BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) BAD_POOL_CALLER

[Onslaught34]

Greetings!

For about 8 months I've been suffering through random blue screens. I've tried posting on multiple boards with no luck.
Whenever I'm playing a game, listening to music or pretty much anything sound related, my system will crash/hang and I'll get the BSOD with the above message.
Now I've tried any idea suggested to me from the previous forums with no sucess.
It was suggested to me that "perhaps it's your ram". So I flew out to Best Buy and purchased 2 sticks of 512 ram (ddr400) I tried using memtest86 on the first 2 sticks I had and everytime it'd freeze on test 2. I tried taking 1 ram out and testing, and switching that one out and so forth. I even tried 1 stick of the new ram with the same results. I've pretty much ruled out the ram possibility.
Also, another person said "well it definately sounds like its your soundcard". If that were so, would memtest86 (which runs before windows xp is loaded meaning no drivers for the SC are even loaded) would have a conflict?

Heres a couple instances of how I can almost make it crash.
1)After playing Unreal 2004 clicking exit will a lot of times cause it to crash, but if I alt+tab to the desktop and sit for a second then exit it will NOT crash.
2)After playing Starcraft it will crash.
3)While playing warcraft III Frozen Throne the sound gets jumpy (almost like a broken record effect) however it hasnt crashed lately just sound glitches.
4)listening to mp3s with winamp - when cycling through tracks that will usually get it to crash.

I'm sorry for the long post, I'm just trying to be through so maybe someone can recognize what the problem might be.

Thanks in advance to all that help!

Onslaught
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My System Specs:
O/S: Windows XP Pro w SP1+2 (all updates)
Processor: 2.4c Pentium 4
MotherBoard: Intel D875PBZ AAC26680-205 (BUS= 200mhz)
Bios#:BZ87510A.86A.0026.P05.0304231448 04/23/2003
Ram: 1536 Megabytes Installed Memory
Slot 'J5G1' has 512 MB
Slot 'J5G2' has 512 MB
Slot 'J5H1' has 512 MB
Slot 'J5H2' is Empty
Soundcard: SB Audigy (with face plate)
DVDROM: HITACHI DVD-ROM GD-2500
Floppy: 3.5
Harddrive : 1 (3 partitions)120GB WD1200JB-75CRA0
USB Devices: 2 (printer and mouse)
Display: ATI Radeon 9500 pro
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Onslaught34
Greetings!

For about 8 months I've been suffering through random blue screens. I've tried posting on multiple boards with no luck.
Whenever I'm playing a game, listening to music or pretty much anything sound related, my system will crash/hang and I'll get the BSOD with the above message.
Now I've tried any idea suggested to me from the previous forums with no sucess.
It was suggested to me that "perhaps it's your ram". So I flew out to Best Buy and purchased 2 sticks of 512 ram (ddr400) I tried using memtest86 on the first 2 sticks I had and everytime it'd freeze on test 2. I tried taking 1 ram out and testing, and switching that one out and so forth. I even tried 1 stick of the new ram with the same results. I've pretty much ruled out the ram possibility.
Also, another person said "well it definately sounds like its your soundcard". If that were so, would memtest86 (which runs before windows xp is loaded meaning no drivers for the SC are even loaded) would have a conflict?

Heres a couple instances of how I can almost make it crash.
1)After playing Unreal 2004 clicking exit will a lot of times cause it to crash, but if I alt+tab to the desktop and sit for a second then exit it will NOT crash.
2)After playing Starcraft it will crash.
3)While playing warcraft III Frozen Throne the sound gets jumpy (almost like a broken record effect) however it hasnt crashed lately just sound glitches.
4)listening to mp3s with winamp - when cycling through tracks that will usually get it to crash.

I'm sorry for the long post, I'm just trying to be through so maybe someone can recognize what the problem might be.

Thanks in advance to all that help!

