System Recovered From a Serious Error

IIRC (and I might not be!), I recall a series of issues, including conflicting AV programs AND OP's graphics driver.

Excellent advice to back up data first, by the way.

So you didn't see anything unusual in the logs, or something we could work on? I know my machine is getting old ..

What I am saying is this. There is no need whatsoever to go on a fishing expedition for an issue that may not exist. BSODs can and do sometimes happen even when nothing is really wrong with the computer in question. BSODs should, for the most part, be ignored UNLESS they become frequent.

Also, while the dump file states the error was a result of Memory Management, most often this error is not the ram. It is most often a fluke between the installed ram and pagefile. That is not always the case though.

This issue, the BSOD, is in no way related to the BSODs you were getting in your previous thread. Those were caused by conflicting security software drivers.

Finally, if you are dead set on trying to locate and resolve the issue then by all means do so. However, it is my opinion it would be a waste of time unless the errors began to occur more often. Moreover, you can end up causing more issues than you originally had. As stated, a perfectly good running computer can crash with a BSOD out of nowhere and never happen a second or subsequent time.

If it were my computer, I would be backing up all my personal data then run check disk as suggested by Dave. While not always the case, an autocheck is often a good indication of a failing hard drive. We do often, and erroneously, give instructions to run check disk and we do not warn against not backing up personal data. I, for one, am attempting to break that habit as running check disk can and often does result in lost personal data.

From the crash dump, is says this might somehow be involved:

PROCESS_NAME:  wmpnetwk.exe

Can you tell me where you are seeing the above? I use WhoCrashed and BlueScreenView and neither of them indicated anything about Windows Media Player. Am I missing something?

WhoCrashed

On Thu 2/7/2013 2:50:07 PM GMT your computer crashed

crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini020713-01.dmp

This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x5C8BE)

Bugcheck code: 0x1A (0x4128B, 0x6D1201, 0xFFFFFFFF80000818, 0xFFFFFFFFC0503000)

Error: MEMORY_MANAGEMENT

file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe

product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System

company: Microsoft Corporation

description: NT Kernel & System

Bug check description: This indicates that a severe memory management error occurred.

This might be a case of memory corruption. More often memory corruption happens because of software errors in buggy drivers, not because of faulty RAM modules.

The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.

From the crash dump, is says this might somehow be involved:

PROCESS_NAME:  wmpnetwk.exe

That belongs to Windows Media Player and that may not be the cause, but send a few more recent crash dumps (5 or so) and we can look for a pattern.

You can also check to see if you WMP is up to date.  I am not a WMP user especially, but my version is  11.0.5721.5280 and asking it to check for update says I am running the latest version.

It also looks like you have Acronis and the UPH Cleanup Service installed, but that is not implicated (just curious as to why UPH Cleanup).

Can you say that there is anything in particular that you are doing when you have this BSOD - watching videos, playing games, listening to music in the wood shop, etc. or is it just out of the blue (screen of death).  What are you doing most often when it happens?

If you can narrow it down to something like "Every time I do this ________________ the system crashes" that will help.  Or maybe "I know I can make the system crash anytime I want if I do this _____________________________".

You have to fill in the blanks.

Send some more recent crash dumps to your SkyDrive and post back the link.  Sometimes there is not enough info in just one to narrow things down and you have to look at a few to spot a pattern.

Then somebody will suggest running a test of your RAM and that will not hurt - here's how:

Run a test of your RAM with memtest86+ (I know it is boring and will cost you a CD).

Memtest86+ is a more up to date version of the old memtest86 program and they are not the same.

The memtest86+ will not run under Windows, so you will need to download the ISO file and create a bootable CD, boot on that and then run the memtest86+ program.

If even a single error is reported that is a failure and should make you suspicious of your RAM.

If you have multiple sticks of RAM you may need to run the test on them one at a time and change them out to isolate the failure to a particular single stick.

Always keep at least the first bank of RAM occupied so the test will find something to do and there is enough to boot your system.

Sometimes, reseating the RAM in the slots will relieve the error but a failure is still cause for suspicion.

The file and complete instructions for using a USB or CD drive are here:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105647-ram-test-memtest86.html

or here:

http://www.memtest.org/

Here is a link that shows you have to create and use the memtest86+ CD:

http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/Guide-to-using-Memtest86-t246994.html

If someone says to run memtest86, you can tell them to go pound sand and that you know memtest86+ supersedes  memtest86 and here's why:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memtest86

Yep I have an older Dell Daavee, and yes chkdsc came on by itself.

sorry, don't understand 'run Recovery Console and run the command chkdsk /r.'

do you mean just run chkdsk /r ? With a space after chkdsc? That will get the Recovery Console?

Here are instructions:

http://forums.whatthetech.com/index.php?showtopic=95574

Assuming you have the Dell-branded XP CD, scroll down to where it says (ignore the part about ARCDC):

Steps to perform on the problem machine

Actually, I will see if I can paste the instructions:

Steps to perform on the problem machine:

1. Place your Windows XP Installation CD or the new Recovery Console disk you just created into your CD or DVD ROM drive, and reboot. 

You should see this:

If you don't see the above, try pressing the F10 or F12 keys during boot and selecting the CDRom device from the list. 

If that doesn't work, enter BIOS Setup by pressing the F1, F2, F10 or Del key during boot and modifying the

Boot Order or Boot Priority to make the CD/DVD first boot device. 

If your machine won't boot to the CD, make a post in the Microsoft Windows™ forum asking for assistance with this task. 

Please include the exact make and model of your computer so we can provide more exact instructions. 2. Press any key to start Windows Setup (Don't worry.. we're not actually using setup at this point) 3. Wait a while for setup to start, until you see the following screen, then press the R key.

 Reduced: 94% of original size [ 720 x 396 ] - Click to view full image

4. Wait until you see this screen, and enter the number of your main installation. (Typically 1 for C:\Windows)

5. Press Enter. 6. If prompted to do so, enter your Administrator password. If you don't have one, leave it blank and press enter. 7. From the command prompt, enter: chkdsk /r (note the space between chkdsk and /r)

Allow it to complete undisturbed. 8. Remove the CD/DVD then reboot. Windows should now begin loading.