Notebooks & Netbooks

[Beebers]

Hi, My computer crashes very, very often. Sometimes 3 times per day, some times it will actually go for 5 days without crashing. The reasons seem to be all over the board but ntoskrnl.exe is often involved. Today it was also the Atheros driver (which is up to date). I tried installing the one from the Acer website but it says it can't do it. (they look like very different versions ....) athw8x.sys is int he computer (3.0.1.145) but the Acer website says it should be 10.0.0.225 - now that is a very different number .... My system is V3-772G 12gb Ram Win 8.1 64 Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[finlux]

Hi Beebers

"ntoskrnl.exe" blue screens or crashes, can be a corrupted hard drive, or more usually a corrupted install of Windows. Sometimes it can point to RAM problems.

Run the built in memory test diagnostic, by typing mdsched.exe in the run box (press Windows key & R). Restart your laptop and select the test type. Standard should be OK. This can take hours.

If it comes back as OK, then I'd suggest, back up all your data/files and reinstall Windows from your recovery partition or from the recovery media you made. A clean install should solve a whole host of problems.

If the memtest returns errors, then one or more sticks of RAM will need replacing.

[Beebers]

Hi, Thanks for your advice. So, I have run mdsched.exe and it all looked good. Naturally I am reluctant to re-install Windows 8.1 all over again. Then, I ran mdsched.exe in extended mode and it never went passed 21% (I waited 6 hours). So, does that mean that the memory is bad, or that Win 8.1 is bad? Thanks,

[finlux]

OK, try running the test again. If it still appears to stick at 21%, it may be a sign something isn't right!

Check on how many sticks of RAM you have. If it is 2, then remove one and boot and re-test. If it still sticks, swap the sticks around.

It may not necessarily be the RAM - it may well be the hard drive or the Windows installation. I understand your reluctance in re-installing, but it may be a necessary evil to try to eliminate the problem!

[Beebers]

Ok, another 2 months or so of pain later ....

I performed the recommended reset. I was advised that no data will be lost just that applications will have to be re-installed. This was true to some extent. All emails were lost though.

It then re-installed Windows 8 and worked for until the first time Win8 did an auto-update. After that the crashed started all over again. 

Acer finally offered to repair it  but wouldn't replace it . So, after that it will go on Ebay.