VARIOUS BLUE SCREENS OF DEATH

[mber467]

:disgust:All of a sudden I've started getting the BSOD. The reason was different many of the times. I have gotten IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL for ntoskrnl.exe, n4_mini.sys, and hal.dll. My PC might run for days without a problem, then the BSOD's hit, and I can hardly get it to run at all. I switched my primary HDD to my old one that has W2K like the first one. Boom, I got the ntoskrnl.exe BSOD. I rebooted, and things were stable until I tried to upgrade W2K to SP4. During the install, I got a BAD_POOL_HEADER BSOD. It didn't point to anything. I'm beginning to think I have a hardware problem, but what is it? RAM, MOBO, HDD, video card? Any ideas?

 

[MrChad]

A couple of questions/suggestions.

1. Can you boot into safe mode?
2. What are your system specs?
3. Try updating your video card drivers. n4_mini.sys is an nVidia display driver, I believe.

 

[mber467]

Yes, I can boot into safe mode. Right now, my PC is working fine. It's crazy!!!
I built my own PC. It's a Soyo KT333 Dragon Lite, Hercules Prophet GeForce 2 MX, onboard sound, Lite-on DVD burner, Lite-On CD burner, 256mb Mushkin RAM, Athlon XP 2000+.
I tried updating my video driver on the original HDD, but the BSOD kept me from being successful. Also, the BSOD doesn't seem to always be caused by the n4_mini.sys. I've seen different reasons like the ntoskrnl.exe and hal.dll at different times.

 

[GiantPandaMan]

Add any new hardware lately? If you did I suggest updating your motherboard drivers and maybe your BIOS. Once, after adding a LiteON DVD Recorder my computer wouldn't even boot. The DVD drivers simply crashed my computer. Did a motherboard driver update and everything was cleared up instantly.

 

[mber467]

Actually, nothing has changed for a while. The DVD burner has been in for a couple of months with no problem. The PC is about 2 years old, and all the BSOD's have just started to happen.

 

[mber467]

GiantPandaMan, out of curiosity, what did you mean about motherboard driver update? Were you talking about the chipset?

 

[mechBgon]

Check your motherboard for bulging and/or leaking capacitors. You might want to try Memtest86, which makes a bootable floppy that runs the memory tests without involving Windows. That can help to determine if it's purely a hardware issue.

You can also download HDD diagnostic utilities that will run from floppy, click the first link in my signature and go down quite a ways and I've got links to as many as I could find for different brands of HDDs.

Other questions:

• Got antivirus software?
• Got a hardware firewall and/or software firewall?
• What brand and model is your power supply? Be precise, like "Antec PP-303XP" and not "a 300W one."
• Do you have another system you could use to test parts with (such as the power supply & memory modules)?

It could be the motherboard is planning to fail, too... I had some weird issues with my old K7S5A that seemed like HDD problems but then one morning I woke up and the motherboard had gone to The Great ATX Case In The Sky at last

 

[mber467]

Thanks, mechBgon. The mobo looks fine, and it's only about 2 years old, so I hope it's not that. The PC has been running fine since yesterday. Go figure!
I looked at running Memtest86, but I couldn't find any doco on how to do it.
I'm running Norton AV and Norton Systemworks. I had Systemworks scheduled to run once a week and fix any problems it found. As I remember, things started going wacky the next day after a Systemworks fix. I've disabled it for the time being.
I also run ZAPro ver. 5.0 and I have a router - part of a home network I'm running.
The power supply is a Power Man FSP300-60GT. I'm considering replacing it with an Antec SmartPower SL350 or SL400. I haven't decided which. I'm also considering swapping my Mushkin DIMM for a Crucial DIMM. I don't know why I suspect these two components - it's a gut feeling.

I don't have another systerm or RAM to test with.

And Amen to your "love one another".

 

[Lower]

I'm still battling similar troubles, and while I can't offer any tech support at this point, I can offer moral support. I know what this is like!
I have new RAM on the way (should be here tomorrow or Friday), and form there I guess I'll go with a new PS -although my trouble might be my CPU. Heck I just don't know.

Anyway, if you figure out what solves your trouble, be sure to post back, so we can all learn from your troubles!

 

[mber467]

Well, my system has been stable for a couple of weeks, so I think I fixed the problem. It seems it was the driver for my NIC card. In frustration, I yanked out all my 'unnecessary' cable from the back of the PC. Then, I started plugging them in one at a time. It crashed when I plugged in the ethernet cable. I re-installed the latest driver, and things have been working fine since. Hallelujah!