Random Crashes and BSOD

Self built PC 6 months old running Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit specs below

2xWestern Digital WD10EADS Caviar Green 1TB 3.5-inch OEM Internal Hard Drive (SATAII, 32MB)

OCZ PSU 500SXS StealthXStream 500W

Asus P5QL/EPU Socket LGA775 Motherboard

INTEL Core 2 Quad Q8400 2.66GHz 4Mb LGA775 FSB1333

Corsair memory 4GB TwinX XMS2 6400 DDR2 Kit (2 x 2048MB) RAM


Was having a laggy pc for a few months and so ran some tests mainly on the RAM using Burnin Test and memtest, both reported errors for the RAM, seeing as they were under warranty the shop replaced them, however since installing the new RAM.
I have updated the drivers for the graphics card but the latest drivers seemed to of made it worse and i have been having random freezes and BSOD, i have since reverted back to the older drivers but im still not happy with the performance.

I have enclosed the required files for you to browse if you would be so kind and hopefully you can spot what these problems are i am having.

Please ask for any more info you may need.

many thanks

gbu said:

Self built PC 6 months old running Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit specs below

2xWestern Digital WD10EADS Caviar Green 1TB 3.5-inch OEM Internal Hard Drive (SATAII, 32MB)

OCZ PSU 500SXS StealthXStream 500W

Asus P5QL/EPU Socket LGA775 Motherboard

INTEL Core 2 Quad Q8400 2.66GHz 4Mb LGA775 FSB1333

Corsair memory 4GB TwinX XMS2 6400 DDR2 Kit (2 x 2048MB) RAM


Was having a laggy pc for a few months and so ran some tests mainly on the RAM using Burnin Test and memtest, both reported errors for the RAM, seeing as they were under warranty the shop replaced them, however since installing the new RAM.
I have updated the drivers for the graphics card but the latest drivers seemed to of made it worse and i have been having random freezes and BSOD, i have since reverted back to the older drivers but im still not happy with the performance.

I have enclosed the required files for you to browse if you would be so kind and hopefully you can spot what these problems are i am having.

Please ask for any more info you may need.

many thanks

Well not much info from these two. Both were memory exceptions caused by a driver not named. I did notice that a file pcouffin.sys (some DVD authoring software uses it) was named in both and is 3 years old

I would remove the dvd software and enable driver verifier to find the offending driver.

Beyond that, please run Verifier with these settings:

Using Driver Verifier is an iffy proposition. Most times it'll crash and it'll tell you what the driver is. But sometimes it'll crash and won't tell you the driver. Other times it'll crash before you can log in to Windows. If you can't get to Safe Mode, then you'll have to resort to offline editing of the registry to disable Driver Verifier.

So, I'd suggest that you first backup your stuff and then make sure you've got access to another computer so you can contact us if problems arise. Then make a System Restore point (so you can restore the system using the Vista/Win7 Startup Repair feature).

Then, here's the procedure:
- Go to Start and type in "verifier" (without the quotes) and press Enter
- Select "Create custom settings (for code developers)" and click "Next"
- Select "Select individual settings from a full list" and click "Next"
- Select everything EXCEPT FOR "Low Resource Simulation" and click "Next"
NOTE: You can use Low Resource Simulation if you'd like. From my limited experimentation it makes the BSOD's come faster.
- Select "Select driver names from a list" and click "Next"
Then select all drivers NOT provided by Microsoft and click "Next"
- Select "Finish" on the next page.

Reboot the system and wait for it to crash to the Blue Screen. Continue to use your system normally, and if you know what causes the crash, do that repeatedly. The objective here is to get the system to crash because Driver Verifier is stressing the drivers out. If it doesn't crash for you, then let it run for at least 36 hours of continuous operation (an estimate on my part).

Reboot into Windows (after the crash) and turn off Driver Verifier by going back in and selecting "Delete existing settings" on the first page, then locate and zip up the memory dump file and upload it with your next post.

If you can't get into Windows because it crashes too soon, try it in Safe Mode.
If you can't get into Safe Mode, try using System Restore from your installation DVD to set the system back to the previous restore point that you created.

