Rare Blue Screen of Dead ---- Window XP

[osho]

I have been experiencing the following errors for more than a week and still no clue of how to cure it despite of searching through all the websites and asked many computer technicans.  If anyone can give me help I would be very appreaciated.

My computer will reboot itself about once every hour, giving me blue screen of death and the following error message :

Stop: 0X0000008E (0XC0000005, 0XBF80554E, 0XF7626B0C, 0X00000000)
Win32K.SYS – Address BF80554E base at BF800000, Date Stamp 45f13f6.

I couldn't find any similar errors in website but I suspected that it might be caused by bad ram or display driver.  So I tried to test it with other good rams and installed with updated display driver (ATI Stealth Radeon 9200SE with 128mb).  I even partitioned and reformated the two hdd (each 160G), reinstalled windows XP (with SP2) but still no luck though the error frequency had minimized to once every few hours.

I need advice urgently because I have a very rush project to be completed.  So Please please please if anyone can offer me help !!!!

Osho

[honvetops]

Give everyone a complete idea what type of system you have, puter brand, hardware....etc...

Is the power supply you have in there now the stock one which came with the computer? How many watts is it?

[osho]

Thanks Honvetops for your fast response.

Mine is a 3 year old DIY computer with configuration as follows:

Intel P.4 2.8Ghz
Two 512MB DDR PC3200 Ram (forgot what brand) / (Disposed of 1GB bad ram)
Two Seagate 160GB Hard Drives (7200 / 8MB Serial ATA / EIDE)
One external 320GB Hitachi Hard Drive (7200 / 8 MB Serial ATA /EIDE)
One external 80GB Ximeta USB/Ethernet Netdrive
500W Power Supply (bought separately after the one came with computer died)
ATI Radeon 9200SE 128MB Display card (with VGA & DVI connectors)
Linksys Wireless G Router (WRT54G)

Software include:
Windows XP Home (SP2)
Norton Interent Security 2007
Spy Sweeper (ver. 5.3.2 (build 2361))
Office XP Professional
Pinnacle Expression (video editing software)

That is all I have in config.

Osho

[patio]

There's about a 75% chance this is a driver issue...
Any new hardware installed lately ? ?
If not check Device Manager and look for yellow exclamation points next to devices.

Let us know.

[osho]

No new hardware was installed.  I have checked every device in the Device Manager, no exclamation points existed.  Every device is working properly.

The same error message keep appearing once in a few hours. I run chkdsk, defragement on every harddrive, I even replaced the display card with a new ATI Radeon 9250 128MB card, but still couldn’t fix the following error :

Stop: 0X0000008E (0XC0000005, 0XBF80554E, 0XF7626B0C, 0X00000000)
Win32K.SYS – Address BF80554E base at BF800000, Date Stamp 45f13f6.

[patio]

Are there any other clues showing up in Event Viewer ? ?

[osho]

When startup, there is Error signature as follows:

Error signature:

BCCode: 1000008e BCP1: C0000005 BCP2: BF80554E BCP3: A48E5A9C
BCP4 : 00000000 OSVer : 5_1_2600 SP: 2_3 Product: 768_1

Error Report Contents
The following files will be included in this error report:

C:\Docume~1\Locals~1\Temp\WERb8c2.dir00\Min041107-21.dmp
C:\Docume~1\Locals~1\Temp\WERb8c2.dir00\sysdata.xml


And also in Windows Error Reporting - Technical Information stated:

Error Message: STOP 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER (Q293078)

[phoenix910]

From the windows error reporting, you said you had error 0x000000EA etc. This is a video processing/graphics card related error. This is quite common on Vista, understandably with it's graphics hunger, but is also a well known problem on all versions of XP. Visit the following Microsoft website for a detailed list of causes and solutions:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/293078

Hope that helps.

[osho]

Well, I have already replaced the video card with a new ATI Radeon 9250 128MB card, updated to the latest ATI driver, and did the following as adviced by Microsoft Support website:

WORKAROUND
To work around this issue, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Display.
2. On the Settings tab, click Advanced, and then click the Troubleshoot tab.
3. Move the Hardware Acceleration slider to None, and then click to clear the Enable Write Combining check box.
4. Click OK, and then click OK.

However, the WIN32K.SYS error still on-going.  I have no idea how to proceed further, is it hardware failure, ram, motherboard, hard drives or what? should I just call the Microsoft Support Centre by phone for assistance?

[phoenix910]

If you have replaced both the RAM and graphics card, and formatted the hard drives as well, and you still keep getting the error, then I'd say it would be a motherboard problem most likely, or possibly a problem with the install disc itself. My friend had a problem similar and it ended up being a dodgy motherboard. It's quite possible it's a problem with one of the slots on the motherboard (possibly the graphics card AGP/PCI slot). Ring microsoft and see if there is any other software causes of this problem, and let us know how this goes.

[osho]

You know what. I had rang microsoft 2 days ago. After talking to 2 support staff for almost 4 hours and taking every steps to diagnosis all possible causes, they still could not identify the problem area.  They advised me to recreate the partition of the C drive and do a clean windows installation.  However, the problem : "Win32K.SYS – Address BF80554E base at BF800000, Date Stamp 45f13f6." still exists.  That Address "BF80554E" kept appearing in every error message, and even microsoft staff said they never encountered this error and flagged the case as reason unknown. Anyone please advise what it refering to?

[Raptor]

Diagnose your RAM.

[osho]

Any relaiable freeware which I can get for testing the Ram, preferably can work under windows environments.

[Raptor]

Bootable: Windows Memory Diagnostic

Requires a CD or diskette.

[Zylstra]

Enter your BIOS and dissable the quick system start (AKA: Quick POST)
This will scan all your memory during the power on self test.
(Or use Raptors CD. Many Linux distros are equipt with RAM Checking CD's as well)
(Sorry I didnt read all your post, just commenting on Raptors last link)