Onslaught
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My System Specs:
O/S: Windows XP Pro w SP1+2 (all updates)
Processor: 2.4c Pentium 4
MotherBoard: Intel D875PBZ AAC26680-205 (BUS= 200mhz)
Bios#:BZ87510A.86A.0026.P05.0304231448 04/23/2003
Ram: 1536 Megabytes Installed Memory
Slot 'J5G1' has 512 MB
Slot 'J5G2' has 512 MB
Slot 'J5H1' has 512 MB
Slot 'J5H2' is Empty
Soundcard: SB Audigy (with face plate)
DVDROM: HITACHI DVD-ROM GD-2500
Floppy: 3.5
Harddrive : 1 (3 partitions)120GB WD1200JB-75CRA0
USB Devices: 2 (printer and mouse)
Display: ATI Radeon 9500 pro
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Check out my .sig's URL, follow those directions, and do all those updates, and then send me the mps reports .cab file and the minidump file(s) and I'll see what I can see.

However, it seems like you've already narrowed it down. If you use another sound card, or newer sound card drivers, does the issue go away? It sounds pretty apparent it's the sound card...

I have no idea what you are saying when you mention memtest and the sound card - can you rephrase that?

 

[Onslaught34]

What I mean about memtest is, how could the soundcards drivers be conflicting when running memtest?
I'm sure you've used memtest, but just incase: i'll put the cd in which loads during boot and starts up a dos screen and it proceeds to scan your ram for errors. During test 2 it will freezes even when I tested the new ram by itself. I was convinced since none of the soundcard drivers were being loaded that it couldnt be the card.

I'll try your link and do as instructed.

Thanks for your help!

Onslaught

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Onslaught34
What I mean about memtest is, how could the soundcards drivers be conflicting when running memtest?
I'm sure you've used memtest, but just incase: i'll put the cd in which loads during boot and starts up a dos screen and it proceeds to scan your ram for errors. During test 2 it will freezes even when I tested the new ram by itself. I was convinced since none of the soundcard drivers were being loaded that it couldnt be the card.

I'll try your link and do as instructed.

Thanks for your help!

Onslaught

On reading it again, now I understand. I understand that when you run memtest, the machine crashes consistently - no matter what stick of RAM you have in your machine. That sounds like hardware, so I wonder if the other advice (update drivers, etc.) will help at all. Anyway, try to do the steps listed, and send me the .cab and minidumps and we'll see what we find, but I'd start replacing hardware to see where the issue lies...

An easy way to confirm that particular problem has nothing to do with your sound card (+ other cards) is to remove the sound card (and other hardware in the machine that you don't need) and re-run memtest to see if the problem reproduces. If so, no point in many other tests - just change the motherboard (we'll assume the RAM is good, since you have multiple sticks) and see if the problem comes back.

Another easy test is as I listed - change the sound card and see if you can then reproduce the issue in Windows. Can you answer that question?

 

[EQTitan]

Sorry to hijack your thread, DClive I just sent you a BSOD email let me know what you find....

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: EQTitan
Sorry to hijack your thread, DClive I just sent you a BSOD email let me know what you find....

No problem - please make a new post, send me the URL to the post, and send me all the stuff I've listed in the URL in my .sig.... after you've completed all the driver\Windows updates and such mentioned there, too. Thanks.

 

[Onslaught34]

For some reason my computer isn't writing the minidumps. I cant figure that one out.
Also, while trying to reproduce the error (normally its not hard to do but whenever someone asks me to do it, it doesnt want to cooperate :-D )
Another thing I noticed while trying to get it to do reproduce the error, I noticed like with starcraft, unreal and anything else (other than winamp) they all resize my screen for that particular game. Perhaps it coudl be video? I don't have a extra card to be sure though :/. I have an interview tomorrow so I have to head to bed, tomorrow I'll check back and see how to do the minidumps and send you that information along with trying to remove the soundcard.

Thanks again for all your help!

