W 7 crashes

J

Jeff

I have Windows 7 home premium 64 bit, 4GB RAM, which has been stable for
months. Then, in the past week I've had 2 (maybe 3) crashes, with a blue
screen notifying me that it was preparing a crash dump. When it restarts
W7 it asks me if I want it to search for a solution and though I say
yes, the popup disappears and nothing happens.

The first crash was such a rare event I just ignored it, but now I am
concerned. How does one explore the reason for repeated crashes?

Advice appreciated.

Jeff
 
P

Paul

I have Windows 7 home premium 64 bit, 4GB RAM, which has been stable for
months. Then, in the past week I've had 2 (maybe 3) crashes, with a blue
screen notifying me that it was preparing a crash dump. When it restarts
W7 it asks me if I want it to search for a solution and though I say
yes, the popup disappears and nothing happens.

The first crash was such a rare event I just ignored it, but now I am
concerned. How does one explore the reason for repeated crashes?

Advice appreciated.

Jeff
Click to expand...
memtest86+ downloads, about half way down this page.

http://www.memtest.org/

RAM can fail, out of the blue. I pulled a computer out
of storage the other day, fired it up, and two of
three RAM sticks were defective. There were good
when the computer was put in storage.

I would carry out a RAM test, for at least one pass,
before doing any further diagnostic or investigation
work.

*******

There are various tools for reading minidump files.
So first you'd want to locate where any dump files
were put, and then look for a tool to read them.
The dumping program is tiny - I think the "dumpchk"
I used to use was only 5KB or so. Look for files
ending in .dmp . I don't know what a complete
dump would look like, if that's what was generated.

dumpchk.exe
Windows 2000 Dump File Verifier
5,120 bytes

I got that tool from a WindowsXPSupportTools download.
Maybe there is something more recent.

I've never had a blue screen in Windows 7, so don't have
any crash dump material to work with. I suppose, using
one of the Sysinternal tools, I could artificially
create a crash dump and work with that.

HTH,
Paul
 
A

Ant

memtest86+ downloads, about half way down this page.

http://www.memtest.org/

RAM can fail, out of the blue. I pulled a computer out
of storage the other day, fired it up, and two of
three RAM sticks were defective. There were good
when the computer was put in storage.

I would carry out a RAM test, for at least one pass,
before doing any further diagnostic or investigation
work.

*******

There are various tools for reading minidump files.
So first you'd want to locate where any dump files
were put, and then look for a tool to read them.
The dumping program is tiny - I think the "dumpchk"
I used to use was only 5KB or so. Look for files
ending in .dmp . I don't know what a complete
dump would look like, if that's what was generated.

dumpchk.exe
Windows 2000 Dump File Verifier
5,120 bytes

I got that tool from a WindowsXPSupportTools download.
Maybe there is something more recent.

I've never had a blue screen in Windows 7, so don't have
any crash dump material to work with. I suppose, using
one of the Sysinternal tools, I could artificially
create a crash dump and work with that.
Click to expand...
WinDbg would be better if the user knows computers well:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/default.mspx ... It can
be very technical though. :(
--
"He who dislikes aardvarks was an ant in his former life." --unknown
/\___/\ Ant @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
/ /\ /\ \ Ant's Quality Foraged Links: http://aqfl.net
| |o o| |
\ _ / If crediting, then use Ant nickname and AQFL URL/link.
( ) If e-mailing, then axe ANT from its address if needed.
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on this computer.
 
A

Ant

I have Windows 7 home premium 64 bit, 4GB RAM, which has been stable for
months. Then, in the past week I've had 2 (maybe 3) crashes, with a blue
screen notifying me that it was preparing a crash dump. When it restarts
W7 it asks me if I want it to search for a solution and though I say
yes, the popup disappears and nothing happens.

