Windows 7 - Multiple errors/BSODs/Black screen

Hey everyone,

I currently own a Dell Vostro 1500 laptop, It came with Windows Vista Business Edition 32 bits and 1 GB RAM. I recently upgraded my RAM to 4gb and decided to move to Windows 7 RC build 7100 64 bits (Had to do a clean install) . I've been getting several BSODs or the screen would just turn black and the system would stop responding.

The most common errors that I'm getting is:

The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly. -- I get this daily, if not every few hours.

- <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
- <System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power" Guid="{331C3B3A-2005-44C2-AC5E-77220C37D6B4}" />

<EventID>41</EventID>

<Version>2</Version>

<Level>1</Level>

<Task>63</Task>

<Opcode>0</Opcode>

<Keywords>0x8000000000000002</Keywords>

<TimeCreated SystemTime="2009-05-22T08:35:33.050413300Z" />

<EventRecordID>14175</EventRecordID>

<Correlation />

<Execution ProcessID="4" ThreadID="8" />

<Channel>System</Channel>

<Computer>Deadman-PC</Computer>

<Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />

</System>


- <EventData>
<Data Name="BugcheckCode">0</Data>

<Data Name="BugcheckParameter1">0x0</Data>

<Data Name="BugcheckParameter2">0x0</Data>

<Data Name="BugcheckParameter3">0x0</Data>

<Data Name="BugcheckParameter4">0x0</Data>

<Data Name="SleepInProgress">false</Data>

<Data Name="PowerButtonTimestamp">0</Data>

</EventData>


</Event>


Another error would be: Audit events have been dropped by the transport. 0

- <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
- <System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Eventlog" Guid="{fc65ddd8-d6ef-4962-83d5-6e5cfe9ce148}" />

<EventID>1101</EventID>

<Version>0</Version>

<Level>2</Level>

<Task>101</Task>

<Opcode>0</Opcode>

<Keywords>0x4020000000000000</Keywords>

<TimeCreated SystemTime="2009-05-21T23:55:54.124834500Z" />

<EventRecordID>2644</EventRecordID>

<Correlation />

<Execution ProcessID="872" ThreadID="1092" />

<Channel>Security</Channel>

<Computer>Deadman-PC</Computer>

<Security />

</System>


- <UserData>
- <AuditEventsDropped xmlns:auto-ns3="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events" xmlns="http://manifests.microsoft.com/win/2...ndows/eventlog">
<Reason>0</Reason>

</AuditEventsDropped>


</UserData>


</Event>


I was also getting this as warning in event viewer:

Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller: The network link is down. Check to make sure the network cable is properly connected.
--- And I decided to disable it in device manager.

- <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
- <System>
<Provider Name="bcm44amd64" />

<EventID Qualifiers="32773">4</EventID>

<Level>3</Level>

<Task>0</Task>

<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>

<TimeCreated SystemTime="2009-05-22T08:35:38.307622500Z" />

<EventRecordID>14179</EventRecordID>

<Channel>System</Channel>

<Computer>Deadman-PC</Computer>

<Security />

</System>


- <EventData>
<Data>\Device\NDMP5</Data>

<Data>Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller</Data>

<Binary>0000000002003000000000000400058000000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000</Binary>

</EventData>


</Event>

It looks like you have a driver issue. Are you using native Win 7 drivers? I would suggest that you remove any non native drivers. Run a Windows update and see if it finds any drivers.

I don't really know what is wrong, except that a fresh install might help. I have a Vostro 1500 and it's working fine on mine.

