Stop Error 0x0000007D and 0x0000004D

Now if you do a search on these two Stop Errors 7d and 4d they will come up as memory errors, but it really isn't a physical memory error it is a driver for a scanner.

This saga has taken me about a month to resolve and I am not really sure it is fixed, time will tell.

It all started back when my wife needed some documents scanned, I had just rebuilt my desktop OS because of a previous upgrade of hardware and failed to make an image, then downloaded a virus with a product I wanted to test. (Kinda failing to do what I preach all the time, live and learn).

After loading the scanner software (it is about five years old) and making the documents I used the computer for the rest of the evening, then powered it down.

The next morning I get the 4D stop error. I change out the memory (two older 1 Gig DDR 2 DIMMS) 2 Gig less than I had. Opps no image so I proceeded to reload XP. Works fine no problems, this time I make an image of the OS partition.

About a week later my accountant needed some documents so instead of driving over to the office I load up the scanner software and make the documents and send them off.

Note: BSOD - Blue Screen Of Death is a geek term from the early days of NT ver 3. If you use it while searching MS Tech Net you may not find your error listed. I surmise that the geeks called it a BSOD because when the OS fails it goes to a blue screen with white lettering to tell you what the Stop Error is, (see the headline) the error is listed in hex a decimal format, when you search for a resolution you can use all the numbers or just the "Stop Error" and the numbers after all the zeros. A little trivia I picked up dealing with geeks all day everyday for 20+ years... :)

I had to run some errands that morning so I powered down the computer and when I returned I powered it up - Stop Error (BSOD) - error 7D. And the SSD is not showing up in the BIOS. Is it memory or the SSD? I change out the SSD for a spare I have.

I wrote a previous article about my OCZ SSD failed, not too sure that it was at fault and will try to use it in another computer for a while, however I am giving OCZ Tech and Customer support a fail because they haven't returned any queries from my email and the phone conversation is not printable here.

(I have since found out what caused the SSD to fail: I defragmented the drive which in turn corrupted the data to a point where it would not boot the computer. Lesion: Do Not Defrag a SSD!)

Now I think that this is a driver problem because after changing the memory and the boot drive I get this once again when I loaded the scanner software earlier this week.

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The DOS memory test come back good, next step is find a way to test the memory for the Windows OS. (Windows 7 has a built in test, oh ya!)

So I load up Windows Seven on the computer as a Dual Boot configuration, then after restart run the memory test, comes back good. But I haven't loaded the scanner software yet either.

After thinking it over for a day or two, setting up Windows 7 just in case XP BSOD's, make a current image, then I go to HP and look for updated drivers for the scanner (this is a All-in-One printer / fax / scanner).

So I bite the bullet and load up the HP software, before I restart (that is what the software wants) I run the updates, two work, two say the software loaded is newer.

Restart, all good yesterday, I have never ran in to an error by a driver that reported the BSOD as a memory error. Weird.

Last night I put in the two 2 Gig DDR DIMMS back in, now I have 8 Gig of memory but the OS is 32 bit and can only see 3.25 Gig. (I think I will see if I can run the RAM Drive software I downloaded and recover the extra 4.5 Gig, it does work...).

Retest the memory with Windows 7 for two passes and the memory is good.

Start up this morning just fine, now for the RAM Drive.

As a last note I loaded up a RAM Drive last night that uses the memory above 4 Gig that a 32 bit OS can't use, I am considering using the extra 4 Gig of RAM for my temp files only, it is just right for a paging file, it should be very fast and when I shut down I don't have to empty it. That is another article

Update 04/25/2013 -The old HP All-In-One fax/scanner/printer is gone. Bought a new Neato scanner. Cleaning out all the HP All-In-One files was quite a chore. And the OS hasn't BSOD in quite some time... Is it fixed? Time will tell.

Update 02/26/2020 - Never throw away a good part or computer? I upgraded to a new i7 processor/motherboard and all the goodies, I am going to write a couple of pages about the process and do a review of the parts I bought. That old tower computer will be my new Domain Controller, I wonder if I will have problems with the memory? Time will tell...

Update 05-17-2021 - Over a year later and the old tower with a Core 2 Quad is running fine... (knock on wood!)