Onslaught

 

[oldman420]

what board do you run? it sounds like a pci sound issue to me and if you have inboard sound try that without the sound blaster not in the system

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Onslaught34
For some reason my computer isn't writing the minidumps. I cant figure that one out.
Also, while trying to reproduce the error (normally its not hard to do but whenever someone asks me to do it, it doesnt want to cooperate :-D )
Another thing I noticed while trying to get it to do reproduce the error, I noticed like with starcraft, unreal and anything else (other than winamp) they all resize my screen for that particular game. Perhaps it coudl be video? I don't have a extra card to be sure though :/. I have an interview tomorrow so I have to head to bed, tomorrow I'll check back and see how to do the minidumps and send you that information along with trying to remove the soundcard.

Thanks again for all your help!

Onslaught

Do you have a pagefile on c:? If not put one there.

 

[dclive]

I suggest replacing the sound card and seeing if the problem then goes away. That, ATI drivers, and some Intel drivers are the notable 3rd party drivers you have on the box....

 

[DAPUNISHER]

The memtest errors along with having tried multiple sticks of ram lead me to think that you may have a bad board.

 

[dclive]

Agreed. You shouldn't get those errors.

 

[Onslaught34]

That?s what I thought at first. When I first setup that computer I purchased a asus motherboard. A friend had recommended it to me saying it was one of the best ones out. I started having problems (BSODs) but none of them added up to much so I posted some posts on tomshardware.com and I got a reply from someone who worked for Intel. This person said that asus motherboard I was using was known to have problems. So being cautious, I went the safe route and purchased an Intel board for my Intel chip. I was reluctant to conclude it was the mobo because I had some BSODs with the other mobo, just different BSODs. Once I get home I'll start testing each piece of hardware to be sure.
<update>
I updated my bios and tried memtest, i didn't let it run all the way (gonna set it up to do that when I head to bed) but it definately got farther. I got excited and went into windows and started doing the normal rundown of stuff that makes it crash, sure enough, it still did. This time I DID get a dump which I'm sending now.

Thanks again for all your help!

Onslaught

 

[dclive]

SYMBOL_NAME: e10kx2k+dd26
MODULE_NAME: e10kx2k
IMAGE_NAME: e10kx2k.sys
DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP: 3be60f56
STACK_COMMAND: kb
BUCKET_ID: 0xc2_7_PcNw_e10kx2k+dd26
Followup: MachineOwner
__

Let's start with updating your audio drivers. The ones you have on there are ancient. If the issue doesn't go away replace the sound card with another brand and model (say a basic AC97 card), and I suspect the problem will go away.

Module[ 48] [C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\E10KX2K.SYS] (Source Enabled)
Company Name: Creative Technology Ltd
File Description: Creative EMU10Kx Device Driver (WDM)
Product Version: (5.12:1.136)
File Version: (5.12:1.136)
File Size (bytes): 1758336
File Date: Mon Nov 05 08:02:30 2001

 

[Onslaught34]

dclive,

Thanks for looking into the dump file and getting something out of it that can help fix the problem!
I'm glad I didn't go shipping my mobo back without investigating this time. I have my extra soundcard (SoundBlaster Audigy 2). The only reason I kept the Audigy 1 is because the face plate and cable wont attach to the audigy 2 :/ I really like the face plate, it's easier when using headphones and when hooking up through optical to my receiver. I'll try updating the drivers first as suggested.

Thanks again!

Onslaught

 

[dclive]

So....survey says?

Is it resolved? Can you play games with audio now?

 

[Onslaught34]

Well, games have been able to play with audio, its just when ever I'd exit them or sometimes right in the middle of them I'd get that horrible error. Right now after TRYING to crash it, it hasn't. It would appear its been fixed, but I'll be more certain as I do some serious gaming

Thanks for the follow-up and your help!

