2 Blue screens of death

[Charlotte_h]

~~Copied this message, which is my own, from a board. "Maple" means "Maple Story", which is an online game. I am not sure if the blue screens and Maple are related, although I suppose there could be some connection. I've had another blue screen two or three months ago, before I played Maple, too. Also, I'm new. Hi. ^_^ ~~

Alright, this is seriously starting to concern me. After reading numerous threads of people all with blue screen misery, I said to myself how glad I was that I had none of these problems. However, since the Maple patch, Maple seems more unstable and so is my pc.

{{{{This BSOD has been solved and removed from this post}}}}


So now, I just played Maple, for no more than 10 minutes, and I quit it, everything went fine. I surf to a site, and the music suddenly goes weird and there it comes again, a blue screen, this time far more detailed than the previous one:

-Usual Bull****advice-

Driver_unloaded_without_cancelling_pending_operations

- More bull****advice (I forgot what it all said, it included advice from switching hardware to disabling caching and shadowingoptions in the Bios to contacting the compagny I got the pc from) -

STOP: 0x000000CE (0xB85F9CEA, 0x00000008, 0xB85F9CEA, 0x00000000)

It also said it did a memorydump after having mentioned this: dump_wmimmc.sys, which is also the file that's supposed to be the problem

So I reboot my PC, completely forget to do the F8 procedure as I usually do after a crash, and upon booting the pc, it says, in Windows: "The PC has been restored from a major problem (or something). More information in the logbook".

This is what it says in my log:

Type: Error | Source: System Error | Category: (102)
Errorcode; 100000ce, parameter1: b85f9cea, parameter2: 00000008, parameter3: b85f9cea, parameter4: 00000000.

I now see there have been more errors according to my log, although I remenber always having had these on my other pc, but maybe they're somehow related, so I thought I'd mention it anyway:

Type: Error | Source: DCOM | Category: None
Cannot start DCOM-server:
{72C2714F-4478-11D3-B537-00902771A435}. Errormessage:
"Access denied. "
has occured while carrying out the task
"C:\PROGRA~1\Symantec\LIVEUP~1\LUCOMS~166666" -Embedding'

Please bear in mind that I translated almost everything from Dutch, so if it sound a bit weird, or not like the usual stuff Windows comes up with, that would be why. ^_^


More info about my pc:

I have a Dell Dimension 9100, 2,99 Ghz and 1 GB Ram memory - Windows XP Home Edition and the newest SPpack (2 I believe?), I run Norton Internet Security 2006 and I quite frequently run viruschecks, adchecks and the defragmentationstuff. I'm NOT happy with having Norton, but that's the way it is. Furthermore, I'm quite positive all drivers have been properly installed. I'm not sure if a driverlist is required, but I'll provide you with it if you want to. My pc is quite new and apart from those blue screens, it runs quite smoothly.


Also, about Norton - I frequently get a Windowsmessage saying Norton Protection Center has crashed or stopped or whatever, asking me if I want to send an Error Report. This is usually _during_ the game Maple Story. Norton Protection Center never really crashes, or perhaps it just restarts itself, in any case, I never saw it really close down or giving errors or whatever.


Any help or advice or suggestions are more than welcome. Thanks a lot!

[LindaHewitt]

Charlotte,

Welcome to VDR.

Having had a BSOD, it is sometimes very difficult to figure out what is actually causing the situation.

The first thing that I would do is I would uninstall Norton and everything with the Symantec on it. Norton is notorious for being both a resource hot and causing problems with other programs. There are two anti-virus programs, which I would recommend that you stay away from and they are McAfee and Norton.

As a temporary measure, download a free copy of AVG until you decide who you is going to be your new AV - firewall vendor.

Then spend several days and see if the BSOD go away. If they do, all to the good but if they don't then we will proceed forward.

Personally, I am against using the security suites, when I think there are better solutions. Here is what I use.

Panda Platinum version 7, includes AV and firewall -- I switched from Norton in Jan 2002.

Panda has a 2005 suite that includes anti-spyware and a bunch of other stuff but they attempted to make 3 major changes in less than 9 months and there were problems. So when I renewed (uninstalled and reinstalled a new version 7), I decided to stay with version 7. Now they have a version suite 2006 and I like the way both of my computers are running, so I stayed with version 7.

Panda versions 2005 and 2006 changes pertain to adding anti-spyware functionality, which I am already handling very effectively with freeware programs. While I don't know if this is true for Panda or not but in general when companies try to make too many major changes in too short a time period, then one of the consequences is spagetti code, which frequently makes the program a resource hog.

