BSOD Question

[Dave-H]

Ever since I can remember, my Windows 98SE installation has occasionally thrown up the following message.

I have no idea why this should be.

All that "running the Windows setup program" does is to offer to reinstall Windows of course.

I actually did that a couple of times, but the problem didn't go away.

I've never pinned down what sequence of events causes it to pop up.

It doesn't happen very often, but it's very annoying when it does, as I nearly always end up having to re-boot!

Does anyone have any idea what that message actually means?

I've tried researching on the web about it of course, but the results were inconclusive.

Thanks, dave.

[erw34r3]

Can you type out the 8 digtit hex code number please.

[sp193]

I had a similar error before. Mine was caused by a camera driver setup program overwriting Usbmphlp.pdr(I think it was this file) with a version incompatible with my USB mass storage device driver (Yours might be a little different problem though, but seems to be a driver error).

Therefore, before we can properly answer your question, could you tell us what was the last thing you did before that an error appeared(Did you install any new device drivers?)? What are the modifications are you using for your Windows installation (If any)?

Offtopic: The "Windows Setup" string seems to be a leftover from Win3.1, which had a configurator in MS-DOS to change the basic devices driver settings.

Edited July 1, 2009 by sp193

[erw34r3]

Awww! Just worked out you can click on the Pic to enlarge

A quick search through my db of past and present fixes turns up;

PCI:

Ati FireGL Card/??? Network Card/Motorola SM56 Modem Internal.

I dare say there is either a problem with the card or the driver or both or the pci controller.

Hope you got some spares laying around.

If it is the driver and you can't get to safe mode to uninstall and remove the .inf files.

I would suggest going into dos and manually removing these references.

Have Phun

[dencorso]

Hi, Dave! It's a video memory problem, see Q302824 or, in my experience, can mean also FSB too high (no matter what the manufacturer of the mobo or the RAM claims). I suggest you lower the memory frequency (say from DDR2 800 to 667) in BIOS, while allowing the processor to remain at the same frequency (i.e.: set the FSB at the RAM side to less than 1:1). Many boards allow you to do this. If you indicate to me which board you're using (is it the one on the list?) I can look its manual up and give you more specific instructions. It is a RAM related BSOD, nevertheless. And, yes, I'm suggesting to underclock the RAM. Lowering the Video RAM acceleration prevents you from using DirectX to its full extent, while lowering the RAM FSB has no perceptible overall perfoemance penalty, no matter what people say to the contrary. Win 9x/ME is more sensitive to this than are the NT-family OSes. And it only happens to people with lots of RAM onboard. Good luck!

Edited July 1, 2009 by dencorso

[erw34r3]

OK OK OK, I wont repeat myself.

0x000019E "PCI/ISA Card" Device "0x0002"

Now i had some time to thinkz, i would guess you have a Creative SoundBlaster Type Card.

Get into safe mode and unistall it, remove its dependencies, restart, turn off, test test test

Re-insert card , re-install driver.

Open Regedit

Navigate to HKLM/Software/Creative/DeviceInfo/PCI/Ven1102&DEV_0002

And a new string name MMX give it a value of 1.

Reboot many times

Test test test.

Of course i would do this for all your cards (that is remove and test them) because the problem as stated earlier is a card/ card driver or screwed controller.

[Dave-H]

Thanks to everyone who's replied so quickly.

Much appreciated!

I have always assumed that this is some sort of hardware/driver problem, and I was hoping that someone might know what the numbers quoted on the error message actually meant, so I could track down what it's actually referring to.

The problem has been there for so long that I couldn't possibly now say what I might have installed which could have caused it.

It is extremely intermittent, my system is normally very stable, and I've never been able to reproduce it at will.

I don't have Soundblaster audio hardware, it's an on-board Realtek AC '97 system.

The video card (AGP) is based on the ATI Radeon 9200 chipset.