The first crash was such a rare event I just ignored it, but now I am
concerned. How does one explore the reason for repeated crashes?
Click to expand...
Paul, what errors do the blue screens say (take a digital camera of them
if you have to)? Be sure to tell W7 not to autoreboot after the blue
screens.
--
"He who dislikes aardvarks was an ant in his former life." --unknown
/\___/\ Ant @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
/ /\ /\ \ Ant's Quality Foraged Links: http://aqfl.net
| |o o| |
\ _ / If crediting, then use Ant nickname and AQFL URL/link.
( ) If e-mailing, then axe ANT from its address if needed.
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on this computer.
 
J

Jeff

Paul, what errors do the blue screens say (take a digital camera of them
if you have to)? Be sure to tell W7 not to autoreboot after the blue
screens.
Click to expand...
I will take a digital camera picture the next time it happens.

What should I do to tell W7 not to reboot after the blue screens? I do
not remember exactly if I told it to restart or if it did it on its own.

Thanks for helping. Will do the memtest Paul suggested first. Hope I do
not need to go to DUMPCHK or WinDbg.
 
J

Jeff

memtest86+ downloads, about half way down this page.

http://www.memtest.org/

RAM can fail, out of the blue. I pulled a computer out
of storage the other day, fired it up, and two of
three RAM sticks were defective. There were good
when the computer was put in storage.

I would carry out a RAM test, for at least one pass,
before doing any further diagnostic or investigation
work.

*******

There are various tools for reading minidump files.
So first you'd want to locate where any dump files
were put, and then look for a tool to read them.
The dumping program is tiny - I think the "dumpchk"
I used to use was only 5KB or so. Look for files
ending in .dmp . I don't know what a complete
dump would look like, if that's what was generated.

dumpchk.exe
Windows 2000 Dump File Verifier
5,120 bytes

I got that tool from a WindowsXPSupportTools download.
Maybe there is something more recent.

I've never had a blue screen in Windows 7, so don't have
any crash dump material to work with. I suppose, using
one of the Sysinternal tools, I could artificially
create a crash dump and work with that.

HTH,
Paul
Click to expand...
Thank you. Will do the memchk.
 
U

Unk

I will take a digital camera picture the next time it happens.

What should I do to tell W7 not to reboot after the blue screens? I do
not remember exactly if I told it to restart or if it did it on its own.

Thanks for helping. Will do the memtest Paul suggested first. Hope I do
not need to go to DUMPCHK or WinDbg.
Click to expand...
Not to reboot:

Right-click My Computer, Properties, Advanced System Settings, Advanced Tab, "Startup and
Recovery" Settings button, and un-check "Automatically Restart", click OK, Apply, OK

While you're at it, Right-click My Compute again, select "Manage", expand "Event Viewer", and
"Windows Logs", click "System" and see if there are any "disk" errors.

BSOD can be caused by driver problems, hard drive problems, memory problems and even overheating
problems. The above "System" and ""Application" logs can help pinpoint the cause.

Unk
 
J

Jeff

memtest86+ downloads, about half way down this page.

http://www.memtest.org/

RAM can fail, out of the blue. I pulled a computer out
of storage the other day, fired it up, and two of
three RAM sticks were defective. There were good
when the computer was put in storage.

I would carry out a RAM test, for at least one pass,
before doing any further diagnostic or investigation
work.

*******

There are various tools for reading minidump files.
So first you'd want to locate where any dump files
were put, and then look for a tool to read them.
The dumping program is tiny - I think the "dumpchk"
I used to use was only 5KB or so. Look for files
ending in .dmp . I don't know what a complete
dump would look like, if that's what was generated.

dumpchk.exe
Windows 2000 Dump File Verifier
5,120 bytes

I got that tool from a WindowsXPSupportTools download.
Maybe there is something more recent.

I've never had a blue screen in Windows 7, so don't have
any crash dump material to work with. I suppose, using
one of the Sysinternal tools, I could artificially
create a crash dump and work with that.

HTH,
Paul
Click to expand...
Reporting back.
Ran memtest 4.0 from a CD. Turns out I have 6GB (not 4) installed.
(Forgot that and I believe W7 really only uses 4 anyway).
No errors found.

So I guess I need to go to the next steps.

