BSofD on boot for Dell Laptop, XP

RandyC · 07-03-03, 03:42 AM

Started using the laptop today to capture some video over firewire.

Experienced a couple oddities. Could not use a program because the laptop said there was not enough memory? Audio capture from a CD also was not working.

About 30 minutes, I got a blue screen. I rebooted and it went to a blue screen on boot saying XP detected a problem and is doing a memory dump.

I tried using safe mode and deleted the mem dump files but it did not help.

I have an email into Dell tech support. Any other ideas?

Todd B. · 07-03-03, 05:11 AM

Get a Macintosh!

http://www.theapplecollection.com/Co...mov/crowd.html

Seriously though, deleting the mem dump files isn't going to solve anything. Those are just a dump of the contents of the memory for debugging purposes. They're a result of the problem, not the cause.

So every time you boot up, it gives you the same error and does a dump? Something is causing it to crash, but you need to figure out what.

Probably the easiest thing to try at this point though is to start up in Safe Mode and do a System Restore. Go to Start->Programs->Accessories->System Tools (or something like that) and use the System Restore program to roll back to a previous save point.

twikoff · 07-03-03, 06:44 AM

whats the line at the top of the blue screen?
in many cases, its going to be referencing a file that will give some clue to what is causing the problem

then you can just go in safemode and uninstall whatever is causing the problem

or you can go into safemode.. and just uninstall extra garbage.. and take out the excess that is running at startup (use Start.. Run.. msconfig)

also.. while your in there.. you can check out your sys logs to see if something is obviously jumping out

X · 07-03-03, 11:15 AM

Probably the easiest thing to do would be remove both of the memory modules and reseat them. Try putting only one back in to see if there might be a problem with the other and see if it can boot. If it can't, trade modules and try it again.

RandyC · 07-03-03, 02:19 PM

One of the first things I did was to reseat the memory. And since I had some new memory from Crucial, I replaced each module, one at a time. No change.

After some more investigation, here is what I have found. Booting into Safe Mode, I started MSCONFIG and selected SERVICES. After turning off all of them, I could boot no problem. I then disabled 50% of them, tried again and so on... until I narrowed it down.

There is only one service that is the problem.

Wireless Zero Services

Without it, I boot fine. I also don't have any wireless though.

X · 07-03-03, 02:41 PM

What did you do differently just before this happened? Did you install or configure anything?

You said you tried to capture with firewire. Was this the first time?

RandyC · 07-03-03, 03:16 PM

The firewire card is a plug in. I plugged it in and tested it over a month ago. This is the first time I have actually captured video with it.

Nothing else has been changed or installed. I think I have used this laptop about 3 times since I bought it.

X · 07-03-03, 03:30 PM

You used the capture app that you used before when you tested it?

Was your wireless set up then? Are you using wireless now? Or at least before it bombed.

RandyC · 07-03-03, 03:37 PM

Before it died, the wireless was not working. My daughter said it was not connected to the network.

It was working a month ago when I tested it, it was connecting fine. I did not use the capture ap as far as capturing. I did use the firewire device by plugging it in and it saw the camcorder.

X · 07-03-03, 03:46 PM

What I'm getting at is trying to figure out if there's a resource conflict between the two devices.

What I would do is remove the firewire card and drivers and see if you still have the problem. If not, have the wireless up and running and then add the firewire card again and reinstall its drivers. I'd also look for newer drivers at the manufacturer's site.

zuffy · 07-03-03, 05:23 PM

What is your paging file size anyway?

RandyC · 07-03-03, 06:07 PM

Paging file is 768.

I can't get the wireless to work without that service being enabled, and I can't get the system to boot with the service enabled. So I can't get the wireless to work at all.

If I disable the Wireless Zero Configuration, the laptop functions perfectly, except I have no wireless.

I have pulled out the firewire card. I can't find any drivers for it.