Both have the latest drivers available and seem to work fine.

dencorso, I don't think any of the settings you mention are available in my motherboard BIOS.

It's a Supermicro X5DAE. The BIOS version is 1.3b, which I believe is the latest.

The only video card related setting seems to be the AGP graphics aperture, and I think it's set to the default 64MB.

[dencorso]

I have always assumed that this is some sort of hardware/driver problem, and I was hoping that someone might know what the numbers quoted on the error message actually meant, so I could track down what it's actually referring to.

Since you asked, Dave, I do know what the numbers mean... they mean the error occurred at Object #5 in VWin32.VxD, at offset 0x119E from the start of that object's segment. Now, looking at the VWin32.VxD Object Table we can determine that Object #5 is a PCOD Segment, that is, it contains Pageable Code. At that point in the code a Call to the service #1 of "device 0002" (and here the word device means just another .VxD). Now, "device 0002" is Debug.VxD (cf. here), which naturally is not linked (that's why the call failed) because you are not running a debug version of Win 98SE. VWin32.VxD v. 4.10.2222 is a solid .VxD and has no known bugs. So something very unusual happened for it to call Debug. That something is probably a transient memory failure. I have experienced that precise haphazard BSOD in my system, from the time I upgraded my motherboard's memory from 2 GiB to 3 GiB, to the day I underclocked the RAM some more. The RAM underclocking solved that issue permanently. And yes, I just looked up the manual for the X5DAE and there seems to be no seeting in the BIOS to control the RAM FSB frequency. Unless it's bundled to the Processor "Frequency Ratio". Get in BIOS and change no settings for now, but look up what options exactly are offered under "Advanced" -> "Advanced Processor Options" -> "Frequency Ratio" and tell me. It may be hidden there, but it's quite a long shot. On the other hand, if you set the Hardware Acceleration slider to the None setting as recommended in the MSKB I pointed to in my previous post, you'll also get rid of that BSOD, but, if I remember right, part of DirectX also stops working. I fear there may be no solution to that issue for your specific board, however. Sorry! BTW, how did you get the screenshot of the BSOD? Did you take a digital picture of it? Edited July 2, 2009 by dencorso

[erw34r3]

The video driver installed on your computer is shyte.(Reinstall last known working driver)

-or-

The video driver installed on your computer is not the correct driver.(Reinstall last known working driver)

-or-

Video hardware acceleration is turned on.(Turn off)

-or-

All of the above.(All of the above)

"AS I SAID" I was guessing at the SB Card, yet my earlier post dealt with an ATI card.

Edited July 2, 2009 by erw34r3

[Dave-H]

Thanks again guys!

erw34r3, the video driver I'm using is the Catalyst 6.2 package, which is the last driver issued by ATI (before they became AMD IIRC!) and is the last version compatible with my card and Windows 98.

I always used to update my video drivers regularly until the compatible updates stopped, and this error goes back such a long way that I'm sure that it isn't peculiar to just this driver version.

The video system seems to work perfectly in every other respect anyway.

dencorso, I can't find vwin32.vxd on my system.

I assume it's hidden in vmm32.vxd, which doesn't seem to have a version number.

It's dated 23rd February 2009, and may well date from Rudolph Loew's RAM Limitation Patch 6.0.

Should I check that I've actually got the best version of vwin32.vxd?

I have checked my BIOS settings, and the options available under Processor "Frequency Ratio" are "Peak" (which is what it's set to, and I assume is the default,) and a series of multiplier options, ranging from x12 to x24.

The other Advanced Processor Options are -

Fast String Operations, which is enabled.

Compatible FPU Code, which is disabled (don't know why, I assume that's the default as I've never changed it.)

Split Lock Operations, which is enabled.

Hyper-Threading Technology, which is disabled (neither of my operating systems support it as far as I'm aware, and it seems to be recommended to switch it off in that case.)

L3 Cache, which is enabled.