All my drivers are genuine Microsoft ones, mostly vista 32 bits drivers. I ran an online driver scan with DriverAgent and it reported that all drivers were up to date, Driver Detective reports 20 out of date drivers though. Are those real facts or rather a scam to make me install some crappy drivers? :s

Could be it the fact that I switched from a 32 bits OS to a 64 bits one? Windows updates automatically updated some drivers when I installed Win 7. I read somewhere that It had to do with voltages or something. [link:http://www.sevenforums.com/general-...ng-daily-computer-has-rebooted-bugcheck.html]
I couldn't try that since Dell already locked my bios settings apparently. :/

Switching from a 32 bit to 64 bit OS shouldn't really make any difference as the drivers that are written by Microsoft for 32 bit should also be available for 64 bit. You cannot install 32 bit drivers on a 64 bit OS.

What applications are you running? You may have an application that is causing the issue. As Dafrety said a fresh install might help.

I've been installing a whole bunch of applications, since I had to do a clean install when I switched to windows 7 RC. Could BlueSoleil be the root of all this? I remember unsigned drivers were installed along with BlueSoleil. Is there any tool I can use to check whether some application is not compatible with Win 7?

I'm not sure of any tool that you could use to check for compatible apps. You could try looking at this section of the forum to see what apps people are/are not having issues with:

Software - Windows 7 Forums

It is possible BlueSoleil could be the issue, but then again it could be something else.

I haven't crashed since I uninstalled BlueSoleil, that could be a good sign Will keep you posted of any changes

I just got a bsod and found this in event viewer:

Activation context generation failed for "C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft.vc80.mfc_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_none_c46a533c8a667ee7\MFC80U.DLL". Dependent Assembly Microsoft.VC80.MFCLOC,processorArchitecture="amd64",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",version="8.0.50608.0" could not be found. Please use sxstrace.exe for detailed diagnosis.

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
- <System>
<Provider Name="SideBySide" />
<EventID Qualifiers="49409">33</EventID>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2009-05-24T22:48:08.000000000Z" />
<EventRecordID>3182</EventRecordID>
<Channel>Application</Channel>
<Computer>Deadman-PC</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
- <EventData>
<Data>Microsoft.VC80.MFCLOC,processorArchitecture="amd64",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",version="8.0.50608.0"</Data>
<Data />
<Data />
<Data />
<Data />
<Data />
<Data />
<Data />
<Data />
<Data />
<Data>C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft.vc80.mfc_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_none_c46a533c8a667ee7\MFC80U.DLL</Data>
<Data />
<Data />
<Data />
<Data />
<Data />
<Data />
<Data />
<Data />
<Data />
</EventData>
</Event>

Please upload the latest minidump file(s) so we can have a look at it (them).

Since you've got a SideBySide error, I'd first wonder about your networking drivers. But that's just a guess until we see the memory dump files. This tends to be confirmed by your previous minidumps because they both occurred while using an internet aware application (firefox.exe).

Here are my latest three dump files. I've had several BSODs but only three more dump files! I've been trying to get a bluetooth driver for my dongle since bluesoleil's drivers seems foreign to Win 7, same for Widcomm's drivers.

Having had a look at the memory dumps, two of them appeared to be caused by Nod32 antivirus and one looks like it was caused by Systemcare. If you haven't got Systemcare then you possibly have malware on your system.

I do have ESET smary security, I made sure to download the 64bits version, and I do have Advanced SystemCare too. Think I should get another antivirus as well as an alternative to SystemCare?

I'm using AVG Free Edition. Just don't install the linkscanner. Don't know enough about SystemCare to comment on it.

Something really weird happened, I went to sleep with my pc on, downloading and I woke up to find... ubuntu! I did have the installation cd in but I really have no idea how it got booted into ubuntu, I had not even installed the OS, it was the "try it and choose if you want to install".

Windows update also found some driver updates, optional too, but I decided to install them anyway and now.. this and I found out that rimmptsk had to do with the RICOH drivers that windows updates downloaded and installed.

The rimmptsk service failed to start due to the following error:
The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it.

