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#1
BSOD on startup - affects several PCs
Our school has a mix of about 100 XP and W7 PCs in a 2 x Windows Server 2008 R2 domain. A couple of weeks ago, three W7 machines crashed on startup with a BSOD. A superficial look at the crash dumps show they are similar. The network is a 1GB switch acting as backbone, with a number of 100MB switches wired with Cat5e cable to it; (but 2 locations connect via fibre). Also, (and this may be crucial), we have expanded a few ports with cheapo Genius 5-port switches where there is insufficient capacity. The first sign of trouble was when I connected 4 new laptops via such a temporary switch whilst I was configuring them. Two of them crashed whilst downloading windows updates from our WSUS. When I moved the PCs to a port on a permanent switch, they didn't crash again. I thought TCP/IP was designed to survive nuclear attacks, so perhaps this is a red herring! As far as I can see, during normal user activity there is no trouble.
I will post the crash dumps when I next go on site, but I've posted this in advance in case it strikes a chord somewhere.
The reason I haven't gone to M$ is that we are a small state school without much money to spend on support, so I should be grateful for your assistance.