Zepto 6625WD Bluescreening!

I have a Zepto 6625WD (see sig for details) which I got last November. I've been really happy with it since, but recently I've been having a problem.

Randomly, it seems, the laptop bluescreens with an IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL error, which my research tells me means "Windows crashed, and doesn't have a clue what happened". It tends to happen most when I'm playing a game, or similarly stressing the GPU. However, it also happens when I'm simply surfing the net, the mouse and keyboard will freeze for two seconds, and the same bluescreen will come up.

Now, I've already tried many remedial measures. I bought a cooling pad when I got the laptop, so it's getting enough fresh air. I've undervolted the CPU, which I determined not to be the problem as the laptop bluescreens with RMClock both running and not running. I have uninstalled all the 3rd-party drivers using the pnputil command, and then reinstalled them all using fresh new drivers. For my GeForce 8600M GT, I am using v177.41 drivers for the GTX cards with a lv2go modded inf. Again, this did not solve the problem. Finally, I cracked open the laptop, removed the heatsinks from the CPU and GPU, cleaned off the chunky mass of thermal compound that was stuck on, and reapplied some new Arctic Silver 5 to both. I also cleaned the vents to remove all dust there.

I am sure this is not a heat issue as my CPU hits a max of 71C and my GPU reaches 82C. My last option is to reinstall Vista, but I haven't got the time/willingness to do that. I've read on various places that the GeForce 8400/8600 on many laptops may be faulty, but they refer to complete failure rather than occasional bluescreens.

Any help with this?

 

This probably has no relevance to your issue, but mine used to bluescreen with the same type of error when attempting to download from megaupload. Clearly that was easily avoided

 

When your computer reboots, doesn't windows come up with a box displaying the reason to the failure or tries to search for a solution? If so, you can probably search the google for the error code.

I've also had a lot of blue screens, but they were all happening when booting. The problem was a virtualization problem...

 

Yes, it did come up with a "Windows encountered an unexpected shutdown" message, but it never found a solution. I later disabled error reporting as it started annoying me with that message.

The problem can't be with virtualization as I have uninstalled VMware (just in case) and removed all of its drivers.

Just got a new bluescreen error, SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION. The only new services I have are those for iTunes (I just got a new iPod Touch, and no, the bluescreens have happened before I got it). Those services are stopped unless I need to sync my iPod, so they can't be responsible. The only 3rd party service that always runs is the nVidia Display Driver Service (again, GPU related?)

 

Vista uses virtualization.

 

judging from the variety of errors you're getting, I would scan the ram for faults..

 

Also reset your BIOS to default and disable TPM.

And instead of reinstalling the whole thing, you can try to run the repair part of the Vista DVD. That way it checks the system without touching your files or the registry

 

Scanned RAM, no problems found. I've even gone and reseated the modules, just to make sure.

Have reset BIOS (not that there was much to reset, nearly everything was at defaults). Can't disable TPM as I use BitLocker and don't want to wait hours to decrypt the drive. Besides, I don't think the TPM has ever caused me any problems.

The Vista repair thing found no problems, mainly since it checks for problems with booting.

Am currently having no problem with the system for a while though, has been fine for quite a number of hours.
Update: Nope, just had a bluescreen again, same IRQL error again.

 

What Iv understoon that when you install a BIOS, it doesnt have the same settings as what you have after resetting. But I have no idea of this being correct or if Iv just got something wrong

 

Hi r3loaded,

I've heard some people who had the same error as u, had a problem with there CPU. They changed the cpu and the blue screen was gone and the notebook works fine again. meaby there is something wrong with your cpu too( i hope not cause that realy sucks). the other option is that your windows installation is not good. you can try to reinstall it and see if its works.
if you still keep the problem, meaby you can go to the store where you buy your zepto and ask them to take a look.

 

The most common reason for bluescreen in vista is caused by nvidia drivers.
Worth a try.

 

Well the IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL is kinda tricky, as it doesnt really point at anything, just an error

 

Again, the problem seems to have disappeared, not sure how or why. I'm happy for the moment

EDIT: It's back again, and it's happening more often! Even worse, it's started causing other problems. After a blue screen, it restarted automatically. Once I logged in, Vista had created a temporary profile for my account as it "couldn't load the profile because another process was accessing it". Logoff and logon didn't resolve this, but a restart got things back to normal.

Might as well reinstall Windows soon....

 

Have you tried another BIOS version?

