BSOD

[baeggs]

I got a BSOD last night and I´m not very good at looking at dump files and analizing them. I followed the instruction here to make the zip attached to the post.

PC specs:
Toshiba Satellite L40-139 (laptop) about 4 years old
CPU: Intel Celeron M 1.6 GHz
Memory: 2x 512MB sodimm DDR2
Motherboard: ?

Shipped with Windows vista
currently dual booting Windows 7 proffesional x86 and Ubuntu 10.10
It was running Windows when the crash occured

Windows 7 was installed about 8 months ago. I used a 3rd party application called vistalizator to change the display language to danish. Don´t know if that matters, but unfortionately the perfmon.html file is in danish, I don´t know if you can use it, but I included it anyway. It does say that there is no antivirus program installed, but that´s not the case, I have avast installed and running.

I hope you guys can help me.

 

[usasma]

Don't worry about the Danish - most reports are language independent (ie - English based) - and if we can't figure it out, we'll ask you to translate!

You only have 1 gB of RAM. This results in only (about) 90 mB of free RAM - which will cause many problems with your system (and will make it agonizingly slow. I recommend an absolute minimum of 2gB - but strongly suggest 4 gB for best performance.

You have WMI Tools installed on your system - have you been making changes in WMI?

The BSOD doesn't reveal much, but we can get a start with it.

OLDER DRIVERS PRESENT IN THE DUMP FILES
- Create a System Restore Point prior to doing any of this. DO NOT mess with the drivers themselves - leave the Windows\System32\drivers directory alone unless we specifically direct you to it!
- Please update these drivers from the device manufacturer's website - or uninstall them from your system. Reference links are included below.
- DO NOT use Windows Update or the Update Drivers function of Device Manager.
- Please feel free to post back about any drivers that you are having difficulty locating.
- Windows Update exceptions may be noted below for Windows drivers:

[FONT=lucida console]
amdxata.sys      Tue May 19 13:57:35 2009 (4A12F30F)
Lbd.sys          Tue May 25 03:45:27 2010 (4BFB8017)
[COLOR=Red]ATKACPI.sys      Thu Dec 14 02:11:57 2006 (4580F93D)[/COLOR]
SynTP.sys        Thu Aug 27 21:59:32 2009 (4A973A04)
ElbyCDIO.sys     Thu Dec 17 17:25:11 2009 (4B2AAFC7)
igdkmd32.sys     Wed Sep 23 15:18:09 2009 (4ABA7471)
athr.sys         Mon Sep 21 13:58:25 2009 (4AB7BEC1)
Rtnicxp.sys      Fri May 30 11:12:11 2008 (4840194B)
VMkbd.sys        Thu Nov 11 15:35:11 2010 (4CDC537F)
GEARAspiWDM.sys  Mon May 18 08:16:53 2009 (4A1151B5)
VClone.sys       Sun Aug 09 17:25:56 2009 (4A7F3EE4)
vmnetadapter.sys Mon Aug 10 08:04:00 2009 (4A800CB0)
VMNET.SYS        Mon Aug 10 08:03:57 2009 (4A800CAD)
AGRSM.sys        Mon Nov 10 09:56:37 2008 (49184BA5)
vmnetbridge.sys  Mon Aug 10 08:05:29 2009 (4A800D09)
hcmon.sys        Thu Nov 11 14:44:15 2010 (4CDC478F)
vmci.sys         Thu Nov 11 14:10:35 2010 (4CDC3FAB)
vmx86.sys        Thu Nov 11 16:22:36 2010 (4CDC5E9C)
vmnetuserif.sys  Thu Nov 11 14:58:17 2010 (4CDC4AD9)
vstor2-ws60.sys  Thu Aug 19 16:28:38 2010 (4C6D93F6)
[/FONT]

