Laptop blue screens suddenly, twice now

[Muse]

It's my newish Acer (see specs at bottom). It's stock except that I replaced the 3GB DDR2 with a pair of 2GB DDR2 a few weeks ago. I've gotten a couple of blue screens in about a week.

Problem is: The blue screen message disappears after about 30 seconds. I don't have time to read the whole message -- it's long. It might not help, but I'd like to be able to read more than ~1/2 the message. Is there a key I can hit to keep the message on there before the machine _spontaneously_ reboots?

Yes, I can restore the factory config, having made restore disks, but prefer not to go through the whole rigamarole, which includes messing with a whole lot of useless games, trial versions, etc.

I doubt that the problem is with the DDR2 I put in there:
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual

Can I test that memory with memtest just like a desktop's?



- - - -
specs (from box):

Aspire 6530-6522
P/N : LX.AUX0X.245
MOFRL NO. : ZK3
S/N : LXAUQ0X24592412CA92539
LCD : 16" HD Acer CineCrystal LCD
RAM : 3 GB DDR2
HDD : 250GB
Card Reader: 5 in 1 Card Reader
ODD : DVD-Super Multi DL
Modem/LAN: 56k, 10/100/1000 BASE T
Wireless : Acer Nplify 802.11b/g/Draft - N WLAN
Softload : Windows Vista Home Premium SP1

 

[Muse]

I'm running memtest86+ 4.00 on it right now. Figure I'll run it at least 4 hours. Running from a CD.

 

[Emulex]

no dump file? i'd get the freeware or commercial bsod dump analyzers

and check eventvwr for anything not normal (warning/error = in system)

 

[CurseTheSky]

If memtest comes back with nothing, it's probably a driver issue, or possible something corrupt in the OS. If you know of someone else with a Vista disk (any version IIRC, but not sure about OEM vs. retail), you can reinstall a fresh copy, which is something I highly recommend. If they don't have Home Premium, you can copy it onto a USB flash drive (make the drive bootable first, Google for guide) and modify one file to allow you to select which version to install (Google for guide - it worked great for me).

Finally, you might consider running some temperature logging programs like GPU-Z and something else for the CPU. See if temps are climbing up to some kind of scary level before it BSODs.

 

[Muse]

no dump file? i'd get the freeware or commercial bsod dump analyzers

and check eventvwr for anything not normal (warning/error = in system)

Thanks! Where do I look for a dump file? Please excuse my dumb ass. :\ Mmm, never heard of a bsod dump analyzer. 😱 Good idea with event viewer. In less than an hour it will be 24 hours straight running memtest86+ 4.00 on the laptop, figure why not go for the full cycle? 0 errors resported, on 11th pass right now. That's how Memtest works, right? AFAIK, the only stat that means anything is the number of errors, and having used it around 1/2 dozen times, it's always reported ZERO! 😕 Well, I bought the DDR2 SODIMMs off ebay a month or so ago. Figure to install Win7 64 bit when I get my hands on it. I suppose a bsod analyzer might tell me why it crashed.

Here's something, though: I have the power button configured to put the machine to sleep. When I close the lid, it's configured to do "nothing." In both cases with these BSODs, I'd put the machine to sleep with the power button and when I tried to waken the machine (I click the left mouse button on the cordless mouse attached), opening the lid revealed the BSOD. Not positive it had been put to sleep each time, but pretty sure. It's what I do most of the time. The blue screen only lasts around 20 seconds (guessing) before the machine _spontaneously_ reboots. I have my digicam next to the machine right now in order to snap a photo of the blue screen before it disappears (there's a lot of text!) . It's a very slow camera, so I may not get that shot! I'll try your suggestions first, though. Thanks again!

 

[Muse]

If memtest comes back with nothing, it's probably a driver issue, or possible something corrupt in the OS. If you know of someone else with a Vista disk (any version IIRC, but not sure about OEM vs. retail), you can reinstall a fresh copy, which is something I highly recommend. If they don't have Home Premium, you can copy it onto a USB flash drive (make the drive bootable first, Google for guide) and modify one file to allow you to select which version to install (Google for guide - it worked great for me).

Finally, you might consider running some temperature logging programs like GPU-Z and something else for the CPU. See if temps are climbing up to some kind of scary level before it BSODs.

Yeah, looks like Memtest has zero errors, and it's been running almost 24 hours.

I don't have a Vista disk but I do have my recovery disks. That should restore the machine to its original configuration, if I'm not mistaken. Actually, I'd like to install Win7 64 bit (that's why I replaced the memory 3BG-->4GB). I think I will have that disk sometime this year...

The flash drive boot thing... well, I tried that and couldn't get it to work when I was playing around with it a couple of years ago. Had no reason to do so, just thought it would be a neat thing to have. A guy in a professional programmers' club I belong to provided instructions, download link, etc. Anyway, I went into the BIOS yesterday and don't see an option in the Phoenix BIOS to boot from USB. I only see:

1. HD 0
2. HD 1
3. DVD/CD drive

I bumped (3.) to the top so I could run memtest from it.

I figure that the original configuration with Vista Home Premium 32bit is OK, at least in not crashing. I didn't have any crashes for over 6 months, and noone else who bought the laptop (huge thread at Slickdeals on it) was reporting crashes, however the original config has a boatload of crapware, but I can deal with that.

 

[Muse]

I just terminated the memtest run after >24 hours, zero errors.

I booted the machine and looking in the Event Viewer under System I see scores of warnings, other than that only "Information." This is going back just a couple of days. Hundreds of entries. There's a warning that comes up dozens of times that seems like a concern:

Windows Servicing identified that package KB979306(Update) is not
applicable for this system

It seems strange that Windows Update would have downloaded and at least attempted to install an inappropriate update. Maybe it was actually inappropriately installed. 😕

I have only the foggiest notion when my crashes took place, well, the first one was around a couple of weeks ago, so really no idea on that one. Assuming it happens again, I'll try to identify day/time of the crash. From my perspective at the moment it could happen when I try to put the system into suspend or the moment I try to awaken it. I think that one of these two events is involved.

 

[Emulex]

http://www.technize.com/analyze-and-troubleshoot-blue-screen-of-deathbsod-errors-in-windows/

 

[ReggieDunlap]

System Properties -> Advanced -> Startup and Recovery -> Settings

In here, under the "System Failure" section there are 2 Check Boxes: one to write an event to the system log (you WANT this) and the other "Automatically Restart" (clear this check box and the system will sit at the BSOD Error).

You also get the path to the memory dump file, usually %Systemroot%\Memory.dmp or some such other. ALSO, you can clear the checkbox for overwrite any existing file. This will leave you dump files for each crash to help with troubleshooting.

 

[Muse]

System Properties -> Advanced -> Startup and Recovery -> Settings

In here, under the "System Failure" section there are 2 Check Boxes: one to write an event to the system log (you WANT this) and the other "Automatically Restart" (clear this check box and the system will sit at the BSOD Error).

You also get the path to the memory dump file, usually %Systemroot%\Memory.dmp or some such other. ALSO, you can clear the checkbox for overwrite any existing file. This will leave you dump files for each crash to help with troubleshooting.

Where do I get "System Properties?" 😕 This is Vista Home Premium.

Edit: Oh, I found it. Automatic Restart and Overwrite were checked, so I unchecked them. Thanks for that. I can put away my camera now! I'm going to look for the last memory.dmp file. By %Systemroot% I assume you mean C colon backslash... I don't see any recent .log files there or anything else likely a dump...

Ah, I found C:\Windows\memory.dmp Windows doesn't know how to open it! 🙄