# 3 BSOD in one day!



## Azuses (Mar 23, 2014)

Hi,
This post has become quite long so details below, but after an edit here's the summary - Four BSOD today, all with the same error. I can't think of anything that would have caused this. Memory test shows no errors with the RAM. Blue screen's have occurred both shortly after startup without any stress on the system, as well as after it hadn't been shut down for a while with lots open. I can't find anything that forces it to blue screen, seems fairly random (it's happened while I'm not even using the system). Dumps at the very bottom.

Much longer summary: I've got an Asus S400C on windows 8.1 that's about 6 months old. It's been really good to me but recently has seemed a little unstable,(or maybe that's me just thinking badly about it now! I would have said it occasionally hangs more than I think it should for a newish laptop) - but nothing I couldn't put up with. This morning it gave a BSOD with KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR. In fairness it had been a while since it had been properly shutdown (i tend to just put it into standby by closing the lid) and I also had quite a lot of things open. I still wouldn't expect it to bluescreen like that though.

I think I've had the same blue screen once before, about 3 weeks ago. Today it blue screened four times in total - the three other times without me asking much of the laptop at all (only word, chrome and itunes open). Definitely not right!

I've run the memory test and it found no errors. Yesterday I replaced a qualcomm wifi driver with a microsoft one (both ones that were already on the system) but reverting back hasn't stopped the blue screens so I don't think it was related to that (it also was fine yesterday evening after changing). I've also uninstalled Asus Liveupdate because it's always saying it's "stopped working..." and someone suggested it for a similar error on another forum.

It might be unrelated but 2 weeks ago I opened the lid of the laptop to find that I could move the cursor but had an otherwise blank screen (on, but displaying black except for a cursor. Normal resolution though!). I coudn't get it to do anything so held the power button, and when it turned back on it said it was doing automatic recovery, and checking the harddisk - it took about 3 hours to do. Afterwards it booted up and worked.

I've tried to investigate the dmp files with my basic ability to google and something that crops up is win8_driver_error. Also it usually says "Probably caused by : ntkrnlmp.exe". Don't know if that means anything more to you guys than it does to me? Any clues would be appreciated - I've got backups but do rely on my laptop a lot and need it to be stable for various important things coming up in the next week or two, so hopefully this makes more sense to you than it does to me!

All previous minidumps and first crash today - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3tyixthx9yt1yzv/uXrzdZTrot
The second minidump of today- https://www.dropbox.com/s/d7lxigxfiakdx14/032314-122281-01.dmp
Third minidump - https://www.dropbox.com/s/grhgp93auxjidt6/032314-55484-01.dmp
Fourth minidump - https://www.dropbox.com/s/c4ke7x9kh3ilh2x/032314-50500-01.dmp
Thanks a lot!

Update - left the computer on for a while and came back to it having restarted itself following a BSOD (so ignore any reference to "hasn't blue screened since...", I've tried to get rid of most but I'm tired and need bed!). BSOD #4 today - https://www.dropbox.com/s/c4ke7x9kh3ilh2x/032314-50500-01.dmp


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## Macboatmaster (Jan 15, 2010)

1. Welcome to Tech Support Guy

2. I am more than prepared to help BUT I do not open dropbox links or any other link that I do not know what I am opening, I hope you will appreciate why.

3. Therefore if you wish me to look at the dumps please send then as attached zipped files by clicking go advanced on reply

to do this open computer
open windows
scroll to minidump
open
right click the dump file
click send to compressed file
and go from there.

In the meantime, although it is not as informative as the dump analysis I use download the FREE Who Crashed from here and see if that provides any further info
http://www.resplendence.com/whocrashed

As a starting point if Who Crashed does not help - which Anti-Virus are you using and which came as a free trial with the Asus

If you have installed one, then you must uninstall the free trial if it is NOT the same eg you purchased the one on the free trial

NTKrnlmp - simply means New Technology File System Kernel Multi Processor
it is NOT the cause of the crash it is basically what you may consider to be the basis of the whole working of the system.


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## Azuses (Mar 23, 2014)

Hi mate,
Thanks for the response, really appreciate you taking the time to help.

I've attached the minidumps separately as you asked - there's more in the folder but it'll only let me upload 5 - do you want the rest of them? There's 5 from January, 1 from February and another 5 more from earlier in March.

