I've been getting restarts/BSoDs/system failures on an inconsistent basis for about 3 months. It's been gradually worsening; first was only restarts when shutting down, then BSoDs too, then most recently sudden BSoDs while still using the computer. Also messages about recovering from a serious error upon booting back up, from the start. Because of the intermittent nature of the problems, and not being sure about when or if I should use a system restore point, I didn't do anything yet. Now my oldest restore point is
after I had installed what I'm pretty sure is the software that the problems started from (Networx, which comes with known-to-them crappy drivers). I had uninstalled this software about 2 months ago, and had manually confirmed that at least one of its drivers was no longer on my system. At first things seemed better, eventually however the intermittent problems continued, and are worsening.
I've looked through the Device Manager info for any indications of problem drivers. I've used the System Information tool (msinfo32) to examine possible problem devices, and startup programs. And turned off the system failure restart option.
I'm going to use Check Disk to check the HD, and possibly Driver Verifier to look for driver problems. Also, I'll see if a safe mode boot allows a problem-free restart or shut down (but, of course, no problem happens a lot of times already). And perhaps try a clean boot, though I'm not sure what this proves, unless it's the same thing as with safe mode.
I have the Event Viewer logs and 64KB memory dump files for the last 3 occurrences, plus BSoD screen photos for the 4th to 2nd last. I'm not sure how to upload these attachments at the moment. I have a plan of action in mind
listed below, but first here are the Event Viewer logs, most recent first:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: System Error
Event Category: (102)
Event ID: 1003
Date: 6/28/2015
Time: 6:11:45 PM
User: N/A
Computer: THE-CONTINUUM
Description:
Error code c0000135, parameter1 e1c33110, parameter2 e1a23f48, parameter3 00000000, parameter4 00000000.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 53 79 73 74 65 6d 20 45 System E
0008: 72 72 6f 72 20 20 45 72 rror Er
0010: 72 6f 72 20 63 6f 64 65 ror code
0018: 20 63 30 30 30 30 31 33 c000013
0020: 35 20 20 50 61 72 61 6d 5 Param
0028: 65 74 65 72 73 20 65 31 eters e1
0030: 63 33 33 31 31 30 2c 20 c33110,
0038: 65 31 61 32 33 66 34 38 e1a23f48
0040: 2c 20 30 30 30 30 30 30 , 000000
0048: 30 30 2c 20 30 30 30 30 00, 0000
0050: 30 30 30 30 0000
----------------------------------------------
Event Type: Error
Event Source: System Error
Event Category: (102)
Event ID: 1003
Date: 6/27/2015
Time: 2:08:36 PM
User: N/A
Computer: THE-CONTINUUM
Description:
Error code c0000135, parameter1 e1fab0c0, parameter2 e17c8ee0, parameter3 00000000, parameter4 00000000.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 53 79 73 74 65 6d 20 45 System E
0008: 72 72 6f 72 20 20 45 72 rror Er
0010: 72 6f 72 20 63 6f 64 65 ror code
0018: 20 63 30 30 30 30 31 33 c000013
0020: 35 20 20 50 61 72 61 6d 5 Param
0028: 65 74 65 72 73 20 65 31 eters e1
0030: 66 61 62 30 63 30 2c 20 fab0c0,
0038: 65 31 37 63 38 65 65 30 e17c8ee0
0040: 2c 20 30 30 30 30 30 30 , 000000
0048: 30 30 2c 20 30 30 30 30 00, 0000
0050: 30 30 30 30 0000
----------------------------------------------
Event Type: Error
Event Source: System Error
Event Category: (102)
Event ID: 1003
Date: 5/27/2015
Time: 2:15:54 PM
User: N/A
Computer: THE-CONTINUUM
Description:
Error code c000021a, parameter1 e1817420, parameter2 c0000005, parameter3 7c9101b3, parameter4 0069f36c.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 53 79 73 74 65 6d 20 45 System E
0008: 72 72 6f 72 20 20 45 72 rror Er
0010: 72 6f 72 20 63 6f 64 65 ror code
0018: 20 63 30 30 30 30 32 31 c000021
0020: 61 20 20 50 61 72 61 6d a Param
0028: 65 74 65 72 73 20 65 31 eters e1
0030: 38 31 37 34 32 30 2c 20 817420,
0038: 63 30 30 30 30 30 30 35 c0000005
0040: 2c 20 37 63 39 31 30 31 , 7c9101
0048: 62 33 2c 20 30 30 36 39 b3, 0069
0050: 66 33 36 63 f36c
I've done exhaustive research online into it, have got some general ideas how to resolve it, but not sure exactly. I've been going largely by
https://support2.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q308029 for a plan of action. (I don't have the Windows XP CD-ROM.) I'll list my prospective plans, and please tell me if they're the way to go:
1.
IF I can actually find out which file/driver/service is causing the problem, it sounds like System Configuration Utility (msconfig.exe) would be how to disable it. Or possibly just delete it, depending. That's a big "if", it sounds like a real challenge to find the problem file or driver. But I'd rather repair the registry than try to replace it, if possible.
2. There is a better driver package that can be used with Networx that I downloaded. I wonder if reinstalling Network and/or just the alternate drivers could possibly overwrite the problematic ones it left behind, and fix the system instability? Or maybe this is just wishful thinking it could be so easy to fix?
3. I've considered using the oldest system restore point, but that is about 2 weeks after the problem software was installed. I do also have a backup from 11 months ago with NT Backup (and the C:\WINDOWS\repair hive files seem to be of about the same date interestingly), so I could restore an undamaged registry from that. But, I'm not sure if that is going to cause all files newer than my backup to disappear, or for that matter if a restore point might do the same.