Windows XP Blue Screen

[JackIV]

I have been having blue screens come up ever since I tried installing and uninstalling several games from a disc. Can someone help please? Dont know where to start to even try to fix this.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Several games from a disc? Which games? And which operating system?

 

[JackIV]

Conflict Denied Ops
Sniper Ghost Warrior
Far Cry

...and I already had Rainbow Six Lockdown and a couple of Laura Croft games on the system from a previous owner, my step dad. This system was apparently built to game. Im so confused.

OH its Windowsxp

 

[floppybootstomp]

Ok, which games caused the BSOD? Or was it one particular game? Are all these games on one disc? Are they legitimate copies?

And do you know the secification of your computer? There's a freebie software application named Speccy which will tell you what you have inside your computer.

If it's a computer that was originally specced for gaming and it's less than five years old you shouldn't be having any problems running tyhe games you've listed, they're all quite old now.

Have you installed latest drivers for video and sound devices?

 

[JackIV]

They are all the original legit copies. I was playing Conflict Denied Ops just fine until one day it stopped loading. So I had tried uninstalling and reinstalling several times and no dice. So jus tleft it and played Rainbow six for a while. Couple weeks later I tried installing Far Cry and Sniper Ghost Warrior and thats when I started getting error messages saying that I had to verify the files and that I can access them. Soon after BSOD. I'll get the Specs-

Drivers are updated.

Yea this system is only a year or two old.

Operating System
MS Windows XP Professional 32-bit SP3
CPU
AMD Athlon II X2 245 38 °C
Regor 45nm Technology
RAM
2.0GB Single-Channel DDR2 @ 400MHz (6-6-6-18)
Motherboard
BIOSTAR Group TA785GE 128M (CPU 1) 43 °C
Graphics
ASUS VH202 (1600x900@60Hz)
1024MB GeForce 9500 GT (ZOTAC International) 52 °C
Hard Drives
488GB Hitachi Hitachi HDS721050CLA362 (SATA) 35 °C
Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH22NS40
Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio

 

[floppybootstomp]

Alright, that's a respectable machine and you shouldn't be having any problems running the games you've mentioned.

Far Cry 1 will run on more or less anything but Far Cry 2 did cause a few minor problems on release.

I presume you've uninstalled - or attempted to - any games you suspected of causing the problem? Have you deleted their respective folders from Program Files? That would be a good idea. And I assume everything was running ok before one or more games were installed.

Here's a link to your motherboard spec: http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=455

It has onboard graphics, are these disabled in the BIOS cos if they're not that would certainly cause a few glitches.

Have you had a look through my BSOD thread including the link to another place to see if there's anything there to help you?

 

[JackIV]

yes I have installed and uninstalled over n over. I'll try to delete from the program files. Everything was running fine b4 the the games were installed. I was playing Far Cry 1 without the cd. It was already on the computer when he gave it to me. Then I retrieved the actual cd and tried to play with that because there were starting to be loading issues without the cd. Then thats when my issues started with loading any game on the computer. I can't play anything now. Im still new at all this computer stuff not sure if I did something wrong. We did get a trojan before trying to load the games with their cd's.

Im not sure how to check if the onboard graphics are disabled or not. BIOS from start up? I'll have to check out your other threads as well.What do I do at this link?

 

[floppybootstomp]

BSOD = Blue Screen Of Death which is what I thought you were getting.

The BIOS is accessed as the computer starts usually by hitting the 'Del' key or sometimes the F2 key.

Once in there, don't mess with anything you're not sure about but look for something like 'Onboard Graphics' and make sure it's disabled. There will be instructions on how to navigate the BIOS, change things, save and exit within the BIOS screen.

If you had a trojan previously that could well be the cause,what antivirus software are you using? Whatever it is, do a full scan then download and run Malwarebytes (it's a freebie) and see if it catches anything.

Most games won't run without the CD unless you use Steam or one of those naughty 'No CD Cracks' which is very well where you may have picked the Trojan up from.

File sharing sites such as Frostwire are also prime contenders for nasties.

For now, scan for viruses and malware.

 

[JackIV]

Ok did the malewarebites clean up and downloaded and ran AVG's free first time full clean up yesterday to take care of all the trojan and maleware issues. Cleared everything but there are still bsod's and I still cant load and play my games. I also went into the add remove programs and removed any and all games. Then I did the program files removal as well like you suggested and removed anything that had to do with the games. I also ran ccleaner and have the smart defrag running at all times.

I also went to the BIOS at the start up and found no option for 'onboard graphics'.

Just did another scan and came up clean. I still have the log from yesterdays scan for malwarebites if you wanna see it.

 

[TriplexDread]

Video ram or System ram issues maybe?

 

[JackIV]

So now what?

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

I think the first step is to ask, what does the BSOD say? Did the system dump memory? After a BSOD, on reboot, dumprep runs to prep the memory dump into a usable format. You can read the dump files fairly easily.

https://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/reading-dump-files-t4035605.html

start there.

 

[JackIV]

OK I haven't had the bsod come up at all recently. I think it has been a day and a half now. I have a paper and pen right next to the computer to write down the info as soon as it comes back up. I will re-post if I get the BSOD again. It did dump the files and said to turn off the BIOS caching and shadowing. I went into the BIOS and searched in my computer properties and couldn't find how to do this.

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

just remember to kill it with fire if possible.

good luck. Those tools will help you decipher any minidump. The debugging tools take a little bit more depth to get the minidumps open, but the pay off is huge. Combine the two tools and you get a really decent picture of what happened. Debug will tell you the exact failure. Blue Screen View will give you more of the supporting files.

 

[JackIV]

Yea thanks- but now here is the thing. I am still not able to load and play games from cd's. How do I begin fixing this issue?

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

From your first post it was errors with games on a specific disc. Now you say that there are no games that work from disc.

Could it be that your optical drive is failing?

 

[floppybootstomp]

From your first post it was errors with games on a specific disc. Now you say that there are no games that work from disc.

Could it be that your optical drive is failing?

Now there's a thing, never thought of that. Would seem to fit criteria wouldn't it?

 

[JackIV]

Hmmm- ok I see your point, however I have no idea what or where an optical driver is. How would I go about fixing it? Do I need to just replace it? Also, how can I check and confirm that is the issue?

 

[JackIV]

Can anyone help with what this error message means?


error 1305.error reading from file d:\program files\eidos \conflictdeniedops\m_saw.pc.dat. Verify that the file exist and that you can access it.
Retry Cancel

 

[floppybootstomp]

An optical drive is a CD/DVD reader / CD/DVD-RW or Blu Ray drive. It's called an optical drive cos it uses an optical device to read and write data.

It has been suggested that perhaps your drive isn't reading your game disks correctly, that's a very common problem, those drives fail a lot.

I've been thinking about this though and if it isn't a mechanical reason you're having problems then it's very likely a software one.

You may have cleared the OS of malware and viruses but whilst they paid tyou a visit they may have corrupted Windows and the more I think about it the more likely that seems.

I could be wrong of course

However, how much bother would it be to do a fresh install of Win XP? Or even lash out £75.00 on a copy of Win 7?