# The BSoD? Why?



## Wolfenpilot687 (Nov 11, 2008)

Well, I don't think I've been doing something wrong...but sometimes, all of the sudden, my laptop gets the infamous Blue Screen of Death. Sometimes, I can work perfectly without any error. Sometimes, even 5 minutes after turning on the laptop (or 2 hours with it), it locks down without any advice. Here's the STOP code I get.

0x000000F4 (0x00000003 0x8A15C360 0x8A15C4D4 0x805D297C)

Anyone can help me?

P.S.: Has Windows XP. Need any specifications more?


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## Pi (Nov 11, 2008)

Sounds like your RAM might be bad. Download memtest, burn it to a cd, reboot into it and let it run overnight.


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## Wolfenpilot687 (Nov 11, 2008)

Pi said:


> Sounds like your RAM might be bad. Download memtest, burn it to a cd, reboot into it and let it run overnight.



I did that. It said it couldn't finish or something like that.


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## Pi (Nov 11, 2008)

Wolfenpilot687 said:


> I did that. It said it couldn't finish or something like that.



I've never seen it say anything like that. Please tell me exactly what it said, not "something like that".


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## flechmen (Nov 11, 2008)

Download almost any Linux distro and burn it to a disc. Use the memtest on that. 

Other explanation: it's Windows, what do you expect?


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## Xenofur (Nov 12, 2008)

Wolfenpilot687 said:


> Well, I don't think I've been doing something wrong...but sometimes, all of the sudden, my laptop gets the infamous Blue Screen of Death. Sometimes, I can work perfectly without any error. Sometimes, even 5 minutes after turning on the laptop (or 2 hours with it), it locks down without any advice. Here's the STOP code I get.
> 
> 0x000000F4 (0x00000003 0x8A15C360 0x8A15C4D4 0x805D297C)
> 
> ...



http://aumha.org/a/stop.php#0xf4

Take comp, get it to a tech shop, tell them that you're getting the F4 STOP error and maybe give them a paper slip with this url. Ask them to check your event log and such.

Might also be this: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;330100

Oh, and next time you get a stop error, just fucking google it.


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## Wolfenpilot687 (Nov 12, 2008)

Xenofur said:


> http://aumha.org/a/stop.php#0xf4
> 
> Take comp, get it to a tech shop, tell them that you're getting the F4 STOP error and maybe give them a paper slip with this url. Ask them to check your event log and such.
> 
> ...



'K...thanks...I think that's the problem. I'll go fix that.


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## Pi (Nov 12, 2008)

Wolfenpilot687 said:


> 'K...thanks...I think that's the problem. I'll go fix that.



That doesn't describe the symptoms you're having excepting the stop error. The only way you'd get that situation in a laptop is if you changed jumper settings yourself. I'm assuming you didn't do that.


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## Irreverent (Nov 18, 2008)

flechmen said:


> Other explanation: it's Windows, what do you expect?



Please...every OS will fault sooner or later.  Even the big iron ones from Sun and HP.  (And when that fault causes inconsistencies on a half-petabyte SAN attached, with most of an ISP's users personal files on it) you can be looking at a 3-5 day revenue impacting recovery. :evil:

OP, its a laptop?  Remove and re-seat memory, wireless card and pcmcia devices including harddrive, snug or torque all case screws back to spec.  Some times a good knock will jar something out of spec, thermal expansion can be a culprit.

If its doing it regularly, its neither of the above.


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## mrredfox (Nov 18, 2008)

sounds like invalid memory


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## Eevee (Nov 18, 2008)

Irreverent said:


> Please...every OS will fault sooner or later.


Not that I think the GP was very helpful either, but this is a silly thing to say.  "Everything breaks eventually" doesn't mean that some things don't break much faster than others and are thus far less reliable.


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## Skittle (Nov 18, 2008)

Can you give us more than that? Normally there is more than just the string of numbers and letters like that can you get the EXACT wording on the screen?


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## Runefox (Nov 18, 2008)

While you guys bicker back and forth, plugging the error ID (which is the meat of the error, by the way) into Microsoft's KB gives me the same article that Xenofur got, which describes the issue as a problem with the IDE master/slave setting on the drive, or a problem with the motherboard or hard drive. If this particular error ID is what you get every time, then it's very likely that this is the case.

You should turn off your laptop, and then remove the hard drive. Make sure there are no plastic jumpers installed on it (laptop drives seldom require them), and then put the hard drive back. Turn it back on, and try again. It also may have something to do with standby mode, or it may be the direct result of heat. Whatever the case, you should do the following to take a look at the error more closely:

Open the start menu, then go to Run. Type "eventvwr.msc" and hit enter. A new window will appear; Choose the "System" log, and you should see numerous entries... Sort by the column that holds entries like "Information" or "Error" and see the kinds of "Error" entries that come up around the times when Windows bluescreens.