X · 07-03-03, 06:39 PM

I meant remove the firewire drivers and then try to boot.

Check under the Device Manager for firewire ports which may be listed under "IEEE 1394". Uninstall their drivers. Then try it.

RandyC · 07-03-03, 07:07 PM

I did that. It still will not boot if that one wireless service is enabled.

X · 07-03-03, 07:40 PM

How about uninstalling your wireless service and whatever else went along with it and reinstalling?

Short of that, and unless Dell tech support can help you, it looks like you'll be reverting to your last backup.

RandyC · 07-03-03, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by X
it looks like you'll be reverting to your last backup.

Umm.... yeah.

About that back up....

zuffy · 07-03-03, 08:06 PM

How about trying the System Restore and restore back to the most recent restore point?

RandyC · 07-03-03, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by zuffy
How about trying the System Restore and restore back to the most recent restore point?

Tried that. No help.

X · 07-03-03, 09:13 PM

Hook up the wired networking... copy off all important files... locate your Windows XP CD... set your BIOS to boot from the CD...

RandyC · 07-04-03, 12:39 PM

whew...

This was not easy.

Something created a conflict, perhaps the plug in firewire PCMCIA. That hosed the driver for the wireless. I removed the driver and the rebooted and reinstalled it for the wireless. Had to reboot and reconfig the hub.

Everything wireless is now back to normal.

Now, I have to investigate the firewire adapter and see if I can find newer drivers, and possibly disable the wireless while I am capturing video using the firewire.

Also, there seems to be a conflict with my 2.4g wireless phone systems.

X · 07-04-03, 12:50 PM

Backup before reinstalling the firewire.

RandyC · 07-04-03, 02:00 PM

Good point

RandyC · 07-05-03, 02:45 AM

Crap.

Now it's worse. BSoD and a new error message. I never installed the firewire card. Never got that far.

I am thinking it's time to re-install the OS and start over. In a quick google search, seems like a common problem.

RandyC · 07-05-03, 02:54 AM

This is what it now says-

"Driver_IRQL_not_less_or_equal"

And then does a memory dump.

X · 07-05-03, 02:59 AM

That's a pretty generic error. You see it often with memory problems and hardware conflicts or failures.

07-03-03, 03:42 AM	#1
RandyC Super Moderator Join Date: Aug 1999 Location: shine on you crazy diamond Posts: 26,001	BSofD on boot for Dell Laptop, XP Started using the laptop today to capture some video over firewire. Experienced a couple oddities. Could not use a program because the laptop said there was not enough memory? Audio capture from a CD also was not working. About 30 minutes, I got a blue screen. I rebooted and it went to a blue screen on boot saying XP detected a problem and is doing a memory dump. I tried using safe mode and deleted the mem dump files but it did not help. I have an email into Dell tech support. Any other ideas? __________________ Other is a Harsh Mistress.. "In my opinion, there's nothing in this world... Beats a 52 Vincent and a red headed girl." -R. Thompson

07-03-03, 06:44 AM	#3
twikoff DVD Talk God Join Date: Feb 2000 Location: Right Behind You!!! Posts: 79,343	whats the line at the top of the blue screen? in many cases, its going to be referencing a file that will give some clue to what is causing the problem then you can just go in safemode and uninstall whatever is causing the problem or you can go into safemode.. and just uninstall extra garbage.. and take out the excess that is running at startup (use Start.. Run.. msconfig) also.. while your in there.. you can check out your sys logs to see if something is obviously jumping out __________________ Do you live in Idaho or Wyoming? If so, its time to Check In!

