Vista Blue Screen The Day After Installing Linksys Router

Hi. My desktop running Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 32-bit has been giving me the blue screen treatment for two days now. Three days ago, I installed a new Linksys WRT54G2 router to share my internet connection to two other computers. Coincidence? Or could it have caused a driver conflict by any chance?

The day after installation (yesterday), blue screen crashes were few and far between. The error being IRQL more or less equal or something like that. Today my computer can't log into Windows anymore; blue screens before I even get the chance to type in my password. The error message is now "A device driver attempting to corrupt the system has been caught. The faulty driver currently on the kernel stack must be replaced with a working version." I can log in using safe mode though.

The WRT54G2 box has "works with Windows Vista" written on it, but I checked Linksys' website and it's not in their list of router models compatible with Vista. So I uninstalled the Linksys LELA software (in case it was causing conflicts) but my computer still blue screened.

Additional info: I'm not sure, but Vista may also have updated after I installed the router. I read somewhere that sometimes the updates cause the blue screen.

The technician at the shop where I bought my router says they've never received complaints from other customers and suggested that I may have a problem with my RAM or motherboard. How would you suggest I go about trying to solve this mystery? :cry

Which is it most likely: software problem or hardware problem?

 

I actually already scanned that guide but it went over my head and I'm afraid to try it. rolleyes

Okay, I'll suck it up and give it a try.

 

Tried to install the debugging tools in safe mode but the Windows Installer service is not available in safe mode.

Couldn't boot into normal mode without getting the blue screen on start up so I tried physically unplugging the computer from the network. That seem to have done the trick. I've installed the debugging tools and will follow the procedures you recommended.

 

Typed the symbols path exactly as it was entered in the guide you provided, but I keep getting "Your debugger is not using the correct symbols." And I tried selecting all to save but I can't save the output of the debugging.

What am I doing wrong? :confused

I noticed that the symbols path contains a URL. Is it supposed to download something from Microsoft while debugging? Because the computer only runs when it's not connected to the internet. When I connect it to the internet, it blue screens right after or even before I type in my password to log in, restarts, then blue screens again and again and again.

 

Seems like the computer only blue screens when it's connected to the internet upon start up. Once Windows started, I was able to plug it back into the network and it didn't blue screen.

And I figured out how to save the results. Duh! :major Posting it here. Thanks.

 

Attached the results of the debugging. I would really really appreciate some help on this. Thanks.

 

I would run a system restore

then reinstall the drivers
http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Sate...146109&pagename=Linksys/Common/VisitorWrapper

 

I'm really wary about using system restore. Every time I've used it on my previous computers, it made a mess. Renamed files and what nots and it never resolved the problem. The mess was so bad I ended up doing a clean reinstall each time.

Additional info: I remembered that the first blue screens had a different error message so I ran Windbg on the very first minidump. Probable cause was kl1.exe. Kaspersky? Attaching the results here.

According to the debug results, the later errors were probably caused by Rtlh86.exe. Realtek?

I've already installed the latest Realtek LAN driver for my motherboard from the Intel website but I still blue screen at start up if I am connected to the network/internet. If I physically disconnect the ethernet cable from my computer before booting, Windows starts up okay. Plugging the cable back in when Windows has already started doesn't cause the blue screen either. I can connect to the internet just fine.

Also, upon uninstalling the Realtek LAN driver, I got a "could not find something.vbs" pop up. I remember seeing a .vbs file extension when I ran CCleaner registry cleaner so I restored all CCleaner registry back-ups just in case. I still get the blue screen. :cry

 

The first blue screens didn't come at Windows start up. It came at random times and were few and far between. Each time Windows would report it was caused by antivirus software. I kept Kaspersky updated and I didn't have any other antivirus programs running so I don't know what the problem was. (Does Windows Defender count?)

Then the blue screens came at start up with a different error message. Consistently blue screened every time I started the computer if I was connected to the network/internet. Would cycle at blue screen - restart - blue screen -restart if I didn't physically unplug the ethernet cable from my computer.

What messed up my system in the first place? The only change I made before the blue screens attacked was the installation of the Linksys WRT54G2 router and its software Linksys EasyLink Advisor (LELA) to set up my router. Before that things were just peachy.

I've already had an online chat with someone from Linksys and he said the problem is with my computer. I've uninstalled LELA but the blue screens persist. I am coming close to doing a clean reinstall of Windows Vista. But I need to know the primary cause of the blue screens so I don't make the same mistake with the new installation.