If that doesn't work, post back and we'll have to see about fixing the registry entry off-line:

Code:

Delete these registry keys (works in XP, Vista, Win7):
        HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\VerifyDrivers
        HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\VerifyDriverLevel

Using Driver Verifier to identify issues with Windows drivers for advanced users



other old drivers

Code:

pcouffin.sys        fffff880`04261000    fffff880`04275380    0x00014380    0x457584a2    12/5/2006 10:39:30                        
RtNdPt60.sys        fffff880`06618000    fffff880`06624000    0x0000c000    0x475dfad0    12/10/2007 22:49:52                        
FSPFltd.sys        fffff880`01147000    fffff880`01158000    0x00011000    0x4848244d    6/5/2008 13:37:17                        
adfs.SYS        fffff880`03871000    fffff880`03889000    0x00018000    0x48640195    6/26/2008 16:52:37                        
AsIO.sys        fffff880`03a7e000    fffff880`03a84000    0x00006000    0x49d9ad64    4/6/2009 03:21:08                        
spldr.sys        fffff880`01485000    fffff880`0148d000    0x00008000    0x4a0858bb    5/11/2009 12:56:27                        
spsys.sys        fffff880`06d19000    fffff880`06d8a000    0x00071000    0x4a085e7a    5/11/2009 13:20:58                        
ASACPI.sys        fffff880`03c92000    fffff880`03c9a000    0x00008000    0x4a0b72fd    5/13/2009 21:25:17                        
GEARAspiWDM.sys        fffff880`03ac0000    fffff880`03acd000    0x0000d000    0x4a1151c0    5/18/2009 08:17:04

Thanks for your reply :)

before i run driver verifier, can i ask if i can first check my graphics card?

I think this could be the problem as i have been getting a pop-up message last night saying :-

"Display driver amd driver has stopped responding and has successfully recovered"

Aero theme turns off and the screen goes black for a few seconds, after 5 minutes the pc crashes and BSOD appears.

This all seems to of happened since updating to the lastest driver, i have tried installing the older one but it still happens.

gbu said:

Thanks for your reply :)

before i run driver verifier, can i ask if i can first check my graphics card?

I think this could be the problem as i have been getting a pop-up message last night saying :-

"Display driver amd driver has stopped responding and has successfully recovered"

Aero theme turns off and the screen goes black for a few seconds, after 5 minutes the pc crashes and BSOD appears.

This all seems to of happened since updating to the lastest driver, i have tried installing the older one but it still happens.

This popup is a TDR error caused by your graphics driver

Possible causes: bad RAM/PSU, incorrect RAM timings/voltages, bad Graphics card, overheating


I suggest uninstalling the ATI driver(including Catalyst Control Center), then use driver sweeper to remove leftover ATI files
Guru3D - Driver Sweeper

Reinstall the latest ATI drivers
HD4350 Drivers

Thanks for the info, i just checked and there was a new driver update yesterday so i shall try that one, there are 2 listed but im not sure which i need.
Is it the Catalyst Software Suite (64 bit) English Only
or the one below?
AMD Catalyst™ Accelerated Parallel Processing (APP) Technology Edition

gbu said:

Thanks for the info, i just checked and there was a new driver update yesterday so i shall try that one, there are 2 listed but im not sure which i need.
Is it the Catalyst Software Suite (64 bit) English Only
or the one below?
AMD Catalyst™ Accelerated Parallel Processing (APP) Technology Edition

Use the first one :)

Thank you, shall do that now and report back :)

Ok have updated the driver and it hasn't crashed yet!!

I'll give it another day or so and hopefully that would of sorted the BSOD.

However the original problem of the lagging is still present, its not unbearable but it is noticable and a bit annoying seeing on how much it costs to build this pc and with 4Gb of RAM i expected more.

A lot of posts via google or this site does suggest that maybe Windows 7 has some issues as to how voltage is allocated to certain hardware, could this be a problem or should i check something else?

Damn spoke to soon!!

Was using Photoshop and about 10mins into it the screen froze then went black for 30secs then went white and just froze until i used task manager to close it.
Im wondering if it is the graphics card?

gbu said:

Damn spoke to soon!!

Was using Photoshop and about 10mins into it the screen froze then went black for 30secs then went white and just froze until i used task manager to close it.
Im wondering if it is the graphics card?

The problem you descibe (screen turning milky white) is a "busy" indication IE running out of RAM, or another higher priority app is holding it. Perfectly normal within PS and if the file size was large or the render comprehensive short.

4 gigs of ram in 64 bit with a High use app (PS) isnt unusual. I have 8 and get it occasionally.

when that happens look in tast manager to see what ram is left and which app is using what.

Can also be if the PS page file is set incorrectly (too large or small)


Ken J