Random BSOD's Vista HP SP1 when running AV software

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

I don’t know if anyone has any answers for me, but thought I’d try. I have a rather long-in-the-tooth system I’m having issues with when trying to run just about any AV software. The system was solid for over a year until my old ATI9500Pro video card went up in smoke due to a fan failure. I replaced it with an Nvidia 7300Gs 512/meg video card. Ever since then, I get random BSOD’s when I have AV software installed. Removing the AV results in a stable system that does not crash.

system:
AMD Thunderbird 1.4ghz CPU
1gig PC133RAM (I have one slot left on the board but finding 512meg memory in PC133 is both expensive and hard to get)
The Mobo only supports up to 1.5gig of RAM - MSI 6330 Turbo.
Linksys LNE100TX (ver 5) NIC
Nvidia 7300GS 512/meg Video card (AGP) … Mobo only supports 4x AGP

Vista HP SP1 all fully patched and up to date.

What I find strange, but from reading a lot of articles I’ve googled up trying to find something, is that I have 4 devices all sharing the same IRQ. The Video card, NIC Card and I think (I’m at work, 2 USB ports) all sharing IRQ 12. The Device manager reports no conflicts, and from what I read should not be a problem.

So what could the AV be doing / or interacting with… causing the BSOD’s. They seem to be all over the place and at random, and will always BSOD when streaming video, anywhere from a few mins, to instantly on start up. As stated above, I repeat, the system is rock-solid with NO AV installed. This has happened with Avast Free, as well as Symantec Norton AV 2009. I have ran the uninstaller for both Norton, and Avast and re-installed and each time the BSOD’s return, but removing, and running the uninstaller results in a stable system again.

My box is pretty much pushed I think to the limits, as most of the time I have 85%+ memory in use, with only 8meg or so showing Available when I look at the process tab in the TaskManager. Does the AV need more overhead to work properly. I’m suspecting that perhaps stuff is being dumped from memory, or moved and then AV loses track and crashes the system.

I get: Page_faults_in_non-paged area , IRQ_not_equal_or_less , and I’ve seen crashes that implicate the AV was the cause of the crash, update etc…

Would getting a new NIC card solve anything ? Seems that the LNE100TX was never really certified, or updated drivers created for Vista, even though it works just fine with no AV. Could there be a firmware conflict with the the way the AV interacts with the bit-stream ?

I use a 3meg DSL for my web access through Embarq…

Thanks in advance (saving my pennies for a new system)

2

Please, go to folder \windows\minidump and send the newest (recent) .mdmp files for analysis. There is also C:\Windows\Memory.dmp file. Better if you can compress (zip) them and add some information about the BSOD and the link for this thread. :wink:

Send an email to: vlk (at) avast.com
Or upload it to this anonymous ftp server: ftp://ftp.asw.cz/incoming

Besides Google also you can use:
MS knowledgebase: http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1
Free memory tester (Run it overnight): http://www.memtest86.com/
XP error explanations: http://www.xptuneup.com/xptuneup_stopmessages.htm

Manual dump: when the machine is in stalled state, hold down the rightmost CTRL key, and press the SCROLL LOCK key twice. This will cause a machine to ‘blue-screen’ and dump of memory will start.

Hope this help in anyway.

3

could it be a problem with left ATI drivers?
did you remove the ATI drivers before you installed Nvidia-drivers for your graphic-card?

have you thought of reinstalling the OS? (format HDD and start from zero)

yours
onlysomeone

4
1gig PC133RAM (I have one slot left on the board but finding 512meg memory in PC133 is both expensive and hard to get) The Mobo only supports up to 1.5gig of RAM - MSI 6330 Turbo.

Not a bad price for 512 pc133 at the link below :

http://www.pacificgeek.com/product.asp?ID=90002&C=208&S=1023

5

I removed the ATI drivers, than ran DriverCleaner to remove anything that was left over…before installing the Nvida card.

A format and re-install is not an option - too much work as I don’t own a full copy of Vista, only an ‘upgrade’ copy - and prior to that an ‘upgrade’ copy of XP. The only full copy I have is W2k… so… building up again from there is not something I want to do…

I’m trying to convince the wife to just let me get a new system :slight_smile:

Also, it appears that it is indeed heat related, though I can’t figure what… all fans are running, and up to speed it seems, but with the side cover off, and a small 6 inch fan on ‘high’ the machine has been stable, until I moved the fan to cool the operator after mowing the yard, and while doing some heavy browsing - CRASH ! - Still running with NO AV installed… so its heat it seems, its just aggravated by the AV perhaps.

Thanks for your time.

6

Thanks, that is a good price, best I’ve seen. Doubt I will put anymore money in this box, see post above about getting wife to go along with a new PC.

7

Littlemutt, please read the 2nd post and send me couple of your latest minidump files (\Windows\Minidump*.dmp). It’s the fastest way how I can find out which driver (or hw) causes your BSODs. Thanks.

8

Files sent to vlk 4/17/09

Thanks in advance.