Various crash, BSOD scenarios

TimStitt · 14 Jul 2010

Hi Ben,

I've just been catching up on the info from the others.
Some things may be repeats, but the guys could just be asking for verification, so feel free to jump in and say that you've already done that.

Ben I will make some statements that I understand to be true (as way of synopsis for us all); please agree or disagree.
- With the exception of the VMdriver that we rolled back on purpose, all other drivers for all hardware have been updated from the manufacturers websites.
- We are able to recreate a BSOD by using the latest drivers and surfing the internet
- In our isolation testing the BSOD's only occurred through wireless networking
- Zone alarm is now removed.
- The issue scenario has changed, and now occurs when ever you try to open IE
- You've turned off Driver Verifier and the crashing still occurs when you open IE

Considering that Capt Jack (and I to some extent) have called in the cavalry for further opinions, perhaps moving forward you should reinstate the latest vmware driver and run driver verifier. Post the log and this will give jcgriff2 & usasma the unaffected data that they are after; unaffected by anything else such as older drivers, zone alarm etc and the problem itself should again show it's head in these new logs. This is good because our previous dumps and event logs are pre-updated drivers, removal of zonealarm.

I suggest that we do this before we look at more drastic steps such as a Repair Install (RI) because even with an RI, if the problem is Drivers it's likely to reoccur.

-Timo

benjis78 · 14 Jul 2010

Hi Timo,
I ran driver verifier while I was at work yesterday. It crashed the machine at least 10 times.
When I came home, I turned off driver verifier. It created no minidumps. I then uninstalled zonealarm.

Since uninstalling ZoneAlarm and performing the other steps I mentioned yesterday, I have not had a BSOD or any problems shutting down. I have not updated those legacy drivers, though I spent 90 minutes yesterday looking for them.

Statements
- With the exception of the VMdriver that we rolled back on purpose, all other drivers for all hardware have been updated from the manufacturers websites. [Disagree]
- We are able to recreate a BSOD by using the latest drivers and surfing the internet. [agree, latest drivers of wireless adapter]
- In our isolation testing the BSOD's only occurred through wireless networking [agree, except when running driver verifier.]
- Zone alarm is now removed. [agree, have installed ms security essentials]
- The issue scenario has changed, and now occurs when ever you try to open IE [disagree]
- You've turned off Driver Verifier and the crashing still occurs when you open IE [disagree]

I need to cut down the amount of time I spend working on my laptop for a few days. I have a job interview and presentation on Monday that I need to prepare for. I am very thankful for you guys' help. Even though there may still be underlying issues, at least my laptop is not constantly crashing anymore.

benjis78

jcgriff2 · 14 Jul 2010

Hi -

Did the system come with 6 GB RAM originally? I ask because of 1x4 + 1x2 GB configuration. Both sticks are listed as manufactured by Samsung.

Your Intel wifi -

Code:

Intel(R) Centrino(R) Advanced-N 6200 AGN

In addition to Zone Alarm, I suspect the wifi trouble is also attributable to the HP Wireless Manager, which has 2008 drivers. Uninstall this app as Windows 7 needs no help with wifi. Use Revo to uninstall -

Download Revo Uninstaller

When was the Absolute Software Lojack installed?

What is the exact model number for your HP system? Please look at the label on bottom of laptop. I know it is HP Pavillion dv6, but there are additional digits following "dv6".

Did the system come with Windows 7 or Vista originally? Initial boot-up is listed as 26 March 2010. Regardless which, the timestamps on the drivers noted in usasma's post are odd as they go back to 2005 and are RAID drivers from different manufacturers -

usasma said:

Code:

fffff880`04597000 fffff880`045c2000   000      000.fcl      Fri Sep 26 09:11:22 2008 (48DCDF7A)
fffff880`01000000 fffff880`0107b000   adp94xx  adp94xx.sys  Fri Dec 05 18:54:42 2008 (4939BF42)
fffff880`01400000 fffff880`01456000   adpahci  adpahci.sys  Tue May 01 13:30:09 2007 (46377921)
fffff880`01200000 fffff880`0122f000   adpu320  adpu320.sys  Tue Feb 27 19:04:15 2007 (45E4C6FF)
fffff880`0124d000 fffff880`01266000   arc      arc.sys      Thu May 24 17:27:55 2007 (4656035B)
fffff880`016d8000 fffff880`016e9000   iirsp    iirsp.sys    Tue Dec 13 16:47:54 2005 (439F418A)
fffff880`016e9000 fffff880`01708000   lsi_fc   lsi_fc.sys   Tue Dec 09 17:46:09 2008 (493EF531)
fffff880`017ea000 fffff880`017fa000   nfrd960  nfrd960.sys  Tue Jun 06 17:11:48 2006 (4485EF94)
fffff880`01af8000 fffff880`01b06000   SiSRaid2 SiSRaid2.sys Wed Sep 24 14:28:20 2008 (48DA86C4)
fffff880`01b06000 fffff880`01b1e000   sisraid4 sisraid4.sys Wed Oct 01 17:56:04 2008 (48E3F1F4)

https://www.sevenforums.com/840292-post55.html

`

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

.

TimStitt · 14 Jul 2010

benjis78 said:

Hi Timo,
I ran driver verifier while I was at work yesterday. It crashed the machine at least 10 times.
When I came home, I turned off driver verifier. It created no minidumps. I then uninstalled zonealarm.

Since uninstalling ZoneAlarm and performing the other steps I mentioned yesterday, I have not had a BSOD or any problems shutting down. I have not updated those legacy drivers, though I spent 90 minutes yesterday looking for them.

Statements
- With the exception of the VMdriver that we rolled back on purpose, all other drivers for all hardware have been updated from the manufacturers websites. [Disagree]
- We are able to recreate a BSOD by using the latest drivers and surfing the internet. [agree, latest drivers of wireless adapter]
- In our isolation testing the BSOD's only occurred through wireless networking [agree, except when running driver verifier.]
- Zone alarm is now removed. [agree, have installed ms security essentials]
- The issue scenario has changed, and now occurs when ever you try to open IE [disagree]
- You've turned off Driver Verifier and the crashing still occurs when you open IE [disagree]

I need to cut down the amount of time I spend working on my laptop for a few days. I have a job interview and presentation on Monday that I need to prepare for. I am very thankful for you guys' help. Even though there may still be underlying issues, at least my laptop is not constantly crashing anymore.

benjis78

Firstly and importantly - GOOD LUCK!!!...... at the interview.

Back on the BSOD, I'm a little confused. Are you saying that it's fixed? (or that at least it hasn't crashed)....i.e. there's no crashes unless you run the driver verifier and it looks like the roll back drivers did the job?

If so I'm getting ready to crack the bubbly, if not, can you please break down an update for me. I'm just a little unsure about what we've completed and what we haven't and I want to make sure that I have a solid grasp so that I don't miss anything.

It's quite understandable that you might need a little while to test it to be sure what those underlying issues are, feel free to come back at any time. If you were to come back in a couple of weeks, I'm still happy to jump in and help.

-Timo

benjis78 · 14 Jul 2010

Jcgriff2,
- The laptop came with 6 GB of RAM.
- I will happily uninstall the wireless manager. Thanks for link.
- The laptop is HP Pavilion dv6t-2100 CTO Entertainment Notebook PC (product number VG436AV)
- The lojack software was purchased from HP at the same time as the laptop. I did not install lojack until May 4th.
- The computer came with Windows 7 Professional pre-installed. Yes, I thought the RAID drivers were very odd indeed. I spent a lot of fruitless time trying to figure out how to get updates for them. I have not found updated drivers for Windows 7.

Thanks for your help,
benjis78

benjis78 · 14 Jul 2010

Hi Timo,
Yes, I am no longer having BSODs. The computer has shut down or restarted successfully at least 6 times since yesterday. The only thing I am wondering about is when should I eventually update the wireless drivers. But I won't worry about that for the time being.

There is a lot I need to learn about Windows 7. So I will be visiting sevenforums regularly.