The Who Crashed software has suggested a particular driver fault (but it doesn't show up in the first 10 minidumps in the report, does that mean it's from a previous dump not shown?) I couldn't find an official site (just lots of dodgy looking ones I didn't trust) but updating it through device manager took it to 10.0.0.260. Googling for this error finds BSOD with DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL - which is a BSOD I had a while back. So is this also the culprit of yesterday's BSOD?

System Information (local)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

computer name: STEVE-LAPTOP
windows version: Windows 8.1 , 6.2, build: 9200
windows dir: C:\WINDOWS
Hardware: S400CA, ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-3217U CPU @ 1.80GHz Intel586, level: 6
4 logical processors, active mask: 15
RAM: 4175003648 total
VM: 2147352576, free: 1873010688

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crash Dump Analysis
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crash dump directory: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump

Crash dumps are enabled on your computer.

On Sun 23/03/2014 22:53:22 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\032314-50500-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x14DCA0) 
Bugcheck code: 0x7A (0x4, 0x0, 0xFFFFE00007097E80, 0x480B8B8)
Error: KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the requested page of kernel data from the paging file could not be read into memory. 
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.

On Sun 23/03/2014 17:55:21 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\032314-55484-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x14DCA0) 
Bugcheck code: 0x7A (0x4, 0x0, 0xFFFFE00003A3B010, 0x7FFF08D3A080)
Error: KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the requested page of kernel data from the paging file could not be read into memory. 
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.

On Sun 23/03/2014 17:29:22 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\032314-60843-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x14DCA0) 
Bugcheck code: 0x7A (0x4, 0x0, 0xFFFFE00006AD14E0, 0x108611A)
Error: KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the requested page of kernel data from the paging file could not be read into memory. 
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.

On Sun 23/03/2014 14:17:02 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\032314-122281-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x14DCA0) 
Bugcheck code: 0x7A (0x4, 0x0, 0xFFFFE0000655AE80, 0xF776563000)
Error: KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the requested page of kernel data from the paging file could not be read into memory. 
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.

On Sun 23/03/2014 12:30:09 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\032314-143500-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x14DCA0) 
Bugcheck code: 0x7A (0x4, 0x0, 0xFFFFE00003D70E00, 0x34BFB000)
Error: KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the requested page of kernel data from the paging file could not be read into memory. 
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.

On Wed 19/03/2014 04:53:49 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\031914-106328-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x14DCA0) 
Bugcheck code: 0x7A (0x4, 0x0, 0xFFFFE000068AFE80, 0xBEE9F5E92A)
Error: KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the requested page of kernel data from the paging file could not be read into memory. 
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.

On Wed 19/03/2014 01:48:26 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\031914-50468-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x14DCA0) 
Bugcheck code: 0x7A (0x4, 0x0, 0xFFFFE00005EE7D70, 0x998689F)
Error: KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the requested page of kernel data from the paging file could not be read into memory. 
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.

On Tue 18/03/2014 23:43:51 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\031814-54140-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x14DCA0) 
Bugcheck code: 0x7A (0x4, 0x0, 0xFFFFE00005F32310, 0xFFFFC0000BDB96BC)
Error: KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the requested page of kernel data from the paging file could not be read into memory. 
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.

On Tue 18/03/2014 06:59:11 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\031814-78015-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x14DCA0) 
Bugcheck code: 0x7A (0x4, 0x0, 0xFFFFE00000813910, 0x23805FF000)
Error: KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the requested page of kernel data from the paging file could not be read into memory. 
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.

On Thu 13/03/2014 02:08:34 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\031314-59359-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x14DCA0) 
Bugcheck code: 0x9F (0x3, 0xFFFFE00000FDB550, 0xFFFFD0002052A840, 0xFFFFE000077D3C10)
Error: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem. 
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conclusion
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

16 crash dumps have been found and analyzed. Only 10 are included in this report. A third party driver has been identified to be causing system crashes on your computer. It is strongly suggested that you check for updates for these drivers on their company websites. Click on the links below to search with Google for updates for these drivers:

athw8x.sys (Qualcomm Atheros Extensible Wireless LAN device driver, Qualcomm Atheros Communications, Inc.)

