Solved BSOD 0x0007A kernel_inpage_err, 0x00F4 and operating system not found

[srinpraveen]

Hi Ppl.
I just love this forum. I just joined here eventually and I am happy to see that I have at last landed at a place where I am sure to get some solid help. I am having a Sony Vaio E series VPCEE23FX Amd core 64 bit laptop which came with a pre-installed Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. I bought this laptop about 10 months ago from a deal in circuitcity.com.

Till about 2 months ago, everything was smooth. But now that's all changed. I get BSODs of the types 0x0007A with the title of "kernel_inpage_error" and also of the type "0x000F4". These are the only 2 types of bsods that keep occurring. Also many times, when I try restarting the lap or maybe powering it up, I get a black screen saying "operating system not found". But when I power off and power on and follow this process a couple of time, I am able to boot up.

The blue screen errors has been occurring for atleast one and a half months now with a frequency of almost 2 to 3 times "EVERY DAY"...Its been very very agonising to say the least.

First of all let me tell you what are things I have done so far.
1) I have already activated "small dump file" in the advanced settings. Also the paging file is also I believe of the right size. My system RAM is 3740MB and the size of the paging file is 3834MB which I believe would be sufficient to be abe to write a small dump file. Also, I have disabled auto-restart upon system failure and hence the blue screen just stays whenever it occurs, thus making it convenient for me to note down the error.

Till date I have not been able to locate the minidump folder which loads of ppl have been talking abt since time immemorial. This leads me to conclude that there is no dump file that is created everytime I get the BSOD. Not sure what exactly the problem is.

2) These apart, I pressed the in-built "assist" button and recovered my system to its factory settings. Still the BSODs come and "operating system not found" error creeps up.

3) There is no virus in my system. I have done complete system scans about twenty times already. Also done MBR scan, and cleaned registries using reginout and ccleaner. I keep my system cool with the help of a cooling pad and also a small table fan clipped to my study table all the time. Some of these things might seem like too much of an overkill but I have done just about everything to troubleshoot my BSODS but failed miserably in achieving any success in it. I can't believe that this might be the case of a heating issue because my core temperature hovers around 48 to 59 degrees most of the time. Also I fail to believe that this might be the case of a dying hard disk because the hard disk is just 10 months old.

4) I contacted vaio care through chat and through the phone. But they don't seem to have a good answer for the bsods. And I do not want to replace my hard-disk unless I am sure that the problem is with the hard-disk.

5) I ran chkdisk and there are no bad sectors on the hard disk.

There has been absolutely nothing I could do for as long as these two months to control these BSODs or in my quest to activate the minidump file.

I know there might be a solution to the latter. But guys pls help me. Atleast I want to get a dump file atleast once during a BSOD and upload, share and show u guys my miseries till date.

 

[srinpraveen]

UPDATE: This is the first time I am getting a new kind of BSOD. Got it just now. And this says "C00000021a" {fatal system error} The windows subsystem process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0XC0000006 (0X7743409b 0X00a3e940)

Not sure why.

 

[MvdB]

Hello Srinpraveen, welcome to SF! I hope we can help...

There are a couple of things we can try:

1. You really need those dumpfiles posted... Have you tried:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/174459-dump-files-configure-windows-create-bsod.html

2. Try running in Safemode w/networking on for a long time (24-48 hours). A bummer, I know... but lets see if we can separate HW from driver issues...

3. Have you tried http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html ?

4. You need to do more HDD testing just in case from what I understand in this story:
Use seagate tools or something like it to verify

5. Try a clean boot: How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7

And please post back the results?

 

[srinpraveen]

Hi Mvdb,
Thanks a lot for replying. I guess your reply to this thread coincided with the occurrence of another BSOD in my laptop with the title C00000021a, fatal system error.

Do you have any idea about this BSOD?

And by the way, I will go through the links that you gave first. A couple of these things I have done already. But I will see to it first that no stone is unturned from my side. Thanks anyways.

I will post the results once done. But in the meantime,if you can throw some light on the fatal system error mentioned above, that will be of great help. thanks.

 

[MvdB]

Have a look at:
The system language is changed or you receive a Stop error after you restart a computer that is running a preinstalled version of Windows 7: "0x00000021a"

 

[srinpraveen]

I think this error is slightly different from the one mentioned in the link that you have given. My error code by the way is C00000021a and not 0X00000021a. Also the scenario under which the bsod occurs as mentioned in that article doesn't seem to exactly tally with mine. Also the hotfix solution that is proposed in that article mentions the user to apply the hotfix only if the exact same scenario occurs, else just to wait for the next windows update.

So I guess it might not be helping in solving this exact bsod's cause.

 

[MvdB]

I think this error is slightly different from the one mentioned in the link that you have given. My error code by the way is C00000021a and not 0X00000021a. Also the scenario under which the bsod occurs as mentioned in that article doesn't seem to exactly tally with mine. Also the hotfix solution that is proposed in that article mentions the user to apply the hotfix only if the exact same scenario occurs, else just to wait for the next windows update.

