driver problem?? Plz help

[manixc]

Hi all,

I have a problem with my Thinkpad. My TP is T42, 2378FUU. It's running Win XP Pro. The problem is this: The TP would crash and restart itself almost everything I move a huge folder/files (I dont have an exact count yet, probably around 200mb and up). Basically, I would try to move a file to a different location on the same Hard Drive. Then in a sec or two, the screen go blue (yes, the famous blue screen). The blue screen only stay on for a sec or two (I've only been able to make out something about hardware.. driver..) then the computer would restart.

After the restart, Windows would ask me to send an error report and I would get the below stuff:
--------------------------
Error Caused by a Device Driver

Thank you for submitting an error report. Unfortunately, we cannot provide you with specific information about how to resolve this problem at this time. The information that you and other users submit will be used to investigate this problem.

Analysis

A device driver installed on your system caused the problem, but we cannot determine the precise cause.

Getting Help

Depending on which situation is applicable to you, do one of the following:

* If this problem occurred after you installed a new hardware device on your system, the problem might be caused by the driver for the device. If you know the manufacturer of the device, contact the manufacturer's product support service for assistance.
* Some software, such as firewall and anti-virus software, also installs drivers. If this problem occurred after you installed new software, the software might have installed a driver that caused the problem. If you know the manufacturer of the software, contact the manufacturer's product support service for assistance.
* If you don't know the driver's manufacturer and need help diagnosing and resolving this problem, contact your computer manufacturer's product support service.
* Updated drivers might be available on the Microsoft Windows Update Web site. At Windows Update, you can have your computer scanned and, if there are updated drivers available, Windows Update will offer a selection of drivers that you might be able to use. To learn more about updated drivers that might be available, visit Microsoft Windows Update.
* For information about Microsoft support options, visit Microsoft Product Support Services.

You can track this error report by clicking the Track this error report link. If you choose to track your error report, you will be notified of resolutions to this problem as they are identified.
Go

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It doesn't really help (at least to me). So can anyone please help?????? Thanks!

It has happened about 5 to 7 times so far and I've have my T42 for only a month. Actually, mostly in the last couple of days.

Oh, I'm also running Norton Antivirus but so far it doesn't seem to be a virus problem (it happen once after I caught a virus).

[egibbs]

First - make Windows stop on error rather than restarting by doing the following and turning off "automatically reboot.":

To specify what Windows does if the system stops unexpectedly
You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group in order to complete this procedure. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may also prevent you from completing this procedure.

"Open System in Control Panel.
On the Advanced tab, under Startup and Recovery, click Settings.
Under System Failure, select the check boxes that correspond to the actions you want Windows to perform if a Stop error occurs:
Write an event to the system log specifies that event information will be recorded in the system log.
Send an administrative alert specifies that your system administrator will be notified.
Automatically reboot specifies that Windows will automatically restart your computer. "

You can also do a search on your system (Start, Search, Find all Files and Folders) for *.dmp. Use Advanced Search Otions to look in system and hidden folders. Use Wordpad to view the memory dump files that you find, they should have the error information in them.

Once you have the STOP error write down the exacy hex error number, the parameters after it (in the parentheses) and any other information.

You can post the error here and we'll try to help, but they are not that difficult to troubleshoot yourself. Some good resources are:

MS Knowledge base - http://support.microsoft.com/default.as ... US;KBHOWTO - type the exact hex error in the search box.

Aumha - http://aumha.org/win5/kbestop.htm - maintain a list of the most common STOP erors, troubleshooting instructions, and forums.

Google - search in Google Groups (usenet) for the exact hex error code.

Good luck.

Ed Gibbs

[sktn77a]

Well, it's a fairly basic spec machine so it's probably not the heat problem some people have experienced with a loaded T42P. The advice above is on the money. Also check that DMA is enabled in your IDE settings (device manager). You can try switching it off if it's already enabled (this is not a fix but might help to identify the problem). Try calling IBM. Try updating all the drivers on your machine (including the intel chipset and IDE drivers). Alternatively, you can do a system recovery from the hidden partition or recovery CDs. Has the computer done this from new or has this only recently started (if the computer is less than 30 days old, send it back - who needs this grief).

[manixc]

Thank you very much, egibbs and sktn77a.

egibbs: I've disabled "Auto Restart" and I recreate the error by moving a huge folder (544MB). The hex msg I got was:

STOP 0x00000050 (0xFF50C000, 0x00000000, 0x80528FEC, 0x00000000)
Page_Fault_in_nonpaged_area <<< what does this mean?

I searched the Knowledge base, Q183169 which said only 3 possible cause:
Hardware failure
Anti-virus software
drivers by thirdparty

I am guessing is Norton AV and its autoprotection. Because my TP only hang when I move huge folder around. I dont think it's third party driver since the only diver I have is IBM or WinXP. I am a bit worried than it might be my RAM. How do I check if my RAM is ok???


sktn77a: what does DMA do? I have DMA enabled.