If no updates for these drivers are available, try searching with Google on the names of these drivers in combination the errors that have been reported for these drivers and include the brand and model name of your computer as well in the query. This often yields interesting results from discussions from users who have been experiencing similar problems.​
I'm running AVG Free antivirus. I can't remember what came with it but I've check for the earliest installed programmes and no sign of anything so I must have uninstalled it straight away - googling it seems that McAffee came with it and that does ring a bell. AVG is the only anti-virus installed at the moment though.

While waiting for a reply I ran CHKDSK C: /F /R overnight and the event viewer said this is what happened.

Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is OS.

A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.

Stage 1: Examining basic file system structure ...
611584 file records processed. File verification completed.
5555 large file records processed. 0 bad file records processed. 
Stage 2: Examining file name linkage ...
736432 index entries processed. Index verification completed.
0 unindexed files scanned. 0 unindexed files recovered. 
Stage 3: Examining security descriptors ...
Cleaning up 338 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 338 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 338 unused security descriptors.
Security descriptor verification completed.
62425 data files processed. CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
35003544 USN bytes processed. Usn Journal verification completed.

Stage 4: Looking for bad clusters in user file data ...
611568 files processed. File data verification completed.

Stage 5: Looking for bad, free clusters ...
3078185 free clusters processed. Free space verification is complete.
Adding 1 bad clusters to the Bad Clusters File.

Windows has made corrections to the file system.
No further action is required.

465991679 KB total disk space.
452736480 KB in 409486 files.
214900 KB in 62426 indexes.
64 KB in bad sectors.
727499 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
12312736 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
116497919 total allocation units on disk.
3078184 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:
00 55 09 00 6a 33 07 00 06 27 0d 00 00 00 00 00 .U..j3...'......
25 5d 00 00 25 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 %]..%...........

Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.​


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## Azuses (Mar 23, 2014)

Updating the driver must've not worked - it bluescreened this morning :/ Dump attached incase it sheds any more light

Edit: And another one! Off to work now but I'll leave the laptop on with everything closed and see how long it survives.


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## Macboatmaster (Jan 15, 2010)

Save the chkdsk result and refer the computer with the chkdsk result back to the supplier


> I've got an Asus S400C on windows 8.1 that's about 6 months old


Adding 1 bad clusters to the Bad Clusters File.
64 KB in bad sectors

There is NO other course of action that is more suitable

Either you have drawn the short straw and have a computer with a bad hard disk OR the laptop has been subjected to jolt or shock OR just possibly there is another hardware fault

Good luck with it


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

Reinstall the drivers, beginning with the chipset, from Asus's web site.


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## Macboatmaster (Jan 15, 2010)

TerryNet


I would without hesitation agree if it were not for the bad cluster added and the 64KB of bad sectors on the hard drive


I will stand corrected but I would have thought that on a 6 month old laptop - referral to supplier/warrantry claim was the best way


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

Gotta admit that I skimmed and didn't read your post # 5 before posting. I agree with you, but (re)installing all the drivers is a way to continue if it is desired to leave no stone unturned before trying for warranty service.


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## Azuses (Mar 23, 2014)

Thanks for the responses guys. Can you shed any more light on bad sectors and what that means? 64kb seems very small in the order of a 500gig hdd but I don't know what/if any is an acceptable amount. Googling seems to suggest that it rapidly tends to get worse :/ 

The laptop surived ~36 hours without rebooting itself when left with just word open. Does that suggest anything for or against it being drivers or a bad hard disk? It has given BSOD when "idle" before but I guess it was possibly doing things in the background? I'll re-install all drivers from asus and see if that makes any progress - would a reformat or system restore do anything to help? There is a hidden recovery partition that can restore it to more or less factory settings (possibly data intact, not sure), or the usual windows system restore, or a full of format.

If the signs point towards bad hardware then I'll get it sent off to Asus though.


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## Macboatmaster (Jan 15, 2010)

It should NOT have any bad sectors. It is a 6 month old computer
As I said on my first reply - It is either a case of you have drawn the short straw and got a bad hard drive - This does happen occasionally like any other hardware in a computer
OR it has been subjected to a jolt.

