RPC Service Unexpectedly Exits

Hi all,

Ever since I bought my Dell XPS M1530 and installed Windows XP Professional on it, I've been having a problem which looks a lot like the Blaster worm. After a long time (>12 hours) of use, the RPC service dies (something like: 'The application svchost encountered a problem and had to exit' - standard page fault error), and I get the following message:

Now, I'm quite sure I don't have the Blaster worm:

1. The vulnerability that allowed the Blaster worm to produce this symptom was patched long ago, and I'm using a fully updated version of Windows XP.
2. I regularly use a virus scanner (BitDefender).
3. I'm a careful user, and in my 10 years of Windows use, I've only ever had 2 viruses.

I don't know what causes the error, but I have observed the following:

1. It only happens after the computer has been powered on or in standby for a long time (> 12 hours).
2. It seems to only happen if I've taken the computer in and out of standby.
3. I think it may only happen if I've switched from battery to mains power.
4. It happens irregardless of whether I have an internet connection or what the connection is. This is in contrast to the Blaster worm.
   
5. I have updated my video card drivers to the latest version.
6. My harddrive makes a regular ticking noise at all times in Windows - even in Safe Mode. This bothers me - I'm worried that it will reduce the life of the drive substantially.
7. My laptop is a Dell XPS M1530, and I purchased it last November.

I haven't tried running XP in safe mode for long enough to find out if the error occurs.

In any case, the error wouldn't seem to be critical since it only seems to occur after a long period of use. However, I find it very convenient to put my laptop into standby, so I would like to be able to never restart the computer. In addition, when the error occurs, several of my applications stop responding (Firefox, VirtualBox). This hard crashes my virtual machines too.

If anyone could help me diagnose the situation, I would greatly appreciate your assistance. Google turns up plenty of results but they are almost all due to the Blaster worm.

Regards,

Wade

PS: For the googlers, have a key phrase: "Windows must now restart because the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service terminated unexpectedly."