Anti-virus companies have incorporated the anti-spyware components, so that they can continue to charge full prices for their products to maintain their revenue streams. When there are excellent freeware options that run well with other programs, I do not see any reason to pay more for programs, which may or may not have issues.

It has also been widely reported that the malware creators are focusing less on virus on more on other forms of malware. Microsoft is slated to enter the AV marketplace in the near future and they will be providing a more cost effective solution. $50 for 3 computers. IMO, they are entering the marketplace, partially as a defense against the criminals, who send out spam, malware and practice extortion. Anyway, this is just more information about why I am making the decisions that I am.

Since 2002, I have not had a virus get near my computer. Once you get your BSOD problem resolved, I think that you should decide which vendor that you want to purchase your AV-firewall software from.

The other retail software that I use as part of my security process are:

MailWasher Pro, http://www.firetrust.com/, used since 2002
Benign, http://www.firetrust.com/, used since 2004

Freeware:

Ad-Aware
SpyBot
SpywareBlaster -- started using in 2004
SpywareGuard -- started using in 2004
Defender -- started using in 2005

Since I started using SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard, nothing is being installed on my computer when I surf the web. I do practice safe computing. I run these freeware programs (and obtain latest updates if any) once a month. Most months they find nothing. Occasionally, they will find a tracking cookie.

Do not click on any sponsored links because these have become sources of malware. When Yahoo got infected with a worm, I got a pop-up warning, so I decided to say no to downloading and waited a couple of days and Yahoo got the problem resolved.

You might also want to do the following:

Do a Panda online scan.
Install and run Ad-Aware
Install and run SpyBot
Install SpywareBlaster
Install SpywareGuard
Install Microsoft Defender
Install Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool
Install Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer version 2.0

Are you installing Windows Updates as they become available?

Cheers,

Linda

[LindaHewitt]

Charlotte,

Virtual DR has excellent search capabilities. I did a search on Maple Story here at VDR and didn't find anything. However, I also did a search on Maple Story Problems and found a bunch. Here is the URL.

http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...Story+Problems

I would still remove Norton to eliminate that as a posible cause for your BSOD. Then if the problem persists, do a google search as I have done on Maple Story Problems.

When I got my BSOD on a brand new Dell computer, Dell told me that my W2K operating system had become corrupted and needed to be re-installed. When I went to Microsoft to look up the error code, the information was less than helpful. Then an associate suggested that I do a Google search on the text for the name of the type of error.

I did this and I spent 2.5 days going through every link. Near the very end, I found a presentation that a Microsoft rep had given to MIT that finally explained BSODs. In my case, the problem turned out to be poor programming practices. One of the programs on my computer had not defined all of the possible error conditions, which could occur with this specific program.

As a result, when an error would occur, that error would go to a specific memory address to be recorded and processed. If there was no code to tell the computer how to process the error, then it would sit there. Then when the next error condition would occur, the BSOD would occur and my computer would automatically reboot itself, no matter what it was doing.

I upgraded that program and that solved my BSOD problem.

I hope this helps you approach your problem.

Cheers,

Linda

[Charlotte_h]

Thank you very much for your replies.

I'd love more than anything to remove Norton, I've always experienced nothing but trouble with it, and imo, Norton is not scanning for viruses thoroughly, missing all worms I had on my pc (had to remove them by hand), including some very well-known worms one would expect a virusscanner as Norton to find.

Even though I have much to say about the pc, my father is the one who has the final word. My friend and I have finally managed to convince him to get rid of Norton, but this will not be before October, when our subscription expires.

From there on, I suppose he will take McAfee. I'm already running free security software, because my faith in Norton is practically 0, seeing how it causes more problems than it actually solves. I'm currently regularly using Spybot S&D, AdAware and Hijack This. I will certainly look into the suggestions you gave, Linda. Thanks.

I have done several Googlesearches, but I somehow always fail to find good solutions with BSOD's, so I usually end up ignoring them if I get one. But, two BSOD's in a week is imo just not acceptable, not on a pc that is running fine and smoothly (apart from the BSOD's, of course), and not when on my own PC I never even got one in those three years I have Windows on it.

Thanks a lot for the Googlelink, I'm going through it right now. Since the patch Maple Story forced us to install, there have been numerous reports on BSOD's, fails to even start the game, or unexpected quits, random reboots, etc. etc. It's too bad, because I thoroughly enjoy the game. Thanks again for your help.


