Recovery from mini memory dump?

[PaulFXH]

Hi
My computer which is normally very well behaved has started rebooting
unexpectedly. Since yesterday, this has happened a total of eight
times.
In general, it occurs while scanning (could be AV scan, or backup scan
or even during sfc /scannow).
When it boot up, a Windows message appears stating that the computer
has recovered from a serious error and urges me to send an error report
which I have done many times.
The links associated with this error message point to a Mini memory
dump. However, MS then asks for a complete memory dump file to be sent
to them for further diagnosis. However, although my computer is
configured for error reporting, no MEMORY.dmp file is available in
c:\windows.
The only .dmp files are those in c:\windows\mini which are named
mini-timestamp-.dmp
There is also a suggestion in some of the MS literature on this topic
that a driver incompatibility may be the culprit. However, I have not
installed any new hardware recently.
I would really appreciate some guidance on this as the problem seems to
be getting worse.

TIA
Paul

Dell 4550 Desktop
WinXP Home SP2
CPU P4, 2.53 GHz
1.0 GB RAM
Int HD 80 GB ntfs, non-partitioned
Ext HD 160 GB ntfs, non-partitioned
Ext HD 250 GB ntfs, 4 partitions

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE]

Hi
My computer which is normally very well behaved has started rebooting
unexpectedly. Since yesterday, this has happened a total of eight
times.
In general, it occurs while scanning (could be AV scan, or backup scan
or even during sfc /scannow).
When it boot up, a Windows message appears stating that the computer
has recovered from a serious error and urges me to send an error report
which I have done many times.
The links associated with this error message point to a Mini memory
dump. However, MS then asks for a complete memory dump file to be sent
to them for further diagnosis. However, although my computer is
configured for error reporting, no MEMORY.dmp file is available in
c:\windows.
The only .dmp files are those in c:\windows\mini which are named
mini-timestamp-.dmp
There is also a suggestion in some of the MS literature on this topic
that a driver incompatibility may be the culprit. However, I have not
installed any new hardware recently.
I would really appreciate some guidance on this as the problem seems to
be getting worse.

TIA
Paul

Dell 4550 Desktop
WinXP Home SP2
CPU P4, 2.53 GHz
1.0 GB RAM
Int HD 80 GB ntfs, non-partitioned
Ext HD 160 GB ntfs, non-partitioned
Ext HD 250 GB ntfs, 4 partitions

Right click My Computer and select Properties | Advanced.
In Startup and Recovery click Settings.
Uncheck Automatically Restart.
The next time this happens it won't restart. It will, instead, show you the
blue screen. We need the stop error and the information after it.

 

[PaulFXH]

Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE wrote:

Right click My Computer and select Properties | Advanced.
In Startup and Recovery click Settings.
Uncheck Automatically Restart.
The next time this happens it won't restart. It will, instead, show you the
blue screen. We need the stop error and the information after it.

Hi Frank
Thanks for your reply.
I've done what you suggested and also, while in the Start/Recovery
dialog box, I changed the 'write debugging information' to Complete
Memory Dump from Small Memory Dump which it had been.
As luck <g> would have it, very soon after doing this, the machine
crashed yet again and I was able to send the Complete Dump file to MS
(although this took more than three hours despite a high speed internet
connection).
The Stop: error was given as 0x0000007F (0x00000008, 0x80042000,
0x00000000, 0x00000000).
Advise was also given to run OEM diagnostic check which I'll do
tonight.
On restart, the MS OnLine Crash Analysis made a vague reference to the
Video card driver being the fault (although I'm still not clear if this
has any direct relevance for my situation or is just a generic analysis
example). Nevertheless, I installed the current driver for my video
card.
This, however, did not fix the problem as two further crashes occurred.
One gave the same error information as before. In the second, the Stop:
error was given as 0x000000FE (0x00000005, 0x8541A0E0, 0x10330035,
0x854A4180).
I really am completely puzzled about this and would welcome any
comments.
Paul

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE]

Hi Frank
Thanks for your reply.
I've done what you suggested and also, while in the Start/Recovery
dialog box, I changed the 'write debugging information' to Complete
Memory Dump from Small Memory Dump which it had been.
As luck <g> would have it, very soon after doing this, the machine
crashed yet again and I was able to send the Complete Dump file to MS
(although this took more than three hours despite a high speed internet
connection).
The Stop: error was given as 0x0000007F (0x00000008, 0x80042000,
0x00000000, 0x00000000).
Advise was also given to run OEM diagnostic check which I'll do
tonight.
On restart, the MS OnLine Crash Analysis made a vague reference to the
Video card driver being the fault (although I'm still not clear if this
has any direct relevance for my situation or is just a generic analysis
example). Nevertheless, I installed the current driver for my video
card.
This, however, did not fix the problem as two further crashes occurred.
One gave the same error information as before. In the second, the Stop:
error was given as 0x000000FE (0x00000005, 0x8541A0E0, 0x10330035,
0x854A4180).
I really am completely puzzled about this and would welcome any
comments.
Paul

See http://www.aumha.org/win5/kbestop.htm

 

[PaulFXH]

Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE wrote:

See http://www.aumha.org/win5/kbestop.htm

Good new, Frank
The Stop error messages said little more than that I had either a
software or a hardware problem (hmmm).
The Dell diagnostic test I ran overnight said I had no hardware
problems so (narrowing it down to a software problem) I uninstalled the
new AV I had installed just prior to the onset of these problems.
Sure enough, this seems to have solved the problem. In any case, the
WOC backup that had invariably caused a reboot almost immediately on
its commencement over the last few days, now was able to function
without problems.
Thanks a lot for your interest in my problem
Paul

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE]

Good new, Frank
The Stop error messages said little more than that I had either a
software or a hardware problem (hmmm).
The Dell diagnostic test I ran overnight said I had no hardware
problems so (narrowing it down to a software problem) I uninstalled the
new AV I had installed just prior to the onset of these problems.
Sure enough, this seems to have solved the problem. In any case, the
WOC backup that had invariably caused a reboot almost immediately on
its commencement over the last few days, now was able to function
without problems.
Thanks a lot for your interest in my problem
Paul

Thanks for the feedback. Glad it's working.