Vista Crashing 4x Daily!!!!!

[KristopherWindsor]

My laptop with Vista Premium crashed two nights ago. This crash is different from previous crashes since it left a different pattern on my monitor after crashing, then I have ever seen before.
Right before this crash, my dial-up Internet connection (which I get through a WiFi router) was reset, so my chat program (XChat 2) was disconnected. I closed it, then opened it again. When I tried to connect to the Freenode server, the computer crashed! The program's list of servers was erased when I restarted the computer.
The following day, Vista crashed 4 or 5 times, and it has crashed 2 or 3 times already today. Sometimes when it crashed, I was not even at the computer. The only running programs most of the time IIRC were WMP, Task Manager, and Firefox.

Every time it has crashed, except once when the screen went blank, the monitor was frozen with this pattern:

The small black lines in that screenshot are actually a repeated image. Once it was part of a game I was playing, and another time it was the minimize / restore / close buttons from the top-right of a window.

I have not installed any programs in about a week.
I thought about doing a System Restore, but apparently this feature was turned off so there are no restore points.
I went through the list of processes in Task Manager, but I do not see any new / evil ones listed.

Any suggestions to solve this?
Thanks.

[Broni]

Can you access Safe Mode?

[KristopherWindsor]

Can you access Safe Mode?

Probably; why not?
The computer runs just fine, except it crashes every few hours.

[Broni]

What I'd like to know is, if it'll crash in Safe Mode?
How old is this computer? Came with Vista preinstalled?

[KristopherWindsor]

I've had it running in Safe Mode for a few hours now, and it seems fine. Although, several things are disabled in Safe Mode, such as networking, music playback, the Aero style, and startup programs (Ie. Apache), so it could be any one of those things.
Incidentally, when I first tried to go into Safe Mode, right after the computer had crashed again, the computer froze during startup, and I had to restart like 3 times until it was finally working.
The laptop came with Vista, and is less than 1 year old.

[Broni]

It looks like software problem, then.
We better hurry, then, before your warranty expires. How many weeks left?
I'd like to see your HijackThis log to see what's running there. Download HJT from here: http://www.snapfiles.com/get/hijackthis.html

[KristopherWindsor]

Interestingly, my computer has not crashed since I started in Safe Mode, although I am running Vista normally now.
If I still had the problem, it would have crashed about 8x since it last crashed.

This probably has nothing to do with the problem, but I have not been using the Aero interface since I booted in Safe Mode. Safe Mode uses the Windows Classic style, which uses like 100MB less RAM, so I decided to use that. I will probably go back to Aero soon, though.

Fortunately, my warranty still has about 4 months left, so I'm not in a hurry to rediscover this bug.

I'll let you know if it crashes again.

Code: [Select]

