BSODs starting up again - 0x0000009F

jpaulm · 21 Oct 2014

Thanks, Boozad! It sounds like this a huge undertaking, and frankly this has taken a large amount of time already (mine and all of you!).

I know I've told you and Arc (in his case several times) that there was no entry in Control Panel/Programs and Features, so I couldn't do an uninstall. So yes, I understand there is garbage lying around! What I need to know is before tackling this job is: how dangerous is it? Apart from the occasional BSOD, I haven't really _seen_ any bad effects. Is bad stuff happening under the covers?! I really need to know!

I reckon I have about 40Gb of stuff that I need to keep - so getting it all back into place will be a major undertaking for me! So what are the risks of just going on as before?

TIA

Paul M.

jpaulm · 21 Oct 2014

Boozad, if you look back, you will see a number of questions that I still would like answers to - maybe they are dumb questions, in which case please let me know. If not, answers would be much appreciated! Think of it as part of my education process! TIA

jpaulm · 21 Oct 2014

Hi Boozad, turns out a lot of this has been a big red herring. I have uninstalled Vipre (as suggested) and almost all of the SB drivers have gone, and also no longer show up in my Device manager. I have installed BitDefender and apparently it doesn't use filter drivers...

So I guess my two questions are: do I still run some risk, and if so what? And do you still feel athrx.sys is a problem?

Thanks for all your hard work!

Boozad · 21 Oct 2014

For one last time then run the system as is now Vipre has gone and see how stable it seems. I can't say with one hundred percent certainty that all of the remnants of the stuff you don't need have gone, but if getting rid of Vipre has removed some of the questionable items then maybe it will be OK. It's certainly not a bad action to have taken. Just ensure you have Windows Firewall and Microsoft Security Essentials enabled, that's the best protection you can get while offering little to no impact on stability.

athrx.sys will prove to be a problem if it shows its head in future BSODs, that's the only way to tell. I doubt that was causing issues on its own in this case, more so a conflict with one of the other programs you had installed. That's just conjecture but I believe it to be the case. Again, run the system and see how stable it performs and report back.

I can tell you're adverse to performing a clean Windows installation and maybe you won't have to, but I'll let you know this anyway. Reinstalling Windows is virtually painless and coupled with the tutorials provided on this site it's impossible to get it wrong. A clean install assisted by Seven Forums' tutorials would help you achieve and maintain the perfect installation, it doesn't take long and can be the best way to a lean, finely tuned machine. Backing up 40GB of stuff is as easy as it's ever been too and can be relatively cheaply.
Keep all of this in mind in case the machine continues to be troublesome.

jpaulm · 21 Oct 2014

Thanks, Boozad, very complete and concise summary. I will certainly bear it in mind, and may have to resort to that! Currently, believe it or not, my wife's machine is (apparently, at least) in worse shape, so I may try your solution on her machine first! She has much less data to back up, so it should be quite a bit easier!

Thanks for your help, and hope you're completely over your illness!

Best regards,

Paul M.