# BSOD....



## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

I have been getting the BSOD on a regular basis lately, especially the past couple of days. So far, three times in two days. Needless to say I am about ready to toss the computer out the window, but I'm not high enough for that to do the proper damage to the device. Of course, when I restart I get the message "The system has recovered from a serious error". Gee, thanks. In the same window is the message "For more information about this error click here" I click and it brings up some coded message that means nothing to me: 

"BCCode : 100000d1 BCP1 : 00000028 BCP2 : 00000002 BCP3 : 00000000
BCP4 : F7580D16 OSVer : 5_1_2600 SP : 3_0 Product : 256_1"

and then tells me "to view technical information about the error report click here."

Clicking there gives me sites on the hard drive that I can't find or get to: 

"C:\DOCUME~1\RICHAR~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\WER1ceb.dir00\Mini030709-01.dmp
C:\DOCUME~1\RICHAR~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\WER1ceb.dir00\sysdata.xml"

Any clues???


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## deltafowler (Aug 28, 2007)

If it's a Dell, press F12 when restarting and boot to the Diagnostics partition.
If it isn't a Dell, then you may have to run third party diagnostic software on it.
This one is a good one. it has a number of tools on it to test memory, cpu, hard disk, etc.
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

You could also test hardware stability by booting it with a live CD like Ubuntu.

If your hardware's all good, then it's time to look for software issues.
If the BSOD's aren't related to any specific program or activity, then I'd go for a backup of data and a clean reinstall.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Richard King said:


> "C:\DOCUME~1\RICHAR~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\WER1ceb.dir00\Mini030709-01.dmp
> C:\DOCUME~1\RICHAR~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\WER1ceb.dir00\sysdata.xml"


Are there spaces in the names of the dump files???

Have you done a full-on chkdsk or similar recently? I'd be suspicious that it is having troubles reading the hard drive or possibly a memory corruption problem.

Have you checked the temperatures and/or fan speeds?


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## smiddy (Apr 5, 2006)

I tend to agree with harsh (holy crap) this looks like a memory corruption issue. Usually the hard drive issue repair themselves at a certain point, unless your drive is too full for it to move things around (assuming MS' journaling type partition).


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

I'm willing to bet a "chkdsk /r" will fix it..


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

I'll run a defrag later. Right now I only have 6% free and a proper defrag requires 15%. Looks like I need to move some files to a spare drive first.


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

Richard.. you don't happen to have an ATI video card do you? Also your hard drive only has 6% free space on it? How big is the drive?



Richard King said:


> I'll run a defrag later. Right now I only have 6% free and a proper defrag requires 15%. Looks like I need to move some files to a spare drive first.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

No on ATI. The video is integrated in the mother board. The drive is 250G.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Just had another BSOD. I haven't had the time to move my stuff around and do a defrag yet, so I guess this is to be expected until I at least do that.

BCCode : 100000d1 BCP1 : 00000028 BCP2 : 00000002 BCP3 : 00000000
BCP4 : F7580D16 OSVer : 5_1_2600 SP : 3_0 Product : 256_1 

C:\DOCUME~1\RICHAR~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\WERc731.dir00\Mini030709-02.dmp
C:\DOCUME~1\RICHAR~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\WERc731.dir00\sysdata.xml


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## deltafowler (Aug 28, 2007)

Richard, 
It's not likely to be fixed by a defrag.
As others have indicated, the problem is most likely associated with a bad memory chip or hard drive issues.
It could be an early warning sign of a failing hard drive.

It would be prudent to immediately back up any critical files and run a Checkdisk.

You can right-click on the C: drive and choose tools to run the check.
A reboot will be required.

I strongly recommend downloading the Utilities disk image and burning it to a CD.
Boot the computer to the CD and run the memory test and the hard drive test. They will give you some idea of how to proceed.
You need to discern whether this is hardware or software related.
In the case of hardware, sooner is better than later.