Edit: Do you think the problem with Norton can go as far as really messing up my pc, requiring reinstallation of Windows and more of that misery? (which could be problematic as this is a pre-build crapmachine.. Although I do seem to recall having made recovery disks at one point..)

[LindaHewitt]

I do not think you will need to reinstall windows if your BSOD problem is related to one of your software applications, which you have installed. However, if it is caused by malware, then you may or may not have to reinstall Windows. The experts here at VDR can help you with that.

Right now, I think that the cause is most likely either Norton or Maple Story. If your father is making the decisions about AV, then maybe you need to get him to come to VDR and do a search on Norton problems and another search on McAfee. There are over 80,000 registered members here and probably 90% of the regular posters say Nyet, Nyet to both McAfee and Norton. There are many other AV software, which do a good job and play nice with other programs. The problem with all Symnatec programs is that they do not follow development standards and frequently take shortcuts, which cause users many problems. Then when you call Symantec's tech support, they are worthless. As a result of these and other issues, I do not allow any Symantec product on any of my computers. This is also what I recommend to my clients, associates, friends and family.

If your father will not let you uninstall Norton, then you might consider uninstalling Maple Story to see if the BSOD disappears. I know that you like the game but there is always the possibility that this problem could become so severe that you have to do an f-disk and reinstall everything. I have you have your XP CD available and the CDs for all of the software. You might start collecting them together, just in case this becomes necessary.

Some how I think you will eventually be successful in persuading your father that Norton and McAfee are crash systems, which are better at creating problems than protecting your computer from malware.

Do run a Panda online scan. I spent 9 months evaluating AV software before I decided on Panda because Norton made me so nervous. In 2002, it was typically only doing updates once or twice a week, where Panda made updates multiple times during the day.

Run the other freeware to see what they discover as well. If you discover something that cannot be removed, then VDR has HijackThis experts here at VDR, who will work with you step by step. VDR even has a special area for members to post their hijackthis logs but hopefully, the resolution of your problem will not require that.

You do need to validate at least on a weekly basis that your sytem is clean.

Please keep us posted on your progress.

Cheers,

Linda

[Train]

Housecall at TrendMicro
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/hou.../start_corp.asp
Make sure you tick Auto Clean

BitDefender Free Online Virus Scan
http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/licence.php
Make sure you tick AutoClean under Scan Options

Panda ActiveScan
http://www.pandasoftware.com/active...n_principal.htm
Make sure you tick Disinfect automatically under Scan Options

eTrust Antivirus Web Scanner
http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/virusinfo/scan.aspx


Norton has only 2 good programs. Ghost2003 and disk edit.

[SuperSparks]

That particular Stop error is almost always caused by a faulty driver. If it happens again, please can you note all the information on the Blue Screen (or take a photo if you have a digital camera and post that), as it will often say which file caused the problem, and that will help us track down the culprit.

[Charlotte_h]

The blue screen happened again today, so I suppose it'll be back soon.

But I wrote down all important information, unless I really missed something, it didn't give me any more important stuff than what I gave you in my first post.

That, and the blue screen is in Dutch. I suppose you can try, but I think it'll be very confusing for people who do not understand the language, I mean, the whole screen filled with Dutch... I'll take a pic for you though as soon as it occurs again. (I hope it won't).

Although I'm more and more positive that it has something to do with Maple Story, I mean, all the misery comes during or after I played Maple, on days where I don't play it, everything is just fine. But it could be stupid coincidence though, I suppose..


Linda, thanks for your reply. The last time I used Mcafee, which is, erm, I think about 6 years ago, I was pretty happy with it, but if McAfee is now reported to be as bad as Norton, I don't think I'll have that either (and this time I'll make sure to persuade my father - in any case, I'm probably moving out somewhere in september - october, but it'd be good to let him have a good pc).

Uninstalling Maple - erm, I'm not too enthousiastic about the idea. If I receive that BSOD a few more times, then I'll do it, though. I suppose I don't have much choice.


Thanks for the links, Train, I'll make sure to check them all out. ALthough I'm already familiar with Housecall.


Oh, and I also made a typo in my first post. It was not "dump_wmimc", but "dump_wmimmc". I changed it in my first post as well.


I'll post my HijackThis log, I needed to run a HijackThis anyway and I usually do it very quickly with a friend, but I suppose a good look by different people with more experience is a good idea under these circumstances.

[Charlotte_h]

It happened AGAIN, right after closing Maple Story down. *murderous*

This time I made a picture, as requested. You can find it here.