There is NO acceptable amount of bad sectors on ANY hard drive, but certainly NOT on a 6month old one
Refer it back under warrantry with a copy of the results of the chkdsk

A bad sector or rather 64Kilobytes in your case is the total part of the disc that cannot accept data as it is damaged.
The data from those bad sectors has been written to good sectors and the sectors marked bad so that data is not written to them in the future.

NOT only that but refer back please to my post 5


> Adding 1 bad clusters to the Bad Clusters File.


and another cluster was added.

You should refer this back to the supplier ASAP


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## Macboatmaster (Jan 15, 2010)

You may also if you have not already referred the issue in addition to supplying the chkdsk result, wish to show them this
The analysis if the dump file
032414-57218-01.zip

Windows 8 Kernel Version 9600 MP (4 procs) Free x64
Product: WinNt, suite: TerminalServer SingleUserTS Personal
Built by: 9600.16452.amd64fre.winblue_gdr.131030-1505
Machine Name:
Kernel base = 0xfffff803`dc074000 PsLoadedModuleList = 0xfffff803`dc338990
Debug session time: Mon Mar 24 07:49:04.444 2014 (UTC - 4:00)
System Uptime: 0 days 0:51:21.316
*******************************************************************************
* *
* Bugcheck Analysis *
* *
*******************************************************************************

 KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR (7a)
The requested page of kernel data could not be read in. Typically caused by
a bad block in the paging file or disk controller error. Also see
KERNEL_STACK_INPAGE_ERROR.
If the error status is 0xC000000E, 0xC000009C, 0xC000009D or 0xC0000185,
it means the disk subsystem has experienced a failure.
If the error status is 0xC000009A, then it means the request failed because
a filesystem failed to make forward progress.
Arguments:
Arg1: 0000000000000004, lock type that was held (value 1,2,3, or PTE address)
 Arg2: 0000000000000000, error status (normally i/o status code)
Arg3: ffffe00006a96010, current process (virtual address for lock type 3, or PTE)
Arg4: 0000001e409e0020, virtual address that could not be in-paged (or PTE contents if arg1 is a PTE address)

Debugging Details:
------------------

TRIAGER: Could not open triage file : e:\dump_analysis\program\triage\modclass.ini, error 2

ERROR_CODE: (NTSTATUS) 0 - STATUS_WAIT_0

BUGCHECK_STR: 0x7a_0

CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT: 1

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: WIN8_DRIVER_FAULT

PROCESS_NAME: SettingSyncHos

CURRENT_IRQL: 0

LAST_CONTROL_TRANSFER: from fffff803dc1ea84f to fffff803dc1c1ca0

STACK_TEXT: 
ffffd000`22858808 fffff803`dc1ea84f : 00000000`0000007a 00000000`00000004 00000000`00000000 ffffe000`06a96010 : nt!KeBugCheckEx
ffffd000`22858810 fffff803`dc0d7190 : 00000000`00000002 ffffd000`22858978 ffffe000`076a4de8 ffffd000`00000000 : nt! ?? ::FNODOBFM::`string'+0x186af
ffffd000`22858900 fffff803`dc0b018f : ffffe000`06c86880 00000000`c0033333 ffffe000`076a4de8 00000000`00000000 : nt!MiIssueHardFault+0x184
ffffd000`228589c0 fffff803`dc1cbf2f : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000001 ffffd000`22858b00 : nt!MmAccessFault+0x3cf
ffffd000`22858b00 00007ffb`1671a378 : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : nt!KiPageFault+0x12f
0000001e`3fece9d0 00000000`00000000 : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : 0x7ffb`1671a378

STACK_COMMAND: kb

FOLLOWUP_IP: 
nt! ?? ::FNODOBFM::`string'+186af
fffff803`dc1ea84f cc int 3

SYMBOL_STACK_INDEX: 1

SYMBOL_NAME: nt! ?? ::FNODOBFM::`string'+186af

FOLLOWUP_NAME: MachineOwner

MODULE_NAME: nt

IMAGE_NAME: ntkrnlmp.exe

DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP: 52718d9c

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: X64_0x7a_0_nt!_??_::FNODOBFM::_string_+186af

BUCKET_ID: X64_0x7a_0_nt!_??_::FNODOBFM::_string_+186af

It tends to suggest that the problem is indeed the hard drive itself or a hardware fault on the motherboard, effecting that, as the highlighted area in red shows the general explanation and the stack - see the highlighted area in red there - shows the page fault - page fault is the paging file which is an area of the hard disk used as ram.

