How do I fix a Windows Blue Screen problem!

March 13, 2006 3:47 AM

One of our PCs is having major problems at boot up, and when it does boot, does not recognize the slave drive hard disc. After working normally for a couple of house, it often goes to a blue screen with a “kernel_data_inpage_error” messages

This started about a week ago. The machines uses Windows 2000 5.0 Pro, PIII processor 999hhz, 512 mb mem, with a C drive hard disc with 6 GB and a slave hard disk for storage with 128 GB. While working in Photoshop or watching a DVD or otherwise using an active application, my girlfriend’s computer freezes and then displays a blue screen with a message such as:

0x0000007a (0xC02FF4C, 0x000000E, 0xBFF93916, 0x0BB98860)
Address: BFF93916 base at BFF84000, data stamp 38497754
Atapi.sys
Kernal_Data_Inpage_error
Beginning dump of physical memory

It then dumps memory (I don’t really know what that means) for 100 seconds, and then attempts to restart. Restarts are getting more and more difficult.

Other error messages have seen include 0x0000007a problems listed different parameter numbers and labeled “ftdisk.sys,” and a 0x00000CE problem as a “portmgr.sys” problem.

I googled the problem, checked through the Microsoft Data Base descriptions, and most solutions suggest that new hardware was installed – we haven’t had any new hardware. I have re-installed Windows 2000 from the original CD. I ran CHKDSK/F in command prompt, which sometimes seems to allow us to boot up, sometimes not. Sometimes when it hangs at startup I tried “use last good configuration” or “debugging mode” to get it to boot, with varying success. In any case, it hasn’t recognized the slave drive in two days. It doesn’t seem to boot into safe mode, which simply displays a list of system files. Could this mean the computer is simply old and developing motherboard senility, or can it be as simple as replacing a cable?

This is the main network computer in our house – I have kept it running since I got it to boot yesterday so that I can post this to AskMe. Both of us are on tight budgets, so running out and buying a whole new PC isn’t really an option. Also, I’m no tech whiz beyond the basics – but I am pretty good at carving bagpipe reeds…

posted by zaelic to technology (11 comments total)

Things I was able to search concerning the problem are here, here and here.
posted by zaelic at 3:55 AM on March 13, 2006

Have you opened the case and checked the hard drive cables (all three connectors on the data cable, and all the power cables)? Loose cables can cause behaviour like you've described.

If the cables look OK, pull the mains power cable and wait 30 seconds for the power supply to shut down completely, then unplug the slave drive's data connector so that the only hard drive left connected is the 6GB master, then run the machine like that for a while. If it's no longer flaky, your second hard drive is on the way out and you need to back it up before it dies altogether, assuming it hasn't already done so.

If the machine is really dusty, it's worth going over it with the crevice tool on your vacuum cleaner.

Check for RAM faults with memtest86.

If none of that fixes your problem, I'm thinking a professional repair is called for.
posted by flabdablet at 4:11 AM on March 13, 2006

Flabdablet: I cleaned out the dust yesterday and checked the cables, but I will give your drive and ram tests a shot the next time I turn the machine off.

All of our system files are on the C drive. The F drive is simply a storage drive, and some of the problems have occurr after startups in which the F drive was not recognized.ed
posted by zaelic at 4:36 AM on March 13, 2006

The fact that it's not recognized might mean that it's faulty, and a faulty drive attached to the same IDE cable as a good one can hose up the good one.
posted by flabdablet at 4:42 AM on March 13, 2006

I saw on one web search that sometimes the cable itself may be the possible cause that a drive is not recognized. The 6gb main drive is about five years old and has never had any serious problems. The big new F drive was bought new about six months ago, but I had an unknown techie install it and he may have used a salvaged IDE cable.
posted by zaelic at 4:59 AM on March 13, 2006

He's unlikely to have used a new cable; he's more likely to have plugged it onto a spare connector on the same cable as your C: drive, which is why it might be causing you grief if it's dying.

A hard disk that fails in six months might well be overheating. If it's wedged in tight next to the other drive, this is more likely (especially if either or both are Maxtors - great drives, but they tend to run hot).
posted by flabdablet at 5:17 AM on March 13, 2006

By the way, this site has a very good introduction to the ins and outs of IDE cabling.
posted by flabdablet at 5:20 AM on March 13, 2006

after hearing that the crash is in atapi.sys, and then hearing that the drive is 5 years old, I immediately suspect that the disk is in the process of failing. I would replace it immediately.

(and when the machine dumps memory, its copying the contents of all of the to a memory file that should be in your windows directory called MEMORY.DMP)
posted by stupidcomputernickname at 5:23 AM on March 13, 2006

god its early:

(and when the machine dumps memory, its copying the contents of all of the to a memory file that should be in your windows directory called MEMORY.DMP)

s/b

(and when the machine dumps memory, its copying the contents of all of the MEMORY to a file that should be in your windows directory called MEMORY.DMP)
posted by stupidcomputernickname at 5:28 AM on March 13, 2006

Is nobody going to check the BIOS? See if the BIOS is detecting the drive properly.

If your disk is having strange failures, but no odd sounds, SpinRite will most likely fix the problem. It's a wonderful program.
posted by mr.dan at 11:10 AM on March 13, 2006

Yes, this looks like a failing disk. Stop code 7a (KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR) means:

A page of kernel data was not found in the pagefile and could not be read into memory. This might be due to incompatible disk or controller drivers, firmware, or hardware.

That to me implies that the disk containing your page file is failing, and when the kernel gets a read failure from the page file it has no choice but to BSOD. So backup and replace that disk ASAP.
posted by Rhomboid at 4:08 PM on March 13, 2006