Windows XP blue screen of death error, 0x00000050, SYMEFA.SYS

stephangross6 · ‎03-03-2009

Hi, I have seen many threads about SYMEFA.SYS causing many errors with Vista, but I am running Windows XP Professional with SP3 and I am still getting an error dealing with SYMEFA.SYS.

Windows error reporting tells me that a driver is causing this, I'm assuming that it means the Norton SYMEFA.SYS driver.

I know this doesn't really help, but perhaps it might. I haven't noticed a pattern as to when it crashes, or why. It will crash sporatically. First everything will be running fine for a while, and then next thing I know my system crashes. Normally, when I try to reboot afterwards, it will boot to my desktop and then crash very shortly after. I turn my computer off for a few seconds, then turn it back on and everything will boot properly.

I have absolutely no other anti-spyware, anti-virus, or anti-adware programs running. This is a completely clean install of WIndows on a brand new hard drive that I just received in the mail 2 days ago. I did a full format on the hard drive when I first installed windows, so that is not an issue. I used to get this same error on a different hard drive before I got the new one in.

Any help would be appreciated, if you need anymore information please let me know.

TomV · ‎04-10-2008

Hi stephangross6,

Welcome to the community!

Sorry to know about the problems that you have with Norton products. We are looking for complete memory dump logs to investigate the root cause of this problem.

1. Open System in Control Panel.
2. On the Advanced tab, under Startup and Recovery, click Settings.
3. Under System Failure, select the "Complete Memory Dump" check box.

As soon as the BSOD occurs, please navigate to the system root directory to find "MEMORY.DMP", which is the complete memory dump that we need.

I have sent you a Private Message (the yellow envelope in the upper right-hand corner) with instructions on how to get the logs over to us. Please let me know if you need any help with this process.

Thanks!

TomV

Norton Forums Moderator

Symantec Corporation

delphinium · ‎11-21-2008

Stephangross6:

Microsoft support has several articles on this error as well. One is of particular interest and has a relatively simple method of checking to see if there is specific malware on your machine that will cause this error. The link is here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/894278/en-us

Under certain circumstances profanity provides relief denied even to prayer.
Mark Twain

stephangross6 · ‎03-03-2009

Thanks for the replys. I followed the directions on that Microsoft website, but I do not believe I have any malware on the computer. I also believe this because this is a brand new install of windows, and I have tried re-installing (and reformating) a couple of times already with in these past couple of days. But I appreciate the help.

Tom, I followed your instructions but did not see that box to click on which you were talking about, but I did see where all of my old dumps are located, so I will send you some of those.

When I do open up the Startup and Recovery window under the advanced tab, I only have the options, Write an event to the system log (checked), Send an administrative alert (check), automatically restart (not checked). Then underneath of that, in a box titled Write debugging information, there is a box with the options of None, Small memory dump (64kb) which is selected, and the option of kernel memory dump.

Message Edited by stephangross6 on 03-04-2009 07:32 AM

Message Edited by stephangross6 on 03-04-2009 07:34 AM

stephangross6 · ‎03-03-2009

I recently tried to defrag my computer and it gave me an error saying there were errors with the file system and it couldnt do it. So I ran a check disk, and it fixed whatever issues there were. Since, I have not gotten 1 BSOD. I will keep you all updated on if I get any, but so far I have gone the whole day, almost 24 hours now without any issues.

delphinium · ‎11-21-2008

Good news. With some of those error numbers and MS cryptic explanations, you just never know what is going to fix something.

Under certain circumstances profanity provides relief denied even to prayer.
Mark Twain

TomV · ‎04-10-2008

Hi stephangross6,

Glad to know that you were able to run check disk and fix those errors. As always, you can reach us here if you need any assistance.

Thanks!

TomV

Norton Forums Moderator

Symantec Corporation

briancollier · ‎03-23-2009

Hi, I have just started getting the same problem. I have an HP XP Media Centre pc and Norton Intenet Security (1997 - 2008) that came with the system. I have renewed my subscription. The blue screen says The problem seems to be caused by file: SYMEFA.SYS PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA. The tech info includes STOP:0X00000050 (etc.). I have also just noticed that the spontaeuos reboot doesn't happen while I am working on the machine. I have some minidumps in the root directory, presumably from this problem.. Can anybody suggest how I solve the problem?

stephangross6 · ‎03-03-2009

Hey

After a week or two I started getting the blue screens again. I have uninstalled, ran the Norton cleanup tool, and re-installed, still with no success. For the moment I am using a trial version of Bitdefender Gamesafe which is working well for me. I still have Norton on my Vista Home Premium 64bit laptop with no issues and love it, unforutnately not the same success with my XP 32bit desktop. Norton guys, if you find a solution from those minidumps I sent you, then that would be awesome. BUt otherwise, I'll probably end up paying for a full version of Gamesafe, but I'll definitely keep my Norton on my laptop. I love the 2009 version of Norton. I recommend it to all of my customers. Hopefully you guys can find a fix, if you do, let me know.