Another question for computer geeks...

[ubiqe]

My comp went on strike today. :evil:
Here's the story:
I turn it on, wait for the login box to appear (win2k), type in the pass, everything seems fine up till this moment. It turns to the familiar: "Loading personal settings..." and then goes BOOM. Blue screen, some numbers, something about drv not equal ( :?: ) and a nice comment that it starts something with physical memory. So I restart it and run in the safe mode - everything's fine. I have uninstalled zone alarm - which was the only program I installed recently but it didn't help (I hadn't had much hope that it would change anything...) I have Norton Antivirus updated and all and running all the time (full system scan every week) but I scanned the comp one more time in the safe mode. Nothing (thank god). Any ideas what I should do next? :unsure:

[Kamal]

Classic windows driver fail error, either a windows automatic update screwed something up or a recent hardware + incorrect driver install is ruining your system boot up. Unless you're a programmer and know specifically whats doing it, just boot into safe mode, copy all your precious data onto a partition other than the OS partition and do a clean install, it's gonna be a real nightmare to get past this error without a lot of headaches.

-e-

[ubiqe]

I just read on some forum that it might be one of the memory sticks going KAPUTT. It could be the reason, cause I've been getting the message 'not enough virtual memory' quite often lately... Esp. when burning cds. I did not install any hardware for months and the last win update I did was a week ago, and everything worked fine till today. I guess I'll run some memo test... But you're right that whatever it is it's gonna be a headache. :? And probably -$$$ too.

[ubiqe]

Thankfully my laptop is working fine, so I can still log on to [ms] 8)

[Kamal]

I just read on some forum that it might be one of the memory sticks going KAPUTT. It could be the reason, cause I've been getting the message 'not enough virtual memory' quite often lately... Esp. when burning cds. I did not install any hardware for months and the last win update I did was a week ago, and everything worked fine till today. I guess I'll run some memo test... But you're right that whatever it is it's gonna be a headache. :? And probably -$$$ too.

Unless you bought memory from Acme Inc. I find it hard to believe that the memory stick blew on you.... there's a reason why memory has a lifetime warranty on it because of the way its built. I'm pretty certain its a driver conflict, I had the EXACT same problem on my machine because of a fucked up driver on win 2003.

$$$ should not be, not if you just do a clean install and save yourself the hassles.

if you really wanna get technical and try to fix it, take a picture (if you have a digital camera) of the blue screen with errors, upload it and see what driver is failing, then just do an update on the drivers on that device and see if it gets you past the problem.


-e-

[asdf_admin]

in safe mode ... try going to

1. control panel.
2. ddministrative tools.
3. event manager.
4. click on both application and event.

see what's going on there ... could help you out.

[Civic_Zen]

If you write down the exact error, ie. 0x000000000, that whole string of numbers. As well as the initial error which is at the top of the blue screen. ie PAGE_ERROR_NOT_FOUND blah blah, just exactly the way it appears, you can post it here and I'll look it up for you, or you can just google it yourself and look on the Microsoft site for all the info you need.

Encryption may be right that its just a driver error, but he is not quite right in that it may be the RAM. RAM sticks do go bad, and depending on who made your computer, its actually quite common place. Although most DVL error's aren't caused by a page fault, or a read error which are the most common memory related error strings.

[Dhar_2]

it shit when the damn things break. :evil:

hard luck, hope u get it sorted.

p.s. a good hint to back up your music, i learnt the hard way. :cry:

[ubiqe]

If you write down the exact error, ie. 0x000000000, that whole string of numbers. As well as the initial error which is at the top of the blue screen. ie PAGE_ERROR_NOT_FOUND blah blah, just exactly the way it appears, you can post it here and I'll look it up for you, or you can just google it yourself and look on the Microsoft site for all the info you need.

Encryption may be right that its just a driver error, but he is not quite right in that it may be the RAM. RAM sticks do go bad, and depending on who made your computer, its actually quite common place. Although most DVL error's aren't caused by a page fault, or a read error which are the most common memory related error strings.

I did google it... It was almost the first thing I did. :wink:

And what I got is that it mostly affects XP and especialy while playing online games. :unsure:

This is what microsoft says about it:

Stop 0x000000D1 or DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
The Stop 0xD1 message indicates that the system attempted to access pageable memory using a kernel process IRQL that was too high. Drivers that have used improper addresses typically cause this error.

Interpreting the Message
This Stop message has four parameters:

Memory referenced.
IRQL at time of reference.
Type of access (0x00000000 = read operation, 0x00000001 = write operation).
Address that referenced memory.
Resolving the Problem
For additional troubleshooting suggestions that apply to all Stop errors, see "Stop Message Checklist" later in this appendix.

Stop 0xD1 messages can occur after installing faulty drivers or system services. If a driver is listed by name, disable, remove, or roll back that driver to confirm that this resolves the error. If so, contact the manufacturer about a possible update. Using updated software is especially important for backup programs, multimedia applications, antivirus scanners, DVD playback, and CD mastering tools.
For more information about Stop 0xD1 messages, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base link on the Web Resources page at [Only registered and activated users can see links] Search using keywords winnt, 0x000000D1, and 0xD1.


There is a nice long thread at some XP message board:

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

and the solutions (rather than explanations) range from checking the drivers up to changing the cooling fan :Wacko: But checking RAM worked in couple of cases. In some it was removing software (namely Norton Antivirus and Zone Alarm) but this seems pretty weird.

