Blue screen , 'physical memory dump' message - what do I do?

londonman81

I've suddenly started getting blue error screens on my Dell machine only a day after re-formatting the hard disk.

The message comes up at random when I'm surfing or word processing and t goes along the lines of 'Physical memory dump' and an extremely long error code with lots of '0' and some 'x' in it e.g. 0000x0000.

I've heard this means that the hard disk as failed and needs replacing.Is this true?

Is there anything I can try to fix it?

And I have some valuable files (photos and video clips) on the disk which I forgot to back-up before I reformatted. Is there any way at all that these files can be recovered?


Any help much appreciated!

Thanks!

Seagull

I'd try and reformat it then do a fresh install, there's nothing to loose.

Re the lost files, a google search for recovery freeware may unearth something useful.

JonnyThunder

I'd say that this error is unlikely to have been caused by a harddisk failure. If you recently formatted your PC for a reinstall and it didn't indicate any errors at the time, then i'd hedge towards it being something else.

Try a reinstall and see how it goes. If you get bluescreen during the install, then remove one of your memory sticks and try again. If that fails, swap them and try again. If it's bluescreening even after that, i'd still say it's more likely a controller issue. My point being, that usually a harddisk failure doesn't manifest in that way. What other info does the blue screen give? Does it mention any module names?

albertross_2

Some undeleters..

http://www.officerecovery.com/freeundelete/
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/restoration.html
http://www.free-av.com/antivirclassic/avira_unerase.html
http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/uk/welcome.htm
http://www.partition-recovery.com/
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
http://www.data-recovery-software.net/Linux_Recovery.shtml
http://www.fdrlab.com/software/tfu.html

http://www.runtime.org/products.htm
http://www.finaldata.com/sub_products/products_1.asp
http://www.restorer2000.com/

the catch with all the above is, the more you install, the more likely you are to overwrite the data area's with the photo's

have you patched it with https://www.windowsupdate.com yet? One thing you could try is to reset the cmos/ecsd data, either manually or by removing the cmos battery for a few seconds.

DanRogl

Makesure all your drivers are up to date first, then look at the application/system logs (right click my computer -> manage) for clues!

londonman81

albertross wrote: »

Some undeleters..

http://www.officerecovery.com/freeundelete/
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/restoration.html
http://www.free-av.com/antivirclassic/avira_unerase.html
http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/uk/welcome.htm
http://www.partition-recovery.com/
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
http://www.data-recovery-software.net/Linux_Recovery.shtml
http://www.fdrlab.com/software/tfu.html

http://www.runtime.org/products.htm
http://www.finaldata.com/sub_products/products_1.asp
http://www.restorer2000.com/

the catch with all the above is, the more you install, the more likely you are to overwrite the data area's with the photo's

have you patched it with https://www.windowsupdate.com yet? One thing you could try is to reset the cmos/ecsd data, either manually or by removing the cmos battery for a few seconds.

Thanks for that - if I install those on an external HDD does it reduce the risk of overwriting the valuable stuff from the internal HDD?

Browntoa

yes install on a HDD but even this will make registry chnages on the maid HDD, only run stuff from a bootable CD if possible

Jem8472

londonman81 wrote: »

I've suddenly started getting blue error screens on my Dell machine only a day after re-formatting the hard disk.

The message comes up at random when I'm surfing or word processing and t goes along the lines of 'Physical memory dump' and an extremely long error code with lots of '0' and some 'x' in it e.g. 0000x0000.

I've heard this means that the hard disk as failed and needs replacing.Is this true?

Is there anything I can try to fix it?

And I have some valuable files (photos and video clips) on the disk which I forgot to back-up before I reformatted. Is there any way at all that these files can be recovered?


Any help much appreciated!

Thanks!

Usually stack dumps are memory related. This usually means that there is a bad bit of memory somewhere. You could download a memory checker from somewhere and run that. See if there is anything wrong with the memory before you go reformatting everything.
IMO a reformat should be a last resort when there is a problem. It worries me how many people that as soon as there is a little problem just reformat their HDs or (I really hope not) reformat someone elses HD!!

I know of a small company who had a computer expert (ex-as is has been and pert- as in drip of water under pressure!)
and he took their computer away to fix it and he just reformatted it without asking or telling them! :eek: :eek:

Always use it as a lat resort, it should never be your first move, espically with possible memory problems.

londonman81

The latest developments are that:

1. Internet Explorer has stopped functioning properly. When I open the program it almost immediately closes again by itself.

2. A couple of other programs have started closing at random.

3. The machine shuts down at random and shows a blue error screen. When I re-start it then shows another blue error screen with the following distinct messages:

'DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL'

Then further down it says:

'Technical information:
****STOP: 0x00000001 (0xF83C8070, 0x0000009, 0xF83B5EC2)

**** NDIS.sys - Address F83C8070 base at F839D000, DateStamp 41107
**** NDIS.sys - Address F83B5EC2 base at F839D000, DateStamp 41107


Can anyone help explain what these mean? Am I looking at a HDD failure?

Is there anything I can try to do in order to fix it?

I'm loathed to buy a new machine and would like to exhuast all other reasonable options first.

Also - I have some important video files on that hard disk which I formatted over - is there any chance I casn recover them still?

Thanks!

albertross_2

RE IE, try https://www.ccleaner.com

have you patched the PC with https://www.windowsupdate.com yet? Does it have service pack 2 installed?

Re BSOD:

It's a driver bug, or logical corruption somewhere,

try, start, run, cmd

chkdsk c: /F/R

and reboot as a starting point.

If the problem continues, try deleting and reinstalling the driver for your network card, in start, run, devmgmt.msc

Re the video's, unlikely, but try the undeleters, see if they can find anything, the last 3 are paid for products, but are more thorough after a format. Try the trials.

Browntoa

sounds like a driver issue, had you recently installed something prior to this happening