Blue Screen of Death :(

klong

Just this week, when logging on to my laptop, the following message appears:

STOP: 0x0000008E (0xC00000005, 0x F852b15F,0xF7055AD8, 0x00000000)

NDIS.sys- Address F852B15F base at F852A000, Datestamp 3f7e7ca0

Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete



It's a Windows XP system on a Dell Inspiron 1150. Now it doesn't appear all the time, just 3 times out of 4 log-on attempts.

What is it, what causes it, and how can I fix it?

Cheers and thanks for your time

Laguna

Sounds like a RAM issue, look at the link..

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q315335

philologos

the blue screen of death can also appear when the registry is screwed up

theexis

NDIS is part of the networking sub-system. Have you installed anything recently that would interact with the network (e.g. virus scanner that supports monitoring inbound/outbound requests, a firewall, a new network card etc)

klong

I installed McAfee VirusScan 8.0.0 about 10 days ago; it was roughly a week after the installation that the trouble began.
I have had a wireless network card installed since the middle of September with no hassle.

theexis

First off I'd suggest booting up in Safe mode with no networking (hold down F8 during startup and select the appropriate safe mode option when asked). Then, disable McAfree and reboot to normal mode to see if things stabilize. When you say you had a network card "installed" are you talking about a PCMCIA card that plugs in or did you get an internal upgrade? If its external, again try booting up without the card plugged in just to see if things are stable.

klong

Yes, a PCMCIA card which plugs in

Capt'n Midnight

guessing here - I take it you are patched up to date and have checked for malware because network/internet kinda go together.

was the card in the laptop when XP was installed ?

Remove card.
uninstall network card - if not using anyother pcmcia cards remove pcmcia controller,
reboot to find the pcmcia controller
reboot
pop in card - try default windows drivers, then latest manufacturers ones.
xilinx and 3com cards can be a pain trying to match card and driver since so many similar but different models.

layke

klong wrote:

I installed McAfee VirusScan 8.0.0 about 10 days ago; it was roughly a week after the installation that the trouble began.
I have had a wireless network card installed since the middle of September with no hassle.

...this is a known issue.

There are two patches avaiable for 8.0i, one for Server 2003 and one for XP.

Contact McAfee or use your grant number to login and download the patch.

philologos

AVG does the job grand for me. Not a single virus or spyware yet PC works like a charm all you really need to do is have virus firewall spyware checker and windows fully updated

chrislad

Try CHKDSK.

Boot to the Command Prompt via the Windows XP install disk. Type CHKDSK and that should fix any hard drive problems.

klong

layke wrote:

...this is a known issue.

There are two patches avaiable for 8.0i, one for Server 2003 and one for XP.

Contact McAfee or use your grant number to login and download the patch.

Ive looked at the McAfee website and I can't find mention of the patch you mention.

IT in college put 8.0i onto my laptop- I suppose I'd have to get the grant number you mention from them?

theexis wrote:

First off I'd suggest booting up in Safe mode with no networking (hold down F8 during startup and select the appropriate safe mode option when asked). Then, disable McAfree and reboot to normal mode to see if things stabilize. When you say you had a network card "installed" are you talking about a PCMCIA card that plugs in or did you get an internal upgrade? If its external, again try booting up without the card plugged in just to see if things are stable.

Your solution appears to be working, thanks.

Just need to get McAfee up and running again.

SixShot

your problem there is The Dell biggist Pice of **** Ever Created