BLue screens... MS blames SATA IDE drivers

PC_kicking_my_butt · #1 (**permalink**) 18-03-08, 05:51 AM

I have problems! Just reinstalled everything and now my PC hates me. Several times a day my PC stops working, reboots itself with a blue screen flashing by (something with a physical memory dump). When I power back up it reports it recovered from seriouse error. I report it to MicroSoft and it typically reports the problem caused from bad SATA IDE drivers.

Now, I try to install the latest pack of drivers and the SATA IDE portion will not install. Everytime it shuts my PC down (same blue screen). I've installed the other 3 of the 4 pack, and now I try to install the SATA IDE (last one) and it just hangs and never installs (but says it is installing).

I seem to be more stable with the 3 of 4 drivers updated. How can I get the last one installed? Or do I need it?
The disc that came with the PC does not have a driver that says it's a SATA IDE driver, it only has the SATA RAID drivers. When I log onto ASUS website they don't show a SATA IDE drivers either.

Motherboard is ASUS A8V-E SE VIA chipset K8T890
AMD Opteron Duo core 2.0G
Nvidia 7600GT video
1G Balistix RAM

Mr. Chris · #2 (**permalink**) 19-03-08, 01:34 AM

First let's stop the automatic rebooting so you can see what STOP: error it is. Press the Windows key and "pause/break" key. This brings up System Properties. Go to Advanced tab. Startup and Recovery, Settings. Un check Automatically Restart.

Now next time it blue screens on you it will halt and display the "STOP:........." error code. Write down the numbers and letters, also what it says like "page fault in non paged area" or something like that.

Now, you don't even say if you have one hard drive or two, IDE or SATA, running RAID or not. If you have an IDE drive, the IDE drivers are already in XP. If you have a single SATA drive, you don't need drivers. Only if you have RAID will you need special SATA drivers. The reason the latest driver pack doesn't install the SATA/ IDE drivers is you already have the latest.

I'm thinking this is either a RAM problem, like not getting enough RAM voltage or timings not set according to Crucial's specs; or it's a power supply problem. What is the size and maker of your PSU?

When you say you "just reinstalled everything" do you mean just Windows (and is this XP with Service Pack 2?) or did you install new components like RAM or video card too? Chris.

PC_kicking_my_butt · #3 (**permalink**) 19-03-08, 04:49 AM

Thanks for the reply Chis.

I turned off the auto restart as you suggested.
I have a single SATA hard drive.
Power supply is a 500W Rosewill RP500-2 ATX12V v2.01
I reinstalled all the software, no hardware changes. Yes it's XP with SP2.
I reinstalled because I had a "bad" copy of XP and didn't know it and Windows updates didn't like it. So I bought a good original one to fix it.

This morning when my wife booted up the PC it re-booted with blue screen instantly, right after the Asus splash screen. Didn't even get into Windows.
Other problems I didn't mention (should have) is out of the blue different programs stop working. Get an error message on the screen that says "outlook Express encountered a problem and has to shut down, sorry for the inconvenience".
This has happened with several different programs. Such as IE, Outlook Express, Outlook, explorer (while using search tool) and others. Also gotten a couple "generic Host Process for Win32" had to be shut down errors.
What's "generic Host Process for Win32"?

I'll check the specs on the RAM against my settings. Please let me know if you have any other suggestions!

Thanks, Roy

Midniteoyl · #4 (**permalink**) 19-03-08, 06:43 PM

Quote:

it re-booted with blue screen instantly, right after the Asus splash screen

Sounds more like a hardware problem as Chris mentioned..

However, did you format and install or repair install?

PC_kicking_my_butt · #5 (**permalink**) 19-03-08, 10:59 PM

Format and installed from scratch. I checked DRAM settings and they are set to auto detect, but don't match the factory spec of the memory. I'm going to try swapping memory with my kids PC tonight.

cas · #6 (**permalink**) 19-03-08, 11:58 PM

Is the temp on the processor at it's appropriate range? Go into hardware monitor or health status and take a look at it

If the temp are fine, i would suggest running memtest which is a utility mean for testing ram.

PC_kicking_my_butt · #7 (**permalink**) 23-03-08, 06:04 AM

Problem found... Bad memory stick. Thanks for the help!

Midniteoyl · #8 (**permalink**) 23-03-08, 08:50 PM

Glad you found it...