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2
Scan saved at 6:32:56 PM, on 1/21/2008
Platform: Windows Vista  (WinNT 6.00.1904)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v7.00 (7.00.6000.16575)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
C:\Windows\system32\Dwm.exe
C:\Windows\system32\taskeng.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe
C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPEnh.exe
C:\Program Files\HP\QuickPlay\QPService.exe
C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Quick Launch Buttons\QLBCTRL.exe
C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Wireless Assistant\WiFiMsg.exe
C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Wireless Assistant\HPWAMain.exe
C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\jusched.exe
C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin\TSVNCache.exe
C:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe
C:\Program Files\HP\HP Software Update\hpwuSchd2.exe
C:\Program Files\RDM+\rdmpserv_cpanel.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe
C:\Windows\ehome\ehtray.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmpnscfg.exe
C:\itech\Misc\ClipBoardLog\ClipBoardLog.exe
C:\Program Files\palmOne\Hotsync.exe
C:\Windows\System32\taskmgr.exe
C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe
C:\Windows\ehome\ehmsas.exe
C:\Windows\system32\wbem\unsecapp.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\HEWLET~1\Shared\HPQTOA~1.EXE
C:\Windows\Explorer.EXE
C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Windows\system32\SearchFilterHost.exe
C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://192.168.0.1/
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://ie.redirect.hp.com/svs/rdr?TYPE=3&tp=iehome&locale=EN_US&c=71&bd=Pavilion&pf=laptop
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://ie.redirect.hp.com/svs/rdr?TYPE=3&tp=iehome&locale=EN_US&c=71&bd=Pavilion&pf=laptop
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch =
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar,LinksFolderName =
O1 - Hosts: ::1 localhost
O2 - BHO: Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\ssv.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Windows Defender] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe -hide
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SynTPEnh] C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPEnh.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QPService] "C:\Program Files\HP\QuickPlay\QPService.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QlbCtrl] %ProgramFiles%\Hewlett-Packard\HP Quick Launch Buttons\QlbCtrl.exe /Start
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HP Health Check Scheduler] C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Health Check\HPHC_Scheduler.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [WAWifiMessage] %ProgramFiles%\Hewlett-Packard\HP Wireless Assistant\WiFiMsg.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [hpWirelessAssistant] %ProgramFiles%\Hewlett-Packard\HP Wireless Assistant\HPWAMain.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] "C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\jusched.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe" -atboottime
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvSvc] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\Windows\system32\nvsvc.dll,nvsvcStart
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\Windows\system32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvMediaCenter] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\Windows\system32\NvMcTray.dll,NvTaskbarInit
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Adobe Reader Speed Launcher] "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 8.0\Reader\Reader_sl.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HP Software Update] C:\Program Files\Hp\HP Software Update\HPWuSchd2.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SynTPStart] C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPStart.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [RDM+ Control Panel] "C:\Program Files\RDM+\rdmpserv_cpanel.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\RunOnce: [Launcher] %WINDIR%\SMINST\launcher.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Sidebar] C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe /autoRun
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ehTray.exe] C:\Windows\ehome\ehTray.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [WMPNSCFG] C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\WMPNSCFG.exe
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /detectMem (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [WindowsWelcomeCenter] rundll32.exe oobefldr.dll,ShowWelcomeCenter (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /detectMem (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - Global Startup: Adobe Gamma.lnk = C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Calibration\Adobe Gamma Loader.exe
O4 - Global Startup: ClipBoardLog.lnk = C:\itech\Misc\ClipBoardLog\ClipBoardLog.exe
O4 - Global Startup: HotSync Manager.lnk = C:\Program Files\palmOne\Hotsync.exe
O4 - Global Startup: Manager.lnk = C:\Windows\System32\taskmgr.exe
O4 - Global Startup: Start.lnk = C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\bin\httpd.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~3\Office12\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra button: Send to OneNote - {2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~3\Office12\ONBttnIE.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: S&end to OneNote - {2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~3\Office12\ONBttnIE.dll
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~3\Office12\REFIEBAR.DLL
O13 - Gopher Prefix:
O16 - DPF: {31150A86-0BBA-409F-BEB4-F3922D10BF34} (Gif89 Class) - file:///C:/Users/KristopherWindsor/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows%20Sidebar/Gadgets/xplugCam.gadget/en-US/xplug.ocx
O23 - Service: AddFiltr - Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. - C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Quick Launch Buttons\AddFiltr.exe
O23 - Service: Adobe LM Service - Adobe Systems - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe Systems Shared\Service\Adobelmsvc.exe
O23 - Service: Apache2 - Apache Software Foundation - C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\bin\httpd.exe
O23 - Service: CyberLink Background Capture Service (CBCS) (CLCapSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\HP\QuickPlay\Kernel\TV\CLCapSvc.exe
O23 - Service: CyberLink Task Scheduler (CTS) (CLSched) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\HP\QuickPlay\Kernel\TV\CLSched.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Lic NetConnect service (CLTNetCnService) - Unknown owner - c:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSvcHst.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: HP Health Check Service - Hewlett-Packard - C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Health Check\hphc_service.exe
O23 - Service: hpqwmiex - Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. - C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\Shared\hpqwmiex.exe
O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\11\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe
O23 - Service: iPod Service - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: LightScribeService Direct Disc Labeling Service (LightScribeService) - Hewlett-Packard Company - C:\Program Files\Common Files\LightScribe\LSSrvc.exe
O23 - Service: RoxMediaDB9 - Sonic Solutions - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Roxio Shared\9.0\SharedCOM\RoxMediaDB9.exe
O23 - Service: stllssvr - MicroVision Development, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Common Files\SureThing Shared\stllssvr.exe
O23 - Service: XAudioService - Conexant Systems, Inc. - C:\Windows\system32\DRIVERS\xaudio.exe

--
End of file - 8081 bytes


[Broni]

Your HJT log is clean, but.....I can't see any antivirus, nor firewall running. What's up with that?
You need to update your Java: http://www.java.com/en/download/index.jsp
Uninstall any older Java versions.

[patio]

Take advantage of that warranty before it's too late...

BTW how much RAM do they have installed in there ?

[KristopherWindsor]

My computer started crashing again... it hasn't been running for half the time today. 

If the problem isn't segmentation faults or Vista, it could be the motherboard, which was replaced just over a month ago, or maybe it is overheating. The crashes seem unpredictable so it could be a hardware problem.

I will contact HP now. Fortunately, I still have a few months on the warranty.

On a side note, I tried installing Norton, but it said setup is incomplete, click Continue, but that button didn't do anything. The laptop crash a few minutes later, so when I got it running again. I decided to uninstall Norton since there was no "disable" option, and it wasn't working. So after the uninstall program was half-way finished, Norton finally started and said the setup was complete... Anyway, I will try that other program (AVG) later, but this doesn't seem like a virus.

I have 1GB RAM and only use 1 Java program. :-P