hi bizi beth, lol

.sys files are driver files. looks like your system is crashing in a windows system driver called win32k.sys. however it is hard crashing (BSOD - blue screen...). if/when it happens again, write down anything (words or hex) which appears in parentheses after the words STOP 0x0000008E.

i don't like the fact that your system doesn't like SP3.

let's say, if it were me... i'd probably reformat and reinstall the OS and then use Windows Update to bring the system up to date completely. you would be vulnerable to attack until the update... but then again, you are now without a virus scanner and your firewall down. i know, this sounds like an overhaul... it is, but it is not really hard, just tiresome, and it sounds like jeff would be able to do it no problem.

i would opt for an overhaul, over a fix, considering things were limping along when you got the machine back ... it sounds like the guy "hacked it." you don't know *what* is in that system now. and, tho there may be hardware problems, there may not be.

so, just me, personally, i wouldn't pay someone else unless i tried doing and overhaul myself and the system still malfunctioned. at that point, i might want to hand it off to a professional who would have more diagnostic tools and could possibly detect hardware problems where i could not.

unfortunately i can't tell you how to create a ram image file software tho that be. nor have i heard of the memtest 86t.

what sort of machine do you have (processor?)

did it come with its own little package of diagnostic tools? some do.

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some suggestions for possible insight into the current situation:

has jeff done a chkdsk... if the disk is damaged that could be the problem right there... and it might be fairly simple to solve. if chkdsk reports errors, it should then be run with the /f parameter (fix) but if system files are damaged those will need to be replaced... NT setup should be able to take care of that. Do you have a bootable NT setup CD? that is important before doing a chkdsk /f. then again, it may tell you your disk is just fine.

another useful thing might be looking in the Eventlog (the system section)... to see if there are any messages there that are indicative of what fails... say a service that tries to start and fails...

RPC stands for remote procedure call and that service is used for many things in the system to function, so a problem with RPC is NOT NICE. Jeff might go into Services, and check if RPC is started... if the services it depends on are started. again, the Eventlog will reveal errors if any of these services are failing to start up for some reason.

if you want to try to address the win32k.sys problem directly first, you can try. this Microsoft article talks about how to address a random BSOD with the 8E stop message:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/945658/

if you decide to try some of those things PRINT OUT the instructions before you begin. you may not be able to connect to the internet while you are fixing.

lemme know if you need details on how to do any of the things i said, i didn't specify as it sounds like Jeff is pretty OS-savvy. otherwise, just lemme know how things are going, when you can... or if you decide to take the thing in to the other shop instead.

GOOD LUCK, and give Jeff a geeky "thwack on the back" on my behalf!"

~ waves ~