So I guess it might not be helping in solving this exact bsod's cause.

Sorry, you're right. This exact error doesn't show often in W7. When it does, it is mostly:

The STOP 0xC000021A error occurs when either Winlogon.exe or Csrss.exe fails. When the Windows NT kernel detects that either of these processes has stopped, it stops the system and raises the STOP 0xC000021A error. This error may have several causes. Among them are the following:
Mismatched system files have been installed.
A Service Pack installation has failed.
A backup program that is used to restore a hard disk did not correctly restore files that may have been in use.
An incompatible third-party program has been installed.

But without more info I can't really see what's up...

 

[srinpraveen]

@MvdB,
I have enclosed my replies after the questions in bold so that it is more easily readable.

Hello Srinpraveen, welcome to SF! I hope we can help...

There are a couple of things we can try:

1. You really need those dumpfiles posted... Have you tried:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/174459-dump-files-configure-windows-create-bsod.html

Yes I forgot to mention this in the previous reply. But yes. I have tried activating the dump files in the exact method as mentioned in this link. Also I have tried Option 2 as well mentioned in the thread by downloading the reg file corresponding to small minidump and added it to the registry. But still no dumps are written. I don't see the C:\Windows\Minidump or C:\Windows\system32\Minidump. I don't see the folder anywhere for that matter. Something tells me that during these crashes, there is something that is preventing the computer from writing the dump file followed by the crash. The paging file size is also reasonably good as I had mentioned earlier.

2. Try running in Safemode w/networking on for a long time (24-48 hours). A bummer, I know... but lets see if we can separate HW from driver issues...

This I have to see. I will report this back after trying this and observing for 2 to 3 days.

3. Have you tried http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html ?

Ya I did this a couple of hours back and have posted the screenshots. No system violations have been found and system scan returns clean results as can be seen in the screenshot.

4. You need to do more HDD testing just in case from what I understand in this story:
Use seagate tools or something like it to verify

I just downloaded the seagate's free "Sea tools for Windows" application. There were about a bunch of 5 hdd checks. And my hard disk has passed all the checks.

5. Try a clean boot: How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7

This link I am yet to read and check out.

And please post back the results?

So that I is my progress so far.

 

[MvdB]

Just to be sure... increase your pagefile by 1 Gb?
Check all temps, not only CPU? RAM? GPU? What is the temp diff between idle and full operation?

 

[srinpraveen]

Okay I will increase the size of the paging file.

Regarding temperature difference between full operationa and idle operation, when the laptop is idle it has a more or less steady temperature of 52 to 55 degree celcius (around 130 degree farenheit).

When the laptop is fully loaded with different applications running concurrently such a virus scan running, a video playing from vlc player, a pdf opened, mozilla running, a vmware virtual machine running etc, then the temperature goes to as high as 69 to 71 degree celcius. (around 160 degree farenheit)

So does this point to anything or is it normal?

 

[MvdB]

Okay I will increase the size of the paging file.

Regarding temperature difference between full operationa and idle operation, when the laptop is idle it has a more or less steady temperature of 52 to 55 degree celcius (around 130 degree farenheit).

When the laptop is fully loaded with different applications running concurrently such a virus scan running, a video playing from vlc player, a pdf opened, mozilla running, a vmware virtual machine running etc, then the temperature goes to as high as 69 to 71 degree celcius. (around 160 degree farenheit)

So does this point to anything or is it normal?

Sounds ok-ish... In a clean LT with good airflow, I'd expect lower idle temps for a CPU... but you higher temps should not be a problem.
However, this is only the CPU. Can you see other temps?

Try: CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

 

[srinpraveen]

wow @Mdvd, looks like we have a telepathy...LOL....Cuz I too use CPUID monitor and I just love its interface and its pretty user-friendly as compared to speedfan. I have posted a screenshot of it in action when the laptop is not exactly loaded with applications but in a normal steady state. There are two more temperatures as you can see in the screenshot about which I don't exactly know what they indicate and what exactly we can hypothesize from that. But anyway I have enclosed a screenshot of the CPUID monitor in action. Check it.

And the high temperatures maybe because of the amd athelon 64 bit core I guess. Cuz usually amd cores are alleged to heat up more than their competitor intel's corresponding cores such as the i series.

 

[MvdB]

OK, this looks fine. So temps don't seem to be the prob. Lets see if you get a dump file now that you've increased pagefile.....

 

[srinpraveen]

Okay...I will wait till the next bsod occurs...I have set the system to automatically restart upon system failure from the advanced settings and followed all that is mentioned on that thread. SO hopefully I will get a dump file. Lets see..I will keep you posted once I get it.

By the way, I also have bluescreen viewer of nirsoft and also another application called "whocrashed" which automatically reads and displays all the dump files in the system.

