STOP event, bypasses blue screen and causes hard reboot.

When using Cakewalk Sonar 5.0 (new product) with latest patches on a new MPC
computer (intel motherboard) and Win XP Pro. (Pentium 840 D - dual core, 2GB
RAM, ATI X700 with 256 MB VRAM.) This only occurs in Sonar, and only when
playing back project files. The size and complexity of the files doesn't seem
to matter. I can't go more than hour, even if saving my work every couple of
minutes, without the app and Windows crashing. Loud feedback in my speakers
sometimes. Black screen always. System reboots. The following event is added:

Event Type: Information
Event Source: Save Dump
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1001
Description:
The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x000000b8
(0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000). A dump was saved in:
C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini121805-01.dmp.

I have several of these minXXXXX.dmp files now, but nowhere to send them. MS
has not responded to my request for an email address where I can send bug
reports and attach files. The automated dialog that appears when an app
crashes never displays because the OS crashes before it gets a chance.

This is a SERIOUS problem. I encountered this for some 8 months on my old
machine without a resolution or even a reasonable guess about what was going
wrong. I upgraded by whole system (at the cost of several thousand dollars)
just in time to get the new version of Cakewalk Sonar Producer Edition when
it was released last month. I am right back where I started, although much
poorer and WAY behind on my work!

This is not a very common error. Most of the documentation regarding this
error refers to driver related issues as the underlying cause. This might be
an instance
where using the Driver Verifier in Windows XP might provide some more
specific details.

Use Start - Run and enter VERIFIER in the dialog box.
Choose the "Create Standard Settings" option and click on Next
Choose the "Automatically select unsigned drivers" option and click on
Next Click on Finish and then shut down and restart the computer.

You will (hopefully) be presented with a new "Blue Screen Of Death"
STOP error message that will identify the specific driver and the
exact problem involved.

Note: You will have to reboot into Safe Mode or into "last known good
configuration" if you get the BSOD when running Verifier.

If nothing else works you may want to post the minidump file on the sonar
support site or even here for that matter.
Good luck

yogi

"allegro" wrote:

When using Cakewalk Sonar 5.0 (new product) with latest patches on a new MPC
computer (intel motherboard) and Win XP Pro. (Pentium 840 D - dual core, 2GB
RAM, ATI X700 with 256 MB VRAM.) This only occurs in Sonar, and only when
playing back project files. The size and complexity of the files doesn't seem
to matter. I can't go more than hour, even if saving my work every couple of
minutes, without the app and Windows crashing. Loud feedback in my speakers
sometimes. Black screen always. System reboots. The following event is added:

Event Type: Information
Event Source: Save Dump
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1001
Description:
The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x000000b8
(0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000). A dump was saved in:
C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini121805-01.dmp.

I have several of these minXXXXX.dmp files now, but nowhere to send them. MS
has not responded to my request for an email address where I can send bug
reports and attach files. The automated dialog that appears when an app
crashes never displays because the OS crashes before it gets a chance.

This is a SERIOUS problem. I encountered this for some 8 months on my old
machine without a resolution or even a reasonable guess about what was going
wrong. I upgraded by whole system (at the cost of several thousand dollars)
just in time to get the new version of Cakewalk Sonar Producer Edition when
it was released last month. I am right back where I started, although much
poorer and WAY behind on my work!

Just got this from Microsoft:

"This is not a very common error. Most of the documentation regarding this
error refers to driver related issues as the underlying cause. This might be
an instance
where using the Driver Verifier in Windows XP might provide some more
specific details.

Use Start - Run and enter VERIFIER in the dialog box.
Choose the "Create Standard Settings" option and click on Next
Choose the "Automatically select unsigned drivers" option and click on
Next Click on Finish and then shut down and restart the computer.

You will (hopefully) be presented with a new "Blue Screen Of Death"
STOP error message that will identify the specific driver and the
exact problem involved.

Note: You will have to reboot into Safe Mode or into "last known good
configuration" if you get the BSOD when running Verifier.

If nothing else works you may want to post the minidump file on the sonar
support site or even here for that matter."

I am running through this now on the new machine. I will post the results
(and what MS had to say about them when I get the info).

Okay, I've followed your instructions. I ran verifier, got the blue screen,
started in safe mode and then shut down. Then I started up again with the
last good configuration.

I'm not sure where I am supposed to be looking for the screen dump info.
There doesn't appear to be an Even log entry for the blue screen. There are a
number of Errors about drivers not loading that appear to be from when I
started in safe mode. There are no new minidump files.

Before doing the above, I changed the Write Debugging Information (in
Control Panel-System-Advanced-Startup and Recovery) from "Small memory dump"
to "Kernel memory dump", hoping that it would give me more information. But I
don't see any file. I looked in the root directory of my system drive, the
root directory of windows, \windows\system and \windows\system32. Where'd it
go?

ahh i guess you missed all the stuff that you got on the blue screen that
came up. That was where you had to look for the information that could help.
And what's with repeating what i wrote to you under "Just got this from
microsoft". anyways hope this helps.

yogi

"allegro" wrote:

Okay, I've followed your instructions. I ran verifier, got the blue screen,
started in safe mode and then shut down. Then I started up again with the
last good configuration.

I'm not sure where I am supposed to be looking for the screen dump info.
There doesn't appear to be an Even log entry for the blue screen. There are a
number of Errors about drivers not loading that appear to be from when I
started in safe mode. There are no new minidump files.

Before doing the above, I changed the Write Debugging Information (in
Control Panel-System-Advanced-Startup and Recovery) from "Small memory dump"
to "Kernel memory dump", hoping that it would give me more information. But I
don't see any file. I looked in the root directory of my system drive, the
root directory of windows, \windows\system and \windows\system32. Where'd it
go?

