I have an error message that comes up after loading Windows from boot
up (25%of the time),the same message will appear after reboot from a
crash (3 times a session on average)and it dose not matter what
programme you are in.The error message is below.
     "C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\mini121302-04.dmp"
   It is sometimes accompanied by the error message below
     "C:\DOCUME~1\DOUGSM~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\WER1.tmpdir00\sysdate.xml"

Windows XP Home Edition version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 1 Build 2600
Processor:x86 Family 15 Model 1 Stepping 2 Genuineintel~2000Mhz
Bios:American Megatrends Inc.1.0M.08/11/2001
Total physical memory:512 MB
Available physical memory:274.18MB
Virtual memmory 1.35GB

Hope this is enough info you.

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Request for Question Clarification by pwizard-ga on 26 Dec 2002 12:17 PST

Do you have an ATI Radeon video card?

---

Clarification of Question by smiffy1234-ga on 26 Dec 2002 12:55 PST

No,the installed Video card Is a:NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400

---

Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 26 Dec 2002 14:48 PST

smiffy1234...

You can prevent Windows from rebooting when it 
crashes, which may give you a bit more leeway
in finding the problem. I'm not currently running 
XP, but WIN2K, and the process to prevent reboot
is pretty similar. Right-click on 'My Computer'
and one of the tabs on the resulting 'System
Properties page ('Advanced' on W2K) has a button
for 'Startup and Recovery'. Click on that and 
uncheck the box next to 'Automatically Reboot'
under the 'System Failure' section. Since the 
system won't automatically reboot when it crashes,
you may be able to see what's going on (other
messages may appear).

Another thing is to check what's going on in the
logs. Go to the 'Event viewer' under 
'Administrative tools' and check the 'application
log' and 'system log' for entries occurring at the
time of the crashes. This should give you a good
idea what program(s) are involved.

Having done these things, let me know what you find,
and we can work from there.

sublime1-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by pwizard-ga on 05 Jan 2003 03:03 PST

Just checking in again to see if your problem has subsided after
trying the things outlined in my previous comments? I'd still like to
close out the question and post an official answer if so.

Please let me know. Thanks!

PWizard
Google Answers Researcher

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Clarification of Question by smiffy1234-ga on 05 Jan 2003 10:57 PST

Yes you can close the question now.Thanks for your help.


                     Doug Smith

Greetings smiffy1234,

While looking for a solution to your problem, I came across the
following article in Microsoft's TechNet database:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;318023&

When I determined that you didn't have a Radeon video card, I thought
the article may also pertain to other cards and/or video drivers. It
was my recommendation that your video drivers be changed or updated.

According to your feedback, this helped to fix the problem as
apparently there was some sort of incompatibility with Microsoft's
driver and something else in your system. Personally, I always use
NVIDIA's drivers over Microsoft's or even the manufacturer of the card
(as long as it has an NVIDIA chipset) as I seem to have the best luck
with them. New drivers are usually available on NVidia's website at
least once a month and can usually gain you a little boost in
performance by upgrading. With Direct X9 now available, I would look
for an updated version of the drivers that are DX9 compatible sometime
in the near future.

For future reference, you can always download drivers from NVidia's
website here:
http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp

It was my pleasure to help you troubleshoot your problem and I'm glad
we came up with a solution. Please let me know if I can be of further
assistance on this question.

Sincerely,
PWizard

Search Strategy:
Microsoft Technet: sysdata.xml minidump

I found an article that shows almost the exact error messages you are
receiving on your computer, but the article states that it is caused
by improperly installed video drivers for the ATI Radeon video card
(or incorrect version).

The error could be caused by your video driver (or other hardware
driver), so I would recommend reinstalling or updating some of your
drivers, starting with the video card. If nothing else, this will help
to narrow down the root of your problem.

Did this problem start happening after any major event occurred? New
hardware upgrade? New software installed? Crash? Did you try using
System Restore right after it started happening to see if you could
recover back to a time before it started happening?

-PWizard
Google Answers Researcher

Hi,have not replied for a couple of days as I wanted to keep an eye on
PC.Changed video driver from NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX/MX 400 (Microsoft)to
the same driver from (NVIDIA),and from doing that the PC has only
crashed once and that was when I clicked on the shutdown tab but no
error message on next boot up.Keeping fingers crossed.

That's great. If the problems stay away, would it be ok for me to turn
my comments into an official answer and close out the question? I'll
be happy to assist you further with the problem should you continue to
have more errors.

Just please let me know how your progress goes. Thanks!

-PWizard
Google Answers Researcher

Yes,I think you can close this question now as PC has only crashed
twice and neither of the crashes resulted in the original error
message being displayed.Thank for your help.


               Doug Smith