Blue screen crashes and Windows XP event viewer

[LeedsFan]

I'm getting random blue screen crashes on my Mame cab system. And they really are random. Some days I can go for hours without one, and other days I'll get two in the first 20 minutes of boot up. I never know when one will strike. 

From what I've learned I am aable to track system errors in Windows XP Eevent Viewer.  Unfortunately this doesn't work on my system. I ccan start event viewer, but when I click on any of the options (Application, Security, System) I get an error saying ".... interface not recognised".  It works fine on my desktop PC (the one I'm on now) but not on my Mame cab.

Am I missing any Windows files?   Is service Pack 2 required?  Do I need Microsoft .Net 1.1 installed?  (I hope not... this wouldn't install at all).    Any Windows experts out there? 

[Howard_Casto]

With such severe problems with xp (which is stable by default) my only guess is that your install is totally hosed.  When microsoft plugins like .net and the event viewer aren't functioning then it's a core problem.

Formatting the drive and trying again is really the only thing that'll do any good. 

[jcrouse]

I agree 100% with Howard. A reload from scratch is your only realy recourse for a stable system. To answer your question directly, nothing is required for event viewer to function except XP itself. No .net or service pack. Usually the cause of a blue screen is some sort of driver issue but it would seem you have much deeper rooted issues. In a true blue screen scenerion it will tell you in the text (near the upper right hand corner of the screen) which file the system had an issue with. Somethin likne ATIxx.sys or ntoskrnl will be displayed. Anyways, bite the bullet and reload, NOT REPAIR.

>>> EDIT
Also based on your previous post about chaning the windows boot up and your splash screens, it's really hard to say what you may have done to the system.
>>> End Edit

John

[Silver]

The only time windows would complain of the event viewer not starting if it was not completely messed up is if you have been removing/disabling lots of services. (Event viewer is a 'service' which is quite critcal and generally should not be stopped.)

I would concur with the above and re-install, get things stable, BACKUP - and then try playing around with startup/bootscreens etc...