What's this sound like?

I'm getting an error message that are the same (or verrry simular)on 2 different computers.

The report data said it was in Windows\minidump whats minidump?
and DOCUME~1\Users1\LOCALS~1\Temp\WER4.tmp.dir00\sysdata.xmL

Anybody have any clues? Is this the work of a virus?
Thanks for any help guys!

Did this error message appear after your comp suddenly restarted or STOP message? That file contains data that WinXP collected when your comp crashed (is used to report back to Microsoft for troubleshooting).
Open your Event viewer (type <b>eventvwr.msc</b> in Run command) to see what application caused it crash.

Good or Bad have no meaning at all, depends on what your point of view is.

It sounds like a BIOS update would be in order:

<A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/tech/onnow/BIOSAML.asp" target="_new">I/O Ports Blocked from BIOS AML on Windows XP</A>

Toey

<font color=red>First Rig:</font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=17935" target="_new"><font color=green>Toejam31's Devastating Dalek Destroyer</font color=green></A>
<font color=red>Second Rig:</font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=15942" target="_new"><font color=green>Toey's Dynamite DDR Duron</font color=green></A>
________________________________________

<A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com/phpBB/index.php" target="_new"><b><font color=purple>BTVILLARIN.com</font color=purple></b></A> - <i><font color=orange>A better place to be</font color=orange></i>.

If the error didn't occur until you connected the joystick, then yes, that's probably the source of the problem. However, from the information I've found about the error around the 'Net, a BIOS flash seems to be the consensus opinion for a "fix", which is the same thing that Microsoft recommends.

Check out the search:

<A HREF="http://www.google.com/search?as_q=ACPI+bios+is+attempting+to+read+from+an+illegal+IO&num=100&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&safe=images" target="_new">ACPI bios is attemping to read from an illegal IO port address</A>

I think your choices are to either try the flash to attempt to correct the error, or to switch the power management type in the BIOS from ACPI to APM, which would require a fresh installation of Windows. This would allow you to select a standard HAL at the beginning of Windows Setup. You should also change the APIC controller in the BIOS to PIC (if listed as an option in your current BIOS version) when switching to APM. This will eliminate virtual IRQ's. Not every BIOS fully supports an APIC controller, and this can lead to inexplicable device conflicts that are not visible in the Device Manager.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/guides/viewfaq.html?i=47" target="_new">Correct procedure to change your system from the ACPI Hardware Abstraction Layer to the Standard PC/APM HAL</A>

This might be the best choice in the long run, if the BIOS flash doesn't fix the problem. An APIC controller really isn't needed anyway, not unless you have a dual-processor system.

I had to change the IRQ controller type on my main Intel rig to PIC in order to achieve stability when installing new devices (such as a USB joystick) although it wasn't necessary in this situation to switch the power management type to APM. (A PIC controller can function with ACPI.) In layman's terms, I just needed to keep the APIC-incompatible BIOS version from interfering with the way Windows handles the IRQ address assignments, and remove the virtual IRQ gateway. Sticking with the actual hardware IRQ addresses made all the difference for my system.

Comment: A BIOS flash didn't change a thing on my system.

In any case, changing the IRQ controller type means at least running a repair of the OS from the Recovery Console on the Windows CD. But switching the power management type really needs a fresh install of Windows, so you can load the Standard HAL.

Afterwards, Windows might develop a minor <A HREF="http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/Q_20234461.html" target="_new">shutdown issue</A>, which would require enabling APM in the APM or Power Options tab in the Control Panel.

Toey

<font color=red>First Rig:</font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=17935" target="_new"><font color=green>Toejam31's Devastating Dalek Destroyer</font color=green></A>
<font color=red>Second Rig:</font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=15942" target="_new"><font color=green>Toey's Dynamite DDR Duron</font color=green></A>
________________________________________

<A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com/phpBB/index.php" target="_new"><b><font color=purple>BTVILLARIN.com</font color=purple></b></A> - <i><font color=orange>A better place to be</font color=orange></i>.