XP BSOD firewall problem

I have recently been handed a laptop to fix. The initial problem with it was a corrupt BIOS which was fixed by removing the motherboard battery (old laptop so you can actually do it). Since then I have reinstalled XP, both from the original XP Home SP1a recovery CD (told you it was old!) and from a copy of XP Pro SP3 that I have.

Within both these versions BSODs occur randomly. I have disabled the automatic restart on BSOD feature but the laptop still automatically restarts at nearly all of them. I managed to get one that stayed on the screen this morning. The error was: "A Driver has overrun a stack based buffer. This over-run could potentially allow a malicious user to gain control of this machine". This error appeared in the XP SP3 version with all updates whilst the machine was booting. Coincidentally it was just as I plugged the power cord into the back of the laptop.

I have attempted to recreate the problem by restarting and plugging the power cord in. This was repeated multiple times with no results.

The system was blue screening randomly whilst XP Home SP1a was installed with automatic restarts on all BSODs even though I specified no automatic restarting. Since doing a fresh install of XP Pro SP3 the system has been stable during use and all updates were applied successfully.

I have investigated memory problems using Memtest 86+ and after two runs on separate occasions, each of at least 7 passes, no problems were found.

I have attempted to investigate the blue screen mentioned above, but even though I have set the memory dump to "full memory dump" no memory dump was generated for the BSOD.

Also, the inbuilt Windows firewall is now dead. It does not load on boot and Security Centre reports that "no firewall is active". When attempting to access the settings for the firewall a popup box provides the error: "Due to an unidentified problem, Windows cannot display Windows Firewall settings." I have traced this online to a missing registry file, however no changes have been made to the registry.

I do not believe that this is a virus as I have only visited the following sites on the machine:

windows update website
http://www.free-av.com (Avira Antivirus free edition)
http://www.mozilla.org
http://uk.msn.com (default IE homepage)
The IE9 download page (redirected to the IE8 download page as I forgot XP cannot use IE9). This page is within msn.com

Also, whilst I was attempting to install the display driver downloaded from the Fujitsu-Simiens website none of the files within the download would copy from the installer. I am only mentioning this in case they are related. I have had no other problems with any other downloads or installations and this may just be a corrupted file at the server end.

For anyone who needs it, the laptop make and model is: Fujitsu-Simiens AMILO D 7830

Obviously I am looking to stop the BSODs and make the laptop stable enough to be returned to it's owner.

 

Is the laptop connecting from behind a NAT router or directly? Do you have any minidumps (C:\Windows\Minidump), if so, could you copy them to the Desktop, zip and upload them, please? If XP isn't set to create them, could you do so and force a BSOD?

If a full memory dump is set, it should be created in the root of C: but you must have a swapfile on the System drive larger than the amount of installed RAM (iirc).

Have you run chkdsk on the drive, checked that the drive is seated correctly?

 

The laptop is connecting from behind a NAT router. However the file was corrupted from 2 different download locations (my home and my parent's home) one of which is a standard ADSL connection and the other is cable with some advanced routing equipment of my own.

The BSOD cannot be forced as it is totally random and there is nothing that I can determine that cause it, therefore I cannot force it.
I will change the memory dump back to a small dump and will see if the BSOD will happen again and create a dump.

I have not yet tried a chkdsk on the drive, so I will run one now. I had to strip the laptop down to get the CMOS battery out of it so the hard drive was removed and replaced securely at that time.

I will post back with the results of the chkdsk and a dump if I can create one.

 

UPDATE: by plugging the power in to the laptop within the first second of the XP startup screen appearing (from a cold start) I just managed to force another BSOD. This time it was an IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL BSOD.

I am starting to think this is a motherboard issue at this point.

EDIT: windows firewall is now working again. This is looking more and more like a motherboard issue to me. I will report on the CHKDSK as soon as it is done

 

UPDATE: chkdsk came up clean.

 

Hmm, motherboard issue does seem likely at this point, even though the application of mains power during boot might be a red herring.

Test for stability with something like OCCT or a live Linux CD?

 

OK, will test with OCCT now.

I managed to get the power thing to produce a BSOD twice, once by accident and once on purpose. The machine has been off now for a good half hour so I will try to reproduce it again.

EDIT: the restart produced not BSOD. I will run OCCT now.

 

OCCT running a linpack auto test for one hour came up clean.

 

So it looks more like it's pointing towards the power controller daughterboard/module now?

 

It might be. I remember one of the blue screens when I had reinstalled XP home SP1a was when I unplugged the power cord from the unit. It is also possible that one was caused in XP Pro SP3 by removal of the power cord but I cannot remember clearly.

I will try to discharge the current in the unit by removing the battery & power and by holding the power button down. I will then try booting and I will try to reproduce the fault.

 

I have now tried to discharge the current from the unit with no success. I also took the opportunity to make sure all components were seated correctly and that all connections were tight. I also inspected the power board area of the unit and found no leaking/bulging capacitors etc.

Rather more worryingly, the unit has now begun clicking at me. They are very small clicks that seem to happen randomly. They are not from the hard drive and they sound like electrical sparks. I will investigate further. If I do not respond to this post within 2 hours call for help! :-D

 

Turning the unit upside down and then back the right way up has stopped the clicks.

At this point the BSODs have not happened since about 11:30 this morning and I don't know when they will happen again, if they do.

I am also not sure of the best way of proceeding in diagnosing the cause so at this stage I will ruminate on the subject further.

As ever, any more input is appreciated.

 

Any SBS left in your vicinity?

 

SBS? :confused

 

Like SAS but they can swim ^^ = special forces, most are probably somewhere in Asia right now.

 

Right, just checking you meant the Special Boat Service not some other group of nutters.

They're based in Poole in Dorset so they are nowhere near me normally.