07-03-03, 02:19 PM	#5
RandyC Super Moderator Join Date: Aug 1999 Location: shine on you crazy diamond Posts: 26,001	One of the first things I did was to reseat the memory. And since I had some new memory from Crucial, I replaced each module, one at a time. No change. After some more investigation, here is what I have found. Booting into Safe Mode, I started MSCONFIG and selected SERVICES. After turning off all of them, I could boot no problem. I then disabled 50% of them, tried again and so on... until I narrowed it down. There is only one service that is the problem. Wireless Zero Services Without it, I boot fine. I also don't have any wireless though. __________________ Other is a Harsh Mistress.. "In my opinion, there's nothing in this world... Beats a 52 Vincent and a red headed girl." -R. Thompson

07-03-03, 03:16 PM	#7
RandyC Super Moderator Join Date: Aug 1999 Location: shine on you crazy diamond Posts: 26,001	The firewire card is a plug in. I plugged it in and tested it over a month ago. This is the first time I have actually captured video with it. Nothing else has been changed or installed. I think I have used this laptop about 3 times since I bought it. __________________ Other is a Harsh Mistress.. "In my opinion, there's nothing in this world... Beats a 52 Vincent and a red headed girl." -R. Thompson

07-03-03, 03:37 PM	#9
RandyC Super Moderator Join Date: Aug 1999 Location: shine on you crazy diamond Posts: 26,001	Before it died, the wireless was not working. My daughter said it was not connected to the network. It was working a month ago when I tested it, it was connecting fine. I did not use the capture ap as far as capturing. I did use the firewire device by plugging it in and it saw the camcorder. __________________ Other is a Harsh Mistress.. "In my opinion, there's nothing in this world... Beats a 52 Vincent and a red headed girl." -R. Thompson

07-03-03, 05:11 AM	#2
Todd B. DVD Talk Limited Edition Join Date: Feb 2000 Location: Honolulu, HI Posts: 5,154	Get a Macintosh! http://www.theapplecollection.com/Co...mov/crowd.html Seriously though, deleting the mem dump files isn't going to solve anything. Those are just a dump of the contents of the memory for debugging purposes. They're a result of the problem, not the cause. So every time you boot up, it gives you the same error and does a dump? Something is causing it to crash, but you need to figure out what. Probably the easiest thing to try at this point though is to start up in Safe Mode and do a System Restore. Go to Start->Programs->Accessories->System Tools (or something like that) and use the System Restore program to roll back to a previous save point.

07-03-03, 11:15 AM	#4
X Administrator Join Date: Oct 1987 Location: AA- Posts: 10,147	Probably the easiest thing to do would be remove both of the memory modules and reseat them. Try putting only one back in to see if there might be a problem with the other and see if it can boot. If it can't, trade modules and try it again.

07-03-03, 02:41 PM	#6
X Administrator Join Date: Oct 1987 Location: AA- Posts: 10,147	What did you do differently just before this happened? Did you install or configure anything? You said you tried to capture with firewire. Was this the first time?

07-03-03, 03:30 PM	#8
X Administrator Join Date: Oct 1987 Location: AA- Posts: 10,147	You used the capture app that you used before when you tested it? Was your wireless set up then? Are you using wireless now? Or at least before it bombed.

07-03-03, 03:46 PM	#10
X Administrator Join Date: Oct 1987 Location: AA- Posts: 10,147	What I'm getting at is trying to figure out if there's a resource conflict between the two devices. What I would do is remove the firewire card and drivers and see if you still have the problem. If not, have the wireless up and running and then add the firewire card again and reinstall its drivers. I'd also look for newer drivers at the manufacturer's site.

07-03-03, 05:23 PM	#11
zuffy DVD Talk Legend Join Date: Jan 2000 Location: Region 1 Posts: 16,126	What is your paging file size anyway?

