Randomly crashing

[Pandragon]

My System Specifications

Operating System:
Windows 2.6.0.6001 (Service Pack 1)
CPU Type:
Intel® Pentium® Dual CPU E2200 @ 2.20GHz
CPU Speed:
2.22 GHz
System Memory:
2.99 GB
Video Card Model:
Intel(R) G33/G31 Express Chipset Family
Video Card Driver:
igdumdx32.dll
Desktop Resolution:
1280x1024
Hard Disk Size:
455.71 GB
Hard Disk Free Space:
380.12 GB (83%)
Download Speed:
1.13 MB/s (9.5 mbps)

Windows Vista, Dell Inspiron 530S

I keep randomly crashing, and when I try to go to Deepholme my screen blacks, comes back, blacks, comes back and says my Video Driver failed and recovered then it blue screens or freezes.

To show how random it is, I did firelands tonight just fine, but crashed when turning my camera in Org, in the Valley of Honor by the JC trainer to look at a hunters pet.

[Lilbruz]

The first and most obvious answer would be: Have you updated your graphics drivers to the newest version ?

[Pandragon]

The first and most obvious answer would be: Have you updated your graphics drivers to the newest version ?

I did a scan of them tonight, and installed newer versions of them.

[Lilbruz]

What are you doing when the PC crashes ? Is it during gaming, or just "normal" work ?

[Pandragon]

Flying, standing, changing zones. Only thing it hasn't crashed during is fighting.

[Xuany]

I had the same issue but I upgraded from my Dual Core to a Quad along with the rest of my computer except for my GPU and it stopped, I'm not entirely sure what was causing it. I've gotten the driver failed message twice since my new(ish) computer (little less than a year old) but it was never in game.

[Lilbruz]

If its only a problem in WoW, I would suggest to tweak your graphics settings and turn down some of the most demanding things...cant remember the names of the top of my head, but should be under advanced...things like shadows and clutter can be quite heavy on "older" cards, and it looks like you have an onboard card, so those will never be as powerful as external cards

[Pandragon]

If its only a problem in WoW, I would suggest to tweak your graphics settings and turn down some of the most demanding things...cant remember the names of the top of my head, but should be under advanced...things like shadows and clutter can be quite heavy on "older" cards, and it looks like you have an onboard card, so those will never be as powerful as external cards

Settings are on low.

[Lilbruz]

Can you try downloading http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/bluescreenview_setup.exe ? If you dont like links, just google "bluescreenview". Its a small program that loads the dump of your BSOD´s into it to show what drivers that specifically caused the BSOD. It should be pretty self explanatory to install and use

[Pandragon]

Will I have to wait for my comp to blue screen again before I can use it?

[Lilbruz]

Will I have to wait for my comp to blue screen again before I can use it?

Nope. As I remember it, it will automatically load your latest BSOD dumps into it, so you should be able to look at them right away

[Pandragon]

I ran it and it came up with this.


==================================================
Dump File : Mini103111-01.dmp
Crash Time : 10/31/2011 12:15:19 AM
Bug Check String :
Bug Check Code : 0x00000116
Parameter 1 : 0x849bc008
Parameter 2 : 0x8ee1aba0
Parameter 3 : 0x00000000
Parameter 4 : 0x0000000d
Caused By Driver : igdkmd32.sys
Caused By Address : igdkmd32.sys+cba0
File Description : Intel Graphics Kernel Mode Driver
Product Name : Intel Graphics Accelerator Drivers for Windows Vista(R)
Company : Intel Corporation
File Version : 7.15.10.1666
Processor : 32-bit
Crash Address : ntkrnlpa.exe+cd163
Stack Address 1 : dxgkrnl.sys+7ad4f
Stack Address 2 : dxgkrnl.sys+7ba41
Stack Address 3 : dxgkrnl.sys+18ed1
Computer Name :
Full Path : C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini103111-01.dmp
Processors Count : 2
Major Version : 15
Minor Version : 6001
Dump File Size : 167,336
==================================================

==================================================
Dump File : Mini103011-01.dmp
Crash Time : 10/30/2011 4:14:35 PM
Bug Check String : CRITICAL_OBJECT_TERMINATION
Bug Check Code : 0x000000f4
Parameter 1 : 0x00000003
Parameter 2 : 0x86add868
Parameter 3 : 0x86add9b4
Parameter 4 : 0x81e3e330
Caused By Driver : ntkrnlpa.exe
Caused By Address : ntkrnlpa.exe+cd163
File Description : NT Kernel & System
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Company : Microsoft Corporation
File Version : 6.0.6001.18538 (vistasp1_gdr.101014-0432)
Processor : 32-bit
Crash Address : ntkrnlpa.exe+cd163
Stack Address 1 : ntkrnlpa.exe+294e54
Stack Address 2 : ntkrnlpa.exe+1e2cac
Stack Address 3 : ntkrnlpa.exe+1e3045
Computer Name :
Full Path : C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini103011-01.dmp
Processors Count : 2
Major Version : 15
Minor Version : 6001
Dump File Size : 138,704
==================================================

[Lilbruz]

Ok, lets see. Please note im no expert in the deeper coding of drivers and such...But I have used this program to narrow down problems before. I used to looking at the dump files in the program myself, but I think I can see a few problems from your copy/paste anyway

So, "Caused By Driver : igdkmd32.sys" is your Intel Graphics driver (as it also states), so that particular BSOD was caused by that driver. Solution would be to update the driver, but as you already did this, I think you should do it from scratch. So delete your graphics card from hardware manager, and also delete the driver so you are forced to install the newest one from the beginning (not just updating)

As to "Caused By Driver : ntkrnlpa.exe", its another case. This could be a lot of things. I would make sure you have the most recent drivers to ALL your hardware and see from there. Its more or less imposible to know what this is as it can be so many things from wireless card to sleep mode to currupt install etc etc

[Drunknlulaby]

I would just buy a graphics card. You can get fairly decent ones for around 50 to 100 dollars.

The mini dump is pointing at the driver for your on board card as the main error. You can try to delete and re install, but it will only fix it for the short term at best.
WoW doesn't require a crazy expensive video card, but it definitely doesn't like to use on board cards.

Sometimes the best fix is to throw a little money at the problem. I make my clients do this from time to time.

Also, I suggest you install XP Professional with SP3 instead of Vista. Or, just go straight to Windows 7.

"Caused By Driver : ntkrnlpa.exe" this is the vsmon.exe. This is a ZoneAlarm service. Uninstall that exe and that should help stop the Blue Screen of Death also.

There are steps listed to uninstall it. That will also help stop the Blue Screen of Death that comes up.