I've also decided to stop using Norton on my account, if that is possible. I'll just throw it out of the boot-list on my useraccount and use something else. >_> I'm going to do that after I gathered my patience and calmth again.

[SuperSparks]

That's OK, the general wording of Stop errors is much the same in any language (actually Mrs SuperSparks does speak fairly fluent Dutch, unfortunately she cannot do technical ).

The info that I was after is "dump_wmimmc.sys". However after doing some digging, I think that may be a red herring, and is a symptom of the problem in this case, which is a buggy driver almost certainly. Please could you have a look in the Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Event Viewer System and Application logs and see if they shed any light on what might be causing the problem?

[Charlotte_h]

I checked (or I think I did, because I could find no such thing as Administrative Tools under my Control Panel.. So I clicked under the logs under "Systeembeheer", and checked there. I'll assume it's the same.

There's nothing there really worth of mentioning, except some warning 'userens', but I doubt very highly that has to do with any drivers.

Windows heeft het register van gebruiker **Computername**\Charlotte opgeslagen hoewel een toepassing of service tijdens de afmelding van het register gebruikmaakte. Het geheugen voor het register is niet volledig beschikbaar. Het register wordt uit het register verwijderd wanneer het niet langer in gebruik is.

Dit wordt mogelijk veroorzaakt door services die als een gebruikersaccount actief zijn. Probeer om de services zodanig te configureren dat deze als LocalService- of NetworkService-account worden gestart.

Zie Help en ondersteuning op http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp voor meer informatie.

Also, erm, I got another BSOD last night, I did reboot the pc after that and everything worked fine, but now I just turned it on and the harddisk is making very strange noises, one buzzing noise as if a fat fly is trapped inside, and another noise that gives me the impression something is falling apart. My harddisk is fine, I know it's perfectly ok because I did a defragmentation yesterday in an attempt to make things better. I'm not needing a solution, merely wondering if the BSOD's and this could be related (just to save myself from my father's fury for "having messed up the pc again").


Also, why is it I cannot find that file dump_wmimmc.sys? It's nowhere on my pc, least of all at the spot where it should be (system32/drivers).


I'm also very sorry for not mentioning the file properly in my first post, I thought I had but upon re-reading it, I see I haven't..

[LindaHewitt]

Charlotte,

Click on start, then settings, then control panel, then administrative tools. Administrative Tools should appear right below add / remove programs.

I hope that this helps.

Cheers,

Linda

[SuperSparks]

Noises from hard drives are always very bad news, and it is certainly possible that it could be related to your Blue Screen problems. You'll be able to download a diagnostic utility from the hard drive makers website which you can run from floppy. See what that has to say. Here are the most common utilities:

Seagate Seatools

IBM / Hitachi Drive Fitness Test

Maxtor Maxblast 3

Maxtor PowerMax

Western Digital Software & Drivers

Fujitsu Utilities

[LindaHewitt]

Charlotte,

A BSOD can be caused by virtually anything on your computer from hardware, drivers the operating system or software applications. However, more than 95% of BSODs are caused by application software.

I determined what was causing my BSOD by eliminating all of the hardware components, and then started on application software starting with freeware first. As it happens the cause was a freeware program.

I think that I would uninstall Maple Story first. With all of the reports on bad behavior, this program could be in some sort of loop, which is making your hard drive do constant searches (or whatever), and this is creating the noise situation.

Anyway, if that solves your hard drive noise problem, then go ahead and proceed with uninstalling Norton.

Cheers,

Linda

[Charlotte_h]

The hardware noise problem was caused by Ewizo, I made sure it doesn't start when I boot the pc, and now the noise is gone.

Linda, I just checked to make sure, and administrative tools is indeed called "Systeembeheer" in Dutch. ^_^ So I was at the right place.

Is there any way to check what driver might be causing the problem?

Thanks for all the help. I haven't had any BSOD even though I was on the pc all day doing all kind of demanding stuff for the pc, one'd think he would have given me a BSOD, but he didn't, just like it didn't yesterday. I didn't play Maple Story yesterday and today. I will do some more tests with Maple Story to see if that's the problem (which is probably unfortunately is), and I will send an e-mail to Wizet and deinstall the thing (I will also check if I can play it safely on an other useraccount). What I don't understand is why it suddenly gives me this problem, everything was working fine, even after the patch that caused so much trouble, this is just out of the blue..

Anyway, I can only hope it's a driver that's going wrong somewhere..