Error Message---w32k.sys Page Fault

I have a Dimension3000 with XP Home Edition.
Here is a scenario of what has been going on.
I initially(Tuesday August 9) got the following error message:
W32K.SYS PAGE FAULT IN NON-PAGED AREA
I proceeded to restart the computer and the same message came up again. A full page of info was there(did not understand alot of it) At the bottom of the page I got ERROR W32K.sys BF8A1E8F Base at BF00000
Date Stamp 422511a2
With this I contacted(support) for what to do next to get this corrected. They suggested I try to restore the system to a previous date. I tried to restore to August 6 but the error messages continued. Then they proceeded to email me instructions of how-to repair and install system. Based on what I sent, I guess, they determined the system was corrupt and needed to be reinstalled.
Not being a technician but certainly the owner of a NEW DELL computer(June2005) with a paid contract for support. I decided to give it a try. When I got to REPAIR AND INSTALL, I decided this was more than I wanted to challenge. I mean there were 4 printed pages of info to go thru and at the bottom of page 3 it said OTHER OPTIONS. DUH!
Based on what I have told you, will the other option using Ctrl-F11 put my system back up and running? I am concerned about the software programs I uploaded as well as the software that came with the system such as Adobe and Sonic, etc.
Right now I just want to tell DELL to come and get the computer, fix it and give it back. OR I will even mail it back if necessary. As you can tell I am really disgusted with DELL, XP OS.
I have a Dimension3000 with XP Home Edition just sitting there waiting to be up and running.
Thanks.

 

Not sure what the Ctrl-F11 will do. Probably something specific to that type of system.

Unless you just like playing with the guts of a computer, based on the error you are getting I think their idea of a reload of the OS is probably the quickest way to correct the problem. Do be aware that if Dell does the deed for you, they will almost certainly strip it back to the same basic load you had when you first bought the system with no trace of any changes you have made or any new apps/personal files/whatever so if you have personal stuff you will want to make copies before the 'repair' is done.

Downloaded apps - probably just have to get them and install them again.

If you'd like, we can certainly take a shot at trying to help you fix things. Won't cost you anything but time and maybe some frustration.

 

Newt
Thanks for responding. Yep I am willing to try what you have to offer. I really don't care to reload and reload and reload the software I added.
Let me know how to proceed. I am not a technician so keep it simple.
I am currently using my OLD computer Win98 to get my emails and the DELL is not even turned on.
Let me know.
Thanks again

 

More information then before we dive into this. And please, if anyone asks you for stuff or suggests your doing stuff that is not 100% clear, say so. Most of the regulars will try hard to phrase questions and suggestions to match your experience level but we occasionally goof.

I'm guessing we can probably help you fix this problem. The Dell Tech support folks may have taken the easy route by suggesting a reload. They do that to save time/money or to save user frustration or maybe just because their 1st and maybe 2nd level techs don't know enough to help you. We don't worry about time since we do this for fun; we don't worry about money since we donate the time; we don't worry about frustrating you since you can always opt to quit trying; we (collectively) usually turn out to have expertise beyond what Dell could afford to hire for 1st and 2nd tier support.

You have XP Home. What Service Pack level? If you haven't done any SP updates, the original CD should say if it contains a service pack or not. Otherwise, when you have the system running if you right-click on the My Computer icon and left-click on properties, you should see the information.

Do you have a normal XP CD or did Dell provide you with some sort of Restore CD that will put your system back to the same state as when the PC was new? If a Restore CD, look on your hard drive and see if you have a folder named I386.

Click on start, on run, key in eventvwr.msc and click OK. When the event log viewer opens, look around for entries that relate to your error. There may only be one that is repeated a bunch of times or there may be several that are slightly different. We need to see one each of them. To do that, double-click open the event, click on the icon below the up/down arrow to send a text copy to the clipboard, and paste the results in a reply here.

 

