From the Server Fault FAQ


My question is about a company laptop that I have to support. The question was closed and moved to superuser, why?

I include the question here so someone can point out how the question does not fit the letter and the spirit of the FAQ:

I have a laptop that fails to boot with the BSOD error ""page_fault_in_non_paged_area" STOP: 0x00000050 (0xEC6B738D, 0x00000000, 0x8649308C, 0x00000000) The laptop has 2 memory DIMMs. I removed each DIMM one at a time and the error remained with just one DIMM installed.

I have run spinrite 6.0 on the hard drive no errors found. Booted to recovery mode and ran CHKDSK /R, it found and fixed errors but still gets the stop error. Any other suggestions to try?

  • What's wrong with belonging on Super User? – Ivo Flipse Apr 7 '10 at 9:57

That is a problem that sometimes occurs on ServerFault, where those sysadmins who only have to deal with huge batches of computers, forget what it's like to have to deal with those individual smaller issues. I've seen that problem occur a few times.

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    Additionally, it could have to do with not specifying that it's a business machine being supported? The question, as quoted above, doesn't seem to indicate such, and it could easily be mistaken for a personal laptop. – John Rudy Jan 21 '10 at 19:42
  • @Citizen, yes, I agree – Lance Roberts Jan 21 '10 at 19:43
  • So if I add "this is a business computer" at the start of my question then the question is OK? – Tony Jan 21 '10 at 19:46
  • @Tony: not necessarily. See my answer. – squillman Jan 21 '10 at 19:47
  • @Tony, I would make sure they know you're a sysadmin, so they don't think your just a user off the street – Lance Roberts Jan 21 '10 at 19:48
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    @Tony - Unfortunately SO went through a long phase of "X, but for programmers" and it didn't work out. Just saying you're a sysadmin solving a basic computer troubleshooting problem isn't going to help. – Pollyanna Jan 21 '10 at 19:58
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    I was hoping the site would be for people working in the IT field. Many IT people work for small companies where they must support servers and desktop/laptop systems also. Too limit the site to just the people who work on servers only is disappointing. – Tony Jan 21 '10 at 20:45

Good question, and something that continues to come up.

For individual, help-desk or desktop tech type questions I always send them over to SU.

For larger architecture type questions, eg- "How do I change domain membership for a location worth of PC's?", SF is the place.

I voted to close your particular question on SF because it was specific to one PC having a problem, and it's very much a localized thing that anyone with an XP machine could see. Now, if you had rolled out a specific change via GPO, WSUS or something and it whacked a boatload of your domain PC's with the same stop error, then I'd have kept it on SF.

  • The FAQ states "as long as the question is about your servers, your networks, or desktops you support, anyway". If this is the policy then the FAQ should be changed. This is a business computer I support. – Tony Jan 21 '10 at 19:48
  • @Tony: yeah, but it also says that if your question is about "general computer software or hardware troubleshooting" then it should go on SU. I put this on in the general category. – squillman Jan 21 '10 at 19:52
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    Notably the wording is "desktops" - ie, if this was happening to multiple computers then it's obviously an IT issue. If it's happening to one lone PC, then it is not necessarily an IT issue. All squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares. – Pollyanna Jan 21 '10 at 19:54
  • I notice a question on serverfault about one server with log file too big. It only pertains to one machine and not multiple servers. Why would that question be allowed since Microsoft makes a home server machine and the question could apply to a home machine. – Tony Jan 21 '10 at 20:05
  • @Tony: because it's directly related to a professional IT sysadmin task. WHS questions frequently get sent to SU as they're frequently not related to professional IT sysadmin tasks. – squillman Jan 21 '10 at 20:10
  • My point is the question was about one and not about multiple servers because the previous post stated "If it's happening to one lone PC, then it is not necessarily an IT issue" then I would think if it was happening to one lone server and the fact that the same problem could happen to a home server then the question should be moved off of the serverfault website. I am trying to nail down the logic for why questions get moved so I will know which questions to post where. – Tony Jan 21 '10 at 20:40
  • @Tony: a lone server is quite different than a lone PC in the professional IT world (IMHO)... Sorry if that's a point of disagreement. – squillman Jan 22 '10 at 16:01
  • And I'm not trying to be a jerk (really!), even if I might be coming across as such. I hope I'm not putting you off! That's just the way I read things. – squillman Jan 22 '10 at 16:01

Even if the environment is a business or IT setting, the problem itself may be a regular computer issue that people outside the IT field might encounter.

Out of curiosity, did you follow the link to the migrated question?

xp stop error 50 page fault in non paged area

There's already an answer there. Does it really matter to you which site you get the answer from?

  • If so I can show you a lot of questions on serverfault that should be removed. – Tony Jan 21 '10 at 19:43
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    Yes. Many problems exist in a gray area where they might be served well on both sites. Whether one gets migrated or not depends on a variety of things, many of which are subjective. Eventually you'll reach 3k reputation and you'll be able to affect the process. – Pollyanna Jan 21 '10 at 19:48
  • I think the rules are arbitrary. It is my opinion that all problems that IT professionals encounter it the course of work should be allowed on serverfault. Even if the solution could be applied to a computer that is not used in business. – Tony Jan 21 '10 at 19:53
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    Then your solution is simple - get 3k reputation, and start opening/closing accordingly. The site is community moderated, so you're going to have to convince other moderators that there's a clear benefit to allowing such questions on there, but until you've gained some reputation in the community they are unlikely to pay much attention. – Pollyanna Jan 21 '10 at 19:57
  • You will run off people that are willing to make some good contributions but do not have a hundred hours to get to your 3000 goal. What is the harm of letting the gray area questions stay? – Tony Jan 21 '10 at 20:20
  • It takes 15-30 hours to gain 3k rep for an IT professional. If people aren't willing to put that much time into a site, why should others allow them to direct what questions are and aren't allowed? The reason not to let the gray area question stay is that under your definition (any computer problem that an IT person could possibly come into contact with) completely covers SuperUser as well. The sites have different missions and goals so they serve their audience better. To put it bluntly, server admins don't want to see hundreds of generic computer questions daily - they will leave the site. – Pollyanna Jan 21 '10 at 20:47

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