By the way, I have a quick question. Are Bsod errors random or have a regular pattern of occurrence? Cuz for the past few days I had 4 bsods per day. And today I had just one bsod since morning and its close to midnight here now. So I guess thats just a single bsod today. So does this indicate that things are improving by any chance? Is there a point wherein the bsods are gradually going to subside and soon gone altogether? Has this happened before to anyone? Because I am being optimistic and I will be happy if such a kind of thing comes true.

 

[MvdB]

Okay...I will wait till the next bsod occurs...I have set the system to automatically restart upon system failure from the advanced settings and followed all that is mentioned on that thread. SO hopefully I will get a dump file. Lets see..I will keep you posted once I get it.

By the way, I also have bluescreen viewer of nirsoft and also another application called "whocrashed" which automatically reads and displays all the dump files in the system.

By the way, I have a quick question. Are Bsod errors random or have a regular pattern of occurrence? Cuz for the past few days I had 4 bsods per day. And today I had just one bsod since morning and its close to midnight here now. So I guess thats just a single bsod today. So does this indicate that things are improving by any chance? Is there a point wherein the bsods are gradually going to subside and soon gone altogether? Has this happened before to anyone? Because I am being optimistic and I will be happy if such a kind of thing comes true.

Sorry to say but they are not random.... there is a definite link to something that is wrong somewhere, be it HW or drivers or temp's (which is related to HW) or, even PSU and failing external power... it might seem random to the user but in reality there is always a very exact combination of things that cause/trigger a problem.

 

[srinpraveen]

@Mvdb,
surprisingly, there wasn't a single bsod yesterday despite working in the normal mode for long hours. Nevertheless, I will have to observe it for a larger time than this though. But looks like things are coming back to normal.

There were lots of Microsoft Updates getting installed after clicking the shut down button everytime. And I suspect that maybe a missing update might be the causing factor of the bsods that came up. But am not sure. Its a rather incorrect hypothesis at this point.

Anyway I will observe this for a few more days and get back.

 

[MvdB]

@Mvdb,
surprisingly, there wasn't a single bsod yesterday despite working in the normal mode for long hours. Nevertheless, I will have to observe it for a larger time than this though. But looks like things are coming back to normal.

There were lots of Microsoft Updates getting installed after clicking the shut down button everytime. And I suspect that maybe a missing update might be the causing factor of the bsods that came up. But am not sure. Its a rather incorrect hypothesis at this point.

Anyway I will observe this for a few more days and get back.

Good luck! Hope it will be a clean run!

 

[srinpraveen]

@MvdB,
the bsod returns!! The bsod never fails to pop up if I use video chat in skype. Today I was video chatting with a couple of friends on skype. And VOILA! The bsod popped up, blue screen for a flash, system restarts, comes up with a black screen saying "operating system not found". Then I manually power off, power on, again the OS not found error, once again power off, power again and the system starts normally.

Just for your info: the paging file size initially was 3740GB. I changed it later to 6140GB in fact and there is no reason why the dumpfile should fail to get registered. But alas! I still don't see any folder by the name of "Minidump" and neither do any *.dmp files exist on the system.

This thing beats me. I really don't understand why the dump file is not getting created though the paging file is so big now. And since as the instructions mentioned in one of the links asked me to restart the system upon system failure, I was compelled to do so. But in the process, I could not catch a glimpse of the bsod that flashed by today. But I still strongly suspect that it is the same old kernel_inpage_error.

As you said, there is definitely some sequence of activity that promptly triggers the bsod to come to life. And I think if I video chat for a while in skype, that will be the perfect recipe to simulate a bsod almost certainly. LOL.

Any solutions? I will be more than happy to get a dump file that dump the hard disk of the vaio.

Do you reckon I uncheck the restart system on failure option so that I can catch a glimpse of the bsod error code?

 

[MvdB]

We need a dumpfile. Check these pre-requisites for creating a dump please:

Page file must be on OS drive
- Page file base allocation size must be > than installed physical RAM
- Windows Error Reporting (WER) system service should be set to MANUAL
- Set page file to system managed, OS drive

 

[srinpraveen]

I have enclosed my reply in bold for readabilty.


Page file must be on OS drive
- Page file base allocation size must be > than installed physical RAM
Page file is on the OS drive which is C drive in my case. Installed Physical RAM is 4000MB out of which usable RAM is 3740MB in my system. I have changed the page file size to 6144MB which should be sufficient.
- Windows Error Reporting (WER) system service should be set to MANUAL
Where do I check this as to whether my system has this as manual or not?
- Set page file to system managed, OS drive
If page file size is set to system managed, then the system only allocates 3740MB of paging file size which as per our discussion was suspected to be less for the creation of a dump file. So I had to change the options in the performance tab to custom size and key in 6144MB. But even if the page file was system managed as it was previously, there was no dump file showing up with the system paging file size.