BATTC.sys Blue Screening

[djayz]

I keep getting this at random on my desktop computer.
Computer is hooked up to a UPS and I have never had any problems before and nothing has changed. I did have one of the services turned off called Universal Power Supply and after turning that on the BSOD stopped happening as frequently.

It would happen about once a week with the service off.
When I turned service on it didn't happen for about 2 weeks and a couple days.

It usually happens overnight as I never get it in the daytime. I'm working on the computer until about 1am most nights and when I wake up at 8 again the blue screen is showing.

Here's the blue screen, I'll provide more system info or anything else if needed. Just need this fixed as I'm going to be travelling and need access to the computer and if this happens I have no way of rebooting the damn thing.

Edit: I will add that this is a desktop computer NOT a laptop running windows xp 64-bit sp2.

http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/1331/picture001js5.jpg

[SpireTECH]

Do you have a UPS or any device that would load the battery driver?

If you do, I would suggest upgrading to the latest drivers. All other reports of the same error (STOP 0xD1/BATTC.SYS) seem to be related to old and buggy drivers.

[djayz]

Where do I get the latest battery driver?...didn't even know there was such a thing haha.

[SpireTECH]

It depends on the vendor of your hardware. You're not looking to update the BATTC.SYS driver itself, but other drivers/software that use it. You should download the software from the manufacturer's website. Eg. If you have an APC UPS then http://www.apc.com.

[djayz]

I do have an APC UPS and I use powerchute and according to the site was updated in 2005.

http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BR1300LCD&tab=Software

I have that version and everything used to run fine then all of a sudden blue screens.

[SpireTECH]

Try leaving the USB cord from the APC UPS disconnected for a while and see if that resolves the crashes.

[djayz]

I will try that, Thanks.

What do I do if that solves the problem? Should I contact APC and let them know that their product is causing my system to produce errors because of outdated drivers?

[SpireTECH]

Contacting APC can't hurt; it might be an issue they're familiar with and already have a fix for. With most retail items though, you probably won't get a helpful response. Usually you will just get an automated response or a poorly written e-mail from someone in India. If the UPS is still under warranty I would contact their warranty department or the store you bought it from.

Even if disconnecting the USB cable fixes the problem, it doesn't necessarily mean the problem was with the APC software. It could be any number of things, but at least it gives you a good place to start tracking it down. The first thing I would suggest is to remove the PowerChute software completely and then reinstall it. This can fix a number of issues related to DLL registration or corrupted program files. If that doesn't work, try grabbing the free "Business Edition" of PowerChute (http://www.apcc.com/tools/download/software_comp.cfm?sw_sku=SFPCBE800&id=125&family=&part_num=&swfam=125&tsk=). The business version of the software is much more recent, and may contain a fix for this problem.

As a last resort, you may want to replace the UPS or consider running it without the USB cable indefinitely. Although replacing the UPS may not fix the problem if it's the result of a software problem. Updates to Windows or components installed by other software could have caused an incompatibility issue with the APC software, or any component it references. In this case it may be very difficult to track down the culprit without the use of a kernel mode debugger.

The (simple) function of the USB cable is to tell the computer to shutdown when the UPS is about to run out of battery power. Depending on what you use the computer for, it may not be that important to ensure proper shutdown when the power goes out. Modern file systems (NTFS, ext3) use journaling, which is highly effective at preventing data loss due to power failure. The run-time of a basic UPS is anywhere from 5 minutes to a couple hours. I can't even remember the last time we had a power outage that lasted that long. With good backup practices and relatively rare power failures, the probability of data loss is extremely small.

Of course, it's important to make regular backups of your files. In addition to power failure, many other more serious threats to your data exist, such as viruses, hard drive failure and user error.

Beyond these steps it can become very time consuming and expensive (labour wise) to locate the source of the problem. Typically you would need a kernel level debugger (eg. WinDbg, SoftICE) which would allow you to catch the exception in BATTC.SYS and examine the call stack. This process can be very complicated, and is well beyond the scope of this issue. However, if needed, SpireTECH technicians are capable of pursuing this route.

[djayz]

Awesome thanks so much for the quick responses and information!

I'm pretty sure I have the business version installed but I'll give the reinstall thing a try.

I'm not too worried about power failure and all that but waking up to a blue screen is not fun especially when I have left work open from the night before. It usually saves but finding out which copy is the latest and doing all that is time consuming.

Anyways I'll give your ideas a try and go from there.

Thanks again!