Blue Screen After Sleep Mode

[banjoistic]

I'm using Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Service Pack 1. After coming
out of sleep mode, the computer always gets a blue screen displaying a
0x00000073 error, referring to stdriver64.sys. This problem seems to
have started after SP1, but I'm not sure there's a correlation. Any ideas?

 

[banjoistic]

Update your audio drivers.

I tried that. Windows reports they are the latest versions.

 

[Paul]

I'm using Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Service Pack 1. After coming
out of sleep mode, the computer always gets a blue screen displaying a
0x00000073 error, referring to stdriver64.sys. This problem seems to
have started after SP1, but I'm not sure there's a correlation. Any ideas?

http://www.vistax64.com/crashes-debugging/282313-ntoskrnl-fix-2.html

Description: stdriver.sys
Company: NCH Software

Possibly, "sound tap" program ? Inserts a shim in the audio stack and kaboom ?

http://www.nch.com.au/soundtap/index.html

This site ( http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm ) says the blue screen is:

0x00000073: CONFIG_LIST_FAILED

but doesn't offer an explanation.

OK, this gives a lead:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms819301.aspx

"It indicates the system configuration link list failed.

One of the core system hives is corrupted or unreadable,
or some critical Registry keys and values are not present."

In other words, some driver level code is attempting to access
the Registry. That sounds kinda crazy and dangerous ?!?

There is a forum for the product, but I don't see the developer
helping out. So asking a question here would likely be a waste of
time.

http://nch.invisionzone.com/index.php?showforum=27

A Realtek driver would be more likely to have an R at the
beginning of the driver name. A SigmaTel driver file might
begin with "st" but they generally don't bother including
the word "driver" in their files. So I'm guessing you've installed
Sound Tap, and now there is a problem. Sound Tap may be attempting
to access the Windows Registry, trying to find the registration
key purchased for Sound Tap.

Paul

 

[banjoistic]

http://www.vistax64.com/crashes-debugging/282313-ntoskrnl-fix-2.html

Description: stdriver.sys
Company: NCH Software

Possibly, "sound tap" program ? Inserts a shim in the audio stack and
kaboom ?

A Realtek driver would be more likely to have an R at the
beginning of the driver name. A SigmaTel driver file might
begin with "st" but they generally don't bother including
the word "driver" in their files. So I'm guessing you've installed
Sound Tap, and now there is a problem. Sound Tap may be attempting
to access the Windows Registry, trying to find the registration
key purchased for Sound Tap.

Paul

Thanks, Paul. I'll investigate that, as I do have some NCH software
installed.

 

[banjoistic]

http://www.vistax64.com/crashes-debugging/282313-ntoskrnl-fix-2.html

Description: stdriver.sys
Company: NCH Software

Possibly, "sound tap" program ? Inserts a shim in the audio stack and
kaboom ?


Paul

I tried removing stdriver64.sys, and the problem goes away. However, I
then have no audio devices. I tried installing Windows' own audio
driver, but that didn't work. I put stdriver64.sys back, and sound
works, but the original problem also is back. So, back to square one.
- Gary

 

[Paul]

I tried removing stdriver64.sys, and the problem goes away. However, I
then have no audio devices. I tried installing Windows' own audio
driver, but that didn't work. I put stdriver64.sys back, and sound
works, but the original problem also is back. So, back to square one.
- Gary

But this is caused by what Sound Tap has done to your audio protocol stack.
NCH should provide a proper uninstaller, that puts things back the way they
were.

Any software that places a "shim" between two other items in the stack,
will "break" it if the shim is removed improperly. The software must be
removed in such a way, that an upper item in the stack, talks directly
to a lower item. In the center case, the upper item tried to talk to "---"
but nobody is home. The non-existent shim, prevents the middle case from
working. The right-most case, is how the stack looked, before the software
with the shim was used. So there is more to cleaning up the mess, than
just deleting "stdriver.sys". Manually removing software, is fraught with
perils. (Note - this diagram is a generic concept of "shims". I don't
know the details of how it works for audio or storage in detail.)

Working Broken Original

upper upper upper
shim --- lower
lower lower

I've had this problem before. I had two audio cards, and each card had a
driver. One driver package, damaged a registry entry the other package needed.
And neither driver repaired the entry. I could detect what was happening,
with a Sysinternals program (watching for attempts to read the registry).
I had to go through about 100,000 log entries to find the thing that
was actually upsetting it and breaking working audio. (You could see the
driver attempting to access a non-existent registry key. I added the
key to the registry.)

If a software designer makes something that messes up the registry, or
adds filter drivers to a stack, they should clean up the mess with their
uninstaller later.

In some cases, using System Restore, to a point in time before the product
was installed, might fix it. But if you installed Sound Tap a long time
ago, that wouldn't be a viable option. System Restore is good for cases
where you noticed a problem happening a day or two after the bad software
was installed.

Paul

 

[banjoistic]

But this is caused by what Sound Tap has done to your audio protocol stack.
NCH should provide a proper uninstaller, that puts things back the way they
were.

