no longer able to run stable overclock

[athenaesword]

yes, no problem at all, nothing has to be changed on windows either. eventually at some BIOS u could have to change the boot sequence, in case u have several harddisks, but that's all there is to change.

okay apart from that. i've used windows debugger to check in the minidump what might be causing the problem.

the most recent ones that might be causing problems is ntoskrnl.exe or vsdatant.sys (zonealarm)

however, i don't know how else to proceed from here. this is starting to go beyond my area of computer knowledge. ntoskrnl.exe is a critical process in the bootup cycle, so i can't remove it. i've removed zonealarm, but i don't even turn it on normally i don't get why it would be causing problems.

thing is the bsod only occurs when i run both emule and utorrent together, and i don't think either vsdatant.sys or ntoskrnl.exe has anythign to do with them

[clocker]

Run a repair install.

[athenaesword]

Run a repair install.

will that remove any of my current programmes?

[clocker]

No, it just overwrites the Windows core components (like ntoskrnl...).

You haven't mentioned what OS you're running, so I'm just going to assume XP.
Boot to the XP install disc, just like you were performing a fresh install.
Do NOT choose the first "repair" option...the one that enters the Recovery Console ("Here be Dragons"...), just hit ENTER to install Windows.

Eventually, the screen will look for previous versions of Windows and ask whether you want to repair or overwrite.
This time choose the repair option.
It will look just like a full install but won't ask to format the drive.

All your data and programs will be left intact.

[athenaesword]

No, it just overwrites the Windows core components (like ntoskrnl...).

You haven't mentioned what OS you're running, so I'm just going to assume XP.
Boot to the XP install disc, just like you were performing a fresh install.
Do NOT choose the first "repair" option...the one that enters the Recovery Console ("Here be Dragons"...), just hit ENTER to install Windows.

Eventually, the screen will look for previous versions of Windows and ask whether you want to repair or overwrite.
This time choose the repair option.
It will look just like a full install but won't ask to format the drive.

All your data and programs will be left intact.

yes i'm using xp home. will i be asked to authenticate windows again?

also, in normal cases, issit likely that a problem with ntoskrnl would cause the situation that i have now? (bsod only when emule and utorrent are open together.)

thanks for the info clocker.

[clocker]

I'm not sure there is such a thing as "normal cases" when it comes to Windows.
Basically, by reloading the Windows core files we're just trying to eliminate options.

[DasFox]

... it's highly unlikely OCing would corrupt the OS.

I would disagree but good luck anyway.

OCing can corrupt data...

I use to be such a geek for Overclocking, what a pain in the arse it can be, and I just got sick of messing with it, because if you want to do it good and right man it takes some time involved do8ing it. I finally gave up the art, oh what a pain it can be...