What was on the blue screen should be in the screen dump file, right? That's
why I asked for the location of the file.

The other post was an accident. It should have read "from the Microsoft
FORUM". It was a post I was working on for a Sonar message board. I am
simultaneously trying to monitor both forums and figure out what the problem
is on my other machine.

I've tired this whole thing again. It never gets to a blue screen exactly.
Here's what happens: after running Verifier, which ends without causing a
crash, I restart windows and get what looks like every driver on my system on
my screen (white lettering on black bg). No stop code or error messages. And
it goes away too fast for me to write it down. It is not leaving a mindump or
kernel dump file as far as I can tell. Is it safe to assume, at this point,
that the problem is not driver related?

Tried to use Sonar again and it crashed, as usual, generating another mindump
file. Any ideas? I don't even know where to send these files or what I should
be looking for in them.

I have tried this again, without auto reboot. Although it now displays the
blue screen, it does not mention the name of the driver, which is what I
think we were after. It reads as follows:

DRIVE_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

STOP:0x0000000D1 (0xBA16EAC7, 0x0000002, 0x00000008, 0xBA16EAC7)

The problem with this verify method is that it doesn't produce any event
errors, or any events at all (aside from the normal ones produced by starting
in safe mode).
For the event messages that the actual crashes produce, see the first post
in this thread. None of this gives me much information to work with.

I found the following on the MS webs site, but I am having trouble
interpreting it. Which number is supposed to identify the driver? And where
do I find it on my system? If I could at least figure out which driver it is,
I'd know which vendor to contact for tech support.

"Stop 0x000000D1 or DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
The Stop 0xD1 message indicates that the system attempted to access pageable
memory using a kernel process IRQL that was too high. Drivers that have used
improper addresses typically cause this error.

Interpreting the Message
This Stop message has four parameters:

Memory referenced.
IRQL at time of reference.
Type of access (0x00000000 = read operation, 0x00000001 = write operation).
Address that referenced memory.
Resolving the Problem
For additional troubleshooting suggestions that apply to all Stop errors,
see "Stop Message Checklist" later in this appendix.

Stop 0xD1 messages can occur after installing faulty drivers or system
services. If a driver is listed by name, disable, remove, or roll back that
driver to confirm that this resolves the error. If so, contact the
manufacturer about a possible update. Using updated software is especially
important for backup programs, multimedia applications, antivirus scanners,
DVD playback, and CD mastering tools.
For more information about Stop 0xD1 messages, see the Microsoft Knowledge
Base link on the Web Resources page at
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/webresources. Search using keywords
winnt, 0x000000D1, and 0xD1.
"

Thanks.

I was really hoping that the STOP error would tell me once and for all which
driver is failing and end the guesswork. I haven't found the responses on the
Cakewalk forum useful, since people who don't use this soundcard don't know
how valuable it is or understand that there is no comparable replacement.
They read half a post and suggest something that's been tried before or
doesn't make sense then get angry if you don't try every one of their
suggestions.

The machine I am using right now is a Dell 4550, with an Intel motherboard,
ATI video card and built in LAN. I used my soundcard and the ATI DV Wonder
card in it, with Sonar 2 for a year or two without any problems. Last year, I
bought another Dell, also with an Intel motherboard, ATI video card and built
in LAN. The only differences between the two were that the new machine had a
faster processor, a different type of RAM and SATA drives. I moved my audio
and video operations to this new machine, upgraded to Sonar 4 and began
experiencing the problems I reported. I returned the machine (after fighting
with Dell for months) because Cakewalk determined that it was defective (not
my soundcard). My new machine is by MPC. But it is very similar to the other
two (Intel motherboard & LAN, ATI video, SATA drives) but it has the dual
core processor and yet another type of DIMM.

So what is different about the two machines that didn't work? Well, they
have SATA drives, different types of RAM, but other users are using Sonar,
the same soundcard, or plugins in those setups. I haven't found anyone who is
using all three yet. But the big thing -- the main thing -- is that the
latter two machines had onboard sound which had to be disabled before I put
in the soundcard. And the current one had onboard video, too. That would be
my first guess for conflicts. Even though they have been disabled in the BIOS
there are probably still drivers in Windows that have no place to go. I have
got a tech support call into MPC so that a tech and I can work through where
they might be and how to remove them.

The thing that everyone keeps dismissing, is what is most likely -- and also
what Cakewalk thinks is wrong. They finally responded to my emails today and
told me they think it's actually a corrupt FILE. Though they say that copying
it over should fix the problem, I had all ready tried that and it didn't
work. It goes on to say that a bad file might corrupt drivers or INI files,
which Sonar uses. So that is what I will be trying next.

The plot thickens ...

Although I am not seeing any Events on boot, or ! in Device Manager, I
started taking a look at some of these drivers and found that several
devices, such as my soundcard had 2 drivers listed. A little research
revealed that the DVD burners I installed (from Sony and Pioneer) also
installed a WDM driver to power their audio and video player junkware. I was
able to get step by step instructions from the company that publishes the
driver (GEAR) and remove all the services, dlls and registry entries.

I deleted the Sonar INI files, as Cakewalk recommended, and reprofiled my
sound card in the application and it appears to be working. Previously it was
crashing about once per hour, so I will have to use if for a while to be sure
that the problem is gone. But, before I do, I'm going to ask MPC for the same
info to make sure the drivers for their onboard audio and video are
completely gone. (Running the GEAR uninstaller left a lot of crap behind. I
want to be certain that every trace of the other drivers are gone as well.) I
will post the results here so that, hopefully, other users of this soundcard
will not have to go through this. I know for a fact that it does work well
under Win XP Pro. I've used it on that OS for more than a year. This appears
to be a third party software problem, as I suspected.