hal.dll and Blue Screen in Windows XP Home

[TWvBaths]

I posted this in Windows XP General on Aug. 26, 09. Today, I could not locate
it. Isn't it weird? So I re-post it again.

Hello Microsoft Support,

Starting from Feb. 4, 2009 I have been having Blue Screen from time to time,
about once or twice a month and sometimes none in a month. They were 0x50 and
0x8E.
I replaced the video card on Feb. 17 because I recall the 0x8E blue screen
referred to video card. Since then I only have 0x50 left to deal with.
I learned to use Verifier.exe lately. However, it causes a new blue screen
0xD6. This blue screen is consistent. It happens all the time unlike 0x50
that happens from time to time.
I set up Verifier.exe to verify all but Deadlock detection (because I have
Norton Antivirus) and I select ALL and ONLY Microsoft drivers. Then I enable
Boot Logging upon restart. I compare the log with a log produced by a
successful start and found that the logging stops at hal.dll. The only entry
in the log file upon this Blue Screen is ntoskrnl.exe.
As a cross reference, I set up Verifier.exe the same way but to select ALL
BUT Microsoft drivers. Then I enable Boot Logging upon restart. There's no
blue screen!
So I conclude that one of the Microsoft drivers causes Blue Screen 0xD6.
Most likely hal.dll because that’s where the logging stops. Without 0xD6
being fixed, I cannot investigate 0x50. In fact, 0x50 may be caused by 0xD6.
I have been faithfully reporting each Blue Screen to Microsoft via Event
Viewer. I also have been getting regular Windows Update.
So some Microsoft Support gurus, please take this information and fix it for
me.

Thank you.

 

[Kelly]

Great work! )

Some info:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms797131.aspx

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...+Screen+0xD6&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

--

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP/DTS&XP)

Taskbar Repair Tool Plus!
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

 

[Jose]

I posted this in Windows XP General on Aug. 26, 09. Today, I could not locate
it. Isn't it weird? So I re-post it again.

Hello Microsoft Support,

Starting from Feb. 4, 2009 I have been having Blue Screen from time to time,
about once or twice a month and sometimes none in a month. They were 0x50and
0x8E.
I replaced the video card on Feb. 17 because I recall the 0x8E blue screen
referred to video card. Since then I only have 0x50 left to deal with.
I learned to use Verifier.exe lately. However, it causes a new blue screen
0xD6. This blue screen is consistent. It happens all the time unlike 0x50
that happens from time to time.
I set up Verifier.exe to verify all but Deadlock detection (because I have
Norton Antivirus) and I select ALL and ONLY Microsoft drivers. Then I enable
Boot Logging upon restart. I compare the log with a log produced by a
successful start and found that the logging stops at hal.dll. The only entry
in the log file upon this Blue Screen is ntoskrnl.exe.
As a cross reference, I set up Verifier.exe the same way but to select ALL
BUT Microsoft drivers. Then I enable Boot Logging upon restart. There's no
blue screen!
So I conclude that one of the Microsoft drivers causes Blue Screen 0xD6.
Most likely hal.dll because that’s where the logging stops. Without 0xD6
being fixed, I cannot investigate 0x50. In fact, 0x50 may be caused by 0xD6.
I have been faithfully reporting each Blue Screen to Microsoft via Event
Viewer. I also have been getting regular Windows Update.
So some Microsoft Support gurus, please take this information and fix it for
me.

Thank you.

How about just some general support...

If you can get the BSOD to happen every time, that make it easier to
troubleshoot.

I will post my standard BSOD information request and hope you do it
all even if you don't think you need to. Then, we won't be wondering
if it is this or that, what it might be, could be or guess what it
might be... We will know for sure what it is not.

When using the ntblog and the system hangs, it is hardly ever going to
be the last thing you see in the log that is the problem. It is
already loaded. It is what comes after it. That is when the system
crashes. You need to figure out what comes after hal.dll (or whenever
your system crashes on boot) and start looking there.

The boot hang at mup.sys in Safe Mode is my favorite example. The
user (or troubleshooter) thinks the problem must be mup.sys because
(especially in Safe Mode) that is the last thing they see and are
anxious and excited to replace/fix mup.sys. For me, the problem has
never been mup.sys, but what comes after it. Figure that out (easy)
and you can usually easily fix the problem quickly and with
certainty. It is actually quite a boring problem. There is no
guessing, trying things, maybe, might be, could be, etc. I'll tell
you exactly what it is.

In your case, XP is just starting to load (hal.dll is early), it is
still be loading some default drivers - like video, and you know you
had an issue there already. You may have to boot in Safe Mode or
something to see it, but you need to figure it out.

What does your "good" bootlog file show?

