SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION BSOD

Hi There,

I actually get almost the same BSOD message as Litha in this THREAD. It started yesterday and I get it almost every time I boot up.

Though I have connected a new monitor yesterday, I don't think this is the cause of my problem. I do mention it though, since it is quite the coincidence. I bought a new screen, because the old one went out causing a powershortage (so I'm guessing a faulty poweradapter). For approximately 30 minutes I had both my new and old (a substitute) screen connected, then I disconnected the old one. When booting up after disconnecting it, I got the first of a series of BSOD's. However, I do not think here lies the actual problem.

Instead I have a strong feeling it is related to the Steam client, since I got some strange behavior (I had to log in, where usually I don't need to since the login credentials are remembered. After doing so, Steam started running in the background like it usually does and right after I got the second BSOD. I tried booting again, though this time it came straight after loading all programs (Steam is last usually). Since booting normally didn't work anymore, I booted in safe mode and disabled the steam client service as well as the steam startup file.

After doing so, I have no longer had anymore BSOD's, My guess is that Steam installed an update which caused the problem. Rolling back a system restore point seems like no alternative to me, since steam will probably update again. I'd like to be able to reenable Steam again though and for all I know, it might not even be related as I'm not experienced reading the Minidumps.

I have attached my minidumps (I have had BSOD's before, however, I have never been able to track their origin, but since they have been coming and going and have been gone for quite some time, I have never really taken any effort to find out why).

I'd really appreciate any help you might be able to provide. Thanks in advance.

Nelis,

Remove Daemon tools and SPTD.sys


If this is your motherboard: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Int...urbo/#download
download and install the latest Audio driver, although I see that it is 2009!? See how you go with that.

Also download and install the latest video drivers. http://www.geforce.com/drivers

Hope this helps.

Hi Shintaro,

thanks so much for the very quick reply!

That's the one indeed, I have the latest official audio driver already installed (though not the beta, do you suggest me to try that one)? And it's old, I know!

Daemon tools is gone from the system. Windows notified me that it did not install correctly (?) after deinstalling it and suggested me to reinstall (didn't do that).

Before I remove SPTD.sys, a quick question: SPTD.sys does not sound very familiar to me and I see it has to do with SCSI Pass through. Do you need me to remove just this file and will removing this file not interfere with my 3Ware RAID controller (I'm not very familiar with the subject, so forgive me if I'm comparing completely the wrong things, just trying to keep my data safe )?

I already (re-)installed the latest NVidia driver yesterday after the first problems occurred (after disabling Steam). It didn't solve it though (I did a clean install).

Cheers

SPTD.sys is part of Daemon tools and known to cause crashes.
http://sysnative.com/drivers/search.php?id=SPTD.sys

It is always good to ask questions.

If you are not sure, find SPTD.sys, (Should be in c:\windows\system32\drivers) right click on the file and select "Properties". Then select the the Details tab.

After that, please see if it crashes.
I'll try and help you as much as I can, but games are always problems.

Also, this might be useful:
http://www.via.com.tw/en/support/drivers.jsp

Dear Shintaro,

so far so good,

I have removed SPTD.sys (details indeed indicated it opened with an unknown program (I already deinstalled Daemon tools, so that's probably why it was now unregistered)).

I ran (afterwards) SPTD installer and chose to uninstall.

Then I rebooted, realised I forgot to reactive Steam, so once booted up, reactivated Steam still and rebooted a second time, thinking it would probably again crash withing 30 seconds, though I'm happy to say that the opposite remains true so far!

I logged in Steam, tried a game, exited (it did behave slightly weird - as in not loading the online store at first, only after a refresh and also refusing to resume a download - , however, those might have been unrelated network issues perhaps), reopened, everything works like a charm. To push my luck I even rebooted again and again, no problem.

It seems that removing daemon tools already did the trick? I'll definitely check back in if it crashes again, but so far, it seems I'm in your debt already! Thanks a lot for your help!

Do you also perhaps know of a good alternative to daemon tools (preferably freeware )? I do at times appreciate the possibility to load disk images as a virtual drive. If not, no worries, I'll find something.

I'll check about the Via drivers too, though I think I'll wait with updating those until I get my next BSOD.

Some guys say that Power Iso is good, but there are some limitations and it costs money.http://www.poweriso.com/index.htm
Although, If I were you I'd wait a bit to see if the system settles down first.

If everything is ok after a couple of days, please mark the thread Solved.

I am always happy help.

I moved this to its' own thread.

I commonly use daemon tools without any issues; just seems to be a problem on some systems. Just remove it and see if your troubles go away. If not leave it out and keep trying things. Finally, once the current problem is resolved you can then consider reinstalling it and seeing if your troubles return.

Another thing I can't stress enough is when problems seem to appear on a machine that had been working fine, be sure to do a full scan for a malware (viruses). Depending what you are using Daemon tools for, you might have loaded something you didn't want.

And consider trying a restore point to go back prior to the issue.

TrainableMan,

I know I have been using Daemon Tools for a very long time with no trouble. But, boy does it crash some peoples system.

It has such a bad reputation.