I am not sure how to solve the problem yet, but now at least I know what to look out for!

[egibbs]

The basic principle is to take the machine to the simplest, out of the box configuration possible and see if it still does it. If it does, call IBM. If not, start adding things back one at a time until the problem appears.

Keep in mind that it may be an interaction between 2 or more items - for instance a flaky memory stick AND the Anti-Virus software together might cause the problem, but not either alone.

A few things to try...

Disconnect all external and PCMCIA devices - scanners, printers, network cable, etc. and try it again.

Disable or uninstall temporarily the Anti-Virus software. Uninstall any other added software that you can.

Do you have any added memory? If so, remove it.

If you don't have added memory, run a full memory test.

The size of the files that you are moving makes me wonder if these are CD images. If so, are you using EasyCD 5.0 or earlier? According to http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310628 there are issues with versions of EasyCD 5.0 and earlier that cause 0x50 errors.

If you are still stumped after all that (or just want to troubleshoot it fully), the parameters after the error number tell you the memory address that was called (0xFF50C000) and the address of the instruction that called it (0x80528FEC).

Offhand I'd say the address called looks bad - 0xFF is pretty high memory unless you've got terabytes of RAM - so I'd guess that whatever routine called it is confused. To find out what that module is you would need to go to the Microsoft site and download and install the debugger tool, then feed it one of your mini-dump files (the *.dmp files). It will tell you what modules were loaded into memory at the time of the crash, and where each was located in RAM. Then you would need to figure out which module owned 0x80528FEC and that is your culprit. Beware though - that is pretty advanced stuff and you're probably better off using the first approach - eliminate all possible causes then add them back one by one.

Ed Gibbs

[Conmee]

I'd remove/disable Norton A/V. It scans files and zips/archives, particularly when moving/copying from drive to drive or partition to partition. The file may be too big a file for Norton to handle, and it throws an exception or causes the device driver to throw an exception when it takes up all your ram and pagefile trying to perform the scan. I'd venture to say that with Norton A/V uninstalled/disabled your problem will go away. If that is the problem, increase your RAM 512MB+ and make sure your pagefile is set to let Windows manage it. It should dynamically expand to accommodate Norton and your file copy, if Norton doesn't crash the driver first. Also, I noticed your system has a 30GB drive, so if you are copying/moving a file, and Norton is caching it to scan it, and Windows is trying to dynamically grow the pagefile, you may be running out of temp space on the hard drive to manage the copy. For a 500MB file, make sure you have at least 2GB of free hard drive space prior to copy, to ensure Windows and Norton have enough space to work with.

Daniel.

[jdhurst]

I don't have any other immediate suggestions, but 200Mb is not huge. I can (and do) copy folders that are 3Gb in size with 5000 files in 250 folders. I can (and do) copy files as large as 4Gb (whole computers). All of this with Norton and firewalls running and operational with no grief. So file size should not be your problem. ... JDHurst

[manixc]

I don't have any other immediate suggestions, but 200Mb is not huge. I can (and do) copy folders that are 3Gb in size with 5000 files in 250 folders. I can (and do) copy files as large as 4Gb (whole computers). All of this with Norton and firewalls running and operational with no grief. So file size should not be your problem. ... JDHurst

sometime I have crappy luck w/ my softwares.

I've disabled Norton Auto Protect and tried moving some folders around (including the 544mb one I've used before to cause an error) and there's not a problem yet. (Touch wood)

I d/l memTest and going to run it overnite

Ed: I dont have EasyCD and never have. I only have recordnow. I will probably do as u suggusted next month when I have more time to tinker with it.

Again, Thanks guys for the suggustion

[Conmee]

I've disabled Norton Auto Protect and tried moving some folders around (including the 544mb one I've used before to cause an error) and there's not a problem yet. (Touch wood)

Just curious, but can you give us your drive information... number of partitions, partition sizes, free space available for each partition, etc... glad to hear that disabling Norton A/V has 'solved' the problem for now... but as jdhurst mentioned, I use Norton and firewalls and I don't have problems moving large files and directories, but I've got three 60GB drives and an 80GB drive in my Dock II, so I'm not storage space constrained at the moment.

Daniel

[manixc]

I've disabled Norton Auto Protect and tried moving some folders around (including the 544mb one I've used before to cause an error) and there's not a problem yet. (Touch wood)

Just curious, but can you give us your drive information... number of partitions, partition sizes, free space available for each partition, etc... glad to hear that disabling Norton A/V has 'solved' the problem for now... but as jdhurst mentioned, I use Norton and firewalls and I don't have problems moving large files and directories, but I've got three 60GB drives and an 80GB drive in my Dock II, so I'm not storage space constrained at the moment.

Daniel

I only have one partitions not including the hidden one from IBM
The partition size is 23.6GB, which mean the hidden one is about 5GB.
I usually have around 4-6GB free (depend on what I have d/l or deleted). I only 80% sure about Norton A/V being the cause of the problem but I've now tried to disable auto-protect whenever I have to move big(>200mb) files or folders.