blue screen of death

[Contrived_Alias]

Recently, when I reboot, I am greeted by the XP blue screen of death.
Error message resembles
'A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent
damage.."
I am told to check available disk space (using ~30%), drivers, and BIOS
(haven't checked BIOS yet).
For drivers I am told the check the 'Stop' line which begins
0X0000008E.

I can get the PC back up by seelcting the most recent good
configuration.

How do I find what is causing this error?

 

[Malke]

Recently, when I reboot, I am greeted by the XP blue screen of death.
Error message resembles
'A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent
damage.."
I am told to check available disk space (using ~30%), drivers, and
BIOS (haven't checked BIOS yet).
For drivers I am told the check the 'Stop' line which begins
0X0000008E.

I can get the PC back up by seelcting the most recent good
configuration.

How do I find what is causing this error?

Research your Stop Error here:

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

Malke

 

[J Lunis]

Contrived_Alias wrote:




Research your Stop Error here:

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

Malke

OK, one file listed is wuauclt.exe - Windows update. Is it safe to
rename this file so it won't load on startup? Want to see if this is
the culprit.

 

[Malke]

OK, one file listed is wuauclt.exe - Windows update. Is it safe to
rename this file so it won't load on startup? Want to see if this is
the culprit.

Are you the original poster? I wouldn't mess with the Windows Update
file. It is extremely unlikely to be the one causing the problem. Much
more likely is that you have a bad driver or bad hardware. Did you
research the Stop Error? What were the results? Have you added any
hardware or software, updated any drivers lately?

Malke

 

[J Lunis]

J Lunis wrote:




Are you the original poster? I wouldn't mess with the Windows Update
file. It is extremely unlikely to be the one causing the problem. Much
more likely is that you have a bad driver or bad hardware. Did you
research the Stop Error? What were the results? Have you added any
hardware or software, updated any drivers lately?

Malke

Yup, original.
I have been to aumha and started tracking the info they suggest. I'll
get back later this AM.

 

[J Lunis]

Contrived_Alias wrote:




Research your Stop Error here:

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

Malke

OK, Malke, here goes
Stop code >0x0000008E(oXC000005,0X804E13D0,0XF8A01740,0X0000000)
According to aumha, the first string in the error is
'0x0000008E: KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED' and noted as
'nearly always hardware compatibility issues (which sometimes means a
driver issue or a need for a BIOS upgrade).'
I have checked with Dell - I have the latest BIOS.
Checked Device Manager - no error icons. I recall loading no
hardware in the last week or two (when the blue screen first appeared).
aumha refers me to a MSDN article which reads in part 'Parameter 2 (the
exception address) should pinpoint the driver or function that caused
this problem.' Parameter 2 is oX804E13D0 - how does that pinpoint the
driver?
Another article linked to aumha notes
'CAUSE:
This behavior may occur if one of the following conditions is true:
• One or more of the random access memory (RAM) modules that are
installed on your computer are faulty.
• The RAM configuration is incompatible with Windows XP.'

I suppose I'll contact Dell about this.
Event Manager, Application lists a warning as 'Windows saved user
USERNAME registry while an application while the registry was still
using the application during logoff. This is often caused by services
running as a user account.'
I have no idea what that means.
2 errors in event manager, system - both are . . .
'The server did not register with DCOM withing the required timeout.'
Event ID 10010
Finally, under event manager, services is a warning
'W32Time The time service has not been able to synchronize . . .'
Any of this gibberish make sense?

 

[Malke]

OK, Malke, here goes
Stop code >0x0000008E(oXC000005,0X804E13D0,0XF8A01740,0X0000000)
According to aumha, the first string in the error is
'0x0000008E: KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED' and noted as
'nearly always hardware compatibility issues (which sometimes means a
driver issue or a need for a BIOS upgrade).'
I have checked with Dell - I have the latest BIOS.
Checked Device Manager - no error icons. I recall loading no
hardware in the last week or two (when the blue screen first
appeared). aumha refers me to a MSDN article which reads in part
'Parameter 2 (the exception address) should pinpoint the driver or
function that caused this problem.' Parameter 2 is oX804E13D0 - how
does that pinpoint the driver?
Another article linked to aumha notes
'CAUSE:
This behavior may occur if one of the following conditions is true:
• One or more of the random access memory (RAM) modules that are
installed on your computer are faulty.
• The RAM configuration is incompatible with Windows XP.'

I suppose I'll contact Dell about this.
Event Manager, Application lists a warning as 'Windows saved user
USERNAME registry while an application while the registry was still
using the application during logoff. This is often caused by services
running as a user account.'
I have no idea what that means.
2 errors in event manager, system - both are . . .
'The server did not register with DCOM withing the required
timeout.'
Event ID 10010
Finally, under event manager, services is a warning
'W32Time The time service has not been able to synchronize . . .'
Any of this gibberish make sense?

Yes. Your RAM has probably gone bad. If you want to test it yourself, I
like Memtest86+. from www.memtest.org. Obviously, you have to get the
program from a working machine. You will either download the
precompiled Windows binary to make a bootable floppy or the .iso to
make a bootable cd. If you want to use the latter, you'll need to have
third-party burning software on the machine where you download the file
- XP's built-in burning capability won't do the job. In either case,
boot with the media you made. The test will run immediately. Let the
test run for an extended period of time - unless errors are seen
immediately. If you get any errors, replace the RAM.

If the machine is under warranty, definitely call Dell. I would test the
RAM myself first to save time on the service call. They will still make
you jump through hoops. Don't let them tell you to reinstall Windows. A
software solution like that will not heal bad hardware.

Malke