In the past couple of weeks I have been installing/uninstalling several
free video editing programs. Although I have a virus checker (Avast) and
ran virus check and malware checks relatively recently, I wonder if one
of these install/uninstalls messed things up. I'm mentioning it in case
that is meaningful.

I searched my W7 system partition for .dmp files and found a whole
bunch. Most are program related ones with many from vstudio, a video
editing program I tried recently. Others were Firefox and Foxit related
but much older.

One is c:\Users\myname\AppData\Local\Temp\Crash.dmp dated 6/23/11

Sorted by last modified, the 3 most recent all ones, created same time
today are:
c:\Users\All
Users\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQue\Kernel_0_0_cab_11d57e53\numbers..dmp

c:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQue\Kernel_0_0_cab_11d57e53\numbers..dmp

C;\Windows\Memory.dmp

What should I do next?
 
J

Jeff

Not to reboot:

Right-click My Computer, Properties, Advanced System Settings, Advanced Tab, "Startup and
Recovery" Settings button, and un-check "Automatically Restart", click OK, Apply, OK

While you're at it, Right-click My Compute again, select "Manage", expand "Event Viewer", and
"Windows Logs", click "System" and see if there are any "disk" errors.

BSOD can be caused by driver problems, hard drive problems, memory problems and even overheating
problems. The above "System" and ""Application" logs can help pinpoint the cause.

Unk
Click to expand...
Thank you.

Stopped the automatic restart and noticed that the kernel memory dump is
listed as
%SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP

Checked
""Windows Logs", click "System" and see if there are any "disk" errors".
All it had was benign informational items about the Service Control
Manager getting started.

Checked
""Windows Logs", click "Applications""
and only found 2 warnings, both for Google update which I know I am
blocking.

"BSOD can be caused by driver problems"
The only driver change I did was to install a W7 driver for the EasyCAP
USB device. Wonder if that might be the cause. Any way to find out
without uninstalling it?
http://www.amazon.com/EasyCAP-DC60-Creator-Capture-High-quality/dp/B002H3BSCM
I forget where I got the W7 64 bit drivers.

I'll check my drives but I think they will be fine too.

What else should I do, and thanks for all the expert help.

Jeff
 
P

Paul

Reporting back.
Ran memtest 4.0 from a CD. Turns out I have 6GB (not 4) installed.
(Forgot that and I believe W7 really only uses 4 anyway).
No errors found.

So I guess I need to go to the next steps.

In the past couple of weeks I have been installing/uninstalling several
free video editing programs. Although I have a virus checker (Avast) and
ran virus check and malware checks relatively recently, I wonder if one
of these install/uninstalls messed things up. I'm mentioning it in case
that is meaningful.

I searched my W7 system partition for .dmp files and found a whole
bunch. Most are program related ones with many from vstudio, a video
editing program I tried recently. Others were Firefox and Foxit related
but much older.

One is c:\Users\myname\AppData\Local\Temp\Crash.dmp dated 6/23/11

Sorted by last modified, the 3 most recent all ones, created same time
today are:
c:\Users\All
Users\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQue\Kernel_0_0_cab_11d57e53\numbers..dmp

c:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQue\Kernel_0_0_cab_11d57e53\numbers..dmp


C;\Windows\Memory.dmp

What should I do next?
Click to expand...
I would next run "Unk"'s suggestion, of disabling automatic restarts.
If you get a blue screen, then you may get the name of a driver or the
like, without doing any additional work.

I haven't investigated .dmp analysis on Windows 7, and while I assume
the same dmp format is used and the old tools work, I don't know that
for sure.

You can see an example of a report here from Windows 7...

http://al.howardknight.net/msgid.cgi?ID=131033225200

and a tool I ran into at the time (someone mentioned it) was this:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

I haven't tried it.

You can always take a screen snapshot, and upload the picture
to a photo sharing site, then provide a link to the picture,
to share what you've discovered without having to type it
all in.

What you're looking for, is things like "driver name" or
other de-stabilizing influence. If the crashes are random
and all over the place (many affected softwares), then
even though you passed memtest, the RAM might still be
bad. Memtest cannot test below 640K for example. Neither,
does it stress the hardware very well. So it isn't considered
an "acceptance" test. It's merely to weed out the
"easy to see" problems.

