cds. I never got them when i got the computer. As for a recovery partion. I was informed that Toshiba never put a recovery partion in the X205s. That the only way to recover anything is to get the cds for $35 for cd and $45 for flash drive. But what gets me is the whole BSOD did not start until after I got my computer back from Toshiba, following an 8 month fight for them to honor the warranty on defective parts, AKA, a defective video card. Call me paranoid, but I want to know what they did to it for it to act like this. I mean I had a couple of glitches here and there, but nothing this major. And alone in the last 2 days, my computer crashed nearly 10 times. I also got another BSOD today, this one saying something had went wrong with nvlddmkm.sys. about 75% of my BSODs stem from system file crashes. What gives? I haven't used the internet on my computer except once, and I didn't download anything, I didn't go to any questionable sites, etc etc etc. And my firewall is set high on Windows Defender and on stealth, which is a step down from lockdown, on my McAfee Security Center. So what gives?

 

[jcgriff2]

Hi Josh . . .

nvlddmkm.sys = NVIDIA video driver - Driver Reference Table - sysnative.com - MVP

Did you try to boot into Recovery -- just to make sure it is not there...?

1st, I would remove McAfee - McAfee Removal -- sysnative.com MVP

Reboot upon completion.

Install MSE - http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/

Then. . .

Run Driver Verifier - Driver Verifier - Windows 7 & Vista (BSOD-related)

Driver Verifier needs to run 24 hours minimum or until it BSODs your system, whichever is less. Then . . .

Provide full system info - Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Posting Instructions - Windows 7 & Vista

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

`

 

[Josh Popbi]

I would remove McAfee, but it is my only virus-protection on my laptop. I am using our libraries computers, because I cannot log onto the internet on my laptop. When I do manage it to log on, I get bizarre messages, such as Where are you? What are you doing? in the google search box. And then it starts minimizing and maximizing over and over until it crashes. A local computer repair man said it is a key logger, but where the heck would that have come from. I haven't been on the internet, nor downloaded anything in over 2 years and this only started after I got it back from Toshiba. But I will try and log on with my laptop sometime and get MSE. But when I tried to boot into the recovery mode on my laptop it says "Please insert <first disk> into CD Drive or something along those lines. And when I click cancel, my computer shuts down. Now I have 2 120 GB HDDs, but each one only allows me access to 110 GBs, where is the other 10 at? But I also have trouble with Win32K.sys, nvlddmkm.sys, that one wierd one medis, something or another. But mostly it is just a random BSOD. About 45% of the time though its attached with a .sys file It says STOP 0x0000008e, and then the rest varies. But I also get 0x00000000, 0x0000007f, 0x00000001 or 02.

 

[Josh Popbi]

Oh and by the way, I tried to locate the hidden system recovery parition. I used 0, F1, F2, F4, F5, F6, F7, F8, F9, F10, F11, F12, CTRL + all the F buttons one after another and nothing worked. And i figure it should be there. I am assuming it would be the missing 10 GB on both of my hard drives. They are 120 GB and I only am able to use 110 GB on either one. For a total of 220 GB out of 240 GB

 

[Josh Popbi]

Also, I was watching a movie earlier on my laptop and it crashed. It said ClassPNP.sys error.

 

[Rich-M]

I think you are stuck and simply have to buy the restore cd's or use it for target practice. I would also bet with only Windows Defender and MacAfee Security on it it is badly infected as I don't think it is possible to surf in today's environment with no protection at all, and frankly that is what you have. The major issues today are spyware and as useless as MacAfee is for virus, it is even beyond that for spyware so the restore capability will most likley solve the problems.

 

[Josh Popbi]

I have that Malwarebytes program or something like that and it keeps coming back clean, saying nothing is wrong and everything is hunky doory. And if that were true, then my laptop would not be crashing like a drunk everytime I turn something on.

 

[Josh Popbi]

Now my only question is why is the Toshiba Satellite X205-Sli1, the only laptop I know of that doesn't have the recovery parition in the hard drive? I mean would it really kill Toshiba to put it in. All the other computer manufacturers do, so why not Toshiba? My only answer is they are trying to milk the customers if something goes wrong.