Any software that places a "shim" between two other items in the stack,
will "break" it if the shim is removed improperly. The software must be
removed in such a way, that an upper item in the stack, talks directly
to a lower item. In the center case, the upper item tried to talk to "---"
but nobody is home. The non-existent shim, prevents the middle case from
working. The right-most case, is how the stack looked, before the software
with the shim was used. So there is more to cleaning up the mess, than
just deleting "stdriver.sys". Manually removing software, is fraught with
perils. (Note - this diagram is a generic concept of "shims". I don't
know the details of how it works for audio or storage in detail.)

Paul

Thanks. I guess I've got more work to do.

 

[vortch]

I'm using Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Service Pack 1. After coming
out of sleep mode, the computer always gets a blue screen displaying a
0x00000073 error, referring to stdriver64.sys. This problem seems to
have started after SP1, but I'm not sure there's a correlation. Any ideas?

Maybe stdriver64.sys accesses components of the virtual storport
miniport driver.

This was necessary for me after installing SP1;
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2320550

It certainly seems unrelated, but ya never know till ya try.

 

[banjoistic]

Maybe stdriver64.sys accesses components of the virtual storport
miniport driver.

This was necessary for me after installing SP1;
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2320550

It certainly seems unrelated, but ya never know till ya try.

I installed updated AMD chipset driver for my motherboard, and it seems
to have done the trick. Thanks for your suggestion, though.
- Gary

 

[banjoistic]

But this is caused by what Sound Tap has done to your audio protocol stack.
NCH should provide a proper uninstaller, that puts things back the way they
were.

Any software that places a "shim" between two other items in the stack,
will "break" it if the shim is removed improperly. The software must be
removed in such a way, that an upper item in the stack, talks directly
to a lower item. In the center case, the upper item tried to talk to "---"
but nobody is home. The non-existent shim, prevents the middle case from
working. The right-most case, is how the stack looked, before the software
with the shim was used. So there is more to cleaning up the mess, than
just deleting "stdriver.sys". Manually removing software, is fraught with
perils. (Note - this diagram is a generic concept of "shims". I don't
know the details of how it works for audio or storage in detail.)

Paul

I installed updated drivers for the AMD chipset, and that seems to have
worked. Thanks for your suggestions, though. They encouraged me to dig
deeper.
- Gary

 

[tplp02]

BSOD Issue with stdriver64.sys

Here is the fix: the stdriver64.sys is installed by NCH Software. You may not even know it is on your system as it is downloaded and installed with several different sound recording programs. Anyway, go to www.nch.com.au/soundtap/index.html and download the SoundTap Program. It is a small file and it's free... you are going to be uninstalling it anyway. Install the program ignoring ANY errors you may encounter. DO NOT reboot the system. Now, go into control panel and Add Remove Programs or Programs and features and uninstall the SoundTap Program, again ignoring any errors. After it is uninstalled, then reboot the machine. After you reboot, you will see that the stdriver64 (or 32) is no longer in your Windows/system32/drivers folder. This will NOT AFFECT your sound card as it does when you remove or rename the stdriver64.sys file. Installing the program and uninstalling it sets the correct registry setting allowing removal of the file without affecting your system sound. Next you need to go to your registry...go to Start...Run and type "regedit" (without quotes) ensure that your registry is collapsed so you see five "HKEYS"...now just click on and highlight "Computer"...then go to the top and click Edit...then FIND. Type in NCH Software and click "Find Next" Delete the first and any folder that says NCH in it...using the F3 key...go to the next found folder and delete them all. Ensure you delete the entire folder on the left tree and not just the individual keys within the folder. You will probably find 3 to 4 folders....delete all. Again reboot and your BSOD will be solved as it relates to stdriver64.sys.

 

[broyalty1]

broyalty1

I removed Video Capture program that came with NCH Video Pad Video Editor program and have experienced no BSOD after sleep mode since. When my computer would go to BSOD I never could get to the screen fast enough to read the info before it automatically started shutting down. My computer actually froze on that page and was able to see that the stdriver.exe was causing a problem. Looks like the editor program still works and removal of the program had no effect on my computer sound functions.

 

[TedW]

I too had this problem after installing Debut. BSODs several times a week for 6 months. After trying several solutions eventually ended up this week with no sound either and found tplp02's solution

It is worth pointing out though that the Registry should be saved before editing and that I found several dozen entries for NCH Software rather than 3 or 4.

Where NCH Software appears in list of all installed software then just the NCH Software entries should be deleted and not the entire folder.

 

[TD47]

Brilliant forum - found my exact problem here. It WAS the NCH "soundtap" application (as mentioned in this thread), that fouled up the sound driver, and whenever I put in a DVD to play via Cyberlink Powerdvd V9 player, it would create the blue-screen with a stop 50 during the first second of attempted output. I would have spent a lot more time analysing this without the forum, so thanks to all who took the time to document the issue. I did not need this application in the end, as I used an input from the AMP/Receiver directly to the Honestech Muzbox for recording the local FM or Internet Radio stuff for personal use.