07-03-03, 06:07 PM	#12
RandyC Super Moderator Join Date: Aug 1999 Location: shine on you crazy diamond Posts: 26,001	Paging file is 768. I can't get the wireless to work without that service being enabled, and I can't get the system to boot with the service enabled. So I can't get the wireless to work at all. If I disable the Wireless Zero Configuration, the laptop functions perfectly, except I have no wireless. I have pulled out the firewire card. I can't find any drivers for it. __________________ Other is a Harsh Mistress.. "In my opinion, there's nothing in this world... Beats a 52 Vincent and a red headed girl." -R. Thompson

07-03-03, 06:39 PM	#13
X Administrator Join Date: Oct 1987 Location: AA- Posts: 10,147	I meant remove the firewire drivers and then try to boot. Check under the Device Manager for firewire ports which may be listed under "IEEE 1394". Uninstall their drivers. Then try it.

07-03-03, 07:07 PM	#14
RandyC Super Moderator Join Date: Aug 1999 Location: shine on you crazy diamond Posts: 26,001	I did that. It still will not boot if that one wireless service is enabled. __________________ Other is a Harsh Mistress.. "In my opinion, there's nothing in this world... Beats a 52 Vincent and a red headed girl." -R. Thompson

07-03-03, 07:40 PM	#15
X Administrator Join Date: Oct 1987 Location: AA- Posts: 10,147	How about uninstalling your wireless service and whatever else went along with it and reinstalling? Short of that, and unless Dell tech support can help you, it looks like you'll be reverting to your last backup.

07-03-03, 08:06 PM	#17
zuffy DVD Talk Legend Join Date: Jan 2000 Location: Region 1 Posts: 16,126	How about trying the System Restore and restore back to the most recent restore point?

07-03-03, 09:13 PM	#19
X Administrator Join Date: Oct 1987 Location: AA- Posts: 10,147	Hook up the wired networking... copy off all important files... locate your Windows XP CD... set your BIOS to boot from the CD...

07-04-03, 12:39 PM	#20
RandyC Super Moderator Join Date: Aug 1999 Location: shine on you crazy diamond Posts: 26,001	whew... This was not easy. Something created a conflict, perhaps the plug in firewire PCMCIA. That hosed the driver for the wireless. I removed the driver and the rebooted and reinstalled it for the wireless. Had to reboot and reconfig the hub. Everything wireless is now back to normal. Now, I have to investigate the firewire adapter and see if I can find newer drivers, and possibly disable the wireless while I am capturing video using the firewire. Also, there seems to be a conflict with my 2.4g wireless phone systems. __________________ Other is a Harsh Mistress.. "In my opinion, there's nothing in this world... Beats a 52 Vincent and a red headed girl." -R. Thompson

07-04-03, 12:50 PM	#21
X Administrator Join Date: Oct 1987 Location: AA- Posts: 10,147	Backup before reinstalling the firewire.

07-04-03, 02:00 PM	#22
RandyC Super Moderator Join Date: Aug 1999 Location: shine on you crazy diamond Posts: 26,001	Good point __________________ Other is a Harsh Mistress.. "In my opinion, there's nothing in this world... Beats a 52 Vincent and a red headed girl." -R. Thompson

07-05-03, 02:45 AM	#23
RandyC Super Moderator Join Date: Aug 1999 Location: shine on you crazy diamond Posts: 26,001	Crap. Now it's worse. BSoD and a new error message. I never installed the firewire card. Never got that far. I am thinking it's time to re-install the OS and start over. In a quick google search, seems like a common problem. __________________ Other is a Harsh Mistress.. "In my opinion, there's nothing in this world... Beats a 52 Vincent and a red headed girl." -R. Thompson

07-05-03, 02:54 AM	#24
RandyC Super Moderator Join Date: Aug 1999 Location: shine on you crazy diamond Posts: 26,001	This is what it now says- "Driver_IRQL_not_less_or_equal" And then does a memory dump. __________________ Other is a Harsh Mistress.. "In my opinion, there's nothing in this world... Beats a 52 Vincent and a red headed girl." -R. Thompson

07-05-03, 02:59 AM	#25
X Administrator Join Date: Oct 1987 Location: AA- Posts: 10,147	That's a pretty generic error. You see it often with memory problems and hardware conflicts or failures.