Now we have a new issue. I took out the bad RAM stick and took it back to the computer store for an exchange (since it has a lifetime warranty) and they tested it with both Memtest and Windows Memory Diagnostic, and no errors came up. The RAM stick apparently tested clean. So I don't know what is going on now. I've attached more of the test results from both the Windows and Memtest tests. Does that tell you anything? What should I do now?

You have too many errors there. Test5 shows faulty RAM up straight away usually. If you still have the RAM stick, change it to a different bank, keep only the one you took out in and remove the other RAM sticks and run Memtest86 with it.

It seems your one bank is faulty, if you get a repeat of the stores results.

I've just recovered from a similar problem - brand new computer and all hardware was perfect. After doing everything I found out that the motherboard was faulty. You're 2-3 steps away from that right now.

This situation is really getting illogical: I have now rotated the 4 sticks of RAM in order to confirm that the memory bank/socket is bad and a Windows Mem test I ran all night came back without errors. I have consulted the book "Upgrading and Repairing PCs" by Scott Muller

He says "Often simply removing and replacing memory can resolve problems because of the self-cleaning action between the module and the socket during removal and installation." Maybe that was my problem?

That sounds too good to be true, so I am going to run another MemTest86 and see how that goes and then run the PC for a while and see if the BSOD's come back.

Originally Posted by boe377

This situation is really getting illogical: I have now rotated the 4 sticks of RAM in order to confirm that the memory bank/socket is bad and a Windows Mem test I ran all night came back without errors. I have consulted the book "Upgrading and Repairing PCs" by Scott Muller

He says "Often simply removing and replacing memory can resolve problems because of the self-cleaning action between the module and the socket during removal and installation." Maybe that was my problem?

That sounds too good to be true, so I am going to run another MemTest86 and see how that goes and then run the PC for a while and see if the BSOD's come back.

Can do but I doubt this. Too many errors I'm afraid and your BSoD are very explicit.
Like I said, take the (apparently) faulty RAM stick out that I mentioned before was in bank 1 (the apparently faulty & not the others) and then run Memtest86. Leave the Memtest86 to run whiel nothing is installed in the faulty bank as teh previous tests showed. If all shows up fine on the remaining sticks, connect the HDD onto it without the faulty RAM being installed. See how that goes.

After this is achieved we can test more with the RAM thats faulty or not.

I think I did what you suggested. I have run MemTest with and without the allegedly faulty RAM stick in and out, and the allegedly bad socket occupied and not occupied. For the final test, I had all RAM (4 sticks) installed in all sockets (4 sockets) and ran the test for almost 5 hours. The results are attached. What should I do next? I assume I should probably just run the computer as normal and see if I get any BSODs.

If you get no errors while running in any configuration, then yes, try leaving them all in now and connecting your hard-drive to boot up or finish the repair install if thats what you were in the middle of. It should take you back to the same screen or you can try it all over again by and it will delete what was added but interrupted the last time.

It didn't take long to get a BSOD: I got one when I was shutting down the computer. A photo of the BSOD is attached. This BSOD is one I have gotten before and is somewhat strange in that it doesn't list anything at the top, such as KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED, or something else. The BSOD message is the standard stuff, and then a stop error of 0x0000008E is listed. This website says the 8E error is "nearly always a hardware compatibility issue (which sometimes means a driver issue or a need for a BIOS upgrade)."

The debuglog (attached) says that this is a very common bugcheck and that "usually the exception address pinpoints the driver/functon that caused the problem. Always not this address as well as the link date of the driver/image that contains this address." But that is all over my head, so can you take a look at this debuglog and see if there is anything relevant in there? Thanks.

Also attached as a pdf file is the MS online crash analysis provided with my error reporting function, which I have enabled. This analysis is essentially worthless as near as I can tell, but I have sent it along just in case.

Having reviewed this thread I would suspect software more than hardware.

If the removal of both Zone Alarm and AVG still results in errors I would suggest running at least a Repair Install of XP as seen here:

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XP...install.htm#RI

If the errors persist after a Repair install I would run the appropriate diagnostic on your hard drive as listed on the manufacturer's web site.




.

Microsoft couldn't find the cause of the error because its so generic.


The minidump shows this is what caused the BSoD: uphcleanhlp.sys

Thats this product from MS: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

I don't reckon a all that it should cause a BSoD unless as Jephree is thinking, that your OS is corrupt.

You are correct in that 0x8E is usually device drivers, hardware compatibility for which a BIOS update can resolve or hardware corruption.

I'm quite stumped. At this stage I'll have a look around and see what I can lookup, but there aren't many options left now. After that once, did you get any other BSoD's?

I suggest again that you run the System File Checker to see you have all the Windows files needed and in healthy condition.

Do this by: Start>Run: type sfc /scannow exactly as I've typed with the space. Hit enter.

Wait for it to finish. If it asks you for the XP CD, put it inside the drive.

After this has finished, have Windows Updates running on Automatic as many updates will be required by you that have been wiped clean.

After this, if the situation persists, uninstall AVG and Zonealarm completely and then see what happens.

Sorry for the late reply. Been busy with little time even though my computers have been on 24/7 and logged on.

Kazna3: Thanks for the latest minidump analysis. I'm not sure how that MS User Profile Hive Cleanup Service got involved with my system: I may have installed it at some point, or as part of some package. But in any event, that was the only BSOD I have gotten since rotating the memory sticks. I haven't been on the computer as much as usual, but so far so good.

You mention a BIOS update. My ASUS mobo has had several BIOS updates issued. Some time ago, I called ASUS for help in updating the BIOS and they told me not to do it unless I was having the specific problem adressed by the update. Since I wasn't having a problem then, I didn't update the BIOS.

So I thought I would go back to the ASUS BIOS updates page and see what updates were there now. What I found is attached as a pdf file. There are several BIOS updates, and the one for 2005/05/06 mentions a modification to the DVMT rule to limit the maximum shared memory to 128MB. What that means, I have no idea, but it does mention memory. Which I have had problems with. This is at the bottom of page 1 of the attached pdf file.

After looking at these various BIOS updates, do you think I should update the BIOS? And if I do, should I just do the latest update or do I need to do each one in sequence? Thanks.