Backup Program Causes BSOD in Win XP

[OperaFox]

Hello. I'll try to make this brief.

I have a computer running Windows XP SP3. It became infected with rogue software sometime last year (I didn't have an antivirus until March of this year), and I only recently noticed it. So yesterday I took my system in for an overhaul. I:

*Removed the problem software with Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
*Scanned with AVG
*Removed 2 photo-editing suites whose trials had expired with Revo
*Defragmented my hard disk with Defraggler
*Ran Ccleaner and Windows Disk Cleanup
*Ran Comodo Registry Cleaner
*Ran Chkdsk /f /r

But when I tried to run NTI Backup Now EZ, my whole computer crashed!

I last ran this program about a month ago, so I don't have a recent system backup to use. I tried a system restore, but I still had repeated crashes.

*0x00000077 kernel_stack_inpage_error (my first three attempts)
*0x000000F4 (my fourth attempt)
*0x0000008E (my fifth attempt from safe mode)

No other programs cause problems like this. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling, chkdsk (found no errors), system restore, booting to utility partition and running memory and HD tests (all passed), virus scanning (passed), trying BIOS, safe mode, creating a new page file, and killing the process as it froze. Nothing worked.

This program will start up in the background and hang. It will never actually show up, but its process will appear in the Task Manager for about 30 seconds before the whole system dumps.

Interestingly enough, the event log in Windows never references this program crashing. Instead, it repeatedly mentions Windows Search trying to recover some sort of information.

Anyone have any advice? My computer used to be very smooth and efficient, but now it's a steaming mess thanks to this stupid program.

Dell Dimension E520
Windows XP SP3 32 bit
1 GB DDR2-667 RAM (512 MB original, 512 MB supplemental)
3 GHz Intel Pentium D Processor (Dual-core)
Bios 2.2.1
1 SATA DVD-ROM Drive (Came with PC)
1 SATA DVD-RW Drive (Supplemental, works properly)
1 Floppy Drive (Supplemental, doesn't work; installed it last week and can't get the system to read it properly)
1 80 GB SATA HD (Don't know make or model)
1 320 GB Toshiba External HD
AVG 9 Free Antivirus

Other Hardware:
USB Keyboard
USB Wireless Mouse
USB U3 Flash drive
iPod Nano
Digital Camera
Lexmark Z23 USB Color Printer
Logitech Webcam (new)

[Enriqueta]

You might here need to delete the page file first. You can delete that and then reboot your system. Now set a new page file. For that go in start menu and then click on control panel > performance and maintenance > advanced. Here set you new page file to 1.5GB or you can leave Windows to manage your file also. Download and run System Mechanic. That will give you nice fix.

[OperaFox]

I tried disabling the page file and restarting the computer and re-enabling it (worked for corrupted system restore points), but I never physically deleted it. I don't know where it is located, or if there's a command for it. What's the best way to delete it? If it is physically, where is it located? I looked in the WINDOWS folder, but I didn't see pagefile.sys.

[mv]

pagefile.sys is located on the drive itself, at the very next visit of your selection of the drive. For example, if you have page file feature enabled for C: drive, then you select your C: drive on my computer and open it. If you have can see the hidden files (Start - Control Panel - Folder Options - View tab - select "Show hidden files and folders" - OK) then you will be able to find the pagefile.sys easily over here.

[OperaFox]

Here's what's located directly on my C: drive (I have hidden files/folders enabled already):

Folders
*$AVG
*$NtUninstallXPSEP$
*2417fbbd96419c9d0915745e2b
*dell
*Documents and Settings
*drivers
*ERDNT
*i386
*Install iTunes
*MMAPP
*MSOCache (Hidden)
*Program Files
*TEMP (Hidden)
*WINDOWS

Files
*dell.sdr (Hidden)
*find.txt
*HijackPatrol.txt
*INFCache.1
*IO.sys (Hidden)
*LOG842.txt
*LOG842.tmp
*MSDOS.sys (Hidden)
*resetlog.txt
*VETlog.txt
*VETlog.dmp

No pagefile.sys...what now?

Page file is currently enabled for C: drive only, not external hard drive F: (because F: is not a persistent drive; I have it removed because the backup program is down!)

EDIT-Can't edit first post, but turns out my HD is a Seagate. My computer is actually three years old. It's never had a real virus; but rogue software was installed without my permission. I suspect a trojan but so far everything's clean. Just thought I'd add the extra info.

[SalVatore]

You can make the things to work out well by following the apsects as given below:

1. You need to click on start button and then right click on My computer
2. Now under properties check out for Advanced tab
3. Now click under performance click settings
4. Now click advanced tab and then under the Virtual memory click Change.

Do work out and look for the conclusion.

[OperaFox]

Hi. I've already tried that, and it didn't work, sadly. Apparently the original file (wherever it may be) was not deleted, or perhaps the problem is more serious. Thanks anyway.

Page file is enabled; it is set to a custom size (756-1519 MB since I don't have a lot of RAM and multitask a lot).

Here's the weird thing: scanned my system, no hits. No page file. Yet, I checked the registry and came across this value: PagingFiles REG_MULTI_SZ C:\pagefile.sys 756 1519

So there IS a page file (and there should be), I just can't see it for some reason?

Anyway, I'm going to try to make the system delete the page file every time it shuts down. I'll try it and see what happens. Oddly enough, this is the ONLY program affected; I've noticed no other effects except a slight system instability. I also wrote the authors of the program and hopefully they can help me, too.

Could my memory be bad? I ran diagnostics and the system says it isn't, but I just installed a new 512 stick last month. I haven't run a backup since installing the stick so I don't know if it's the cause or not.

UPDATE!!! Just found a new option-"Hide protected operating system files". Unchecked it-now pagefile.sys is finally showing. I'm going to try deleting it in safe mode and then turning it on again!

[JAMES_911]

Have you tried using a solution from the XP ntbackup feature called ASR - Automated System Recovery, look it up in Help and Support. What it does is make a full system backup and allows that to be run standalone from the CDs you create (thru the XP Setup CD). Note it only works w/ XP PROFESSIONAL, not XP HOME.