Help!! My Alienware laptop's screen flickers then turns off also BSOD?!

Hello guys,

Like the title states, I have a really serious problem on the hands recently with my Alienware m11x laptop as of late.. Sometimes during the day the laptop suddenly turns off and it tries to boot, but then it powers off with "eckk" sound and then powers on again, yet once more, it powers off with the sound... and usually before the laptop turns off, the screen kind of looks like it's flickering like how old school TV's turn off or something like and then boof! A blue screen with an error aka BSOF, right? Here's a picture of the error. Also, for some reason, if I leave the laptop off for a couple days, and then turn it on, it works fine, but then a couples day later, CRASH! Is this possibly a overheating issue, battery, AC adaptor, or RAM problem??

Two different error code messages.





This laptop is very, very clean, there are no virues, malware, google redirects, pop-ups, spams, no rootkits, you name it. I have avast, SUPERAntispyware, MalwareBytes, TDSSKiller, Revo Uninstaller, CCleaner, and SpywareBlasters as my defense software programs. I scan for spyware, malware, rootkits, nearly ever single night before going to bed, I also update my softwares through avast on a daily basis, updating my antispyware/malware programs, yeah I'm that dead serious about making sure everything is clean, running properly and smooth. I also doing Windows Updates frequently. I have defragged nor have I fixed any registries, however, I'll admit that because I heard defragging actually 'shortens' the life of computers and registry fixes can cause serious problems. I also checked and made sure that ALL of my software drivers are up to date, and they are. Even the BIOs.

What problem do you guys think I may have??

I sent my laptop to a local PC repair shop and the clerk told me to back up all of my files and start from scratch and reinstall windows, everything... I was just speechless because I have a myriad of software files and etc registered on the computer... and reinstalling everything seems like a daunting task to me. but I'm willing to do what I have to do if I don't have any other choice. What do you folks suggest I do?? Back up and restore?

Looking forward to any help!!

Thank you guys so much, I've received help here before for viruses, spyware, redirect problems, and I've been successful, hopefully I can also get to the root cause of this laptop and fix it as well.

Looking forward to all of your help. I hope this laptop of mine doesn't powering down on me while I type this thread..... yikes. Anyway yeah, thanks again folsk for taking the time to read me out on this one.

Talk to you all later.

-William

 

First instinct is drivers, or possibly hardware. How old it the machine, and what OS/Service Pack are you running?

 

Rereading my post, I should have double-checked my grammar lol.. -_-

Anyway, my laptop is almost three years old now. Got laptop around late 2011. OS is Windows 7 Ultimate Service pack 1.

 

On my first post, I said

"I have defragged nor have I fixed any registries, however, I'll admit that because I heard defragging actually 'shortens' the life of computers and registry fixes can cause serious problems."

I meant I have NOT done any defragmentation nor fixed any registries for a while after discovering that it may shorten the life of computers.. So it really discouraged me.. Just to clarify things.. Very sorry moderators and everyone for not double-checking my grammar and missed some words.. I was just so desperate and I was afraid that the laptop might power down on me, so I had to be swift.. so you understand. My laptop is fine right now, but heh, I'd not be surprised if it decided to boot down on me again anytime soon sadly..

 

Hi William, can you copy some of the latest minidumps to your Desktop, zip and attach them, please?

 

Hello satrow,

Well hmm.. I checked my Windows folder in my main harddrive C: and managed to find the Minidump folder, but there are no files in there.

 

Hmm, let's try a different tactic to get some data to work with, carefully read and follow the instructions here: http://www.sysnative.com/forums/bso...d-posting-instructions-windows-8-7-vista.html attach the required zipped folder with a reply.

 

Alright, logs and files attached. Hopefully those are what you are looking for.

 

When you say you are updating Windows regularly, does this include "optional" updates like drivers? Or, are you using the latest updates from your GPU manufacturer?

Tried reading the attached files in LogFusion, but only got some text and mostly ASCII type characters or what appeared to be Chinese in a couple of cases. Any tips reading this .php satrow?

As far as defragmenting it's considered routine maintenance in my book, unless you're running an SSD instead of an HDD. CCleaner is a great program to keep your registry tidy and ordinarily it has no adverse effects on a machine.

 

Hello mekanic,

I don't include the optional updates like the language packs or anything, but I do include the important security updates for Windows 7, and some bug fixes and such for Microsoft Office, etc. I rarely download the optional download updates.

Hmm.. maybe I made some kind of mistake? I made sure everything was zipped properly using WinRAR. The archive format is ZIP, compression method is normal, dictionary size is 32 KB.