Paul
 
P

Paul

HoneyMonster said:
BSODs are an integral part of the OS. You cannot remove them.
Click to expand...
Yes, but you're a known troll. Why would anyone care
what you think ?

Here's something for you to think about. Your fine
Linux OS has OOM. Frequently, it kills the Window Manager
when triggered, leading to a loss of control of the computer.
Rather than kill the program or task causing the stress
in the first place.

So how does that make your crappy OS "better" ? What
good is a computer, to the average user, where the
interface is dead ?

What good is a Linux machine, where the keyboard and mouse
stop working, as a side effect of other problems ? I've
had that happen a few times, and without that (even it if
was set up to work), control-alt-backspace doesn't work.
I can't even use control-alt-F1 to reach a console.

Control-alt-backspace
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1108971

Control-alt-F1
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081120063616AAohdo7

Why not return to your fanboi hutch, and work on it ?
Because your Linux surely needs work.

Now, go away...

Paul
 
H

HoneyMonster

Your fine Linux OS has OOM.
Click to expand...
This is a genuine question: What is OOM? The only thing I can think of is
out of memory. Is that what you are referring to, or something else?
 
Y

Yousuf Khan

I have Windows 7 home premium 64 bit, 4GB RAM, which has been stable for
months. Then, in the past week I've had 2 (maybe 3) crashes, with a blue
screen notifying me that it was preparing a crash dump. When it restarts
W7 it asks me if I want it to search for a solution and though I say
yes, the popup disappears and nothing happens.

The first crash was such a rare event I just ignored it, but now I am
concerned. How does one explore the reason for repeated crashes?

Advice appreciated.
Click to expand...
Download the Bluescreenview program:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

It'll point to where the crash occurred. If it seems like the crash
could be memory-related, then run the Memtest86+ to check for memory errors:

Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool
http://www.memtest.org/

But usually it's not related to memory issues, just hardware or device
driver issues.

Yousuf Khan
 
J

Jeff

I would next run "Unk"'s suggestion, of disabling automatic restarts.
If you get a blue screen, then you may get the name of a driver or the
like, without doing any additional work.

I haven't investigated .dmp analysis on Windows 7, and while I assume
the same dmp format is used and the old tools work, I don't know that
for sure.

You can see an example of a report here from Windows 7...

http://al.howardknight.net/msgid.cgi?ID=131033225200

and a tool I ran into at the time (someone mentioned it) was this:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

I haven't tried it.

You can always take a screen snapshot, and upload the picture
to a photo sharing site, then provide a link to the picture,
to share what you've discovered without having to type it
all in.

What you're looking for, is things like "driver name" or
other de-stabilizing influence. If the crashes are random
and all over the place (many affected softwares), then
even though you passed memtest, the RAM might still be
bad. Memtest cannot test below 640K for example. Neither,
does it stress the hardware very well. So it isn't considered
an "acceptance" test. It's merely to weed out the
"easy to see" problems.

Paul
Click to expand...
Thanks. I disabled automatic restarts and will wait for the next BSOD.
 
P

Paul

HoneyMonster said:
This is a genuine question: What is OOM? The only thing I can think of is
out of memory. Is that what you are referring to, or something else?
Click to expand...
http://linux-mm.org/OOM_Killer

"It is the job of the linux 'oom killer' to sacrifice one or more
processes in order to free up memory for the system when all else
fails. It will also kill any process sharing the same mm_struct as
the selected process, for obvious reasons. Any particular process
leader may be immunized against the oom killer if the value of its
/proc/<pid>/oomadj is set to the constant OOM_DISABLE (currently
defined as -17).

The function which does the actual scoring of a process in the
effort to find the best candidate for elimination is called badness(),
which results from the following call chain:"

Is this what a naive user wants to read about ?

Paul
 
C

Char Jackson

Thanks. I disabled automatic restarts and will wait for the next BSOD.
Click to expand...
You wouldn't have to wait if only you'd use Nirsoft's BlueScreenView,
as suggested.
 
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