Could a bad installation of Windows give memory dumps?

A

AcidicRage

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 18, 2002
Messages
346
*sigh* I just finished building my FIRST PC after some confusing and tiring 3hrs or so. I was lost in the beginning and end, but I did it! I finished it. Specs are as follows: Athlon 64 2800+, Abit NF8 mobo, Leadtek GeForce 6800LE 128MB AGP, 2x512 Corsair PC3200 DDR RAM, HDD/DVD-RW & Antec SP2.0 450W PSU. Well, after I thought I completed my task, I encountered some weird problems. Randomly, when I'm opening or messing around (usually using) Internet Explorer, my new computer will just crash, popping out a BSOD what appears to be a dump of some kind. I couldn't read the specific details as it just showed the BSOD for about 1-2 seconds, and the whole computer resetted itself.

Now, I remember when I installed Windows XP Pro w/ SP2, there was an error in the installation saying something like "file cannot be found? skip/continue?" I remember I pressed continued a few times and I think it either skipped it or did something weird, but installation resumed. I was wondering if a bad installation such as the one I described above could cause such a memory dump-type associated with a BSOD?

I have everything up to date including the most recent BIOS, drivers (audio/video/cpu). Giving that it usually happens if I'm doing something with IE, I tried updating all Windows updates through the MS windowsupdate site--however, no luck.

BUT, here's the STRANGE and PECULIAR thing... the first crash/dump/BSOD happened when I FIRST tried updating the updates through IE. The updates were installing, and bam, it crashes. The SECOND time I opened lots of IEs, and one IE window happened to freeze up. Then I tried CTRL+ALT+DEL and manually shutting down it, & the whole computer crashes again. Weird, huh? I'm beginning to think maybe it has something to do with IE, maybe not. My other computers use IE fine and certainly don't have this problem. I don't think its my RAM as it's new, but could be defective or damaged.

I think what I'll do is a fresh reinstall of Windows, and then run memtest to determine if it's my RAM or not. Man, it just sucks. After all this HARD work to finish a PC, I get slammed with a buttload of problems. I hope it's not too late to solve them. Heh. Anyways, any suggestions on what else I should try? Thanks. ;-/
 
When I first built my current desktop, I'd get the same "file not found" errors when installing Windows XP (non-SP2, wasn't out at the time). Eventually I actually managed to get it to install, but the system was unstable as hell (couldn't even get past boot screen without problems).

Turns out it was my memory, so if your memtest doesn't show any problems, report back. If it's also possible, try to disable Automatic Restarts so you can see the BSODs (Control Panel -> System -> Advanced tab -> Startup and Recovery settings, uncheck Automatically Restart.
 
I tried reinstalling Windows XP. Again came with the errors during installation (I think it's my old Windows XP CD)... but anyways, I press "retry" and it seemed to copy the files okay. I tried to manipulate the crash by opening a lot of IEs and randomly clicking links/downloading stuff. And wala, the crash comes. This time I disabled the restart and jotted down the technical information as stated:

STOP: 0x0000008E (0xC0000005, 0x805A3F1A, 0xBA479BBC, 0x00000000)

The BSOD with the damned physical memory dump appeared once again. Now I don't know what to do except to run Memtest. Maybe it's the RAM, maybe not... I just bought these NEW parts, man! Damnit, oh well... so many hassles through a new comp. :/
 
Ok, here's an update. Bad news, very bad news. Well, before I decided to run MemTest to determine if it was bad RAM or not, I tried to take both sticks out and try testing it again by opening lots of IEs/doing a lot of weird activity to imitate the crash. I remove slot dimm #2 and only have one 512MB RAM stick in there. This time, it didn't seem to crash (or at least maybe I didn't trigger it). So then I thought maybe it was the 2nd RAM stick I took out. Then I swapped the second with the first... now my 2nd stick which I originally thought was the main culprit and the defective RAM is now in 1st slot DIMM, and there's nothing in the 2nd slot. It didn't crash too again... which left me thinking maybe it's only slot dimm #2 problem.

Anyways, I was pretty confused after that. Thus I tried sticking both sticks back in. However, when I tried sticking the 2nd stick back in, I pushed it down on the dimm and I heard a small clicking noise. At first maybe I damaged the RAM/dimm slot #2, then I thought nothing of it and proceeded. Now here comes the bad news.

Right before Windows XP loads, comes a BSOD! This time it's different. It states something about:

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

0x000000D1 (0xB763CE91, 0x00000002, 0x00000008, 0xB763CE91)

I just realized that I might have completely destroyed my mobo/RAM/whatever. At this point, I don't know what happened. I don't know what to do next. I'm pissed, tired, and depressed because I can't build a new system that actually works. I'm about to give up right now as I don't know whats going on with my computer. IF anything's broken, I don't feel like RMAing/returning anything because I have done so, and it's just too much work. Oh well, I guess my journey to building computers ends here...
 
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