If your hardware checks out OK, then you can move on to cleaning up the disk and running defrag.
A free utility called Ccleaner can help you to remove temporary files and regain disk space.
It's easier and more effective the Windows utilities.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Then again, if he could stop with the burning desire to defrag and run a chkdsk, he may find that he's actually got enough free space to defrag. Defragging with a corrupt computer will ruin everything.


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

If your hardware checks out okay, you may want to try running Eusing's Free Registry Cleaner... I've had it fix many obscure issues...

Link: http://www.eusing.com/free_registry_cleaner/registry_cleaner.htm


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## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

Which version of Windows are you running?

Please - go to your local store and buy a big new USB drive and do a full backup.

Then get rid of what you don't need.

Run the Windows clean disk utility.

And do what everybody else suggested.


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## WERA689 (Oct 15, 2006)

AirRocker said:


> If your hardware checks out okay, you may want to try running Eusing's Free Registry Cleaner... I've had it fix many obscure issues...
> 
> Link: http://www.eusing.com/free_registry_cleaner/registry_cleaner.htm


 Thanks for that, AirRocker. I've been looking for just such a program for a while now!


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## dettxw (Nov 21, 2007)

I never did solve my BSOD problems on both the laptop and desktop. 
Every time I tried to run down the cause of an issue it turned out to be a different program with no rhyme or reason or discernible pattern.
I eventually disabled all power management options and that alleviated the problems quite a bit, especially on the desktop. Still risk a BSOD if I simply close the lid on the laptop.


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## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

I've had Vista since it first came out, and my BSOD's went away.

Have you considered moving to Vista?


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

I haven't had the time to mess with this piece of crap at all today, other than try to use it for things that I HAVE to get done. I got part of my project done between 3 BSOD's and 2 sporatic reboots. I'm getting closer to throwing it out the window. If I ever find the time I'll try some of the advise from you guys. I really appreciate the comments.

One of my projects that I worked on today was transferring 36 cd's to an MP3 player for a customer. After the transfers were done I attempted to make a DVD backup of the project and half way through the first attempt to burn the DVD the computer rebooted on it's own. On the second attempt, according to the timer I had one second left in the burn and it rebooted again. Thankfully the DVD burn succeeded and was playable on my DVD player. If it had rebooted 3 seconds earlier if would have been more wasted time. 

My next project (starting tomorrow evening) is to transfer another 130 cd's to an MP3 player. It should be interesting to see how many reboots and BSOD's I get in that project.


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## deltafowler (Aug 28, 2007)

It takes just a few minutes to download, burn, and run the Windows Memory Test CD.
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

If nothing else, go ahead and do that.


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## smiddy (Apr 5, 2006)

Richard King said:


> I haven't had the time to mess with this piece of crap at all today, other than try to use it for things that I HAVE to get done. I got part of my project done between 3 BSOD's and 2 sporatic reboots. I'm getting closer to throwing it out the window. If I ever find the time I'll try some of the advise from you guys. I really appreciate the comments.
> 
> One of my projects that I worked on today was transferring 36 cd's to an MP3 player for a customer. After the transfers were done I attempted to make a DVD backup of the project and half way through the first attempt to burn the DVD the computer rebooted on it's own. On the second attempt, according to the timer I had one second left in the burn and it rebooted again. Thankfully the DVD burn succeeded and was playable on my DVD player. If it had rebooted 3 seconds earlier if would have been more wasted time.
> 
> My next project (starting tomorrow evening) is to transfer another 130 cd's to an MP3 player. It should be interesting to see how many reboots and BSOD's I get in that project.


I hope you have a fast drive for all those transfers, that will take quite a bit of time to do 130 CDs.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Delta... thanks... I'll download the tests this morning and run them when I am going out. I assume it will just run and have results waiting for me when I return?

Smiddy. It is a sort of slow process. They seem to be going at between 6 and 8 times real time, but it's getting done. I work on the project in my "spare" time, mostly in the evening, while doing other things.


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## deltafowler (Aug 28, 2007)

The Windows Memory Test will boot and run infinitely until interrupted by the user.
The diagnostics CD requires interaction.