- <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
- <System>
<Provider Name="Service Control Manager" Guid="{555908d1-a6d7-4695-8e1e-26931d2012f4}" EventSourceName="Service Control Manager" />
<EventID Qualifiers="49152">7000</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8080000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2009-05-27T10:01:30.363493400Z" />
<EventRecordID>17325</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="576" ThreadID="580" />
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>Deadman-PC</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
- <EventData>
<Data Name="param1">rimmptsk</Data>
<Data Name="param2">%%1058</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

And I got this too several times: Crash dump initialization failed!

- <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
- <System>
<Provider Name="volmgr" />
<EventID Qualifiers="49156">46</EventID>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2009-05-27T10:00:46.702417900Z" />
<EventRecordID>17271</EventRecordID>
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>Deadman-PC</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
- <EventData>
<Data>\Device\HarddiskVolume2</Data>
<Binary>0000000001000000000000002E0004C001100000010000C000000000000000000000000000000000</Binary>
</EventData>
</Event>

Along with the two previous SideBySide and Kernel Power errors also. A clean install's the next step I guess, or would an upgrade do the trick?

rimmptsk is your Ricoh MMC driver as you've discovered. I'd suggest trying to roll back the drivers to see if that helps. To do this, right click on the Ricoh device in Device Manager, select Properties, then select the Driver tab. The rollback button should be there.

If that doesn't work, then download the latest driver for the Ricoh device from your system manufacturer's website. Then uninstall the current device (from Control Panel...Programs and Features...Uninstall a program if it's listed there) - then install the downloaded drivers. Also, if you don't use the device, you can just disable it in Device Manager.

Also, if you're running more then one anti-virus please remove all but one. They can interfere with each other, and can even cause errors because of the low level that they're working on.

Finally, if you're still having problems, try uninstalling the remaining anti-virus and then installing a fresh copy.

I was using the beta version of the new Ashampoo burning studio, took it off and switched to a stable version and I've not crashed a single time since. This warning message in event viewer caught my attention though:

The speed of processor 0 in group 0 is being limited by system firmware. The processor has been in this reduced performance state for 2 seconds since the last report.

- <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
- <System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Processor-Power" Guid="{0F67E49F-FE51-4E9F-B490-6F2948CC6027}" />
<EventID>37</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>3</Level>
<Task>7</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2009-05-30T10:59:58.048773400Z" />
<EventRecordID>18375</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="4" ThreadID="68" />
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>Deadman-PC</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
</System>
- <EventData>
<Data Name="Group">0</Data>
<Data Name="Number">0</Data>
<Data Name="CapDurationInSeconds">2</Data>
<Data Name="PpcChanges">2</Data>
<Data Name="TpcChanges">0</Data>
<Data Name="PccChanges">0</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

The speed of processor 1 in group 0 is being limited by system firmware. The processor has been in this reduced performance state for 2 seconds since the last report.

- <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
- <System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Processor-Power" Guid="{0F67E49F-FE51-4E9F-B490-6F2948CC6027}" />
<EventID>37</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>3</Level>
<Task>7</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2009-05-30T10:59:58.048773400Z" />
<EventRecordID>18376</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="4" ThreadID="60" />
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>Deadman-PC</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
</System>
- <EventData>
<Data Name="Group">0</Data>
<Data Name="Number">1</Data>
<Data Name="CapDurationInSeconds">2</Data>
<Data Name="PpcChanges">2</Data>
<Data Name="TpcChanges">0</Data>
<Data Name="PccChanges">0</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

How did you figure out that it was the Ashampoo stuff that was causing the issues?

I wonder if the system is shutting your CPU down due to inactivity. Check your power settings to see what's set in the Advanced settings. Try disabling the CPU throttle to see if the errors go away.

I read somewhere that a burning software could actually make me crash. I was using a beta version too. My system's been pretty stable lately except for this crash - minidump added.

I've been having a LOT of error messages in event viewer concerning my connection. None made me crash though.

The Peer Name Resolution Protocol service terminated with the following error:
%%-2140993535

The Peer Name Resolution Protocol cloud did not start because the creation of the default identity failed with error code: 0x80630801.

Repeated errors too. Driver problems perhaps?