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## Pi (Nov 18, 2008)

Runefox said:


> While you guys bicker back and forth, plugging the error ID (which is the meat of the error, by the way) into Microsoft's KB gives me the same article that Xenofur got, which describes the issue as a problem with the IDE master/slave setting on the drive, or a problem with the motherboard or hard drive. If this particular error ID is what you get every time, then it's very likely that this is the case.



And assuming he's not bullshitting about the timing, you'd realize that the MSDN article _doesn't apply_. His system does not, and I quote, "*stop(s) responding during resume from standby*".

A 0x000000F4 STOP error indicates that a critical OS thread terminated. This is not consistent with the symptoms described in the MSDN article.

It is therefore likely that
a) you are wrong.
b) his memory is broken.

Additionally, for the IDE problem you and Xeno linked to be an issue at all, he'd have to have opened his laptop and changed his hard drive to be a Slave. Not likely.


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## lilEmber (Nov 18, 2008)

I have to agree the most possible issue is the memory, but runefox may also be correct. Unless the OP replies with it not working you have no right to say he's wrong.


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## Pi (Nov 18, 2008)

NewfDraggie said:


> I have to agree the most possible issue is the memory, but runefox may also be correct. Unless the OP replies with it not working you have no right to say he's wrong.



Actually, unless the OP opened up his laptop and dicked with the Slave setting, in which case he would (with 99.99% certainty) know how to fix his own shit, I have every right to say that Runefox is wrong. (again, with 99.99% certainty). There's always that 0.01%, though.


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## Runefox (Nov 18, 2008)

Thanks for ignoring that I was accepting the possibility of the hard drive being bad and suggesting the use of Event Viewer to further diagnose the issue. I also appreciate ignoring the fact that I used the words "if this particular error ID is what you get every time" in relation to that possible cause. Timing or not and standby or not, it sounds like a hard drive related issue, and sometimes things correlate just enough to be applicable in multiple situations. As a troubleshooting step, I recommended pulling the drive, _checking it to be sure_, and reseating the drive. That's not at all unorthodox, even if it's wrong. I'm ruling out a possibility, since there's no way I or anyone can 100% tell for sure what it is that's wrong here.

So yeah, I await the Event Viewer info. IF, perchance, you'd like to test your memory to be sure that's the cause, you can, as Pi suggested, try downloading (again) Memtest86+ (that's the actual site, in case you got it somewhere else last time), burn it to a CD, and boot from it. It will automatically scan your memory, and if anything shows up in red on the lower half of the screen within the first two passes or so, you'll know right there that it's bad memory.

Corrupt Windows files would be the best case scenario (and least likely in this case). Bad memory slightly worse. Bad hard drive the next worst. Worst case would be a dying motherboard (laptop toast), which would be unlikely. Either way, neither of us knows enough about the issue right now to come up with a conclusion like "It is likely that you are wrong", and I'm not calling you wrong, either (actually, I'm agreeing with you, I just find it silly how there's already snarky bickering going on in this thread, though you're surprisingly not the culprit).

That said, everyone so far has come up with possible causes and solutions to this problem - Further troubleshooting and research is necessary.


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## Pi (Nov 18, 2008)

Runefox said:


> Timing or not and standby or not, it sounds like a hard drive related issue



Sure, let's ignore the content of the MSDN article you linked!

Tool.


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## Irreverent (Nov 20, 2008)

Eevee said:


> Not that I think the GP was very helpful either, but this is a silly thing to say.  "Everything breaks eventually" doesn't mean that some things don't break much faster than others and are thus far less reliable.



Agreed, but in context, his asertation was, "its windows, ipso facto, it will break/is unreliable."  Windows XP/Vista is no more or less reliable than any other OS out there.  To  be fair, those with a sample size of Vista/XP on one home built machine may have a hard time accepting this.


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## Eevee (Nov 20, 2008)

Irreverent said:


> Windows XP/Vista is no more or less reliable than any other OS out there.


And what on Earth led you to this conclusion?  Even amongst the Windows family, are you saying Vista is *exactly* as reliable as ME, 2000, and Server 2008?


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## yak (Nov 20, 2008)

I'm going to suggest a more general approach; try reinstalling the motherboard drivers. 

And check that your laptop does not get overheated by any chance.


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## Irreverent (Nov 21, 2008)

Eevee said:


> And what on Earth led you to this conclusion?



40,000+ windows XP/Vista devices across 10 provinces, not including servers....Really, BSOD's are not statistically significant at the helpdesk level.  And that's just on the internal Corporate network.


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## Eevee (Nov 21, 2008)

How does getting helpdesk calls for some XP/Vista machines let you compare to every other operating system?  And since when is reliability measured only by kernel panics?


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## Irreverent (Nov 22, 2008)

Arg....the site went down just as I posted this morning.  My opus, lost.... 