Onslaught

ps) I'll post back tomorrow if tonight goes without crashing :-D

 

[Onslaught34]

Bad luck
Everything seemed ok, cause it didn't crash as often as it use to. Went to run 3dmark03 and it did during the cpu tests (at which point sound was not played nor was it prior). I did get a new bsod, maybe this has the same info, maybe it has new info. This Bsod didnt have a error, it was all blue. If you could look at it when you get free time it would be fantastic.

Thanks again and hopefully sooner than later I can post a follow up of it being fixed

Onslaught

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Onslaught34
Bad luck
Everything seemed ok, cause it didn't crash as often as it use to. Went to run 3dmark03 and it did during the cpu tests (at which point sound was not played nor was it prior). I did get a new bsod, maybe this has the same info, maybe it has new info. This Bsod didnt have a error, it was all blue. If you could look at it when you get free time it would be fantastic.

Thanks again and hopefully sooner than later I can post a follow up of it being fixed

Onslaught

The earlier dump was this:

8/17/2004 5:07:21 PM 1 102 1003 System Error N/A ONSLAUGHT Error code 000000c2, parameter1 00000007, parameter2 00000cd4, parameter3 024c003d, parameter4 87bde8b0.

8/17/2004 8:18:51 PM 4 0 1001 Save Dump N/A ONSLAUGHT The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x000000c2 (0x00000007, 0x00000cd4, 0x024c004c, 0x87bb9da8). A dump was saved in: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini081704-03.dmp.

This one is an 8E {c0000005, bfb4975f, b9e59a90, 0}, a different issue.

I need your current MPS Reports. Please re-run it and send the cab file. So far it seems to be an issue with the ATI drivers on the machine; are they 4.7, 4.8 or 4.9beta? Can you change those out and see if the problem continues?

 

[Onslaught34]

New cab on the way.
Yes, as suggested by the forum and you, I had updated my drivers for both my soundcard and my graphics.
I did the graphics after seeing the sound update not correcting the bsod. Currently I'm running the CATALYST Windows XP 4.8 driver for the 9500 pro card.

Thanks again!

Onslaught

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Onslaught34
New cab on the way.
Yes, as suggested by the forum and you, I had updated my drivers for both my soundcard and my graphics.
I did the graphics after seeing the sound update not correcting the bsod. Currently I'm running the CATALYST Windows XP 4.8 driver for the 9500 pro card.

Thanks again!

Onslaught

Switch to another Catalyst driver, and re-try that 3D test. You might try 4.9betas just to see what happens. If it still happens with 4.9 drivers, send me the resulting dump file....and the latest MPS Reports.

FYI, the sound update appears to have fixed the first BSOD. Again, this is a completely different BSOD - totally different from the BSOD's you were getting prior to this point. This is an 8E; the ones you got previously, per the old MPS Reports, were C2s.

 

[Onslaught34]

Well thats good news One down, one to go.
I just did a futuremark03 test and it ran through. It's weird how it BSODs when I least expect it, but when I try to test for it, it doesnt bsod :/
Oh well. I'll take your advice and try the 4.9's and see what goes on.

Thank you again!

Onslaught

 

[dclive]

Cool.

Hey, I've missed a lot of mail due to mail problems, so if you sent anything, please resend if you'd really like me to see it.

 

[Onslaught34]

Well,
I still haven't had it crash. I know the problem isnt fixed still. I did put in the 4.9's like you said but its just a matter of time till I do the "right" things to make it crash again. Hopefully more sooner than later. I hate keeping ya waitin :/ As soon as it does I'll email ya.

Thanks again!

Onslaught

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Onslaught34
Well,
I still haven't had it crash. I know the problem isnt fixed still. I did put in the 4.9's like you said but its just a matter of time till I do the "right" things to make it crash again. Hopefully more sooner than later. I hate keeping ya waitin :/ As soon as it does I'll email ya.

Thanks again!

Onslaught

Can you reproduce the seemingly audio-related crashes (that you listed in the first post)?