T22 - Blue Screen error

[dafs]

I have a T22 laptop which recently stopped working properly, the laptop boots up into windows and runs for a few minutes before displaying the following error:

Code: Select all

***stop:0x0000007a (oxe1188988,0xc00000e, 0xbf8e6534,0x0a6do860)
***win32k.sys - address bf8e6534 base at bf800000, datestamp 3d6de5e5

I'm not too sure what the error could be, shortly after displaying this message the laptop says it is 'dumping the physical memory' before freezing.
Is this a problem that can be fixed?

[rkawakami]

Welcome to the board!

It often helps to use a search engine to find out if what you are seeing has already been reported (it usually has). In this case,

***stop:0x0000007a

when entered into Yahoo!, yields references to a Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

KB130801

Quickly scanning through the article I see that a disk error is the most likely source of the problem. For your reference:

Thread at annoyances.org

From my experience, Windows messages like that tend to be either memory or hard disk problems. Your best bet to resolve this would be to download a copy of memtest86+ (to test memory) and/or PC Doctor (to test most of the laptop's hardware; memory and disk included). Note that these two diagnostics will only verify that your hardware is working properly. If there is a corrupted file (i.e. no actual physical damage to the hard disk drive, merely some missing or incorrect information), then PC Doctor will not report anything as "failed". Why not just use one of the Windows disk tools (i.e. Scandisk)? You could, but I am a big fan of first using independent software to verify that the hardware is working okay. Since you are having a problem with keeping Windows running for any length of time, I'm sure you can see my point.

memtest86+ can be had by going here:

memtest.org

There are various files that you can download but the easiest one is this one:

Download - Pre-Compiled package for Floppy (DOS - Win)

This is a .ZIP file, which you then extract using Windows XP or WinZIP. Put a blank floppy in the drive and execute the "install.bat" file. That will create a bootable floppy with memtest86+ on it. Simply place the diskette into the drive and re-boot the laptop. You may need to press the F12 key during power-up to access the boot selection menu if your BIOS has been set to boot first from the hard drive. The program will begin testing your laptop's memory. Any errors will be flagged near the bottom of the screen. The program will continue to run until you stop it. I would let it go through at least two complete passes before "blessing" the memory. You can simply turn off the laptop power to exit memtest86+.

PC Doctor for the T2x series is available either in floppy disk format from IBM's web site or as a CD image file (.ISO) which is hosted on a private site. You will, of course, need a floppy drive to create three diskettes from the download file. The .ISO file requires that you have access to a CD burner and have software which supports writing this image file. The floppy version is here:

IBM site

Download the program, execute it and follow the instructions. Basically you will cycle three diskettes into the floppy drive in order to create a set of bootable diskettes containing PC Doctor.

The .ISO file is here:

T22 ISO image (works with T2x systems)

or here:

ISO image backup site

Download the file and use your CD burner to write the image file.

When you have your bootable media, put the first floppy or CD into the drive and turn off the laptop. Again, press the F12 key during power-up to access the boot menu and select the appropriate source drive. In either case, you will need to select the (only) choice of "T2x" system from the Startup Menu. Press the Enter key. When the second diskette is required, you will see the "Press any key to continue" message. With the diskettes its obvious that you take out the first disk and put in the second (and then third) diskette in order to continue loading the program. The CD works the same way; you will still have to press "any key" to proceed. Once the entire program is loaded you are presented with a basic menu screen. Across the top are the various options. Using the Trackpoint (or keyboard; first letter of each menu option will select it), click on the heading and it will open up a sub-menu. I would say the first thing to test is the memory (comes from being a memory test engineer!). Select the Full memory test and the memory test window opens. By default, the "All Sockets" test should be highlighted with a ">>". Pressing the Enter key will run that test or pressing CTRL-Enter will run ALL highlighted tests.

Assuming that the memory tests good, then you will need to press the ESC key to exit the memory test window. You can then run the next diagnostic. Since your problem appears to be disk drive related, run the Fixed Disks diagnostic. The default here is to execute all of the various tests. None of these tests will alter the data on your disk drive. They merely check to see if the heads can be positioned to the correct sector. If you are concerned about your data, you may want to backup the disk (assuming that's possible with a potential drive/controller problem ). As with any disk diagnostic, there is a remote chance that futher damage can occur because the heads are being asked to seek out every sector on the disk. If you choose to run the entire set of disk diagnostics it can take some time. A 60GB drive takes about an hour, I believe. If, during one of the scans (linear verify, especially), the drive seems to stutter or slow down (the sector numbers change slowly or not at all for a brief time), that usually indicates a problem with the drive in certain areas of the disk. That would be a good indication that you need to replace it.

(Aside note to christopher_wolf: I guess this qualifies as one chapter in my book, huh? )

edit: Added link to annoyances.org
edit: 1/2007 - Added ISO image backup site

[dafs]

Wow
Thanks rkawakami - lots of advice there, I will look into it and try out those steps you mentioned, I think that it may very well be the HD so am looking to replace it.