My computer is freaking out...

[apinomus]

Just to add, I was getting this exact error (along with a few other memory-related errors) when one of my RAM sticks was failing. I replaced both sticks of RAM and the problem went away. If you get this error a lot (or BSOD in general) after a while it will screw up your Windows install. I would suggest a reinstall and trying some different memory (maybe just 1 stick of 512 at a time) in different mobo slots to see if you can recreate the problem.

You should also try running memtest86 on your system to test the stability of the RAM under load, it may help you find a stick that isn't functioning up to par.

 

[Zadillo]

Thanks apinomous. I did try out swapping each individual stick of memory (running each stick once by itself) and it didn't seem to relate to the problem.

Basically I'm still in a holding pattern until I get a chance to take that third hard drive out, but I am pretty convinced that it or the controller is the problem (the clean install of XP I did has worked fine up until I install the Promise 378 drivers (which would enable it to use the HD on IDE3), at which point the clean install also blue screens with the same error.

-Zadillo

 

[Zadillo]

OK, well, I did finally manage to finish up with this problem. I took my third IDE hard drive and switched it to IDE2 (from IDE3), and my computer still bluescreened with the PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA error.

Finally, I took the drive out altogether and stuck it in external firewire/usb 2.0 enclosure...... and then I tried hooking that up to my laptop..... as soon as I did, my laptop bluescreened with PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA as well.

So it seems pretty clear to me that the drive was the problem.

Strangely enough, I tried hooking the external enclosure up with the drive inside to my Mac at work via Firewire, and it actually seems to work....... I can at least seem to see and access all my data on it.

I guess at this point I'm going to try and hook up another good drive, and copy over the important data.

Is it probably best to just abandon this drive, or would a reformat make it usable again? Is this something that would be just data corruption, or would it be a sign that the drive is bad? Would Maxtor fix/replace it?

-Zadillo

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Zadillo
OK, well, I did finally manage to finish up with this problem. I took my third IDE hard drive and switched it to IDE2 (from IDE3), and my computer still bluescreened with the PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA error.

Finally, I took the drive out altogether and stuck it in external firewire/usb 2.0 enclosure...... and then I tried hooking that up to my laptop..... as soon as I did, my laptop bluescreened with PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA as well.

So it seems pretty clear to me that the drive was the problem.

Strangely enough, I tried hooking the external enclosure up with the drive inside to my Mac at work via Firewire, and it actually seems to work....... I can at least seem to see and access all my data on it.

I guess at this point I'm going to try and hook up another good drive, and copy over the important data.

Is it probably best to just abandon this drive, or would a reformat make it usable again? Is this something that would be just data corruption, or would it be a sign that the drive is bad? Would Maxtor fix/replace it?

-Zadillo

I would format it as FAT32 (since you can't format it as NTFS) on the Mac, and then I'd move the drive back to the PC. I'd bet you'd be fine at that point.

 

[xtknight]

My dad had the same problem. Sorry to tell you this but we decided to replace his whole PC with my old PC and that fixed it (his PC had other oddities though). Pretty sure his south bridge was dead. The integrated IDE controller was not copying files correctly, and CRCs failed often. Memtest passed several times just fine.

Do a full sector scan chkdsk with fix.

chkdsk /r /f X:
X: being your Windows boot drive (the one that's failing)

in the recovery console. You can load Promise drivers in to the recovery console as well. Press F6 as if you were installing Windows when you put in your XP CD. XP will then load the drivers to recovery console.

If there was nothing you care about on the drive then do a full format and I think that may recover the sectors.

 

[Zadillo]

Thanks. The rest of my PC is fortunately working just fine now; I'm going to go ahead and reformat the drive, and I'm just going to not use it any more (don't want to risk any problems with it again).

Thanks for all your help everyone!

 

[Jhhnn]

Run the manufacturer's downloadable utility on that drive- write it to zeroes, then run the extended test or whatever they call it... run the extended test several times- if it passes, it's probably good...