BSOD w/ everything functional in the background

Memory dump complete. Windows has shut down. Or maybe not

[Miamacs]

it's random, arrives in all kinds of freezes / malfunctions but which I can't reproduce even with the same environment. Windows stalls, error messages are vague and seem just as random, most problems show up simply by operating the kernel itself. no hardware tests show anything wrong ( CPU, memory, network, video, hdd, everything seems fine ), it *never* happens under heavy load, drivers are up to date, XP SP2 ( SP3, come april 29th ), free of viruses ... etc.

...

it was yesterday when this unknown problem produced something I've never seen or heard of before.

It gave me a blue screen... ( memory dump, shutdown etc. ) and...

then kept on functioning normally in the background.

HDD usage/file system, network, keywboard shortcuts, all programs, even media playback were alive and well, while I was staring at the BSOD that told me everything and nothing at the same time ( and while leaning to the other pc for a shortcut-key rehearsal ).

I was able to go about and save/do things while the screen deformed even further to show fragmented characters with every read/write to the HDDs (?), and after the very same thing happening again ( and another restart ) I was all geared up to test the system piece by piece, software by software... but this stupid box has been working just fine ever since *moan*

...

I was wondering whether this was the symptom of some typical *HARDWARE* failure I never had before ( as Windows suggests for every problem *grin* )... and whether anyone here had this before ? I know this isn't a hardware forum, but I assumed our workloads/software installations might match, which'd help decide if this is hardware related ( at all ) or...

Or it's probably just some file sytem glitch due to a power failure last summer (...), and I should "just" do a reinstall and see what happens?

( wow, I SO want to evade installing if this is mainboard related )

[Dabrowski]

Intermittent/random crashes like you described, sometimes freezing, sometimes BSOD (although I've never seen one quite like that!), can normally be attributed to faulty RAM.

Go here:
[memtest.org...]

Download the CD ISO, and it'll test your RAM for you.

[Miamacs]

...ran memtest86+ for a few hours inc. the fade test and seemed to be allright.

...

still no idea

[engine]

Two points:

1. Back up the machine (assuming you've not already done that).

2. Check all leads to and from the motherboard to ensure they are seated correctly.

3. Is an observation: I used to run LapLink on one machine and it'd often freeze some way throught the copy process. Since I stopped running LapLink all's fine.

[Dabrowski]

If it's not memory it could be a dodgy driver. I don't suppose you know if all your drivers are MS Signed?

Anyway, try disabling all devices that you don't need in Device Manager. If this cures it, enable one by one to see which one is causing the crash.