I see... What's a SSD? HDD is hard-drive, right? So should I just go ahead and do a complete defrag and registry fixing on my laptop?

Thanks for deciding to help me out on this case.

 

There was a lot more data collected than was expected from PerfMon. Mekanic, probably best to concentrate on Autoruns, MSInfo32 and the Report.html (open it in IE and allow Active content).

The only bad driver jumping out at me is xusb21.sys from 2009, there should be a more recent driver package available (late 2010, iirc): http://www.carrona.org/drivers/driver.php?id=xusb21.sys

System drive free space is very low, less than 10% free, that really needs a cleanup and increasing to ~25% free space for decent performance; the external drives are also very low on space. Once you have enough free space, there's simply no need to use 3rd party defrag tools (they can trigger BSODs when set to run at boot time), set W7 to manage the defrag.

I would uninstall O&O Defrag and PCTools.

If you get another BSOD, check in C:\ or C:\Windows\ for a MEMORY.DMP as well as the Minidump folder, the full or kernel dumps will need compressing and uploading somewhere publicly accessible as they'll be very big, minidumps can be zipped and attached here.

 

Alright, sounds good. I just uninstalled both O&O defrag and PC Tools. Going to see if I can clear up some space as well on all of my hard drives. See if that will help with preventing BSOD.

Thanks a bunch, satrow.

 

Don't forget to get your xusb21.sys updated, the XBox 360 driver - or disconnect it and uninstall the software. If it's loading, it might cause BSODs.

 

I see.. do you know where I can find the update? Oh, and I don't think I have an XBox 360 driver installed, do I? I will try and find the software and uninstall it. Do you know what it's called and where it is? Thanks a lot, satrow.

 

I don't see the software listed in your Start Menu/Programs. It's 'possible' that it's a default install by Alienware. Check the BIOS for an entry for it?

This is all the data I've seen: xusb21 Xbox 360 Wireless Receiver Driver Service 21 c:\windows\system32\drivers\xusb21.sys Kernel Driver Yes Manual Running OK Ignore No Yes (MSInfo32/Software environment/System drivers).

The fact that it's set for a manual start and 'something' had triggered it might indicate that the receiver is built in/connected, or might mean that something in software is triggering the start (Alienware or MS Keyboard/Mouse 'intelli-software?).

The updated version should be here: http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/d/xbox-360-wireless-controller-for-windows

I'd be tempted to disable it manually if there really was no such device fitted or connected (from Device Manager, set the Properties, Driver tab, Startup from Demand to Disabled) but that might lead to the need for a System Restore point or Last known good, should Windows decide that it's needed and fail to start ...

 

Hello satrow, I cleaned up my internal harddrive on my laptop quite a bit to the point where the the space indicator bar is blue again. I still have to try and clean up my external HDs though.

I have installed and updated the Xbox 360 wireless gaming driver. Now I'll see how things go. Thanks, once again!

 

Good luck, William!

If you report back in ~10-14 days without another BSOD, you've probably fixed it , if you do get another crash, zip and attach the minidump here (or carefully repeat the BSOD collection app process - oh, new version released today, get it updated and carefully follow the new instructions).

Then run Driver Verifier for 24-36 hours to try to flush out any bad driver, instructions here, read them carefully: http://www.sysnative.com/forums/bso...elated-windows-8-1-8-7-and-windows-vista.html ... and check that the PC is set correctly to produce minidumps: http://www.sysnative.com/forums/bsod-crashes-kernel-debugging/9599-bsods-but-no-dump-files.html

 

Darn. My luck ran out this afternoon lol. BSOD appeared a few min after I booted up my laptop from sleep mode. I put my laptop on sleep mode, because my room was getting ridiculously steaming hot like a sauna.. it's 92 F in my room with no AC but only fans, so I didn't want to run the risk of my laptop overheating. Decided to power up back on to surf the net, bam! By the way, I've recently just got this notification from my start system tray bar on the bottom right that says there is a unknown device or a USB isn't properly working or something.. it automatically tried installing itself or soemthing, then it failed.. maybe it's because of this that it's causing BSOD? Oh yeah, I managed to capture a pic of the BSOD on time, so here it is.



Alright, I'm going to run the driver verifier and I'll see how ti works and I'll report back with some dumps.

 

0x19 is almost always caused by a device driver from what I can tell, did you get a dump created?