Help! :cry

 

My router model isn't on list of those compatible with vista (looking at the Linksys website), but the box has a vista compatible logo and the Linksys online tech support said it is compatible with vista. I don't know why it isn't listed in their website though.

 

Tried to scan my computer with Kaspersky and got another blue screen. Special pool memory corrupted or something like that. I unintentionally checked to include all network drives in the scan. Tried Kaspersky again after reboot - this time with network drives unchecked - and it ran fine.

Ran Windbg on the minidump. Attaching results.

So far this is what I've experienced:

1. Vista blue screens if I log in while connected to the network/internet but starts up fine if I am not.

2. Once logged in to Windows, I can connect to the network/internet without getting the blue screen.

3. Vista blue screens when Kaspersky tries to scan network drives.

I noticed that all blue screens have something to do with my network. How do I fix it? :confused

(P.S. I'm trying to provide as much information as I can in the hopes that it will help you guys figure out what's wrong with my computer. Thanks.)

 

Update: Vista blue screens when scanning with Kaspersky even with network drives unchecked. The error is SYSTEM_DETECTED_MEMORY_CORRUPTION. What does that mean?

 

I still haven't solved this blue screen madness. It's so inconvenient to have to crawl behind the computer to unplug it from the router every time I turn it on then crawl back in there to plug it back in after logging on. :cry

Okay, I'll look at the bright side. At least Windows still starts up when disconnected from the network/internet.

But please, can anybody help me figure out what causes my computer to crash?! :cry

 

Hi, again. I was hoping somebody out there might have encountered the same problem I'm having and figured out a solution to it.

My computer is becoming more and more sluggish. I'm beginning to suspect it's hardware failure that's causing the blue screens; like a bad RAM maybe?

Should I start another thread in the hardware section instead? :confused

 

Thanks, ploder. I'll test my RAM.

I suspected the Realtek LAN driver I downloaded from Windows Update might have started the problem, so I replaced it with an updated Realtek LAN driver for my Intel DG31PR motherboard from Intel's website. The blue screens persisted so I tried going back to the old Realtek driver in the motherboard drivers cd. Still got the blue screens.

Anyway, I'll let you know how my memory does in that test. Thanks.

 

I'm not sure what the results of that memory test means, but it made two passes with no errors before I pressed ESC. Was I supposed to wait for the memory test to stop by itself? :confused

 

Okay, I'll do the memory test again. How many passes is "a good number"? Are four passes enough? It kind of took a long time to complete one pass. :confused

 

The original Realtek driver I installed was the one from the motherboard's drivers cd. About a week or two before I installed the router (I think), I installed the optional Realtek driver update from Windows. Blue screens didn't manifest until a day after I installed the router.

(I was wondering why the blue screens didn't come until the day after I installed the router if the router had caused the problem. Then I realized that it was the first time I booted the computer while connected to the router.)

I've already tried rolling back the Realtek driver, uninstalling and reinstalling the latest driver from Realtek, uninstalling the latest driver then reinstalling the old driver from the motherboard's drivers cd. Then finally reinstalling the latest driver from Realtek.

Okay, I'll try the system restore to a pre-router time after I redo the mem test. Thanks.

 

Have you tried to remove and reinstall the RAM, or maybe updating the BIOS (after making a back up)? Also remove and reinstall every card (especially the network card).
I am sad to hear about your problem still unsolved. Good luck.
Also try to test every card for its efficiency. Sometimes it's a corrupt sound card that's to blame. Sometimes it's the GPU..

 

Let mem test run 6 passes last night. It reported one error on the first pass but I don't know how to interpret it. :confused Does that mean there's something wrong with my RAM?

 

Thanks, eru777. No, we haven't removed anything yet. And we didn't put any network card or video card or sound card, it's all on-board. :confused

This computer has been running quite nicely for almost two years now. It hasn't given me any problems until that dreadful router installation. This is actually the first time I've seen a Vista blue screen of death. :-D

 

By the way, I noticed a yellow triangle with an exclamation point on Microsoft 6to4 Adapter. I looked in another Vista computer's device properties and didn't see that entry. Could it be causing the problem?

Windows Update reports that the driver for it is up-to-date. I'll try looking elsewhere just in case.

 

My internet status says IPv4 Internet and IPv6 Limited. Should IPv6 be limited?

 

I suspected as much. Thanks, everyone.