BSOD Page fault in non-page area

[MichaelPea]

This might be a little longish and for that, I apologize. This morning, I turned on my Windows 7 Ultimate Dell XPS 720 and it ran for a few minutes and threw the BSOD error code described in the title. Let the system reboot, it ran for a few minutes and did the same thing. OK. Now we have a pattern. I'm not sure what it means but there is a pattern. I tried to restore to a previous date (June 24th and today is the 28th) and everything seemed to be going ok until it was complete. Now the system is restarted but I'm getting no video except for the cursor. I have video during POST but nothing except the cursor after Windows starts. Same thing happens during start up or start up in safe mode. Obviously, I can't see anything on the screen so I can't troubleshoot very extensively but if anyone has any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate your help.

 

[chubbysumo]

Possible solution, had the same problem in vista

Since Vista and 7 are very similar, and I just had the "black screen with cursor only" issue myself, this may help you, but I think it may be graphics driver related. I went to update my Nvidia graphics drivers, and it must not have worked properly, because all i got upon boot was a black screen with a cursor. i would get the windows boot logo and animation, and then it would go to a black screen.
I did not get the BSOD, because I have the pagefile turned off(I have 8GB of system RAM).

For my solution, you will need 2 things: current Nvidia drivers, and a program called driver sweeper.

First, boot in safe mode, and go into your control panel, and "uninstall" the nvidia graphics drivers. it sounds stupid, but this is the only effective way to uninstall the graphics drivers because of the software nvidia bundles with them. Next, run driver sweeper, and get rid of all remnants of the graphics card drivers. Then, reboot. First, go into a regular boot to see if you get video on the generic drivers from windows. If you do, your cards are good, reboot again, and go into safemode once again. If you dont get video upon normal reboot with generic drivers, see the * after this. Once back in safe mode, run the nvidia installer package, as administrator. It will install, and will prompt you to reboot. Reboot into a normal boot cycle and you should be fine, and have video again.

* if you boot into a normal boot, and you have followed the steps to remove your graphics drivers, you will be using windows generic ones. If you dont have video here, your graphics card may be faulty, or your hardware may be faulty, and you should contact your computer manufacturer for tech support or for an RMA.

 

[MichaelPea]

Hi Chubbysumo; great name by the way. Lived in Japan for 5 years and got sucked into the sumo craze. It was great . Anyway, thanks for the reply but I can't even boot into safe mode because I get the same results. Blinking cursor but nothing else. Actually it's not even a cursor but the arrow style cursor used in windows. Just the same; thanks again!

 

[karlsnooks]

How are you trying to boot into safe mode?

 

[MichaelPea]

During startup, press F8 and select safe mode. Tried with networking, without networking, etc. Didn't seem to change the outcome at all. In safe mode, you can see the individual files scrolling and then black screen except the cursor.

 

[karlsnooks]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

 

[MichaelPea]

Repair install

Thanks Karlsnooks. If I'm reading the instructions correctly, I need to be in Win 7 to repair. I'm not able to get into win at all. Not even in safe mode. Am I reading the directions correctly?

 

[karlsnooks]

Unfortunately, you are correct.

Ok one last thing to try before we punt out.

Let's assume that you troubles are caused by a piece of malware and honestly I don't think that's the case. What I think is that somehow you've corrupted your disk.

Anyway let's give the malware check a chance. To do this you are going to need to put the System Sweeper onto aa usb stick.

The how follows:
PUT SYSTEM SWEEPER ON A USB STICK


System Sweeper, https://connect.microsoft.com/systemsweeper, allows you to start an infected PC and perform an offline scan to identify and remove viruses, rootkits and other advanced malware. System Sweeper is a free standalone, bootable malware and virus remover from Microsoft.

Safety Scanner, Microsoft Safety Scanner - Remove Spyware, Malware, Viruses Free, is free, downloadable, provides on-demand scanning and helps remove viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. It works with your existing antivirus software.

If the target computer has a working internet connection, then you may prefer to use the Safety Scanner.


Download System Sweeper (about 576 kB):
https://connect.microsoft.com/systemsweeper

Insert 256 MB or larger USB stick into a usb port.

Run the downloaded program--mssstool64.exe or mssstool32.exe

Choose the option to install to USB.
Caution: The install program will format the usb stick.

The install program will download about 200 mB more.

After the install is finished, leave the stick in the usb slot.

Run the program you downloaded once again.

This 2nd run, and any subsequent runs, will download the very latest anti-virus definitions (about 60 mB).

To keep System Sweeper up-to-date, simply reinsert the usb stick and run the installation program again.

The initial, full scan by System Sweeper can easily take a couple of hours, but subsequent quick scans will take only a few minutes.

Remember your computer is being checked for all types of malware and be very thoroughly checked.