[TexasChuck]

hi
I've had various problems the past few days. Symptoms include, but not restricted to:
1) half a dozen BSODs, seemingly at random times. Messages are varied: a)Cache-Manager b) Bad-Pool-Caller c) (at boot) failure to get procedure address for LoadKeyboardLayoutW (user32.dll)
2) message from WinExplorer and from MSIE that they've stopped working. Restarted okay.
3) my facebook albums of various size only show one picture each, with blanks for the rest. But I can move from pic to pic and see them.
4) more that I don't recall, but will take better notes from here on.
5) often I cannot get to FaceBook, or Yahoo, or Google. Talked to my DSL provider; they had me reconnect the modem and reboot and that is maybe fixed?
This computer is a few months off warranty. At this point I have no idea if I have virus/malware generated problems, or hardware trouble, or what. Not sure what to try to pursue and really need help and direction.

Thanks, Chuck

[TexasChuck]

I updated and ran Malwarebytes; nothing found.
I've used Windows Live Photo Gallery for years; I love it, especially with the Pan and Zoom option. Now, today for the first time, it comes up with "An error is preventing this slideshow from playing".

[huggie54]

go to Start,type Run in the search box,then type sfc /scannow and press enter,sit back and let it do its thing,

[TexasChuck]

I tried with and without a space in front of the slash
and also tried only sfc
none of them do anything for me.

[TexasChuck]

my harddrive is only 1/4 full.
I've tried to uninstall FireFox. The uninstall utility does nothing. It says FF version 13.0, but I'm actually running 15.0.
Glary Utilities, Registry Cleaner, finds 450 problems. I did NOT click on Repair, yet. Registry cleaners have a bad reputation.
Ran Glary "System File Checker". It takes about 15 minutes to work through a 100% check, then simply disappears.
MSIE stopped on me, gave message "IE has stopped working". Restarted and runs again.

Tried, even in Administrator acct., to go to All Programs, Accessories, Command Prompt, to get what's called an Elevated Command Prompt,
then entered SFC /scannow. Still get message that I'm not permitted Administrator rights.

Weird. Now my screensaver is working again........

[huggie54]

did you actually right-click CMD and select run as administrator.

[TexasChuck]

I switched to Administrator, clicked start, all programs, accessories, command prompt, and keyed in SFC /scannow.
Response is You must be an administrator running a console session in order to run the SFC utility.

I think both my accounts, Chuck and Administrator, used to have Administrator rights.

What else should I do to test if in fact I have Administrator rights on either account. Apparently either SFC is hosed or I've lost Administrator rights on both accounts.

[huggie54]

go to your control panel>user accounts and select your profile,it tells you if you are administrtor or not,to get sfc /scannow to run follow these steps.
1.Open an elevated command prompt. To do this, click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow.
2.Type the following command, sfc /scannow and then press ENTER:

The sfc /scannow command scans all protected system files and replaces incorrect versions with correct Microsoft versions.

[TexasChuck]

Thanks for the RIGHT-click , Run As Administrator info, huggie54. Who ever would think to do that?
Okay, sfc ran complete. Result: did not find any integrity violations.
So, as of now, I have no idea what was causing all the problems. AND, as of yesterday, no more BSDs and very few problems of any kind.

Anyone have any ideas ?

[TexasChuck]

okay, I read on another site and decided to try WhoCrashed. It ran fine and gave me a report on 8 crashes. The conclusion:

8 crash dumps have been found and analyzed. A third party driver has been identified to be causing system crashes on your computer. It is strongly suggested that you check for updates for these drivers on their company websites. Click on the links below to search with Google for updates for these drivers:

atikmpag.sys (AMD multi-vendor Miniport Driver, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)

If no updates for these drivers are available, try searching with Google on the names of these drivers in combination the errors that have been reported for these drivers and include the brand and model name of your computer as well in the query. This often yields interesting results from discussions from users who have been experiencing similar problems.


Read the topic general suggestions for troubleshooting system crashes for more information.

Note that it's not always possible to state with certainty whether a reported driver is actually responsible for crashing your system or that the root cause is in another module. Nonetheless it's suggested you look for updates for the products that these drivers belong to and regularly visit Windows update or enable automatic updates for Windows. In case a piece of malfunctioning hardware is causing trouble, a search with Google on the bug check errors together with the model name and brand of your computer may help you investigate this further.


Clicking on the link put me in GOOGLE and I looked through the results and am not sure what to do now. One of the hits referred me to : http://www.runscanner.net/lib/atikmpag.sys.html

There is a Driver Update option there. I'm not sure, but I think I need to do that.

Any support or cautions at this point would be appreciated...........

[huggie54]

go into Device manager and scroll down the list find the amd driver and either try right-click and update driver,or uninstall completely and install new drivers,search on web for correct drivers and download and save to your desktop,then run from there.

[TexasChuck]

okay I opened every category in the Device Manager looking for AMD items.
Found four and have not a clue if any of them is the one I'm looking for.
AMD SATA Controller, AMD Athlon(tm) II P340 Dual-Core Processor, ditto,
and AMD PCI Express (3GIO) Filter Driver.
Nothing I see relates to atikmpag.sys (AMD multi-vendor Miniport Driver, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)

[TexasChuck]

I spent considerable time searching within Support.AMD.com and can't see where to download drivers aimed at the problems I've had. Seems like everything is oriented towards DISPLAY difficulties, which I do not think is my area of difficulty.

Additional recommendations there include

• Try cleaning the operating system’s registry. ((I'm extremely wary of Registry Cleaners, but may need to consider this))
• Check the motherboard manufacturer’s website for available BIOS / chipset driver updates
  
• The operating system may require a service pack update: download / install the latest service packs:

all of which seem like a shot in the dark.

[huggie54]

what is the graphics card you have on there,was there a update for this card,

[TexasChuck]

This is a SONY Vaio laptop; never been opened, I bought it brand new. The graphics card is AMD® Vision ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD4250 graphics card. Do you think the graphics could have generated the BSODs with error messages:
a)Cache-Manager b) Bad-Pool-Caller c) (at boot) failure to get procedure address for LoadKeyboardLayoutW (user32.dll) ?

I don't mind updating the card if there is an update available, but I didn't find a driver update I thought was correct at http://support.amd.com/US/Pages/AMDSupportHub.aspx


Sony offers ORIGINAL drivers here: http://esupport.sony.com/US/p/model-home.pl?mdl=VPCEE31FXBJ&template_id=1&region_id=1&tab=download#/downloadTab I don't think that will get me anywhere.