 

Interesting. I see.. Well I didn't get a dump after that BSOD. But I just found out in "Startup and Recovery" settings, the dumps are being made at "%SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP Which I have no idea where it is at and how to access the folder where the dump is.. seems hidden somewhere. Should I change it's directory to store in "c:\windows\minidump"? So next time when I get a BSOD, I will get a minidump in that folder where it should be? Oh yeah, I have tried Driver Verifier and rebooted after following the instructions on the website tweaking with certain options and all that, but unfortunately, windows didn't start up, so I had to go into safe mode and use a restore point to recover. Should I try the other option since windows is not producing dumps?

 

Okay so on "Startup and Recovery" I changed the location where the dumps go to to "c:\windows\minidump" So that didn't work. Next, under system failure, I changed the "Write debugging information" to small memory dump (256 KB) And still, I did not get a minidump file after BSOD's. I have recently gotten a horrid amount of BSOD's lately. And it truly is a bummer, because I have to use the laptop for important things.. So now all I'm left with is that program that helps create a dump file without the need of windows. How do I use that? Any guidelines, directions on how to get it to work on my Windows 7 would greatly be thanked and appreciated. Easy on the some of the computer terminology please haha I'm not really good at them... Thanks folks.

 

The BAD_POOL_HEADER really has me leaning towards memory, either RAM, or graphics related.

How many RAM modules do you have?

 

Hi mechanic,

I see. Well, I have two. Each one is 4 gb, so I have a total of 8 gb of RAM. And according to system properties on my computer, I have 7.80 that is useable.

 

I would power down, remove the battery, and remove one of your choice. If the RAM module you remove is the offending party your BSODs could stop. If not, swap it for the other.

Also, you could try running a few rounds of MemTest86.

 

Please disregard, errant message. My apologies.

 

Hey guys, I'm going to try testing out my RAM memory. So I have decided to go with a Bootable USB flash drive, but I'm having problems.. Do you folks know what's up with the "ImageUSB" program? I'm trying to get it to "Write to UFD" but I get that error. The 16 gb memory stick pro duo is formatted completely I return it to defaults and did a full format, not the quick one.

Any ideas what is causing this?

Thanks guys.

 

Because your source image is not on the USB drive. You can't access a program of file while it's in use by another program.

Your source file is most likely on C: drive.

 

Hmm.. I'm not sure what to do next. Drive D is my USB drive.

 

In Step 3, you have to select the source material you want to be written to the USB drive. More than likely the source material is on drive "C" or wherever you've got it. You currently have the USB drive as both the source AND the destination (overlap). That's why you got the error message.

 

:banghead Alright guys, after beating around the bush for a little while coping with the symptoms of BSOD, I just really want to get to the bottom of things here and NOW.. So mighty frustrated with random reboots..

:grouphug Okay anyway, so I managed to get the memory86 test files into a memory stick USB successfully, (thanks guys for the help) and get my memory tested and I got these results. So I have no errors, right? Or is there something I missed. Are the RAM modules fine? Gosh, I hope I don't have to buy new RAM modules or something, they are pricey.. but I'll get them if I don't have no choice to fix this persistent BSOD issue I'm having..

 

You've got to run Memtest86 for at least 7 passes to be sure one or more modules isn't failing. You only ran it for 3 passes.

 

Hmm.. I see.. so do I keep the test running? It seemed like the memory test kinda stopped there saying 'passing complete, no errors' so I thought I'd esc.. Sorry lol I'm a little stupid when it comes down to this stuff.. So I should let it run a lot longer, right?

Thanks for getting back to me, mdonah.

 

Just to be sure, yes.

If the RAM is ruled out, we can lean toward the GDDRAM. Also, do you have the latest drivers installed?

 

Hey there, mekanic,

Yeah, I'd say everything is pretty much updated. The graphics driver, drivers of my external devices, BIOs is up-to-date, etc.

So I should just let the memory test keep on going, eh? Alrighty I'll let it run for an entire day or something soon. Thanks!

 

I also have to ask how old and what shape your HDD is in.

 

The HDD is about almost three years now that it came installed with the laptop and it's in pretty good condition, I would say. It doesn't seem to cause me any major issues when downloaded files and other media are saved in HDD, no corruptions when files are accessed, or anything. There's plenty of space in the HDD, about 197 GB free of 443 GB.

 

Alright I just did a memory test run and got this..

The memory test freezes there, and I couldn't type any key to go to any other option, or w/e... I pressed the power button to get out of it so the laptop shut itself down instantly and I booted back up. Should I try again?

 

You could try running a Windows Memory Diagnostic by pressing F8 at boot.

 

Okay I'll give that a try soon, thanks mekanic.