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## jerry downing (Mar 7, 2004)

I would not do a defrag yet. If a BSOD occurs during a defrag, it could result in an irrecoverably corrupted volume. Do backups first.
This may be a heat issue. Check to see if all fans are operating and not clogged with dust.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Imagine my surprise when I returned home after being out most of the day to find a blank screen and a non functional computer (again). I had to reboot (again) and when I did it ran the memory test and it says that all is well with the memory.

I have another computer that I mentioned in another post that was shutting down on a much more infrequent basis. While I haven't sent the board in yet, in examining the mother board I found that the vast majority of the capacitors on the board were leaking all over the place. I wonder what the odds are of having two MB's doing the same thing. The symptoms are similar. I'll do a complete shut down later and check the MB for leaky caps. Of course, I don't know for certain that that was the cause on the other computer yet, so it could just be a shot in the dark.

I ran CCcleaner earlier with no change in my status. Thanks for the application though. Much better than trying to have Windows do the same thing.


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## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

please - do a full backup ASAP.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Starting a backup now. I bet it takes all night.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

It tells me I have 1 day and 14 hours to complete my backup. :lol:


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## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

Hang in there... That 1d 14h will be nothing comared to your computer safety.


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## smiddy (Apr 5, 2006)

I agree, it is better to have all your data than to hold off backing it up.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

I stopped it last night. I am now doing a back up of the C drive which will be done in about 6 hours. This morning Windows Defender reported finding a virus which I eliminated. The coumputer hasn't rebooted or BSOD'd since yesterday morning for some reason, so maybe the worst has passed.


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## wingrider01 (Sep 9, 2005)

if it does bsod - copy down the information that is displayed before the machine reboots. That normally points at the subsystem that caused the kernal crash. 

If the system just restarts without displaying message go into the advanced properties of the machine, restart section and unclick the auto restart.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Another BSOD at 2:11 this afternoon. I just got back and it was waiting for me. 

Wing... I'll do that the next time. I'll take a picture of the screen with my camera.

I have yet had enough time between BSOD's or reboots to do a total backup. If I start another one does it take over where the previous one ended or does it have to start at the begining again? I assume it just starts all over.


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## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

Another alternative is to remove the HD and attach it to another computer to backup all your data, then reinstall the O/S fresh, with a HD reformat. You'd be surprised at how well even an aging PC will perform after a fresh re-install. One word of caution, though: make sure you get some anti-virus software installed on it before you even think about connecting it to a network. There are a lot of worms and viruses out there that will instantly attack a PC that doesn't have all its patches.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

That may be the only way to get a backup done. I just got in and it had done an auto reboot while I was out. It did this at 4:01 this afternoon. So, it stayed up for just under 2 hours.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Still didn't complete the backup. I've given up and unplugged the computer to let it cool off. The CPU fan needs cleaning if I can figure out how to remove it. It's VERY clogged with dust. I'm posting from my laptop now since it's the only computer that I have left that works.  Any clues on how to get that thing off? Is it glued to the CPU? It's pretty obvious that it needs work. The capacitors all look ok, not expanded or leaking anywhere.


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## deltafowler (Aug 28, 2007)

Richard,
No need to remove the fan.
Blow it out where it sits.
I like using a compressor and blow nozzle over the expensive canned air.
Shoot the air into the side of the fins, beneath the fan and work your way up to the fan, blowing through the fins and pushing the dust out of the top of the fan.
Also blow out the power supply and clean all air inlets and outlets on the case.

You may have very well have posted a photograph of the source of your problems.


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## wingrider01 (Sep 9, 2005)

deltafowler said:


> Richard,
> No need to remove the fan.
> Blow it out where it sits.
> I like using a compressor and blow nozzle over the expensive canned air.
> ...


Do the video card fan (if there is one) and the PSU fans at the same time, not to mention the rest of the case and motherboard


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## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

You could also try running your PC with the cover off till you get your data salvage. It may run cooler.