Unfortunately if you see the area highlighted red
Arg2: 0000000000000000, error status (normally i/o status code)
that is what is known as the second parameter and it does not help us

The process when the crash occurred - setting sync host - is largely irrelevant - it was simply what was being run at the time.
For information only really the technical details of the 7A crash
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff559211(v=3DVS.85).aspx

Good luck with it


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## Azuses (Mar 23, 2014)

Thanks for that, really helpful! I opened a ticket with Asus and was told that I had to format the drive before proceeding, and that if the problem persists to get back in touch.

However, I've been busy and didn't get around to formatting the drive... but I haven't had any blue screens since I last posted a dump file (5 or 6 days?), and have been able to use the laptop without issue. There's clearly something badly wrong with it and I do need to refer it back to Asus, but I'm worried they won't get any blue screens (as I haven't) and as there's currently no symptoms I don't really know what to tell them.

Or do I just say, it was very unstable and kept crashing, and although it seems ok now, analysis of the dmp files is suggesting a major hardware fault?


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## Macboatmaster (Jan 15, 2010)

> I opened a ticket with Asus and was told that I had to format the drive before proceeding, and that if the problem persists to get back in touch.


Have you made it clear to them that you have according to chkdsk 64KB of bad sectors

This is perhaps a little too strong 


> analysis of the dmp files is suggesting a major hardware fault?


suggesting a fault not necessarily by any means a MAJOR one.


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## Azuses (Mar 23, 2014)

Yes I have Macboat, with the initial ticket containing a copy of the checkdisk. The response I received was more or less canned though so whether they read it before advising me a format could fix the problem remains to be seen.

It blue-screened today a couple of times, after one of which it went straight into a disk check. I don't know if the automatic one is more or less thorough than the command I ran a few days ago (chkdsk C:\ /f /r I think?).

It hasn't found any new bad sectors but did bring up some other interesting stuff, so I've pasted it at the bottom. I'm at uni and this is my only laptop so although data is backed up, I'm trying to wait until next weekend when I'll be back home and have access to another PC before going too destructive on the formatting front of things. I'd like to keep it usable for as long as I can up until they have to take it away (occasional access to my files is better than none at all, and the time it'd take to reconfigure things is too much given that I'm on the final week of term when time is already quite short as is!)

Do you think Asus could be persuaded to get the ball rolling for a repair without a format? Perhaps saying that if they insist I format then I will, but the first checkdisk, dump files and second checkdisk is suggesting a hardware fault that a format wouldn't resolve? Would ringing them get this sorted any quicker?

Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is OS.

One of your disks needs to be checked for consistency. You
may cancel the disk check, but it is strongly recommended
that you continue.
Windows will now check the disk.