Found this info as I was looking for info this morning.
BCCode : 10000050 BCP1 : 825618E0 BCP2 : 00000000 BCP3 : 8054A88A
BCP4 : 00000000 OSVer : 5_1_2600 SP : 2_0 Product : 768_1
Thank you for submitting an error report.
Your system crashed because the random access memory containing Windows program code was corrupted. Microsoft is unable to determine if this corruption was caused by a hardware or software issue. The nature of the corruption suggests that a hardware issue is more likely. To determine if this is the case, Microsoft developed a Windows memory diagnostic that tests your PC memory.
We recommend you download and run this tool on your computer system. On most configurations, you can download the diagnostic, read the documentation, run the test and complete the test pass in less than 30 minutes. Click here to get started.
A device driver installed on your computer caused the problem, but we cannot determine the precise cause. Depending on which situation is applicable to you, please do one of the following:
Error Message: STOP 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER (Q293078)
5C5E18L1YM8ALA5 email tracking
________________________________
Here is some info I got when I went to eventvwr. Not sure if this is what you are looking for but I can always go back and try again. I never did find anything relative to page fault in non paged area which is what I got the very first time.
0808 8:53am
Microsoft (R) Windows (R) 5.01. 2600 Service Pack 2 Uniprocessor Free.
The Event log service was started.
The system detected that network adapter \DEVICE\TCPIP_{D035494F-1232-42C1-B45C-748A845113C2} was disconnected from the network, and the adapter's network configuration has been released. If the network adapter was not disconnected, this may indicate that it has malfunctioned. Please contact your vendor for updated drivers.
Time Provider NtpClient: An error occurred during DNS lookup of the manually configured peer 'time.windows.com,0x1'. NtpClient will try the DNS lookup again in 15 minutes. The error was: A socket operation was attempted to an unreachable host. (0x80072751)
The time provider NtpClient is configured to acquire time from one or more time sources, however none of the sources are currently accessible. No attempt to contact a source will be made for 14 minutes. NtpClient has no source of accurate time.
Time Provider NtpClient: An error occurred during DNS lookup of the manually configured peer 'time.windows.com,0x1'. NtpClient will try the DNS lookup again in 15 minutes. The error was: A socket operation was attempted to an unreachable host. (0x80072751)
The time provider NtpClient is configured to acquire time from one or more time sources, however none of the sources are currently accessible. No attempt to contact a source will be made for 14 minutes. NtpClient has no source of accurate time.
Event Type: Information
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7036
Date: 8/10/2005
Time: 8:23:12 PM
User: N/A
Computer: DGR0TN71
Description:
The IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service service entered the stopped state.
0808 8:55am
Time Provider NtpClient: An error occurred during DNS lookup of the manually configured peer 'time.windows.com,0x1'. NtpClient will try the DNS lookup again in 15 minutes. The error was: A socket operation was attempted to an unreachable host. (0x80072751)
The time provider NtpClient is configured to acquire time from one or more time sources, however none of the sources are currently accessible. No attempt to contact a source will be made for 14 minutes. NtpClient has no source of accurate time.
____________________________________________
Event Type: Information
Event Source: Tcpip
Event Category: None
Event ID: 4202
Date: 8/8/2005
Time: 8:52:09 AM
User: N/A
Computer: DGR0TN71
Description:
The system detected that network adapter \DEVICE\TCPIP_{D035494F-1232-42C1-B45C-748A845113C2} was disconnected from the network, and the adapter's network configuration has been released. If the network adapter was not disconnected, this may indicate that it has malfunctioned. Please contact your vendor for updated drivers.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: System Error
Event Category: (102)
Event ID: 1003
Date: 8/11/2005
Time: 5:22:14 PM
User: N/A
Computer: DGR0TN71
Description:
Error code 1000007f, parameter1 0000000d, parameter2 00000000, parameter3 00000000, parameter4 00000000.

These I got this morning
Event Type: Error
Event Source: W32Time
Event Category: None
Event ID: 17
Date: 8/14/2005
Time: 1:23:14 PM
User: N/A
Computer: DGR0TN71
Description:
Time Provider NtpClient: An error occurred during DNS lookup of the manually configured peer 'time.windows.com,0x1'. NtpClient will try the DNS lookup again in 15 minutes. The error was: A socket operation was attempted to an unreachable host. (0x80072751)
____________________________________________________
Event Type: Information
Event Source: EventLog
Event Category: None
Event ID: 6009
Date: 8/14/2005
Time: 1:22:00 PM
User: N/A
Computer: DGR0TN71
Description:
Microsoft (R) Windows (R) 5.01. 2600 Service Pack 2 Uniprocessor Free.
Event Source: EventLog
Event Category: None
Event ID: 6005
Date: 8/14/2005
Time: 1:22:00 PM
User: N/A
Computer: DGR0TN71
Description:
The Event log service was started.

 

P.S. re XP cds I have

There have been updates done by DELL to my computer when I first got it. However, the original XP CD shows service pack 2. I also have a restore CD that I created around July 15. However I am having trouble even getting into the system right now.

 

If you are dealing with bad RAM which looks likely, any other errors could have been a result of that. The network issues all seem to be related to getting time server updates which is as likely an ISP issue as a local one.

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA is so non-specific as to be practically useless for diagnosing.

http://www.memtest.org/ will allow memory testing although as with any system where you are using software to test hardware, a clean bill of health can't be trusted. Errors can so if memtest finds bad RAM, you have bad RAM.

Also possible if you have more than one stick is to remove all but one and see if you run OK - slow but OK. If so, keep swapping in different ones until you spot the bad stick.

Note that if you seem to have more than one stick of memory bad you will have to suspect a motherboard defect.