System error driving me insane - [FIXED]

Hello once again,
Lol another day another question.Ok so here a basic rundown of the problem.

I have been attempting to help repair a friends PC via remote assistance.The PC in question specs are-

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Windows XP home edition SP1a (various SP2 fixes installed as well but not the full SP2)
AMD athlon XP 2600+
512MB DDR ram
Default mobo that came installed in PC (onboard Soundmax digital audio sound,ethernet)
Nvidia Geforce 5200
DVD writer
DVD reader

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Now lately the PC has been getting many system errors and BSOD's.After looking in the error logs i see one persisitant error that simply wont stop.It is starting to happen more frequently multiple times a day.The error is as follows

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Type (Error)-Date (date here)-time (time here)-Source (System Error)-Catagory (102)-Event (1003)-User (N/A)-Computer Name (PC name)

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Also says when clicking on the error

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faultrep.dll
system error
catagory (102)
id-1003

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Now we have tried all the Basics,Virus scanning,Adware/spyware scanning,Updating drivers,Updating XP to SP2.

After upgrading to SP2 the PC became unstable,security center would not work and was always shown as diabled in the system tray,you also would get an error when trying to access the Windows Firewall saying "can not be opened",also Internet explorer would no longer function.The internet was connected and programs such as MSN messenger could connect however "remote assistance","Internet Explorer" and other programs seems to be blocked from the interenet access.

After this we uninstalled SP2 and decided to try a system restore to a few months earlier before the problem began even though some programs that were installed recently would be affected but systemrestore would give an error saying it could not restore to that date.

Now System restore seems to have cleared it's log of previous restore points so we are at a wall.

I first wanted to ask is there any idea what could have caused the blocking of "internet explorer" and other programs from the net?The PC owner says this isn't the first time they had the issue.The previous time it occured was after a windows update.After which the PC could no longer access the internet.In the end system restore was the only way to fix it.

Second i am leaning towards giving the opinion to try an XP repair install.Usually i would be quite comfortable with this but in this case since the PC owner doesnt know hardly anything about PC's in general i am afraid to do so due to the fear of it once again causing internet access to act up as it did above and there being no way back because system restore points would be deleted from the repair install.

If anyone has any suggestions,opinions or pretty much any info of things i have yet to try it would be appreciated.

If they are getting multiple BSODs I would suggest a thorough hardware diagnostic be run first to rule out memory, proc, or any other HW items that could be causing that problem. Once that is ruled out go for the software.

Hey rik,Thing is there have been mulitple BSOD's but all of them relate to some specific program called "Steering program" i have also seen a reference to this when avast starts up saying "The steering program needs to restart" with the option of yes or no to restart it.First time we encountered it we choose "yes" second time we choose "no" both seemed to have no type of effect.

on the hardware possibility i havent seen anything that would make me suspect hardware.The PC has had numerous infections from worms and virus's at one time.I have a feeling these may have somehow damaged some of XP's system files causing the issue which is why a repair came to mind.

Just that whole thing with the internet ceasing to function has me concerned about trying it.

Sorry for the soublepost guys.Today i got a couple of the minisump files from the past 3 days from the trouble PC and uploaded them.I dont know much on reading these files so was hopeing someone here with that knowledge could have a look.Maybe it will help diagnose the issue.Thanks!

http://rapidshare.de/files/30255671/minidump.zip.html

have you tried del/reinstalling avast or try running SFC /scannow to fix any corrupt system files.

Hey Phish,
Already tried reinstalling avast,also tried SFC /scannow but it wouldn't work.She has her windows Xp home SP1 CD but when inserted and using the SFC commad it gives a message saying please insert XP pro CD.even though she doesnt have XP pro.

hmm...if its asking for the cd then there is some corrupt system files. have you tried to do a repair install?

havent tried a repair install yet cause i was waiting for any answers about my first post reguarding the internet issue.

I looked at the mini dumps but couldn't glean much from them other than random BSODs.

Again I would really encourage you run a full system diagnostic concentrating on memory and hard drive to ensure that's all ok.

Hey rik,
I already did the scan of the hard drive and also ran a scandisk and disk defrag.It turned up clean.Scanning the ram is more difficult due to me being in another country and the owner not knowing how to do it.I don't think that theres anyway i can do it remotely is there?

No, not really. the owner will have to be able to run something like memtest 86, http://www.memtest86.com/ or an equivilant to test the functionality of the memory. Random BSODs are gonna typically be memory related. Not always tho...That's what makes computers so much fun right? ;)

Well theres a new bit of info now,After much messing around with the PC we decided to stay with SP1a for the time being with the latest SP2 updates without actually installing SP2,did full scans for spyware,adware,trojans,worms and virus's.Performed scandisk and disk defrag on hard drive.

Also since the beginning i have thought the problem was being caused by either avast or her firewall (prevention personal firewall) which we have replaced with a newer version of avast and zone alarm firewall.So far the PC has been running better then it ever has.So far no more BSOD's or system errors.

however before installing zone alarm firewall we were planning to install the sygate firewall.As soon as we installed it we were met with PC lock ups and BSOD's.after which we uninstalled and installed ZA and everthing so far is working well.

I would like to also do a repair install of XP but without actually being there due to the owners limited knowledge and fears of messing something up this may be impossible.I recommended that if they have a friend they trust who is more knowledgable with PC's i could give instructions and she could allow them to do the repair.Time will tell.

And yes indeed rik lol,I think this has to be the worst problemed PC i have worked on in some time im begining to think the PC has a mind of it's own and hates my guts for trying to fix it.

For the time being im gonna give it a few days to be sure of the BSOD's being gone for good.By the time hopefully we will be able to do that repair and then hopfully get SP2 installed.

Now from what I recall, if you install Avast on a system running ZA it gives a software compatability error. At least it did on one of my systems...but it seems to be running fine together regardless.

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Originally Posted by rik

Now from what I recall, if you install Avast on a system running ZA it gives a software compatability error. At least it did on one of my systems...but it seems to be running fine together regardless.

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That was awhile back, has been fixed. :)

Lol yeah i recall those issues as well ages ago.I heard they were fixed so i figured i'd give it a go since Sygate firewall caused error's.So far looks like everything is running fine.I talked to the owner this morning and no BSOD's yet.