Strange restarts,BSOD and Minidump in xp

[prospero]

Ladies and Gentlemen
I have recently reinstalled XP home on a new hard drive (Maxtor 120Gb 8Mb cache) and have re installed all my apps. Everything went ok until recently when I started to get random dumps of physical memory and a BSOD telling me that Windows had shut down to protect itself having detected a problem in file win32k.sys as it tried to write to ROM
Tech info:
stop 0x000000BE (0xBF87F2A2,0x1075F021,0xF7548FFC,0x000000000C)
Any help greatly appreciated
Chris in Belgium

[Cricket]

Get Memtest86 and test your RAM.

Cricket

[prospero]

Cricket
Thank you, I shall do that as I suspect that may be the problem, however the RAM was working perfectly before this install of XP (Crucial 2 x512mb PC2100) is it likely to have gone bad during an XP install??
Sorry for the stupid ?'s but this is not my field of expertise....
Chris

[Redfallon]

If you had done a new (or upgrade) install of XP, from no OS or say, Win98 or ME, I would say yes the RAM may be the culprit. XP can be pickier about hardware flaws. However, since XP ran fine before the new HDD, I would suspect the HDD. Try running the diags from Maxtor, if it finds anything, contact them for an RMA. Or if it's still new enough, contact the vendor (newegg? Best buy? etc) and do a swap. HDD problems and RAM could both cause BSOD's. I guess it's possible the RAM was flaky before, or maybe ESD damage. If it's good RAM you may have a lifetime warranty on it (kingston, crucual, corsair, geil, etc). Good luck finding the prob.

**edit** I see you've got crucial, if memtest finds errors, contact them, otherwise attempt the maxtor diags.

[prospero]

Redfallon
It was actually a new install of a new XP OEM version, so when I get time I shall run memtest86. During the HDD install I had to take out the RAM sticks so I guess it is possible that I may have damaged them although I was very careful.
By the way not having used memtest do I just copy it to a bootable xp floppy and run it from the c prompt???
Chris
Again thanks for you patience with daft ????'s

[Redfallon]

Originally Posted by prospero I have recently reinstalled XP home on a new hard drive

Sorry took it to mean you were running XP before the upgrade, and just bought a new HDD and did a reinstall (new install on new drive) Hope I am not confusing you here. If you *were* running XP before on a diff HDD, I wouldn't think RAM first off, that's all I'm saying. If you were running 98, ME, 2000, and upgraded to XP, I would look to the RAM. Again hope that's not confusing, I know what I'm trying to say anyway

[prospero]

Ladies and Gentlemen
I have run the Maxtor Diagnostics and Memtest86 and found that everything is ok. Is it possible or likely to be a PSU or temps that are causing the problems. The BSOD are random and don't occur at particularly heavy workload times.
I am currently running 3 HDD and one DVD/RW on a generic PSU rated at 280 watts. I am planning on upgrading to a Thermaltake at 400w. Is this likely to help??
What are the target temps/Voltages for CPU so that I can compare.
For the record the rest of the system is:
Asrock K7VT2 mobo
AMD Athlon 2gb
ATI Radeon 9600
Maxtor 120gb 7200 8mb
WD 40 Gb
Ibm 10 Gb
Lite on DVD/RW
2x 512 Mb Crucial PC2100 RAM
Thanks in advance for any help
Chris

[Redfallon]

I would def. look at the psu. If you have software to monitor the voltages (like Asus probe) make sure they're all within 10% of their rated spec, so 12v +/- 10%. . .same with 3.3v and 5v. Also check out Tins guide on PSU's here for info on AMP ratings and such. 280W from a cheap psu maker seems like another possibility. Do you know anyone with a psu you could "swap" to see if it's the prob before buying a new one? Although Enlight psu's can be had cheap enough from newegg.

[prospero]

Redfallon
I have checked the voltages and they are all within limits but the following temps seem a little high. Any thoughts??
CPU=53c
MOBO = 28c
FAn speed 1440 rpm
I have checked and double checked all connections and given the inside a really good clean out. So far no problems but it is so random I will need at least 48hours to check it for sure.
I think I will treat myself to a new PSU anyway!!!
Chris
PS After the clean out the CPUtemp dropped to 47c at idle so that helped

[Redfallon]

53C isn't bad, 47C is better. . .other temp looks fine, fan speed looks ok for that cpu temp. I saw that you're in Belgium so I guess a quick inexpensive enlight psu from newegg is out of the question ehh? Hopefully you could find one for a good enough price to try that. With the RAM and HDD checking OK, I'd say either that or a corrupt file (the one in your original post?) Maybe try a repair install before shelling out for the new psu. One more quick question, what FSB is that processor, is it 133mhz?

[prospero]

Redfallon
Thanks for your help. The Mobo is indeed 133Mhz.
I was wondering if it is possible that these symptoms could have been caused by damage while I was messing about inside my case fitting the new HDD etc? I have checked all connections but is there anyway of checking Mobo integrity? I guess if I had damaged it then the problem would happen on a more or less permanent basis instead of about once a day.
I am going to do a repair on Windows this weekend to see if that helps.
I'll lick this thing yet.
Chris
PS We don't have NewEgg but there are plenty of cheap stores here in Belgium so new kit is not a major problem

[Redfallon]

I was asking about the processor speed as I am unfamiliar with AMD's and wanted to make sure you had the correct speed RAM, which you do. Sorry I haven't been of any more assistance, only two things I can think of would be repair install or new PSU. I think it's unlikely you'd damage anything on the mobo from installing a new HDD. I would say the RAM or HDD would've been the two most susceptible to damage from ESD. (HDD because you were handling it, RAM because it's near the IDE ports!) One other thing I thought of, but it seems unlikely, is power fluctuations. In certain areas here in the US (like mine! lmao) we have dips and surges in the power grid, this used to cause my old computer to reboot periodically, a UPS solved the problem. However, I've heard from alot of people in europe that they don't experience those problems over there, perhaps because of the higher voltage.

**edit** I re-read the entire thread, and I'm really leaning towards the psu. . .280watts doesn't seem like enough to power that bad boy, especially a cheapie 280W. Do you have any of your HDD's spin down when they're not active? I guess one way you could check would be to disconnect a HDD or two (if possible) and the optical drive, try running it for a couple days without the extra load, see if that helps. . .

[prospero]

Redfallon
Thanks for your advice, I had also considered the power supply (To the house not the PSU) as I have had some problems with is recently. I am going to monitor this thing for a while and see if anything common occurs. Of course it hasn't happened for a while now (24hours) so maybe its sorted
Chris