BSOD crashes caused by unknown driver

[Guest]

hi folks,
I've been getting intermittent blue screen crashes in win xp pro+SP2 on my
laptop. MS online crash analysis has been telling me the crashes are caused
by a device driver but doesnt specify which one. The STOP codes vary but are
most commonly 0A, 50, & D1. Ther doesnt seem to be any particular conditions,
actions or circumstances linking these crashes.
To try an isolate the culprit, I decided to reinstall xp and then add each
third party driver one at time to see which one is causing the crash. To my
utter joy I started getting crashes almost immediately even though I'm only
using the standard drivers that xp installed and havent installed any non MS
drivers yet.
Can anyone tell me of a debugging process that an enthusiastic amateur can
use to find this bad driver cos its getting to the point where my laptop is
unusable.
thanks for any help anyone can give

 

[Steve N.]

hi folks,
I've been getting intermittent blue screen crashes in win xp pro+SP2 on my
laptop. MS online crash analysis has been telling me the crashes are caused
by a device driver but doesnt specify which one. The STOP codes vary but are
most commonly 0A, 50, & D1. Ther doesnt seem to be any particular conditions,
actions or circumstances linking these crashes.
To try an isolate the culprit, I decided to reinstall xp and then add each
third party driver one at time to see which one is causing the crash. To my
utter joy I started getting crashes almost immediately even though I'm only
using the standard drivers that xp installed and havent installed any non MS
drivers yet.
Can anyone tell me of a debugging process that an enthusiastic amateur can
use to find this bad driver cos its getting to the point where my laptop is
unusable.
thanks for any help anyone can give

Unfortunately by the very nature of how WinXP deals with hardware it is
sometimes impossible to determine whether such stop errors are causd by
hardware or drivers. First thing, I would test the RAM using Memtest96
from www.mwmtest86.com and with Windows Memory Diagnostic from
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp qand let each run for several
passes. If either report errors replace your RAM.

If your laptop came with any diagnostic utilities I would run them as well.

Steve

 

[Ron Martell]

hi folks,
I've been getting intermittent blue screen crashes in win xp pro+SP2 on my
laptop. MS online crash analysis has been telling me the crashes are caused
by a device driver but doesnt specify which one. The STOP codes vary but are
most commonly 0A, 50, & D1. Ther doesnt seem to be any particular conditions,
actions or circumstances linking these crashes.
To try an isolate the culprit, I decided to reinstall xp and then add each
third party driver one at time to see which one is causing the crash. To my
utter joy I started getting crashes almost immediately even though I'm only
using the standard drivers that xp installed and havent installed any non MS
drivers yet.
Can anyone tell me of a debugging process that an enthusiastic amateur can
use to find this bad driver cos its getting to the point where my laptop is
unusable.
thanks for any help anyone can give

Use Start - Run and enter VERIFIER in the dialog box.
Choose the "Create Standard Settings" option and click on Next
Choose the "Automatically select unsigned drivers" option and click on
Next
Click on Finish and then shut down and restart the computer.

You will (hopefully) be presented with a new "Blue Screen Of Death"
STOP error message that will identify the specific driver and the
exact problem involved.

Note: You will have to reboot into Safe Mode or into "last known good
configuration" if you get the BSOD when running Verifier.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm

 

[Leythos]

Use Start - Run and enter VERIFIER in the dialog box.
Choose the "Create Standard Settings" option and click on Next
Choose the "Automatically select unsigned drivers" option and click on
Next
Click on Finish and then shut down and restart the computer.

You will (hopefully) be presented with a new "Blue Screen Of Death"
STOP error message that will identify the specific driver and the
exact problem involved.

Note: You will have to reboot into Safe Mode or into "last known good
configuration" if you get the BSOD when running Verifier.

While this may not help, earlier today I was installing software for a
client and started getting a 7f error - searching google indicated a
hardware fault, as did MS's website. When I checked Symantec's site, it
indicated the Intel Application Accelerator driver might be at fault.
Since these computers were 2 years old, I suspected the driver would be
also - I downloaded the new IAA driver, installed it (from safe mode) and
everything worked perfectly.

If you can boot in safe mode (with network support) try the IAA update.