Windows 7: BSOD while computer was unattended

There should be no danger to removing the driver. It will revert to how Windows would handle it after a clean install of Windows 7, and Windows will automatically find a suitable driver for the device.



If you are concerned, I recommend that you create a system restore point prior to uninstalling the driver.

OK - last night I bit the bullet & deleted the disk driver as you recommended. Windows did indeed re-download & install drivers - it took a few reboots until it was done. Now... I guess I shall wait and see if my system seems any better.

Thanks - I will post any new developments,
Yosh

You're welcome. Best of luck! Let us know in a few days how the system is responding, too.

Well, it's been a few days since I re-installed the disk drivers and, unfortunately, this morning I had a new BSOD. The message this time says BAD_POOL_HEADER. Photo of screen is attached.

This time it occurred after the computer was in Sleep for a couple days. I turned it on, plugged it in and entered the password. Seemed to start OK. Walked away for about 15 minutes. When I came back a blue screen was waiting for me. It seemed to be "stuck" again at the "Initializing disk for crash dump ..." message. I gave it a few more minutes to say it was done with the dump (it didn't) & then gave up & powered it off & then back on.

When it came back up I was surprised to see a new file in the Minidump directory. I zipped and attached it, too. Using Nirsoft's BlueScreenView, I saw this additional information (using his "Blue screen in XP style") :

The problem seems to be caused by the following file: NDProxy.SYS

BAD_POOL_HEADER
...
Technical Information:

*** STOP: 0x00000019 (0x0000000000000020, 0xfffffa80010da440, 0xfffffa80010da440,
0x0000000004000080)

*** NDProxy.SYS - Address 0xfffff8800cd423b0 base at 0xfffff88005b48000 DateStamp
0x4ce7a864

(I didn't copy the "boilerplate" text.) I am not very familiar with this tool or solving these problems - so there's likely more information there that I don't know how to extract.

To summarize what I do know:

(1) the errors seem to have been related to:
volsnap.sys
iaStor
NDProxy

(2) the messages that have been showN include:
DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
BAD_POOL_HEADER
SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION
PFN_LIST_CORRUPT
and some blue screens with no error message.

(3) The blue screens have in the past "advised' to run CHKDSK /F (which I did & it found no problems) and also to run the "driver verifier" (which I don't know what it is) or to "try enabling special pool" (don't know what this is either).

(4) Another possibly-related symptom: my computer is excruciatingly slow in many things related to Windows Explorer. Especially when trying to save or open a file from a browser, but also sometimes for something simple like listing contents of a directory.

Any help will be MUCH appreciated.

Thanks,
Yosh

Please follow Writhzidens directions first and in addition;

The most recent crash was related to your avast. I would remove and replace it with MSE AT LEAST TO TEST.

Avast can be a contributing cause of BSOD'S . Please remove and replace with Microsoft Security Essentials AT LEAST TO TEST


http://files.avast.com/files/eng/aswclear5.exe

Microsoft Security Essentials - Free Antivirus for Windows


Old drivers needing update
How To Find Drivers:- - The most common drivers are listed on this page: Driver Reference Driver Reference
http://www.carrona.org/dvrref.php

Thanks for the very quick reply and advice and resources. It will take me a little while to track down & verify all the driver versions - I will report back with what I found. Meanwhile, a couple quick questions:

1) You wrote to "follow Writhzidens directions first" - I already did this last week - I assume there's no need to do it again - correct?

2) How were you able to determine that Avast contributed to today's crash? Is MSE a good permanent replacement?

Thanks,
Yosh

From a strictly BSOD perspective MSE is the most stable IMHO

Good luck Yosh

NDProxy.SYS is usually network related. The fact that you are also experiencing slow browser/explorer problems may indicate a network related problem, as well. It could also indicate your antivirus software doing realtime scans on files as they are opened. It may be a good idea to re-install your network adapter drivers. You can find the drivers on your Lenovo support page.

I also would have recommended at least re-installing avast! to see if maybe it was corrupted, and if that did not work, I would have recommended removing and replacing with MSE. zigzag3143 usually recommends MSE straight away because, as he said, it is the most stable of the offered security software for Windows 7.

Thanks writhziden and zigzag3143. Here is what I have done so far:

Uninstalled Avast (for now). Installed MSE.

Drivers:
Afc.sys - I think this is left over residue. I would like to uninstall it, but can't figure out how. Meanwhile I've sent a message to Arcsoft inquiring about it.
lmimirr.sys - LogMeIn related. I have updated to the latest LMI.
RaInfo.sys - LogMeIn related. I have updated to the latest LMI.
mv2.sys - UltraVNC related. I have updated to the latest UVNC
LMIRfsDriver.sys - LogMeIn related. I have updated to the latest LMI.
hamachi.sys - Hamachi says it is up-to-date
mcdbus.sys - MagicISO - last version was released 2009
btwl2cap.sys - Broadcom Bluetooth L2CAP Service. I have been getting notice from Microsoft Update for several months of an optional update to the Broadcom bluetooth driver - however every time I've tried to install it, it fails & rolls back. Meanwhile, bluetooth seems to be working OK. I am not sure what to do about this.
psadd.sys - Lenovo Parties Service Access Device Driver (SMBIOS)
- at the Lenovo site I couldn't find a download for this. I ran the ThinkVantage Toolbox to run the Lenovo System Update (which first updated itself). I threw caution to the winds and installed all of the Recommended & Optional updates. I did not see this item specifically listed, but perhaps it was included with one of them. It also did not include network drivers, but did include a new version of Access Connections. (Should I go find the network adapters specifically and re-install?)

In addition, I saw in Device Manager (with Show hidden devices) that there were a bunch of HP Printer drivers with errors - I uninstalled all of them. They were in addition to a good installation, which I left. I also noticed that there were 29 entries of "Generic volume shadow copy" - I did nothing to them.

I will let you know how things progress (or not). Meanwhile any comments will be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Yosh

I should have given you my canned re-install instructions for general driver re-install. That may have helped with the Bluetooth and network drivers.

To fully re-install a driver, use the following steps.

1. First, download the latest driver. Then do the next steps.
2. Click Start Menu
3. Right Click My Computer/Computer
4. Click Manage
5. Click Device Manager from the list on the left
6. Find the device you are trying to uninstall by expanding the appropriate set of devices
7. Right click the device
8. Click Uninstall (do not click OK in the dialog box that pops up after hitting Uninstall)
9. Put a tick in Delete driver software for this device (if this option is available, otherwise just hit OK) and hit OK
10. Restart your computer only if Windows asks you to.
11. Install the latest driver for the device.

Alternatively:

1. Login as an adminstrative user.
2. First, download the latest driver. Then do the next steps.
3. Click Start Menu
4. Click Control Panel
5. Click Hardware and Sound
6. Click Device Manager (the last link under Devices and Printers)
7. Find the device you are trying to uninstall by expanding the appropriate set of devices
8. Right click the device
9. Click Uninstall (do not click OK in the dialog box that pops up after hitting Uninstall)
10. Put a tick in Delete driver software for this device (if this option is available, otherwise just hit OK) and hit OK
11. Restart your computer only if Windows asks you to.
12. Install the latest driver for the device.

For the Bluetooth drivers, do the same thing you did for the iaStor.sys driver. Let Windows install the latest upon restart.