Windows BSOD every 5 minutes

I'm going fing crazy with my laptop. Something has happened that has resulted in me getting the windows Blue Screen of Death any time I do something processor or memory intensive (play games, run 5 bittorrents at once, defrag).

I need help. People say that it's a drivers issue. Well, the computer didn't do this for the last 3 months that I've had it. I didn't add any new hardware. I reformatted the harddrive and the issue still remains just as frequent, if not worse. This would make me think the problem is hardware related. I just want to pinpoint the problem so I can send it to the manufacturor and tell them I have proof that it needs fixing.

All my windows updates are up to date. I ran some program, memcheck86 or something like that. It said my RAM was fine. I ran windows scandisk, it found no errors.

Help :(

What are the system specs? It could be that your processor is overheating.
What's the message on the BSOD; often with processor issues it will be something like "Disk write error."

Cosmic radiation.

I just had this problem with my video card. I would get either a BlueSOD death or a BlackSOD after the card overheated. Laptops are hard to open and probably void the warranty if you do. Your safest bet is probably to have someone look at it.

Heat could be the problem. Some laptops are notorious for cooling issues that could easily cause hardware to become somewhat unstable.

*reads Yam's post*
Yeah, exactly.

It's a AMD 3400 64 bit processor with 512 RAM and a Radeon 9600 with 64MB of video mem.

Is there some program I can download to monitor the temp inside the computer? I have all the latest video card drivers, also.

I really don't think it is the temp, cause I'm blocked the fan before unintentionally and it just shut off as if it lost power. These errors quickly flash a blue screen (far to fast for me to read anything) and restart the computer. When windows restarts, it says "Windows has recovered from a serious error". When I google the specific error number, I get no results. When I look for the minidump file that it creates, it's not there. :(

Best thing to do is get some benchmark/diagnostic software to test the graphics card, CPU and memory. There's a couple I can think of, which are. Burn In Test and PC Mark. Links below for each. Just stress the hell out of the component's and see what causes the system to fall over.

BurnIn Test : http://www.passmark.com/ftp/bitpro.exe
PC Mark : http://www.futuremark.com/download/?pcmark04.shtml

I use Motherboard Monitor to check the temperature of various components in my box. Download it from here.
Hope that helps. :p

Most AMDs will lock up at about 75°C, though I've had my Intel running hotter without locking up. o_O

Right click on "My Computer", properties -> advanced -> startup and recovery > settings -> uncheck "automatically restart", and you'll have time to read what is causing the BSOD.

Motherboard Monitor, which o_O suggested, should let you see some of the temperature info, and might be able to log it so you can check if it suddenly went high before a BSOD.

I had the blue-screen-insta-shutdown error before, long ago. It was due to either a software firewall program or a bad device driver, from what I could figure out. It gave me IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL on the blue screen. Point being, even being able to read the error message might not help too much, because God only knows what that means.

Doesn't that mean two different devices are conflicting on the same ICQ (or whatever the 3 letters are) number?

According to MS:

[qq]# Stop 0xA message might occur after installing a faulty device driver, system service, or firmware. If a Stop message lists a driver by name, disable, remove, or roll back the driver to correct the problem. If disabling or removing drivers resolves the issues, contact the manufacturer about a possible update. Using updated software is especially important for multimedia applications, antivirus scanners, and CD mastering tools.
# A Stop 0xA message might also be due to failing or defective hardware. If a Stop message points to a category of devices (video or disk adapters, for example), try removing or replacing the hardware to determine if it is causing the problem.
# If you encounter a Stop 0xA message while upgrading to Windows XP Professional, the problem might be due to an incompatible driver, system service, virus scanner, or backup. To avoid problems while upgrading, simplify your hardware configuration and remove all third-party device drivers and system services (including virus scanners) prior to running setup. After you have successfully installed Windows XP Professional, contact the hardware manufacturer to obtain compatible updates. For more information about simplifying your system for troubleshooting purposes, see " Troubleshooting Concepts and Strategies" and "Troubleshooting Startup" in this book.[/qq]

So basically, either faulty hardware, or faulty software. That really narrows it down. At least you know it's not the toaster doing it.

You can always go into the BIOS after it blue screens you and check the CPU and mobo temp. I didn't even know they made the AMD 64 bit for laptops. Those things must run incredibly hot.

Actually, no, unless you ask for something requiring long and intense (3D video game, compiling), the fan almost never turns itself on (on mine that is), and the temperature isn't that bad at all.

Thanks, I've downloaded those 3 programs and I'll run them asap.

BTW, it doesn't run too hot from my point of view. The fan doesn't turn on unless, like Endless said, I'm doing something very intense.

Okay, a few new things:

The Motherboard Monitor consistently reads the system at 0 degrees, which is clearly wrong.

BurnInTest runs with no problems. All cycles complete error free.

PCMark4 fails right away. It says File Compression: Init Failed. Then it says File Decompression: Init Failed. Then I get a windows runtime error.

New update:

I got the BSOD again, this time I enabled it to stay instead of quickly restarting.

Here is what it said:

It said the error was with MEMORY_MANAGEMENT

and that if I keep getting the error I should disable shadowing or caching in my bios options.

Could you give the other parameters displayed? It should say 0x0000001A MEMORY_MANAGEMENT [parameter 1] [parameter 2] [parameter 3] [parameter 4] here, which gives a bit more detailed information about what caused it.

Also, try running http://www.memtest86.com/ several times (overnight for example), to check if it's coming from your ram.

I got 3 more BSOD recently and there errors were not MEMORY_MANAGEMENT... reguardless, I'll write down the parameters when it happens again.

Is the laptop a Compaq? I've been hearing lots of complaints from Compaq laptop owners with hardware failures, usually the CPU overheating.

If so, don't bother to send it back to Compaq. They just put it on a shelf for a month, ship it back to you exactly the same way you sent it to them, and say that it's fixed. If your laptop is a compaq, I counsel taking your frustrations out on it with a shotgun and then go out and buy a good laptop, such as a Toshiba.

It's an "emachines", which I'm sure is equally or more crappy. They're super cheap for decent specs. But they commonly have hardware failures. I bought the extended warrenty on it, and they have a no lemon policy. 4 repairs and I get a different laptop.

Funny thing is, I already have 3 things that need repair: This hardware problem, a broken hinge holding the lcd screen (just google "emachines laptop screen" and you'll see that this is a common problem), and a broken power input (you have to bend the cord every which way to get it to realize the plug is in there.

Don't buy emachines.

eMachines, like Compaq, is owned lock, stock, and barrel by Hewlett-Packard, the lazy bedridden giant tree sloth of the computing world.

Funny thing is that I bought a Toshiba first from newegg.com, but it was advertised having a DVI port, which it did not. So I sent it back.

Hey, look on the bright side -- at least it's not a Mac.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Citizen Bleys

Hey, look on the bright side -- at least it's not a Mac.

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But they're so damn pretty and stylish :( They tempt me with their smooth edges and white apple thing.

Yeah, that's the same argument I usually hear when I advise someone not to go into a Thai brothel.

Don't come crying to me when you get syphilis.

Great, most of the hardware in my system is from compaq. I'm scared now.

macs don't get the BSOD at least.

Yeah, they just crash on you.