Hi,

I have an odd problem with Vista Ultimate SP1. Everything works mint so long as I continue using my computer for any amount of time. If I get up and leave the computer inactive (no mouse movement) for about 10 minutes, the computer blue screens, then reboots. This is repeatable and I cannot find a reason for it. It doesn't matter what application is up.

Here's what I've tried:
disabled screen saver
disabled all power management routines
Ran Ad-Aware (no big issues found)
Ran Spybot (also no big problems found)
Ran full scan using Mcafee (nothing found)
Updated bios firmware to latest version and restored default settings
Uninstalled any junk programs that I had
Ran System Mechanic and performed all diagnostics and cleanups

Any ideas as to what could be causing this? It must have to do with some process which runs after a period of inactivity.

Thanks,
Paul

Here's more details on the error which caused the reboot:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.6
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: f4
BCP1: 00000003
BCP2: 931AC020
BCP3: 931AC16C
BCP4: 82052430
OS Version: 6_0_6001
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 256_1

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini111708-02.dmp
C:\Users\Paul\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-38766-0.sysdata.xml
C:\Users\Paul\AppData\Local\Temp\WER1AFE.tmp.versi on.txt

Attached is a zip file containing the above 3 files. Hope this helps !

Thanks,
Paul

Attached Files

Error.zip (43.9 KB, 117 views)

The information that you give shows an error code for when you were playing World of Warcraft....

Two possible causes.....
1) legacy sound card driver files corupted......replace the sound card driver

2) possible ram issue......run the memtest86 application for a few hours and see if any ram errors develope!

Hi Lurkswithin,

Not sure if you might have me mixed up with someone else? I don't have that game installed on my computer. In fact I don't think I have any games at all. I'm a dba kind of guy. Did the .dmp file suggest I was running a game?

Thanks for any help with this !
Paul

He also suggested you run a memory test. If you haven't run it yet here's a link with the test and some other useful utilities.
Ultimate Boot CD - Overview

There is also power management settings in the BIOS.
Check those too.

I tried out the tips and here are the results:

I have a Phoenix Bios with VERY limited setting options. No power management controls at all. It does have a memory test option though and I ran it for about 1/2 an hour with no problems found.

Interesting thing though, the computer does NOT reboot after 10 minutes when sitting in the Bios area (in other words without Vista running). So I'm thinking this almost certainly points to a software problem, rather than hardware.

Thanks,
Paul

Depending how much RAM you have 1/2 hour is probably not enough to test the RAM. A RAM test writes and read to every address, which can take ours depending on your system configuration.


Probably, I would still lean toward power management, hibernation to be specific. Is this a laptop?

Also you can check the manufactures website for updates, if it's a laptop look for a BIOS update in particular. All modern processors have built in power stepping that lowers the cpu power during inactivity.

Double check all power options in control panel - power options - change plane settings (under active radio button) - change advanced power settings.

Look for any setting set to around 10 minutes.