Stage 1: Examining basic file system structure ...
The multi-sector header signature in file 0x77aa is incorrect.
e8 eb 08 0b 01 00 00 00 ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ................
Deleting corrupt file record segment 30634.
611584 file records processed. File verification completed.
Deleting orphan file record segment 30632.
5556 large file records processed. 0 bad file records processed. 
Stage 2: Examining file name linkage ...
Index entry mac-paused-inverse.png of index $I30 in file 0x570f points to unused file 0x77a9.
Deleting index entry mac-paused-inverse.png in index $I30 of file 22287.
Index entry MAC-PA~2.PNG of index $I30 in file 0x570f points to unused file 0x77a9.
Deleting index entry MAC-PA~2.PNG in index $I30 of file 22287.
Unable to locate the file name attribute of index entry vpnkey.ky
of index $I30 with parent 0x162ce in file 0x162c8.
Deleting index entry vpnkey.ky in index $I30 of file 90830.
Index entry __utmGZMVMFL1.gif of index $I30 in file 0x2df7c points to unused file 0x77aa.
Deleting index entry __utmGZMVMFL1.gif in index $I30 of file 188284.
Index entry __UTMG~1.GIF of index $I30 in file 0x2df7c points to unused file 0x77aa.
Deleting index entry __UTMG~1.GIF in index $I30 of file 188284.
Index entry __DA64~1.GIF of index $I30 in file 0x2e4de points to unused file 0x77a8.
Deleting index entry __DA64~1.GIF in index $I30 of file 189662.
Index entry __utmV8OP21TD.gif of index $I30 in file 0x2e4de points to unused file 0x77a8.
Deleting index entry __utmV8OP21TD.gif in index $I30 of file 189662.
Index entry FZSFTP.EXE-93793F65.pf of index $I30 in file 0x9171c points to unused file 0x77ab.
Deleting index entry FZSFTP.EXE-93793F65.pf in index $I30 of file 595740.
Index entry FZSFTP~1.PF of index $I30 in file 0x9171c points to unused file 0x77ab.
Deleting index entry FZSFTP~1.PF in index $I30 of file 595740.
739062 index entries processed. Index verification completed.
CHKDSK is scanning unindexed files for reconnect to their original directory.
Recovering orphaned file wow64_microsoft-windows-ie-setup-support_31bf3856ad364e35_11.0.9600.16521_none_d3cf644775e3f24b (35189) into directory file 519601.
Recovering orphaned file EppManifest.dll.mui (71102) into directory file 514405.
There is no NTFS file name attribute in file 0x162c8.
Correcting minor file name errors in file 90824.
Recovering orphaned file PyWinTypes27.dll (101868) into directory file 101765.
Recovering orphaned file wx._gdi_.pyd (101870) into directory file 101765.
Recovering orphaned file win32trace.pyd (101871) into directory file 101765.
Recovering orphaned file 83pv-RKSJ-H (132679) into directory file 299931.
Recovering orphaned file PresentationFramework.ni.dll (542547) into directory file 558448.
9 unindexed files scanned. Recovering orphaned file SpaceControl.dll.mui (579121) into directory file 518795.
0 unindexed files recovered. 
Stage 3: Examining security descriptors ...
Cleaning up 463 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 463 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 463 unused security descriptors.
Security descriptor verification completed.
63740 data files processed. CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
Usn Journal verification completed.
CHKDSK is resetting recovery information...
CHKDSK is resetting the log file.
CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the
master file table (MFT) bitmap.
CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the volume bitmap.

Windows has made corrections to the file system.
No further action is required.

465991679 KB total disk space.
454054204 KB in 414867 files.
217072 KB in 63741 indexes.
64 KB in bad sectors.
693595 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
11026744 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
116497919 total allocation units on disk.
2756686 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:
00 55 09 00 92 4d 07 00 ac 5a 0d 00 00 00 00 00 .U...M...Z......
43 5d 00 00 25 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C]..%...........

Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.​


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## Macboatmaster (Jan 15, 2010)

The chkdsk on boot is instructed by the system when what is known as the dirty bit is set
You will notice the entries for ORPHANED FILES

This comes of course from the usual meaning of the word orphan - in otherwords without parents
It simply means that the file is not in its correct directory

This will help you - but only really given to you for information to understand what you are reading
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/187941
on the chkdsk results

I would not like to offer you further advice regarding the approach you should take to further the warrantry claim

All I am prepared to say is that IMHO a format and reinstall will get you no where.

Indeed there is a risk that it may fail - if my opinion that the disk or some other component is faulty, is correct

If data being written to the disk in the process of recovering is corrupted - then depending on what that data is it may not even load Windows after the completion and reboot.

To a great extent there is no one that can guarantee the result either way.

Good luck at Uni and I hope you get it sorted.

NOTE the chkdsk which ran was a file check chkdsk in otherwords with the chkdsk /f
That is why it was a three stage check
So you cannot presume that there are no more bad sectors
However you can if you wish - after completing the term at UNI run a chkdsk /r
r includes /f and that WILL check for bad sectors
My money is on the odds that there will be MORE


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## Azuses (Mar 23, 2014)

Thanks for all your help guys and sorry for taking so long to reply. The laptop was returned from Asus today with a new hard drive, and all seems good so far. Just going through the laborious process of re-installing things and getting all of the updates... Since there's a new hard drive in there I'm guessing this is now fixed - thank you!


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## Macboatmaster (Jan 15, 2010)

Cheers
Presumably they reached the same conclusion as I did


Hope all goes well


Mark your topic solved please by clicking the mark solved button on one of your posts
Suggest you leave that until you have all updated etc., then if there is a problem you can post here


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