BSOD's On Vista
 

Hi

Just recently got a new laptop which came preinstalled with Vista Premium

I've noticed since I got it, that it chucks up a bluescreen at random intervals.

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

KERNEL_STACK_INPAGE_ERROR

BAD_POOL_CALLER

Those are the culprits.

Is this possible on a brand new machine?
Or is this a Vista problem?:confused:

TIA

How long did you have the machine before it started acting up?
Did you or anyone else install anything on the machine before this started happening?
What are the specifications of the machine?
-Brand/make/model
-CPU
-Graphics
-OS: 32 or 64 bit

Well it started when I was setting up - updating windows and stuff

Inspiron 1720 Dell

17.0" Widescreen (1440x900)
Intel Duo Processor T7700 2.40 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2-cache

32Bit Vista

3072MB DDR2 SDRAM
320GB SATA Dual Hard Drive
Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive
Integrated Gfx 256MB+

All I installed was a router which I needed to connect.
No one else apart from myself touched it.

Two of those three BSODs I see commonly when the OS has been screwed, so there's a chance it was installed improperly. There's also a slim chance that you might have a defective hard drive. Reinstall the OS and if the problem persists, find and run the appropriate HDD scanning program from whatever manufacturer it belongs to. If it's still within the return policy, I would exchange it for a different unit and be done with it. There's no reason to deal with this shit in a new computer.

Dell's usually come with a backup partition. If you haven't deleted it SAVE YOUR FILES and do a factory restore of the OS, takes about 10 mins. Press one of the Fkeys (can't remember which one) to enter recovery menu when you see the Dell Logo on boot.

If that does fix the problem you can then do a proper format if you wish to get rid of the junk.

Thanks for the advice - There is a recovery partition and will try that first.

One point to note:
Dell installed useless junk - which I uninstalled; Google Desktop and a few other 'apps' I don't like.
Occasionly the screen just freezes - no errors, forcing me to reboot - which in itself is not good for the hard drive.

Anyway - I'll give your suggestions a go.

Thanks again :)

The recovery process actually reformats your drive so remember to back up personal files.

Yes the Dell Factory installarion does have alot of things you don't need. Best bet is to always do a clean install using the Dell supplied discs. You can check for updated drivers by entering your service tag online, and for the video card drivers I recommend laptopvideo2go.com one's.

Oh? hmm, thats odd :confused:
It only restored system files everything was back to how it was when I first switched it on.

All useless programs are back - *fume* and I've had two BSOD's since. :(

Guess reinstallation would be the next step.
If that still doesn't solve it - I'll switch back to XP.

A BSOD means that something inside the OS is so screwed up that it rather halts execution instead of potentially corrupting itself. But, by Vista they seperated the user space and the OS space so much that there are virtually no user programs that can tinker with the kernel so much that it bluescreens (unlike in XP where the occasional application could cause it).

Virtually the only thing that can cause a BSOD in Vista are bad drivers or faulty hardware. You generally don't have to worry about your individual applications (as long as its not, you know, spyware and the like, but Vista is fairly more protected against that as well).

KERNEL_STACK_INPAGE_ERROR and BAD_POOL_CALLER makes me think that something is wrong with your system memory. Try running memtest (to test your RAM) and Spinrite (to test your HDD, in case its a swap file read error). Also, if you havent done it before, run a pre-boot chkdsk as well.

Bring the laptop back and swap it for a new one. No reason to go through all of this for a brand new laptop.