 

Am running 015, was running 011 before. I upgraded to 015 back in April, found it to be a bit more stable. Problems have been occurring in the last 4-5 weeks or so.

 

If your problem is still there, try running 008 or even 004 for a while, they do not include certain CPU things like IDA and SLFM, wich might be causing problems (especially IDA)

 

I'm using RMClock, is it possible just to disable IDA and SLFM from there?

I'd personally rather not downgrade if I can avoid it, as I've read that the older BIOS versions have issues with 4Gb of RAM.

 

Has it been (significantly) warmer during the last 4/5 weeks?

I've had the same 'IRQ NOT LESS OR EQUAL' crap message during summers when gaming on my Znote 6615.
I've always suspected a RAM error/fault, however MemTest always came up OK.
It's just that MemTest never heats up the notebook like gaming does, so you can never test the RAM under the same circumstances.

 

You can (i) deselect IDA and SLFM on the main profiles page and also deselect IDA on the advanced CPU settings page (near the bottom). I have had IDA disabled on my 6024W since it brought no obvious performance benefit and might have been the cause of some crashes. I have had no problems with SLFM.

John

 

1. It's been warm this week, but the laptop sits in the coolest room in the house, and I have a cooling pad. Besides, the problem started while it was still quite cold.

2. Disabled IDA and SLFM, the laptop somehow "feels" like it's running better. Have loaded the CPU and GPU with stress test programs, no problems for the past 3-4 hours....

 

also if your using RMClock, be shure to tick all boxes on the performance on demand page on Battery side too. It might be stuck in some low-speed state if you dont tick em

 

I have Zepto 6224W and i get same issues. I think it's just a malfunctioning driver.

Do you have laptopvideo2go?

 

Rite, disabling SLFM and IDA made no difference, it still bluescreened. Also, I am using 177.41 lv2go drivers, and other versions such as 175.19, 175.80 (zepto's own) and 177.39 still have the problem.

Might just be easier to reinstall...

 

Reinstalling might work, but since i have the same problem I doubt it. There must be a bug in the drivers of Zepto somewhere. Either that, or we have an interfering program installed.

Could you maybe post a hijack log, so i can review your processes...

 

Here's my log:

Code:

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2
Scan saved at 13:35:02, on 01/08/2008
Platform: Windows Vista SP1 (WinNT 6.00.1905)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v7.00 (7.00.6001.18000)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
C:\Windows\BisonCam\BisonMnt.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Yahoo!\Messenger\YahooMessenger.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Messenger\msnmsgr.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Google Talk\googletalk.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\RMClock\RMClock.exe
C:\Program Files\Logitech\SetPoint\x86\SetPoint32.exe
C:\Users\Prakhar\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Live Mesh\GacBase\Moe.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\iTunes\iTunes.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\bin\AppleMobileDeviceHelper.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\bin\distnoted.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Mail\wlmail.exe
C:\Users\Prakhar\Downloads\HiJackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = about:blank
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant = 
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch = 
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings,ProxyOverride = *.local
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar,LinksFolderName = 
F2 - REG:system.ini: UserInit=userinit.exe
O1 - Hosts: ::1 localhost
O2 - BHO: AcroIEHelperStub - {18DF081C-E8AD-4283-A596-FA578C2EBDC3} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelperShim.dll
O2 - BHO: Google Update Class - {6F282C89-3BD3-4387-92D9-C76428B07E07} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Update\1.1.25.0\GoopdateBho.dll (file missing)
O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre1.6.0_06\bin\ssv.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {7E853D72-626A-48EC-A868-BA8D5E23E045} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: Windows Live Sign-in Helper - {9030D464-4C02-4ABF-8ECC-5164760863C6} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live\WindowsLiveLogin.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [googletalk] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Google Talk\googletalk.exe" /autostart
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [RMClock] "C:\Program Files (x86)\RMClock\RMClockLauncher.exe"
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Messenger (Yahoo!)] "C:\PROGRA~2\Yahoo!\MESSEN~1\YAHOOM~1.EXE" -quiet
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ehTray.exe] C:\Windows\ehome\ehTray.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [msnmsgr] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Messenger\msnmsgr.exe" /background
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [MoeMonitor.exe] "C:\Users\Prakhar\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Live Mesh\Bin\Servicing\0.9.3103.9\MoeMonitor.exe"
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /detectMem (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [WindowsWelcomeCenter] rundll32.exe oobefldr.dll,ShowWelcomeCenter (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /detectMem (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - Global Startup: Logitech SetPoint.lnk = C:\Program Files\Logitech\SetPoint\SetPoint.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~1\Office12\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre1.6.0_06\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre1.6.0_06\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra button: Send to OneNote - {2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49} - C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~1\Office12\ONBttnIE.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: S&end to OneNote - {2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49} - C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~1\Office12\ONBttnIE.dll
O13 - Gopher Prefix: 
O23 - Service: Apple Mobile Device - Apple Inc. - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\bin\AppleMobileDeviceService.exe
O23 - Service: Bonjour Service - Apple Inc. - C:\Program Files (x86)\Bonjour\mDNSResponder.exe
O23 - Service: FLEXnet Licensing Service - Macrovision Europe Ltd. - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Macrovision Shared\FLEXnet Publisher\FNPLicensingService.exe
O23 - Service: Google Update Service (gupdate1c8cae86a145540) (gupdate1c8cae86a145540) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Update\1.1.25.0\GoogleUpdate.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: iPod Service - Apple Inc. - C:\Program Files (x86)\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe
O23 - Service: @keyiso.dll,-100 (KeyIso) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Logitech Bluetooth Service (LBTServ) - Logitech, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Logishrd\Bluetooth\LBTServ.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\System32\netlogon.dll,-102 (Netlogon) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (nvsvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\nvvsvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: PD91Agent - Raxco Software, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Raxco\PerfectDisk2008\PD91Agent.exe
O23 - Service: PD91Engine - Raxco Software, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Raxco\PerfectDisk2008\PD91Engine.exe
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\psbase.dll,-300 (ProtectedStorage) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\Locator.exe,-2 (RpcLocator) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\locator.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\samsrv.dll,-1 (SamSs) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: ServiceLayer - Nokia. - C:\Program Files (x86)\PC Connectivity Solution\ServiceLayer.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\SLsvc.exe,-101 (slsvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\SLsvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\spoolsv.exe,-1 (Spooler) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\spoolsv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Steam Client Service - Valve Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Steam\SteamService.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\ui0detect.exe,-101 (UI0Detect) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\UI0Detect.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\vds.exe,-100 (vds) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\vds.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\vssvc.exe,-102 (VSS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\vssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\wbengine.exe,-104 (wbengine) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbengine.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%Systemroot%\system32\wbem\wmiapsrv.exe,-110 (wmiApSrv) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbem\WmiApSrv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service (WMPNetworkSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe (file missing)

--
End of file - 7445 bytes

I am going away on holiday tomorrow for a week, so I won't be able to reply for a bit. Do post if you come across anything though

 

your missing a bunch of files from systemroot?

run the Vista Repair thingie off the DVD

 

Done system file check before, no problems there.

 

I just remembered one thing, I get BSODs every once a while (not the zeptos fault), and I get the same IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL error, but, on wich device do you get it?

I get mine on USB_CONTROLLER (or smth like that), and I know its my USB headset that is the fault of the BSODs. What device is your system reporting? (You see it on the bottom of the bluescreen, before the "Dumping memory...")

 

It does not give any device, just a stop error at the bottom. I'm reinstalling Vista now anyway...

 

Ok, time to bump again.

I've reinstalled Vista x64 again, loaded with all latest drivers, including nVidia 177.92 graphics drivers. Everything was going fine for a few weeks (TF2 and BioShock got a nice speed boost thanx to the new drivers) but recently I've been having a different type of blue screen, in particular the "Hardware Malfunction - Call your hardware vendor for support" blue screen.

Again, I've checked out my RAM, no errors at all, and the system is not overheating, max CPU is 74 and max GPU is 90. It's happening at random, and has never happened during a game, only while idly surfing on Firefox. I uninstalled RMClock as I felt that perhaps it was causing trouble (undervolting hasn't actually made a significant difference in temps, only about 3-5 degrees lower), but still the error has occured. Vista's event viewer and problem reporter is completely clueless, there's nothing there to say that it unexpectedly crashed.

Another problem that I've always seem to have is the slowness in resuming from sleep. On my 5 year old dell, Vista resumes from sleep almost instantly with the screen already on, it just waits for the hard drive to spin up. On my laptop, the fans spin up, then settle down, and its a further 5-8 seconds before my desktop is ready to use.

 

Make shure your not in the hybrid sleep vista has, its deeper than normal sleep.

 

I've always had hybrid sleep and hibernate disabled using powercfg -h off. I disabled hybrid sleep ages ago since it was so slow to sleep.