Fix the 0×0000008E BSOD once and for all

Robert Hallock (Thrax)

February 18, 2009 3:46 PM ET in Articles, Column,

Post-mortem

Because many errors and components are already in play by the time you’re greeted with the 0×0000008e stop error, Windows forces us to upturn every stone in search of the truth. Lead down a maddening path of exhaustive troubleshooting, it’s no small surprise that we’ve received so much attention on the issue. We hope that future iterations of Windows are capable of displaying truly informative error screens, but we’re not on the edge of our seats in anticipation for this one.

In the end, we hope that one of the steps provided in our procedure has brought your battle with 0×0000008E to an end. If you have any questions or require further assistance, our world-class forums are always open for new residents.

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18 Comments:

  1. LIN
    18 Feb '09, 4:32 pm

    Excellent. Thanks, Thrax.

  2. Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy
    18 Feb '09, 8:31 pm

    Wonderfully thorough post. I've never seen anybody try to tackle the 0x8E blue screen with such in depth troubleshooting. Looks like you covered all the bases, bravo!

  3. troll
    18 Feb '09, 10:30 pm

    Excellent Thrax!

    Great Guide!

  4. Zuntar
    19 Feb '09, 7:29 am

    Very nice, and an EXCELLENT use of many of the other guides!! Go Icrontic!!1

  5. Leonardo
    22 Feb '09, 2:28 pm

    Well done, well done.

  6. Asif
    24 Feb '09, 8:26 am

    I actually went and bought all new PC parts thinking it was my PC or my raptor hard drives. Got whole new spec parts AM2 CPU, DDR ram etc and the other day boom! blue screen again! So I took out the ram replaced it one by one and its all good because my pc would not even go into windows let alone show the bios!
    So now thinking its the powersupply I went and got a new PSU, from a Hiper 500w to a Hiper 630w. Hope that does something good!

  7. johndoe2009doe
    12 May '09, 10:39 pm

    here you go http://icrontic.com/forum/showthread.php?t=83557 tell me if that helped.

  8. Broozm
    23 May '09, 12:18 am

    Hmm... Nowhere in the [excellent] long threads I have read has this step been suggested..If you can boot linux CD and access the info on the harddrive, then it has to be the operating system on the hard drive and possibly the drivers that load when the OS loads...? Correct?

  9. Thrax
    23 May '09, 1:28 am

    Correct.

  10. KC
    9 Jul '09, 11:48 am

    I can't believe you advised to check EVERY box in HiJackThis.
    That is NOT what that program is for.
    MOST of the entries are valid, you must know which ones are invalid.

    DO NOT TAKE THIS PARTICULAR ADVICE

  11. Thrax
    9 Jul '09, 11:52 am

    In this case, that is what the program is for, and there's nothing that can be deleted with HJT that cannot be run from the start menu. The 0x0000008E issue can arise as a result of executables that aren't playing nicely with the system. It happens all the time.

    Thank you for your comment, but you are unfortunately incorrect.

  12. Herrmann
    16 Jul '09, 3:57 pm

    Many thanks to Rob Hallock whose article helped me into fixing a recurrent BSOD issue on a newly assembled PC.
    I ran Memtest86 : OK,
    I ran HighjackThis : 8 suspect register entries and 2 suspect extras, which were fixed.

    The 2 following sites helped in indetifying those entries:
    http://www.merijn.nu/htlogtutorial.php
    http://www.sysinfo.org/bholist.php

    I stopped at that step of the curing process, as the issue proved to be solved.
    The problem encountered was a reboot when attempting to login as admin or regular user on an AMD PC running XP Pro SP3.

    Great article.

  13. Herrmann
    19 Jul '09, 6:43 am

    Add to my previous post
    Unfortunately, BSOD occurred again after 5 days of normal run.
    So:
    I ran HighjackThis again : OK
    I ran SmitfraudFix : some suspect entries that were fixed (after Register backup)
    I ran CCleaner and fixed incorrect entries
    Still erratic BSOD.
    BSOD indicated faulty portcls.sys : even if this is not the only possible cause, I disabled Onboard Sound in BIOS yesterday.
    So far, the PC run OK.

    PC configuration is:
    GA-MA790FXT UD5P mb
    Phenom II x4 955, no oc
    2x1Gb DDR3 12800 OCZ Platinum
    HDD WD RE3 250Gb

    Next step: I'll update Sound drivers (new version 2009/07/09)
    Some useful stuff there:
    http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/blue_screen_survival_guide?page=0%2C0

  14. Herrmann
    22 Jul '09, 2:11 pm

    As a conclusion:
    I upgraded Realtek driver for onboard audio from Gigabyte support page (http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/Driver_Model.aspx?ProductID=3005&ost=xp#anchor_os) and then re-enabled onboard audio.
    The PC runs OK and sound is OK too.
    So, for GA-MA790FXT UD5P owners encountering BSOD at login (XP SP3), I recommend the upgrade of Realtek driver, in the case onboard sound is enabled.
    Thanks for the valuable information I found here.

  15. Thrax
    22 Jul '09, 2:19 pm

    I'm glad you ofund a solution Herrmann! I'm glad -- even if it was a pain for you -- that you also helped prove that this BSOD can be a result of anything.

  16. Imants
    6 Oct '09, 4:17 pm

    These all steps we can make after system restore in safe mode! But thanks anyway...

  17. propedor
    19 Nov '09, 12:52 am

    I noticed pages 2 and 3 are strangely similar

  18. Thrax
    19 Nov '09, 9:28 am

    That's because the processes are similar for the scenarios outlined at the beginning of each page.

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