I should mention at this point that when I spoke to Supermicro Tech Support a few years ago about an unrelated problem, they did say that the motherboard was never tested under Windows 98.

Hardly surprising, as it's a server board, and even in 2003 when I bought it, it was very unlikely to ever be used with Windows 98!

It could therefore simply be a motherboard/Windows 98 compatibility problem, although I have to say that Windows 98 (with all the patches and updates I've been pointed to by this very board) runs generally superbly on it, even with 4GB of RAM fitted!

The board has always had 1GB of RAM, and the BSOD still appeared then BTW.

I upgraded to 4GB at the end of last year, and it doesn't seem to have made it appear any more often I'm glad to say.

Well I could just turn the hardware acceleration off, as you've both suggested, but if that is going to impair performance in other areas, I'm tempted to just put up with the occasional BSOD!

The screenshot is an off-screen digital photograph BTW!

Edited July 2, 2009 by Dave-H

[dencorso]

Dave, you're right: VWin32.VxD is packed inside the VMM32.VxD. Since you use Win 98SE, it can only be v. 4.10.2222, there is no other choice, becuse the versions for 98FE and for ME would not work with the 98SE VMM.VxD. So, no, there is no need to check.

I studied the motherboard manual and mused about it for a long time, and I see no feasible way to underclock the RAM without also underclocking the processor, in your particular case. So, my initial suggestion is not a viable potential solution to pursue. Sorry!

As for the MSKB solution, it's quite easy to do and undo, so you might explore it more than I did. I checked my records and my cooment at the time was "cripples DirectDraw". But I had set Hardware Acceleration to "None", as per Microsoft's advice. Yet, the setting is a slider so, perhaps, there may be an intermediate setting that does not affect DirectDraw and stops the BSODs. I think it's worth investigating. You can easily test DirectDraw, using the DXDiag.exe utility included in DirectX, after each new setting. Good luck!

[Dave-H]

Thanks den.

I have tried moving the hardware acceleration slider down one notch, and I'll see how it goes.

The DirectX Diagnostics Tool reports that DirectDraw Acceleration and Direct3D Acceleration are still enabled, as they were before.

AGP Texture Acceleration isn't available, but it never was!

[sp193]

AGP Texture Acceleration isn't available, but it never was!

That's not normal for modern graphics cards (You stated that it was a ATI Radeon 9200). Possibly a sign of a major fault with your graphics card drivers/system. Try reinstalling the graphics card drivers and DirectX? Also check for any resource conflicts.

My Nvidia GeForce FX5200 is older than your card, and already has AGP texture acceleration. I also have a laptop computer that had a ATI Mobility Radeon 7200 (Older by a lot!!) that also had Texture Acceleration.

Edited July 9, 2009 by sp193

[Dave-H]

Thanks sp193.

As I said, I'm pretty sure that AGP Texture Acceleration has never worked on my system under Windows 98.

It is available under Windows 2000 (dual boot system).

I always assumed that this was simply because the Windows 98 driver didn't have that facility.

DirectX Diagnostics reports no file problems apart from three which are debug versions, which it says may run more slowly than the retail versions.

The video driver (Calalyst 6.2) is the latest for my card which supports Windows 98.

I have updated the driver many times in the past to make sure that I always had the latest version, and as I said I'm sure that AGP Texture Acceleration has never been offered.

Edited July 10, 2009 by Dave-H

[RJARRRPCGP]

Ever since I can remember, my Windows 98SE installation has occasionally thrown up the following message.

I have no idea why this should be.

All that "running the Windows setup program" does is to offer to reinstall Windows of course.

I actually did that a couple of times, but the problem didn't go away.

I've never pinned down what sequence of events causes it to pop up.

It doesn't happen very often, but it's very annoying when it does, as I nearly always end up having to re-boot!

Does anyone have any idea what that message actually means?

I've tried researching on the web about it of course, but the results were inconclusive.

Thanks, dave.

Possible cause:

Your processor core is set to a speed it can't handle.