BSOD Random crashes - Bugcode_USB_Driver_Error 0x000000FE

That's very useful to know, thank you. I have uninstalled Spyware Dr. and installed both of these and busy scanning now. At least if (probably when?!) it next crashes, I would can exclude Spyware Dr from the issue. Spyware Dr has been a problem off and on and I have swapped between that and the free version of AVG but that too has given me grief in the past - I'm not sure if I know of any virus protection that doesn't come with it's own problems so hopefully MSE will prove to be the answer. I may be having serious grief with my laptop but at least I am learning useful stuff along the way :). I will report back in a couple of days with (probably) a new BSOD report, if you would be kind enough to look at it? Many thanks. Chris

Just crashed again - wasn't using it at the time - it just rebooted. I have removed Spyware Dr and installed MSE and Malwarebytes and done a full scan on both - nothing found

Attaching the bootlog file. Again cannot attach the dump file as it's invalid? Likewise for the xml file?

Any thoughts? I'm getting to the point where I think a complete install is the only way to go - but will try to repair windows first. But annoying not to know what might be causing it as I don't want to reinstall everything and then find it comes back?

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID: 2057

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: fe
BCP1: 0000000000000008
BCP2: 0000000000000006
BCP3: 0000000000000005
BCP4: FFFFFA8007DDB160
OS Version: 6_1_7601
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 768_1

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\Windows\Minidump\112712-24429-01.dmp
C:\Windows\Temp\WER-31824-0.sysdata.xml

Strange, are you placing the .dmp files in a compressed (zipped) folder and then uploading to the forums?

Stop 0xFE points to the a USB device driver, and from your first BSOD, usbhub.sys was blamed which is a Windows device driver:

• Driver Reference Table

Have you tried this possible solution?

• USB Driver - General Fix for Problems

Sorry I have zipped up the two files mentioned. The WER one is the latest - the one mentioned doesn't appear to be there any longer? My laptop has crashed several times since. Not sure if old ones get removed?

I have already tried the USB General fix. I was unable though to delete the INFCACHE.1 file as I didn't have permissions and exploring that problem took me down another road... so I gave up.

I do still get the driver missing pop up occasional and delete the unknown driver from the list but it occasionally comes back. I don't have anything attached to the USB. I do not own a hub(?) and have never attached one to my laptop? The only things I have attached to USB are phone (regularly), backup drive (occasionally) and CDRom (rarely - only installing software)

Many thanks

Code:

BugCheck FE, {8, 6, 5, fffffa8007ece160}

Probably caused by : usbhub.sys ( usbhub!UsbhHubProcessChangeWorker+ec )

The USB hub refers to your USB slots and the driver which allows the operating system communicate with these slots, for instance when you plug a USB compatible device which is PnP (Plug n Play), the drivers are automatically installed for the device and you then able to use it (e.g. USB flash drive).

• Repair Install

The PC Tools driver is still being loaded for some reason?

Code:

Loaded driver \??\C:\Windows\System32\drivers\pctgntdi64.sys

I have looked in this location and done a search for pctgntdi64.sys and it doesn't appear to exist anywhere?

Are you showing hidden files?

Yes I am. The only files that start with PCT are PCTBD64.sys and PCTBD64.sys

PCTBD64.sys is a PC Tools driver (PC Tools Browser Defender Driver), so you could create a backup and create a System Restore point:

• System Restore

Some sources of information for PCTBD64.sys:

• pctbd64.sys - What is pctbd64.sys ?
• SystemLookup - PCTBD

Some other AV programs which have left some of their drivers behind also:

• How to Display Hidden Devices Drivers

Right - I went back to hidden devices in Device Manager and removed all the PCT files, including the one you mentioned originally which was there! It wasn't in file manager but it was hanging about the devices. System Restore was something I tried at the outset and I took it back as far as I could go - beyond the point when the problems started. Now I have got ride of PCT altogether hopefully, I will wait and see what happens and perhaps I can send you the crash files again? Many thanks