Redatcated: Seriously, the premise was that XP/Vista BSOD because they are unreliable.  I have emperial evidence, with a large enough sample size to be statistically significant, that XP/Vista is reliable.

What other, non performance related metric would you propose?  Five 9's might apply to networks, and to a lessor extent, to servers....but to desktops?


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## Eevee (Nov 23, 2008)

My issue was that you are comparing XP/Vista to every other OS by looking only at XP/Vista.  That's very different from just saying they're reliable.


Not that I think "I didn't get many BSOD calls" is a very good metric in the first place, given that the default for XP/Vista is to simply reboot and most people don't bother asking for help unless something is actually preventing them from getting work done.


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## Wolfenpilot687 (Nov 30, 2008)

Hmm...still with the problem. I dunno, but can this be caused by heating?


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## jagdwolf (Nov 30, 2008)

May I ask a few questions?

What are you doing when this happens?
When did this start happening?
Did you install any programs or upgrade any drivers?

Please give me some details as to when this started, and what you were doing and what programs it happens in.  It does sound like a memory issue, but that does not mean it is realated to bad memory.  

sorry don't mean to be vague, but I would like some more info before I start saying do this or do that.


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## yak (Dec 1, 2008)

Wolfenpilot687 said:


> Hmm...still with the problem. I dunno, but can this be caused by heating?



You are saying you still have the problem, but you are not telling of the steps that you did to try and resolve it, which were suggested on this thread.
People are not mind readers.


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## Wolfenpilot687 (Dec 1, 2008)

jagdwolf said:


> May I ask a few questions?
> 
> What are you doing when this happens?
> When did this start happening?
> ...


1-This is very random. I can do different things and still.
2-About a month ago.
3-Ok, this may be important. It HAD Vista, but somehow, a guy installed XP on it (did it becuse Vista = $$$)

Anything more?


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## yak (Dec 2, 2008)

....
I'm done here.


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## Kesteh (Dec 2, 2008)

Your laptop came with vista, and someone downgraded it for you. Legal or not, we don't know.
Chances are if your laptop came with the OS, you should keep it at that. Laptops aren't meant to be changed out like desktops.

What people need to know is every single change you have ever done to the computer. 
Some overclocking programs, 
you opened up the laptop to add/remove parts, 
installing a dramatic third party conversion (Vista transformation as an example), 
what programs you normally run, 
did the laptop ever feel HOT when you have it on your lap...

moar moar moar.



> http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/e..._1a708a96-14bf-41c7-8881-cec536b95c57.xml.asp
> *One of the many processes or threads crucial to system operation has unexpectedly exited or been terminated. As a result, the system can no longer function. Specific causes are many, and often best resolved by a careful history of the problem and the circumstances of the error message. One user, who experienced this on return from Standby mode on Win XP SP2, found the cause was that Windows was installed on a slave drive; compare  KB 330100
> *


*
*


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## jagdwolf (Dec 2, 2008)

With the knowledge that you had a different OS than what was put on the machine, and that it happens at random times, I would not look to a hardware issues but a software issue.  More than likely I would say it is with your vidoe driver, having been set for vista now its having to deal with XP.

I don't truely know how to go from here that your gonna like.  Imho, I would say 

save all the files you want and need
get out the cd that came with the machine
flush the toilet
clean the toilet 
reinstall vista

or take it to where you bought it and let them do it.  Sorry I know thats not what you wanted to hear.

good luck


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## Wolfenpilot687 (Dec 2, 2008)

Kesteh said:


> Your laptop came with vista, and someone downgraded it for you. Legal or not, we don't know.
> Chances are if your laptop came with the OS, you should keep it at that. Laptops aren't meant to be changed out like desktops.
> 
> What people need to know is every single change you have ever done to the computer.
> ...


Yes. It has a Vista look pack.
Yes. It's hot sometimes.
I'm totally bitching up my dad for this. He's getting it.
I'M NOT GUILTY OF THIS!


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## Kesteh (Dec 8, 2008)

Vista transformation pack is what I am assuming. YES THAT DOES REPLACE CORE FILES. Though the EULA says use at your own risk as something crucial could get botched.


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## TheQuestion (Dec 8, 2008)

Wolfenpilot687 said:


> Well, I don't think I've been doing something wrong...but sometimes, all of the sudden, my laptop gets the infamous Blue Screen of Death. Sometimes, I can work perfectly without any error. Sometimes, even 5 minutes after turning on the laptop (or 2 hours with it), it locks down without any advice. Here's the STOP code I get.
> 
> 0x000000F4 (0x00000003 0x8A15C360 0x8A15C4D4 0x805D297C)
> 
> ...



my opinion: you software is having a hard time allocating its information within the memory and since you say it does it randomly I do not think the physical memory is the problem.

Two words: System Recovery (depending on the laptop and how old it is the recover is ether on a disk or on a separate partition)


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