minidump?

[AlwaysUp]

I have had a couple of blue screens lately in XP home edition while playing Starcraft Expansion across the network with my son. I get the fastest flash of a bluescreen error that I ever have experienced. Way too fast to read even the first couple of lines before system is shut down. Upon restart XP informs me that XP has recovered from a critical error and the corresponding error details say something to the effect of a minidump. I took screen shots of the error code and resulting details and pasted into a word document to post here but the .doc file extension isn't supported. Is that new? I thought I used to be able to attach a word doc here? Any ideas as to my problem?

[glc]

Go into the startup and recovery options in control panel, system (thats where it is in win2k, XP might be a bit different) and uncheck restart on errors - that way the bluescreen will stay up so you can read it.

[AlwaysUp]

Thanks GLC. In XP it is found by alternate click My Computer>properties and in the System Properties dialog box "Advanced" tab. Under Startup & Recovery>System failure> I deselected "Automatically restart. Will post an example if someone would suggest in what format to save a screenshot. A *.bmp is way too large! And I have never figured out how to resize any .bmp's.

[sleepypost]

Ah the Minidump. It is a pain. Most of us know what it is so I personally wouldn't post the pic.

Also, you have to compress the file or cut it down to size using paint. I have found that a quick way of compressing is to send it to the recycle bin then restore it. or just convert the pic to a crappier type
.

[AlwaysUp]

sleepypost, what is the most often cause for a minidump, you think? Don't leave me hangin.....

[glc]

Any BSOD will give you a minidump. It's only useful if you have debugging tools. If you get a BSOD that you can read, just write down the first couple of lines - the exception, the stop error, and the affected module should be enough to start troubleshooting.

Best way to save a screenshot is convert it to .jpg, that will compress it, then resize it to get it under 100k. Irfanview can do this - it's a free download - and it can even do a direct screen capture.

[sleepypost]

There ya go, thanks glc.

[AlwaysUp]

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

[sleepypost]

Is that a warning message now? Does it show up on a blue screen od?

[AlwaysUp]

yes, this is the message in the blue screen along with allot of other text.

[sleepypost]

hmmm, that looks very familiar. I think I saw it on another thread earlier today actually. Some guy was asking about that same message. I don't know what it specifically means but since it says driver, I would venture to guess you may have outdated or faulty video drivers. What drivers do you have for what card? If it is a new ATi card make sure you have Catalyst 2.0 or higher.

[AlwaysUp]

I do have a ATI All-in-Wonder 7500 and have been uneasy about the Catalyst 2.0 driver, as the info about it is unclear to me wheather or not I needed it. You definately think this could be the problem?

[sleepypost]

Well, a driver upgrade is always a good thing if you ask me. On top of this, the ATi drivers are horrendous pre-upgrade. I think you should get the newest ATi drivers (I think they are 2.3 or 3.0). This will ensure less game incompatabilities etc.

[AlwaysUp]

Well I got the newest drivers and at first reboot I got another bluescreen.
Stop :0x00000008E
(0x00000005, 0x80571AA7, 0xEEF8F7B4, 0x00000000)

[sleepypost]

maybe an explore.exe error. Ask someone more experienced in bugs than me, but I would say to go ahead and turn off the bug alerts. I know you can turn off some error alerts (doing so in those cases is fine because many bugs in windows are minute).