Later can I PM you questions about VMware?

Thanks again for your help,
benjis78

usasma · 14 Jul 2010

FWIW - HP loads a bunch of drivers with their systems, even if they're not needed in the current configuration.
Back in the Vista days, HP had issues when they loaded both AMD and Intel processor drivers at the same time - and it was causing BSOD's until Microsoft updated some of the files.

Here's a link with the HP stuff spelled out: HP DV4 Drivers
They have continued this practice with Win7.
It would be safe for you to determine which storage drivers that you need - and then use Autoruns to disable the others from loading.

As for updating stuff - WAIT!!! You're not getting BSOD's - so let it run for a while longer before doing anything to modify the system. I would suggest 2 weeks without BSOD's before trying other things.

In this case the most likely suspect (IMO) is the ZoneAlarm.

Don't worry about Driver Verifier at this point - the most important thing is that you're not having BSOD's

Good luck!

TimStitt · 14 Jul 2010

benjis78 said:

Hi Timo,
Yes, I am no longer having BSODs. The computer has shut down or restarted successfully at least 6 times since yesterday. The only thing I am wondering about is when should I eventually update the wireless drivers. But I won't worry about that for the time being.

There is a lot I need to learn about Windows 7. So I will be visiting sevenforums regularly.

Later can I PM you questions about VMware?

Thanks again for your help,
benjis78

That's good news indeed!
In regards to updating drivers, Usama has given you solid advice on this

usasma said:

FWIW - HP loads a bunch of drivers with their systems, even if they're not needed in the current configuration.

Not just drivers, but junk software too... What Usasma says is spot-on here, my personal feel is that HP is the worst for dropping too much stuff on my PC.

usasma said:

As for updating stuff - WAIT!!! You're not getting BSOD's - so let it run for a while longer before doing anything to modify the system. I would suggest 2 weeks without BSOD's before trying other things.

At some time in the future, we can restore the newer wireless drivers so that you know if the issue was ZoneAlarm or those drivers. On page three I mentioned firewall/AV and then our fearless Capt Jack Sparrow reminded us again after I'd forgotten, since then everyone has mentioned antivirus/firewall as a prime suspect at some stage in their postings, it's the Guru's number one suspect and a serial offender on other posts! :P. However, for now lets take Usasma's good advice wait a bit, this will allow us to check for other problems that may affect later troubleshooting (and to be certain that the problem has gone away)...... we can come back and update the drivers later or if another problem occurs. If you can't find the driver, I posted the locations earlier (page 3 I think?) or just use SEARCH.

As for advice on VMware, mate you're always welcome to PM me, but opening a new thread will let everyone in on it and the more the merrier, there's bound to be a VMware Guru floating around here that may know more than I about it. We all have our particular skill sets (although the Capt just seems to be good at everything :P ) and unlike other forums I've visited we try to leave our ego's behind, if we get stuck we call in the cavalry as you saw twice during this thread, this allows us all to learn and bounce ideas around.

- Timo

EDIT: PS - Fingers are crossed for your job interview!

**Capt.Jack Sparrow** · 14 Jul 2010

Glad that your up and running !!

Great Work everyone !! This could be one of the ideal thread that show the Team work. Timo you did really great in this thread. John(usasma) and John(J.C.) also did a great job in analysis. I would like to thank everyone for helping me with this thread. This issue was a tough one for me :)

- Captain

TimStitt · 14 Jul 2010

Capt.Jack Sparrow said:

Glad that your up and running !!

Great Work everyone !! This could be one of the ideal thread that show the Team work. Timo you did really great in this thread. John(usasma) and John(J.C.) also did a great job in analysis. I would like to thank everyone for helping me with this thread. This issue was a tough one for me :)

- Captain

Thanks to you too Capt! we couldn't have progressed this far without your valuable input and the initial response (and Ben's perseverance :) ). My thanks to John and John too. It's good to know a couple of gents we can call-on to sift through stuff for us.

I'm just going hold off popping the bubbly and beer to we hear back from ben.... but it's chilling in the fridge with a glass each.