Blue Screen of Death!

Q

Quercus

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Calling Oatman!
This is a rather long story, so I apologise beforehand, but if anyone can help/advise I'd be very grateful, as I'm at my wits end with this.
I used to run a desktop PC which was a generic build using an AMD athlon with 512MB ram. I had continual blue screen issues with this m/c and was convinced it was the result of buying a locally built pc.
In December last year I got a Toshiba P30 17inch widescreen with a Pentium 4, 3.2Ghz (HT) processor, with 512MB RAM, running XP Pro.
When trading I will have running the following software:
Marketmaker
QCharts
TWS (with various book traders and charts)
Usually at least two Explorer windows
Other utilities and the usual anti virus and spyware packages
Hotcomm on occasion
Sometimes MSN and/or skype

The m/c ran fine and dandy for about three months, then it started blue screening, initially rarely, then more frequently.

It now does it at least once a day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It will even do it within five minutes of a full defrag and disc clean. I have run pcpitstop and it comes back fine, I have run various bug utilities and they've identified a number of issues, the worst being in the registry I believe. My question is this - do these bug cleaning packages work? Are there any geniunely free ones (shareware)? Am I better just rebuilding the m/c with XP every now and then? Will a repair install work? Should I use the Toshiba supplied recovery disc or the XP Pro one which was also supplied?

For various reasons (not using it for a long time) I am convinced this is down to marketmaker, or perhaps what marketmaker also uses (java). I have spoken to CMC and "surprise surprise" they have no knowledge of anyone else having similar problems. I don't believe that I am running an unusual mix of software and am confused as to why this is happening. Does anyone else have similar issues? If so did you find a solution?

Many Thanks
Quercus
 
Q,
if seems you have a software issue, can you recall installing any new software recently ?
are you on Ms auto upates ?, you may never find whats causing this and may have to reinstall XP
not all software is compatable with XP, I suspect you may have a driver signing problem, i.e. installed a piece of software that XP doesnt like !
 
Cheers wheezergeezer, I too think it's software. I install stuff every now and then, in the last six months I've loaded realplayer, and updates to skype msn etc. Yes I do update the windows stuff regularly but not on automatic. Again, I really don't think I have anything "unusual" on this machine!
The common error message is page_error_in_nonpaged_area and a 0x00000050 error code, but this is not the only one. Yesterday for example I didn't get the page error message, just the code 0x00000008E. In the event log the real errors seem to be under the application section and the number seems to be always: Category (50) Event 4609
Cheers
Q
 
Q,
Have you tried contacting Microsoft via the Start /help & support , I'm assuming your XP is a bona fida copy, otherwise they wont help? how do you feel about reinstalling ?
 
Genuine copy, but will they really help??????
Happy to re-install, just waiting for the means to back-up 35GB of data! :eek: I have a second partition on the hard drive as a back-up, and last time I re-installed or repaired not sure which (although it must have been with the Toshy disc as the XP one is still sealed!), the second partition was left alone but I still want the peace of mind of a separate copy. ;)
Q
 
Quercus said:
Cheers wheezergeezer, I too think it's software. I install stuff every now and then, in the last six months I've loaded realplayer, and updates to skype msn etc. Yes I do update the windows stuff regularly but not on automatic. Again, I really don't think I have anything "unusual" on this machine!
The common error message is page_error_in_nonpaged_area and a 0x00000050 error code, but this is not the only one. Yesterday for example I didn't get the page error message, just the code 0x00000008E. In the event log the real errors seem to be under the application section and the number seems to be always: Category (50) Event 4609
Cheers
Q
Click to expand...


For what it is worth, I run two machines networked. One machine is solely for trading and the other for e mail, net etc. I am no computor guy but experience has shown me that the less you have on a machine, the better it runs.
Also, I always create a restore point before I fiddle around adding or updating programmes.
 
Q, sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings but that stop error could mean that almost anything is at fault, and tracking down the defect will take some time - http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...0/server/reskit/en-us/prork/prhd_exe_duol.asp

From the way your symptoms have crept in gradually I would suspect it's a hardware fault. I've had the same problem before, and after replacing almost everything in the PC (a costly exercise!!) I narrowed it down to a faulty seat for the memory on the motherboard. A new motherboard fixed my particular problem, but yours could be the memory itself, the power supply, literally anything.

If you're handy under the hood of a PC and have a mate with spare parts, try swapping components over one at a time, starting with the memory.

Quick warning though, if it is the motherboard you'll need to reinstall everything anyway if you get a different make/model, so make sure you back everything up (as you probably are anyway....)

Shano
 
Cheers Commanderco,
I will do the same when I return to NZ, until then I'm mobile as it were, so stuck with the laptop. Had to leave the second screen at home too! :cry:
Interesting you mention restore points as this inventive machine of mine wiped all these a few weeks ago! :angry: Again I have no idea why, but it has caused me severe concern. I, like yourself, always try to do the restore point thing as a matter of course. I had a great restore point which took me back to a great place, but this was taken away from me. I don't think this was due to time lapse, as when I went to restore, there weren't ANY - not even the system generated ones!
LOL
Cheers
Q
 
Cheers Shano, I am doubtful if I'll fix this too. What interests me is that this is the exact same problem I had with the other m/c, so I'm tempted to blame software not anything tangible! ;)
I'm leaning towards the re-install frequently option once I get my hands on a mini external drive, which I hope to get in Canada in January.
Thanks Weezergeezer, I'll check out the boys at pcguide too.
Q
 
Quercus said:
Cheers Commanderco,
I will do the same when I return to NZ, until then I'm mobile as it were, so stuck with the laptop. Had to leave the second screen at home too! :cry:
Interesting you mention restore points as this inventive machine of mine wiped all these a few weeks ago! :angry: Again I have no idea why, but it has caused me severe concern. I, like yourself, always try to do the restore point thing as a matter of course. I had a great restore point which took me back to a great place, but this was taken away from me. I don't think this was due to time lapse, as when I went to restore, there weren't ANY - not even the system generated ones!
LOL
Cheers
Q
Click to expand...

I know the feeling.
When I am travelling I use web based mail and anything else is run through the hotel machine or internet cafe etc. Because I am so dumb ( intentionally) about computors I protect my laptop like a pitbull.
I have given thought to switching to linux on a spare machine to see if it is any better.
Anyway that is what I have threatened my XP system with if it misbehaves and like a predictable teenager it has been running perfectly ever since.
 
Hi,

I had a major BSOD issue with an up to date PC. I eventually bought a new one and thought I'd give this one to the kids to play with. I then mentioned problem to my tech guy who said that some motherboards have problems with 'swollen capicitors' or something like that. We opened it up and had a look. It was obvious that the caps were swollen and not functioning properly. It cost $5 to replace them and now it works perfectly.

Might be worth a try as my BSOD issues started like yours and then got worse and worse. I did all the anti virus, reinstalls etc but was a hardware issue. It might even be under warranty if a new pc.

Hope it helps.

AT
 
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