BleepingComputer.com: "kernel stack inpage error", constant crashes

I get this bluescreen with KERNEL STACK INPAGE ERROR at the top of the screen. Sometimes there's other messages at the bottom, like STOP or atapi.sys or other processes. Previously this has happened at one- or two-day intervals when running a resource-intensive application (games), but now my pc crashes indubitably about 10 minutes after rebooting. Also, I can't reboot until I flick the power switch on the back of the case. SOMEtimes, after a crash like this, I get a screen that says something about an overclock failure, but to my knowledge there is no overclocking enabled.

I got this computer from my dad's office, where it presumably worked fine for a couple years. After taking it home I did a clean install of windows xp to reformat the drive. Since then I've put a new graphics card in and a new network adapter, and switched out a couple sticks of RAM.

here's some specs:
Motherboard: ASUSTek P5GD1
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 540
RAM: DDR 512mb x2
Graphics: Radeon X1650

I'd really like to fix this problem but I don't know where to start. my question is, is this a hardware or software problem? I'm pretty sure I have all the latest drivers. Could it be a problem with the OS? I'm thinking it might be the power supply, since I have to flick the switch in the back before every reboot.

any help appreciated for this aggravating issue!

How to receive help diagnosing Blue Screens and Windows crashes

ok thanks, so I installed the debugger but unfortunately there aren't any .dmp files on my computer, except for this minidump in a Dr Watson folder created Dec 30:

Comment: 'Dr. Watson generated MiniDump'
Symbol search path is: SRV*c:\symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols
Executable search path is:
Windows XP Version 2600 (Service Pack 3) MP (2 procs) Free x86 compatible
Product: WinNt, suite: SingleUserTS
Machine Name:
Debug session time: Wed Dec 30 00:57:12.000 2009 (GMT-4)
System Uptime: not available
Process Uptime: 0 days 0:03:25.000
.............................................................
This dump file has an exception of interest stored in it.
The stored exception information can be accessed via .ecxr.
(c6c.1ec): Access violation - code c0000005 (first/second chance not available)
eax=2b009990 ebx=2b009a20 ecx=00000000 edx=18949f98 esi=2b009990 edi=00000005
eip=004c9a80 esp=0012f744 ebp=00000005 iopl=0 nv up ei pl nz na pe nc
cs=001b ss=0023 ds=0023 es=0023 fs=003b gs=0000 efl=00200206
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for Oblivion.exe
Oblivion+0xc9a80:
004c9a80 f6412401 test byte ptr [ecx+24h],1 ds:0023:00000024=??


apparently though it concerns Oblivion which always causes the error but definitely isn't the source of it.

so, is there a way to get the memory dump? that guide says it saves to the pagefile and creates the .dmp after rebooting, but I don't it's working.

Right click on the C drive in Explorer and go Properties > Tools > Check Now (under Error Checking). Check both boxes then click "Start Now". A message will pop up saying that Error Checking will run after you restart the computer. Restart the computer and Error Checking will run automatically after the restart. After it’s finished it will restart into Windows automatically.

very well, I ran that (chkdsk right?), took about an hour and a half, but I'm not sure what it did. There's still no .dmp files anywhere. Is there any other type of log I should be looking for?

Go Start > Run and type "eventvwr.msc" (without the quotes). Click on Application and select the most recent winlogon entry. It should give the chkdsk log.

Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.

A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.                         
Cleaning up minor inconsistencies on the drive.
Cleaning up 7 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 7 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 7 unused security descriptors.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
Free space verification is complete.

 156280288 KB total disk space.
 145110916 KB in 142509 files.
     49684 KB in 8816 indexes.
         0 KB in bad sectors.
    228528 KB in use by the system.
     65536 KB occupied by the log file.
  10891160 KB available on disk.

      4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
  39070072 total allocation units on disk.
   2722790 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:
10 68 02 00 28 4f 02 00 85 66 03 00 00 00 00 00  .h..(O...f......
80 04 00 00 06 00 00 00 f4 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
b8 b9 48 04 00 00 00 00 84 1c 56 90 00 00 00 00  ..H.......V.....
66 d9 44 03 00 00 00 00 bc b5 4b 5f 0b 00 00 00  f.D.......K_....
30 4e 79 9e 00 00 00 00 f6 4a d9 9c 0c 00 00 00  0Ny......J......
a0 fd 6a bf 00 00 00 00 90 38 07 00 ad 2c 02 00  ..j......8...,..
00 00 00 00 00 10 de 98 22 00 00 00 70 22 00 00  ........"...p"..

Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.

Are you still getting the KERNEL STACK INPAGE ERROR?

actually, i've been running for a good 4 hours with no problem. did it fix something?


edit: scratch that, just got a bluescreen. followed by an "overclocking failed!" message at startup, to which i pressed f2 to load default settings.

This post has been edited by sp0tty: 04 January 2010 - 02:44 AM

i have the capability to upgrade to windows 7, but not to do a clean install at this time. Think that would be worthwhile?

If you upgrade to Windows 7 from XP...you must do a clean install of Windows 7.

Louis

oooh I see now. the only thing is that I don't have it burnt onto a dvd.
off-topic, can I install it from a usb flash? or is that only for making boot disks?

This post has been edited by sp0tty: 04 January 2010 - 04:13 PM

Are you overclocking your computer? That could be a cause of the Blue Screens.

tbh I don't know how, which is why I'm not exactly sure if it is overclocked. I read somewhere that if the CPU voltage isn't enough then it will think it's an overclocking error, or something like that.

anyway I think I'll burn the windows 7 dvd and see how that goes. thanks for all your suggestions

This post has been edited by sp0tty: 04 January 2010 - 05:54 PM