Replacing hal.dll is not hard if you are really suspicious, but you
have to use the right one for your hardware. There are 6 (or is it 7)
possibilities and the right one gets selected when XP is installed.
Unlikely to be broken (or missing in spite of the hal.dll missing
error message sometimes at boot). That one just slays me - hal.dll is
missing (or some other system32 file is missing), but it has never
been missing as may times as I have fixed that one, but it is the
first thing folks want to replace. The messages are misleading but it
is the best XP can do when it is afflicted.

It is nice to send the info to MS, but I would not wait for anything
from them. It takes too much time to even send it, but it is polite.

If you do not get ideas from the pages Kelly pointed to (or they don't
work out), also look here:

http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm

Then supply the following info along with a snippet of your ntbtlog
file around the hal.dll loading, then decide what to do next.

Minimize qustions, guessing and trying things by supplying useable
information:

Reduce the chances of malicious software by running some scans.

Download, install, update and do a full scan with these free malware
detection programs:

Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/

These can be uninstalled later if desired.

Click Start, Run and in the box enter:

msinfo32

Click OK, and when the System Summary info appears, click Edit, Select
All, Copy and then paste
back here.

There would be some personal information (like System Name and User
Name) or whatever appears to
be only your business that you can delete from the paste.

Disable Automatic restart on system error to stop the error on your
screen so you can see it:

Right click My Computer, Properties, Advanced, Startup and Recovery
Settings.

In the System failure section, untick the Automatically restart box,
OK, OK.

BSOD blue screen of death example information showing what you need to
provide:

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/images/Windows_XP_BSOD.png
http://techrepublic.com.com/i/tr/downloads/images/bsod_a.jpg

Send the information pointed to with the red arrows (3-4 lines
total). Skip
the boring text unless it looks important to you. We know what a BSOD
looks
like, we need to know the other information that is specific to yours
BSOD.

 

[tspmi888]

How about just some general support...

If you can get the BSOD to happen every time, that make it easier to
troubleshoot.

I will post my standard BSOD information request and hope you do it
all even if you don't think you need to. Then, we won't be wondering
if it is this or that, what it might be, could be or guess what it
might be... We will know for sure what it is not.

When using the ntblog and the system hangs, it is hardly ever going to
be the last thing you see in the log that is the problem. It is
already loaded. It is what comes after it. That is when the system
crashes. You need to figure out what comes after hal.dll (or whenever
your system crashes on boot) and start looking there.

The boot hang at mup.sys in Safe Mode is my favorite example. The
user (or troubleshooter) thinks the problem must be mup.sys because
(especially in Safe Mode) that is the last thing they see and are
anxious and excited to replace/fix mup.sys. For me, the problem has
never been mup.sys, but what comes after it. Figure that out (easy)
and you can usually easily fix the problem quickly and with
certainty. It is actually quite a boring problem. There is no
guessing, trying things, maybe, might be, could be, etc. I'll tell
you exactly what it is.

In your case, XP is just starting to load (hal.dll is early), it is
still be loading some default drivers - like video, and you know you
had an issue there already. You may have to boot in Safe Mode or
something to see it, but you need to figure it out.

What does your "good" bootlog file show?

Replacing hal.dll is not hard if you are really suspicious, but you
have to use the right one for your hardware. There are 6 (or is it 7)
possibilities and the right one gets selected when XP is installed.
Unlikely to be broken (or missing in spite of the hal.dll missing
error message sometimes at boot). That one just slays me - hal.dll is
missing (or some other system32 file is missing), but it has never
been missing as may times as I have fixed that one, but it is the
first thing folks want to replace. The messages are misleading but it
is the best XP can do when it is afflicted.

It is nice to send the info to MS, but I would not wait for anything
from them. It takes too much time to even send it, but it is polite.

If you do not get ideas from the pages Kelly pointed to (or they don't
work out), also look here:

http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm

Then supply the following info along with a snippet of your ntbtlog
file around the hal.dll loading, then decide what to do next.

Minimize qustions, guessing and trying things by supplying useable
information:

Reduce the chances of malicious software by running some scans.

Download, install, update and do a full scan with these free malware
detection programs:

Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/

These can be uninstalled later if desired.

Click Start, Run and in the box enter:

msinfo32

Click OK, and when the System Summary info appears, click Edit, Select
All, Copy and then paste
back here.

There would be some personal information (like System Name and User
Name) or whatever appears to
be only your business that you can delete from the paste.

Disable Automatic restart on system error to stop the error on your
screen so you can see it:

Right click My Computer, Properties, Advanced, Startup and Recovery
Settings.

In the System failure section, untick the Automatically restart box,
OK, OK.

BSOD blue screen of death example information showing what you need to
provide:

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/images/Windows_XP_BSOD.png
http://techrepublic.com.com/i/tr/downloads/images/bsod_a.jpg

Send the information pointed to with the red arrows (3-4 lines
total). Skip
the boring text unless it looks important to you. We know what a BSOD
looks
like, we need to know the other information that is specific to yours
BSOD.

kelly

i have all my bsod crash in an html file with blue screen viewer.. since one
week worth of crash

i can send u my computer specs..

where shud i send this ??