I've checked teh task manager and there's nothing extremely strange going on there. But, as I mentioned I had problems with memory - namely this weird message that the system has not got enough virtual memory and is gonna increase the paged memory. It first happened when I EXTENSIVELY used photoshop, which seems quite reasonable, and a couple of times when I run simulations and need a complicated graph - no suprise here either. But for some time now I receive this message each time I try to burn a cd, which doesn't seem normal. :unsure:

Anyway, here's the complete error page I get (It doesn't mention any particular drivers):


***STOP: 0x000000D1 (0x00000000,0x00000002,0x00000000,0x00000000)

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Rozpoczynanie zrzucania fizycznej pamieci


The last sentence means something like: "beginning of throwing down of the physical memory" - if it makes any sense :Wacko: (and it doesn't sound gramatical in Polish either :lol: )

[ubiqe]

A little update - i did the memory test and it turned out everything's fine there. The next thing are the drivers - there's this program in every win called 'driver verifier' but I can't get it to work... Anybody tried it out?...

In this article here:

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

it says in the driver status there should be some info on drivers you set to verify. And I don't get anything there. :x Help?...

Edit: A little optimistic note for all you NAV users - I tried to uninstall nav, because in the microsoft error description there was something about antivirus scanners being possible cause of the error I get and I've read about a couple of cases where it was indeed NAV that was the problem. And guess what? You CAN'T uninstall NAV in the safe mode. Funny, eh? If it is what's screwing my system, then I'm doomed. There's no way to uninstall it manualy cause it's probably rooted somwhere deep in the system...

[LoUiS]

Ok man.My opinion is:Open your pc.Before get into windows click the delete buttom so that you get into computer settings.Go to boot menu and set first your cd rom,then your hard disc and then the floppy.Open your cd-rom and put the windows cd and then restart the pc.After the restart your computer is gonna show you a message ''press any key to boot from cd''.Press a key!The computer is gonna boot from cd and it'll shows you informations how to install a fresh copy of windows or just update(you must put to update windows).Just follow the instructions.Make sure you have the registration key written down for your windows because it's gonna ask you by the time of the update installation to put it and continue the update.I think that it'll fix your problem.

[ubiqe]

Well, I KNOW that is gonna fix my problem for sure. But I'm still trying out the less invasive solutions... :wink: Up till this moment I belived that win2k is untouchable, but my faith is slowly vanishing... If it reaches some critical threshold, I will simply reinstall the system.

[Kamal]

Well, I KNOW that is gonna fix my problem for sure. But I'm still trying out the less invasive solutions... :wink: Up till this moment I belived that win2k is untouchable, but my faith is slowly vanishing... If it reaches some critical threshold, I will simply reinstall the system.

time = money


the amount of time you spent trying to figure out the root of the problem, you could have merely done a system re-install in 45 minutes and this thread wouldn't have been here. Not that I'm bashing the thread, its good to ask questions to get answers.

But if you're not working on your client's computer that absolutely cannot be re-installed or if you only have one drive with no partitions and you cant affort to lose the data, then such a situation is understandable.

The WORST part about Microsoft errors is that you will spend half an eternity finding the solution to the problem, and almost NEVER will it repeat itself, so you'll spend another half of eternity figuring out any newer problems you might encounter.

I say just do a re-install and move onto the next happy phase in life.

-e-

[ubiqe]

Yeah, I guess it's just psychological... :wink::lol: When you get errors after you've done something then you're quick to take even drastic measures, but when something happens just like that - that is you turn your comp off in the evening and you then turn it on again in the morning and it's just there - you're likely to search for the exact reason, just to prove to yourself that: a. you're a clever guy/gal, b. things like that CAN'T happen without reason. :lol: After ages spent on the problem you come to the conclusion that: a. it is microsoft, and therfore b. any previous assesments like the one in the prevoius point b. don't apply.

[Morgan]

A little advice.

Partion your hard drive, run your OS on C: and all data on D: Then ghost your C drive. If you ever have any other probs 10 mins and your back to normality.

[thepariah]

A little advice.

Partion your hard drive, run your OS on C: and all data on D: Then ghost your C drive. If you ever have any other probs 10 mins and your back to normality.

this only works of the physical drive itself doesn't crap out. when that happens it's like a Finger of God tornado having a little stomping party in your computer. It's all gone like it never was. :wink:

Also for ubiqe:
Memory problems 98% of the time are random errors. They are for the most part not always while doing the same thing. Like you'll be browsing the internet and then bam.. blue screen.. and then next time you're writing a paper or something and then bam... and usually the longer you have your computer on the faster the crashes seem to come (cause the heat build up makes the problem worse usually)

[ubiqe]

Yeah, now I know it's not the memory, but I'm still too lazy to reinstall the system. Unfortunatelly it involves making a back up of at least part of the data, and it's always like cleaning a closet you haven't opened for years. Lots of rubbish and a few valuable files that need to be saved.

[Localizer]

Can't you just get a new hd, load up the os on that new one, than transfer your stuff to the new hd when it's loaded? I'm gonna do that, in hopes that my current hd doesn't crash on me. Or get an external hd, and just transfer all your stuff to that, then when you're system is back up, transfer the info back and take the external hd back for a refund.