BSOD/Parity Error
 

Hi -
I'm having an issue with my ThinkPad R60. Running Win7, ATI-1400 Video, 3MB memory. Using an LG W2242P secondary screen, set as my primary screen, 1680x1080 Resolution. The screen, during use, develops lines of pixels that appear as artifacts, i.e. funny color, not working, whatever. Happens quicker when viewing a video, esp. in full-screen mode, but even when not viewing video. Eventually, which can be days or minutes, the machine blue-screens, error msg "Parity Error" and needs to be restarted. Diagnostics on video say it's fine, all updates to drivers have been taken, etc. Interestingly, if I set the card to view both screens (the LG AND the R60), the artifacts showing up on the LG do NOT show up on the R60 screen. I've also attempted running the system at a lower resolution to see if that made a difference, but it did not. I just discovered the "Performance Information and Tools" in Control panel, and see that the Windows Experience Index is at 3. I've also discovered that when I attempt to run "Re-run the Assessment", as soon as the diagnostic gets to the part about checking for Aero compatibility, I get the BSOD/Parity Error. EVERY time. I'm not running an Aero desktop theme (never did), but of course now I'm positive that something that's running in Win7 is incompatible with my hardware and that's what's causing the problem. I've now hit a brick wall - I don't know what else to check or other diagnostics to run to pinpoint the issue. I do run Sketchup occasionally but that doesn't seem to have any impact one way or the other, and I've stopped any and all services that start begin automatically that are related to that program. Other uses of the computer is basic business stuff - mail, IE, MSOffice. This has been going on for a long time now, and may have begun when I originally upgraded to Win7 although I can't be sure and I for some reason don't think that's when this started. In all other ways the machine is running fine, and if I stop using the LG monitor I don't think I'd have a problem, but who wants to work on a 15" display when a 24" one is sitting right there? :-) Your help would be much appreciated, and I apologize for this long-winded description, but wanted to include info on diagnostics I've already done.

Philip

oh yeah, under "Event Viewer", there are no hardware incidents reported, and this is the only 'suspicious' event in the log: Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-PnP
Date: 5/15/2011 10:01:39 AM
Event ID: 219
Task Category: (212)
Level: Warning
Keywords:
User: SYSTEM
Computer: PhilR60
Description:
The driver \Driver\WUDFRd failed to load for the device USB\VID_0483&PID_2016\5&37c8a9dc&0&2.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-PnP" Guid="{9C205A39-1250-487D-ABD7-E831C6290539}" />
<EventID>219</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>3</Level>
<Task>212</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2011-05-15T14:01:39.370022600Z" />
<EventRecordID>79587</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="4" ThreadID="44" />
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>PhilR60</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data Name="DriverNameLength">36</Data>
<Data Name="DriverName">USB\VID_0483&amp;PID_2016\5&amp; 37c8a9dc&amp;0&amp;2</Data>
<Data Name="Status">3221226341</Data>
<Data Name="FailureNameLength">14</Data>
<Data Name="FailureName">\Driver\WUDFRd</Data>
<Data Name="Version">0</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

hi pb9003,

i suggest we check first for a possible defective ram -- it might be causing the BSOD.

download 'ultimate boot cd'. it contains diagnostic tools for checking pc hardware.

download ultimate boot cd here (choose the ISO version, then choose the download source which is closest to your location). burn the iso file to a cd.

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

one part of the ultimate boot cd that you should run is the ram diagnostic.

if your laptop has two ram sticks, temporarily remove the second stick, and test only with the first stick.

in the main menu of ultimate boot cd, choose Memory, then run Memtest86+. the test should go on an infinite loop, but there is an indicator on how many "Passes" it has done. 1 Pass is a complete series of ram tests. Allow Memtest86+ to continue running until you reach Pass 5. This means your ram has been tested with the 5 complete cycles.

if an error happens before Pass 5, then it could mean that the ram stick is defective. reboot and check again, if the error is persitent, then we can conclude that its a defective ram.

check the second ram stick.

at the office, we've been using Memtest86+ to check for ram problems. our thinkpad/lenovo hardware vendor recognizes our use of Memtest86+. if ever we encounter errors on memtest before pass 5, they take the ram for warranty.

goodluck :)

Thank you DominicD -
 

I'll give this a shot, although I'm almost 100% certain that I was having this problem on another R60 that I had. When I changed machines (because the first machines cooling fan sounded like a jet engine) I just swapped my drive out, which is what was leading me to believe that this is a software issue.

Thank you again for your reply.

Philip

it's not the memory -
 

As suspected, this problem is not due to malfunctioning memory - all tests suggested ran fine. So, any other suggestions?

Thanks,

Phil

hello

is the source R60 machine exactly the same model number as the new R60? its possible that a device driver needs to be reinstalled -- in case the current driver on your os is not identical to the previous hardware.

in case that they are different, i suggest you download the latest drivers for the new R60.

my first suggestion would be to do an uninstall of the video drivers, and then install the latest corresponding driver for that new machine.

if this does not resolve the issue, you may try uninstalling the thinkpad chipset drivers, and again install the corresponding chipset drivers.

goodluck :)

as much as possible, i dont want to suggest touching even more drivers and system settings, it just might do more harm -- since some parts of your windows may have already been customized by the original hardware drivers.

Once again, thank you
 

I'm playing around with the machine now. This has something to do with hardware acceleration - video plays without blue-screening now that I've turned off acceleration. I still have issues with artifacts all over the screen though, and now the artifacts are moving. I've just downloaded ATI Catalyst software and am going to mess around with that and see where it gets me.
Thank you for your reply and your suggestion.

Philip

Still not fixed -
 

Still having issues with the bsod, but did manage to get an error report -

Source
Windows

Summary
Shut down unexpectedly

Date
‎5/‎17/‎2011 5:21 PM

Status
Report sent

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.48
Locale ID: 1033

Extra information about the problem
BCCode: 116
BCP1: 86431008
BCP2: 9241A998
BCP3: C0000001
BCP4: 00000003
OS Version: 6_1_7600
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 256_1
Bucket ID: 0x116_TdrBCR:3:C0000001_Tdr:2_IMAGE_atikmdag.sys
Server information: db367e48-402b-4c7a-ab22-dfec1bdbab0c


Does this mean anything useful???? Interestingly, I have a machine that's at least 3 years older, has an ATI Mobility card, and which is successfully running windows7 including aero. On this R60, selecting an aero screen results in immediate bsod.

Any ideas? DominickD, as to your questions above re: machines, everything is identical, the machines were all purchased at the same time and all have the same versions of hardware/software.

Any help is much appreciated!!!

Philip

hi, i googled the error message, and saw some similar posts. they said catalyst drivers are likely to cause the bsod on aero.

one solution that supposedly worked was downgrading to Catalyst 10.11 (or even lower down to to 10.3) drivers.

i hope this works :)