Short term, you might want to consider a small room fan blowing into the open case. This is a horrible idea long term, but it may get you enough time right now. My dad used this on a tube TV back in the 70's that was dying. It worked!


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## sideswipe (Dec 4, 2008)

Richard your bad luck now I'm getting BSOD on win 7 (1st since ME) however, gotta look into issues myself, was in mid-game had 2 get back in-game in a hurry, on reboot (no time to see msg btw) switched hard drive bootup in bios, back on xp, will try to see if hard drive or windows causing error, my moniters went crazy when was shutting down game (thinking maybe vid driver), maybe beta software (7) with beta driver (ati) :lol: no biggie why its beta right?


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Took the computational device apart this morning and blew everything out. I have been running a back up for 2 hours and 6 minutes with no interruptions. The computational device is running MUCH quieter now too. That just may have been the problem. Keeping fingers crossed here. I'll know more when I get back in later this evening.


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## wingrider01 (Sep 9, 2005)

Richard King said:


> Took the computational device apart this morning and blew everything out. I have been running a back up for 2 hours and 6 minutes with no interruptions. The computational device is running MUCH quieter now too. That just may have been the problem. Keeping fingers crossed here. I'll know more when I get back in later this evening.


Curious - is that a old Puch or a Honda 100 in your avatar?


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

1972 Honda 350. The picture was taken somewhere along the Pennsylvania Turnpike when I was on the way to Alexandria Virginia from Minneapolis. The problem was that it was during Hurricane Agnes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Agnes and the turnpike was down to 1 lane in each direction and there were floods at every turn. It took 8 hours to do the last 120 miles. I sold the MC in Washington and flew home. 

By the way, the computer hasn't rebooted at all since the last post and is still backiing up my C drive. It appears that it may be "fixed".


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## deltafowler (Aug 28, 2007)

Cool!
It makes a difference.


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## wingrider01 (Sep 9, 2005)

Richard King said:


> 1972 Honda 350. The picture was taken somewhere along the Pennsylvania Turnpike when I was on the way to Alexandria Virginia from Minneapolis. The problem was that it was during Hurricane Agnes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Agnes and the turnpike was down to 1 lane in each direction and there were floods at every turn. It took 8 hours to do the last 120 miles. I sold the MC in Washington and flew home.
> 
> By the way, the computer hasn't rebooted at all since the last post and is still backiing up my C drive. It appears that it may be "fixed".


Forgot the 350 used the same basic frame design the 100 did Started with the Puch (from Sears) and graduated up to GPZ roadracing and now long distance touring on a 2001 Goldwing

Glad the machine is working right now.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Backup completed last night. Everything is fine with the world and the patient is doing fine this morning. No reboots or BSOD's since cleaning.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

wingrider01 said:


> Forgot the 350 used the same basic frame design the 100 did Started with the Puch (from Sears) and graduated up to GPZ roadracing and now long distance touring on a 2001 Goldwing


The 350 was my 4th motorcycle, each one bigger than the preceeding one. I actually won a Harley 125 like this one http://www.bikez.com/motorcycles/harley-davidson_sxt_125_1977.php in a contest at one time. Since I already had a Honda 550 (my 5th and last MC) at the time I sold the Harley without even driving it.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

It's baaaack. Rebooting like crazy again. It started a couple of days ago. I blew the whole thing out this morning and it has rebooted three more times since then (once with a BSOD and twice straight to reboot). I hate to do it, but I may have to "seek professional help".  I don't have the bucks to replace it (at least not with the machine I want), and, even if I did there are some very important programs and features that I use that I don't think I could get going in a Vista machine. The processor itself is a Pentium D, which certainly isn't so old that I should be having these kinds of problems.

Each time it does a reboot it creates a .dmp file (the last was Mini041409-04.dmp) in the folder "C:\Windows\Minidump". How does one go about reading this file? (Not that I expect it will tell me anything that I will understand). This is actually the tail end of this file "C:\DOCUME~1\RICHAR~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\WER6c9f.dir00\Mini041409-04.dmp" which a search doesn't find.


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