[Obinice]

I reinstalled Windows XP on my PC the other day, and ever since I have been getting increasingly frequent blue screens while I have been running World of Warcraft.

I jotted down the error information for two such instances:

*** STOP: 0x0000008E (0x80000004, 0x806ECAE1, 0xA873E774, 0X00000000)
*** STOP: 0x0000008E (0x80000004, 0x806ECAE1, 0xA8E53708, 0x00000000)

However, it's pretty meaningless to me. I also understand you'll need more information to help me, so just ask and assuming I know how to provide, I will

This is getting incredibly annoying, it happened twice just now in the space of 5 minutes

Thank you very much for any help you can offer!

[lawson_jl]

That would be an issue with your graphics driver or a bad graphics card. Try updating (or downgrading even) your graphics drivers. bBe sure to update WoW as well. If that doesn't fix the issue try a new graphics card.

[Obinice]

I tried downgrading the graphics drivers to the old version that has worked in the past, but it's still doing it today. I have onboard graphics too =(

[lawson_jl]

How about trying the chipset drives in that case?

[Rich-M]

It's either a bad video card or corrupted ram. You can eliminate the ram by running memtest86 for 4 full tests. Each test has 8 passes so this takes 3-4 hours.
www.memtest.org

[Rollin' Rog]

Are you getting these BSODs only on WOW?

If so, I would be looking at possible overheating issues. And also ensure you have nothing overclocked

Try setting the game detail lower than you might normally run it (lower screen resolution and color depth, lower in game details as well) and test.

You can also try, just as a test, opening the Task Manager (right click on the task bar for the option or ctrl-alt-del) and terminate every process with a User Name (except Explorer) before running the game. You will need to reboot to get these back.


I can run a debugging utility on the dump files if you do this:

1 > create a new folder on the desktop and call it "dumpcheck" or whatever you like
2 > navigate to c:\windows\minidump and copy the last few minidump files to that folder. *this assumes 'c' is your boot drive, if it is not, subsitute accordingly
3 > close the folder and right click on it and select Send to Compressed (zipped) Folder.
4 > use the "manage attachments" in the "advanced" reply window to upload that zip file here as an attachment.

This might point us to a non Microsoft driver causing the error, if one exists for it.

If you do not see any minidumps, be sure you are not using any cache cleaner such as CCleaner. Also run sysdm.cpl and select Advanced > Startup and Recovery. Make sure "small memory dump" is the one chosen under "write debugging information" and the location should be %systemroot%\minidump

Since almost all bugchecks can be caused by faulty ram, I would recommend you perform memory tests.

Beginners Guides: Diagnosing Bad Memory

Memtest86 - A Stand-alone Memory Diagnostic