Bottom line: In some cases, reformatting a hard drive and re-installing the OS is less of a hassle than problem solving the initial error. Assuming you back up your data regularly, it’s just a matter of importing everything and reinstalling applications once the OS is active. This can be easy achieved in under 3 hours.

Although Microsoft says the most common Page Fault error is the result of faulty RAM, it could just be an act of God.

In Windows XP, watch out if you go to Network Connections and choose to ‘Set up a home or small office network’. If you just have a simple wireless router and not a properly established network, you may have problems. Choosing this option creates an ‘Internet Gateway’ which then, for whatever reason, will disable all Internet access. After a few minutes of exploring, you can restore the network settings and remove the Internet Gateway. However, the Internet may or may not function properly. A reboot of the modem and router seems to fix the problem, however.

Unfortunately, in the process of messing with the network settings, the entire Windows platform can become damaged. In my case, the BSOD would appear every time I attempted to access a folder created or modified past the date of the Internet Gateway fiasco (1/20/09). An online search for the problem yielded no results. Neither did a search for the error code (0xFFFFFF76  (0×0000000, 0×8054AA32, 0×00000000)). Possible, but failed, solutions included:

1. Uninstalling the network drivers
2. Uninstalling the PCMCIA sound card
3. Checking both RAM chips and slots
4. Multiple scans for malware and viruses
5. Windows updates
6. Examination of error/warning logs
7. Diagnostic check
8. Repair installation of Windows XP

Final solution: Back up hard drive and reformat. Success!