http://www.carrona.org/dvrref.html#amdxata.sys
http://www.carrona.org/dvrref.html#Lbd.sys
http://www.carrona.org/dvrref.html#ATKACPI.sys
http://www.carrona.org/dvrref.html#SynTP.sys
http://www.carrona.org/dvrref.html#ElbyCDIO.sys
http://www.carrona.org/dvrref.html#igdkmd32.sys
http://www.carrona.org/dvrref.html#athr.sys
http://www.carrona.org/dvrref.html#Rtnicxp.sys
http://www.carrona.org/dvrref.html#VMkbd.sys
http://www.carrona.org/dvrref.html#GEARAspiWDM.sys
http://www.carrona.org/dvrref.html#VClone.sys
http://www.carrona.org/dvrref.html#vmnetadapter.sys
http://www.carrona.org/dvrref.html#VMNET.SYS
http://www.carrona.org/dvrref.html#AGRSM.sys
http://www.carrona.org/dvrref.html#vmnetbridge.sys
http://www.carrona.org/dvrref.html#hcmon.sys
http://www.carrona.org/dvrref.html#vmci.sys
http://www.carrona.org/dvrref.html#vmx86.sys
http://www.carrona.org/dvrref.html#vmnetuserif.sys
http://www.carrona.org/dvrref.html#vstor2-ws60.sys

Please update any drivers that we haven't updated above before visiting Windows Update. Check the Important Updates section and select (and install) Service Pack 1.

If the BSOD's continue, please run Driver Verifier according to these directions:

Using Driver Verifier is an iffy proposition. Most times it'll crash and it'll tell you what the driver is. But sometimes it'll crash and won't tell you the driver. Other times it'll crash before you can log in to Windows. If you can't get to Safe Mode, then you'll have to resort to offline editing of the registry to disable Driver Verifier.

So, I'd suggest that you first backup your stuff and then make sure you've got access to another computer so you can contact us if problems arise. Then make a System Restore point (so you can restore the system using the Vista/Win7 Startup Repair feature).

Then, here's the procedure:
- Go to Start and type in "verifier" (without the quotes) and press Enter
- Select "Create custom settings (for code developers)" and click "Next"
- Select "Select individual settings from a full list" and click "Next"
- Select everything EXCEPT FOR "Low Resource Simulation" and click "Next"
NOTE: You can use Low Resource Simulation if you'd like. From my limited experimentation it makes the BSOD's come faster.
- Select "Select driver names from a list" and click "Next"
Then select all drivers NOT provided by Microsoft and click "Next"
- Select "Finish" on the next page.

Reboot the system and wait for it to crash to the Blue Screen. Continue to use your system normally, and if you know what causes the crash, do that repeatedly. The objective here is to get the system to crash because Driver Verifier is stressing the drivers out. If it doesn't crash for you, then let it run for at least 36 hours of continuous operation (an estimate on my part).

Reboot into Windows (after the crash) and turn off Driver Verifier by going back in and selecting "Delete existing settings" on the first page, then locate and zip up the memory dump file and upload it with your next post.

If you can't get into Windows because it crashes too soon, try it in Safe Mode.
If you can't get into Safe Mode, try using System Restore from your installation DVD to set the system back to the previous restore point that you created.

If that doesn't work, post back and we'll have to see about fixing the registry entry off-line:

Delete these registry keys (works in XP, Vista, Win7):
        HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\VerifyDrivers
        HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\VerifyDriverLevel

More info on this at this link: Using Driver Verifier to identify issues with Windows drivers for advanced users

BSOD BUGCHECK SUMMARY

[FONT=lucida console]
Built by: 7600.16695.x86fre.win7_gdr.101026-1503
Debug session time: Fri Apr 15 17:26:30.977 2011 (UTC - 4:00)
System Uptime: 0 days 5:13:05.115
DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID:  VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT
BUGCHECK_STR:  0x50
PROCESS_NAME:  iexplore.exe
Bugcheck code 00000050
Arguments 77da81e8 00000000 77cf8bb4 00000008
BiosVersion = V2.10       
[COLOR=Red]BiosReleaseDate = 06/23/2007
[/COLOR]CPUID:        "Intel(R) Celeron(R) M CPU        520  @ 1.60GHz"
MaxSpeed:     1600
CurrentSpeed: 1596
¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨``
  
  [/FONT]

 

[baeggs]

Thanks for a detailed answer.
WMI Tools is installed cause I was practising creating scripts to pull data from it. I did not make any changes.
I will try to get around to reviewing your post and and updating those drivers soon. I see you marked red the BiosReleaseDate, and take it like you want me to update it. Isn´t that what is called flashing the BIOS. From what I understand that can be risky if you haven´t got experiance in doing so, am I right about that?
As for the RAM, I´ve been meening to upgrading it for some time now.
I will post again when I have got those drivers updated.

