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Windows Vista: Windows Vista Blue Screen of Death
A Lot of Software
by GMUHistorian - 7/11/09 2:02 PM In reply to: Just a few items. by R. Proffitt
Bob,
Basically, everything except for the Toshiba or Windows Vista stuff has been installed on my machine since I got it. All of the Windows Office applications I installed myself as well. I can get rid of some of the things listed in HiJackThis because they're for programs which I no longer actually have installed on the machine. For example, Rosetta Stone I uninstalled via the program's uninstaller application months ago.
Since the BSOD started, the only things I've installed are Vipre and HijackThis. The RAM is the original factory install. I did a MemTest on the machine when this originally started happening, and it turned up no problems with my memory.
I installed Vipre because my free AVG anti-virus somehow got corrupted and it kept giving me a "license corrupted" message even though there was no license because it was a free program. I went through a week of conversations with AVG on their forum because of it (and others who had the same problem about the same time I did) and eventually had to boot into safe mode to get rid of the program because it wouldn't uninstall via any other method.
Perhaps this issue and the AVG problem are somehow related? The AVG problem did occur at about the same time as the first BSOD I got.
Hard to say.
by R. Proffitt - 7/11/09 3:10 PM
In reply to: A Lot of Software by GMUHistorian
The clues are not in place yet.
But AVG appears no where in that HJT log so I won't count that as a cause. But it could be a symptom. A friend's machine got this infection -> READ http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2009-031816-5114-99&tabid=2
This is showing up in variant forms. The way I think it's getting in is that the owner installs a CODEC that comes with that trojan.
At the time I ran into this one, none of the usual antivirus (AV) detected it. It was not until it started popping up random web sites that I was able to track it down and kill it.
Besides the BSOD, what other clues do we have?
-> Any odd web pages coming up?
-> Any one remove the battery from the machine to "save it"?
-> How about google bar and what I noted? Can those go away?
Bob
Nothing Unusual
by GMUHistorian - 7/11/09 4:08 PM In reply to: Hard to say. by R. Proffitt
Bob,
Unfortunately (only because it would help define the issue) I haven't gotten any odd web pages come up when I load Firefox (what I primarily use) or IE 7. I use IE very rarely and just loaded it up to check, and it loaded fine with ESPN.com as the home page, which it is set to do.
The battery hasn't left the computer either.
I forgot to mention in the previous post that Google Desktop also did come factory installed, I didn't install it myself. I'll try uninstalling Google desktop and then re-installing it (because, frankly, I do love the application) and see what happens.
I just remembered that some months ago I had a problem where Explorer.exe would suddenly, and inexplicably, crash but Vista would not give me a BSOD on that, just ask if I wanted to re-start the application. I'd say yes, and it would re-start just fine. I was in the process of investigating that issue when it suddenly just stopped happening. I haven't had Windows Explorer.exe crash on me in probably two months.
I'll try uninstalling Google desktop and re-installing it to see if that will correct my BSOD issue.
Reinstall?
by R. Proffitt - 7/11/09 4:45 PM
In reply to: Nothing Unusual by GMUHistorian
If the BSOD is repeatable then we don't reinstall.
Also you do know that Windows does bsod on corrupt jpegs and a few bad AVI files? Microsoft doesn't seem to have the cured yet.
Bob
Don't think it's Google
by GMUHistorian - 7/11/09 11:02 PM In reply to: Reinstall? by R. Proffitt
I don't think it's Google Desktop for a few reasons. One, Google Desktop came pre-installed from the factory. Google's got a relationship with Toshiba apparently. Two, both of the Gadgets I had installed were created by Google themselves and not a user. Three, I've had both gadgets installed for nearly as long as I've owned the PC and no problems until recently. I was just kind of hoping perhaps it was a corrupted file that would get deleted and fixed with a re-installation. It only took a few minutes, so it was worth the at least a try.
I only have three jpeg's on my machine that weren't pre-installed with Vista. All three open fine and do not appear to be corrupted. I ran them, plus the Vista pre-installed jpegs, through Vipre and it didn't report any issues. I don't have any avi's on my machine at all. All of my music is iTunes .m4p and I don't have any downloaded movies on my machine.
But, Jimmy posted that most software applications aren't allowed to access the hardware directly in the NT line of Windows OS's like Vista. So, at this point, shouldn't I be looking for hardware problems?
I've gone through Device Manager and looked for updated drivers for my hard drive, CD/DVD combo drive, video and audio adapters. According to Windows, I'm using the latest drivers for each device. I also went and selected every single device in the Device Manager and all are reported to be working properly. The only odd thing is that device manager lists two Intel Core 2 Duo T5550 processors. Both are reported to be working properly. Is this normal? I thought it would only list one processor.
I tried to install Everest to check my PC's temperature but it doesn't fully support my machine. It says I've got a Intel ICH8 South Bridge and that version of Everest doesn't support it. However, the report function did tell me the sensor in my hard drive reports the machine is running at 97 degrees Fahrenheit/36 degrees Celsius. From what I've been able to gather using Google, this temp doesn't seem out of the normal range.
Installed SpeedFan too
by GMUHistorian - 7/11/09 11:22 PM In reply to: Don't think it's Google by GMUHistorianI installed SpeedFan and it reports my core temperatures are 47C for both Core 0 and Core 1. It's gotten as high as 48-49 degrees Celsius for each.
Then we are done.
by R. Proffitt - 7/12/09 5:47 AM
In reply to: Don't think it's Google by GMUHistorian
My method is simple. We move back to as few things as possible. If we can't do that then you'll have to call the machine in and make it a warranty issue.
Sorry, BTDT too many times so let's say good luck and good hunting.
Bob
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