NDIS.sys – blue screen error, XP SP2 rebooting with blue screen
System Specifications:
OS: Windows XP SP2 (no not Vista… soon it is going to be Windows 7)
Problem:
Windows rebooting with blue screen and not loading
Yesterday after travelling from Mangalore to Mumbai I switched on my laptop only to have it blank to blue screen with a list of message and continuing to go into a cycle of re-booting.
I am currently on Windows XP Professional version with Service Pack 2. Switching to Safe mode I tried restoring back to few older restoration points of previous days, but none of them worked. Finally figured out that the issue was due to the Intel Wireless Pro drivers which was causing this issue, the main culprit being the ndis.sys driver file. The system seemed to boot well as long my wireless enable/disable Key was set to disable mode. On successful loading of the system I enabled the wireless key and phew! I was releaved. Finally the laptop was back in working condition. Unfortunately this relief lasted only for a couple of hours.
Due to internet disruption the internet connection was rest and immediately the screen blanked out to blue screen with its lists of error messages. Reason, the wireless connection was trying to connect to the internet. I was back to square one again disabling the wireless key this time without any intention of enabling it. Managed to connect to the internet via my mobile (thanks to Vodafone Mobile via my HTC Touch Diamond – not a bad connection). Decided to google all possiblities of ndis.sys error this time around, downloaded the hotfix from Microsoft only to be disappointed as it was not for XP SP2. Tried updating my driver from Intel site, was releaved when it detected the update and threw up the link for download only to lead me to a not found page :(. Finally, downloaded the required driver manually from the intel website.
So far so good… but anyways now its time for a brand new DELL laptop with windows 7 ;).
Here’s my two bits of suggestion and solution:
Blue screen error? Possible corruption of NDIS.sys file OR the driver requires updation.
To automatically detect and update drivers click here
http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/detect.htm
To manually download the drivers click here
Download Center
To Identify your driver version
http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/CS-025417.htm
Download the drivers automatically or manually and install them. If it all works you can say bye to your blue screen error.
Wishing Good Luck in trying to fix this error for the anyone who comes across this problem and hopefully the update from Intel solves your problem too.