 

[usasma]

Yes, flashing the BIOS is risky. I highlighted the BIOS date, but forgot to add the caution.
In short, we try everything else to fix this - and then, if it doesn't fix it, then we'll try the BIOS flash.

It's actually very easy to do - so easy that it's easy to turn your motherboard into a doorstop! Be very, very careful!!!

FWIW - I think it's the ATKACPI.sys driver that's the cause. We've seen issues with a similar driver in the past - ASACPI.sys - from Asus

 

[baeggs]

How can I find out exactly what motherboard I have?

My computer has the model no PSL40E but the Asus website wont recognice it, and it´s model automatic detection says that I don´t have an operatingsystem.
The Toshiba website is no help
Everest Home edition 2.20 shows unknown board
A hardware detection utility on Ultimate Boot CD v5.0.3 can´t recognice it.

Isn´t this is a piece of information I need to get the correct drivers?

Anyway, I´ve been looking around in the eventviewer and found a number of errors with source volsnap, id 36. A quick google search leeds to this.
A possible cause is: The Diff Area is not large enough to store the shadow copies.
My Windows partition only has 3.22 GB free. Could that have anything to do with things?

 

[Shootist]

If you are going to go ahead with flashing the BIOS PLEASE do it from a cold boot with the new version loaded on a bootable USB flash drive and not from within Windows.

That is IF the maker has a BIOS flash that comes for use in this way. Most do have both.

Flashing the BIOS with a new version is much more riskier doing it from inside Windows and not so doing it booting from a USB stick.

Well I wouldn't worry about it because as far as I can tell there is NO BIOS update for that model. So I guess they got it right the first time or they don't care.

 

[usasma]

Lack of free space can cause all sorts of problems. In normal use you need 15% free space for optimum performance.
But your situation may not be "normal" - your OS partition size is only 27.88 gB - which may cause some issues, especially with only 2.90 gB of free space.

Then, you've only got 1 gB of RAM - with a pagefile that's 2 gB in size (and only have 90.5 mB of free RAM).
The effect of this will vary depending on the settings for your pagefile (either Windows managed - or set to one particular size).

The result of this is that Windows is restricted in 2 ways:
1 - It's relying heavily on the pagefile for memory operations because of the shortage of physical RAM - so it's performing operations with the pagefile in memory - and you only have 90 mB of free RAM.
2 - When Windows does file operations (such as manipulating the pagefile), it uses the free space on the disk to help conduct these operations (sort of like a temporary file holding area). With only 2.9 gB of free disk space, the opearations on the pagefile occupy a large part (if not all) of the free space.

In short, if anything doesn't work exactly right, there's a chance that you'll have problems. And the errors that you've spotted in the Event Viewer are a sign that it's not working exactly right.

To temporarily help you out, stop all running programs and only do one thing at a time. Also, free up another 1.6 gB of space on the OS partition (more if your pagefile is struggling).

A more permanent fix is to add more RAM (and keep the free space above 15%).

PS - My mistake about the Asus website - this is a Toshiba, so we'll get most everything from the Toshiba website: Laptop Driver Downloads: Unfortunately it doesn't list the ATKACPI.sys driver

So, I downloaded the attached driver from this link: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Drivers and Download G50Vt (click the dropdown box to select you OS, then expand the ATK category to see the driver as the last entry there).

Please set a System Restore point prior to trying this (just in case). As with any download, please scan it with an antivirus before opening/running it. Then install the ATKACPI.sys driver and see if it helps your problems.

 

[baeggs]

OK
Here is what I have done so far:
Updated to SP1 (I actually thought I had already done that )
Uninstalled a bunch of unused programs
From the Ubuntu partition I editet the partitions and grew Windows to 40GB
Installed the driver you downloaded for me

Free space on the Windows partition is now 18 GB

I will look into increasing my RAM. According to the Kingston website, 2GB is the maximum for my system.

As I have only had 1 bluescreen I will consider this problem as fixed for the time beeing. Should I mark this thread as fixed, or is there something else I should do before closing the case?

Thank you very much for your help.