BSOD help needed please

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  1. Posts : 16
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64
       #1

    BSOD help needed please


    Hi

    I could really do with some ideas/help in locating the causes of the repeated BSOD's I'm getting please.

    My system specs are:
    Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R (rev 1.0) motherboard
    Intel i7 920 CPU
    3x2GB Patriot Viper DDR3 RAM kit
    Sapphire Radeon HD5850 1GB PCI-e
    Soundblaster XFi Fatal1ty PCI
    Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
    Western Digital Caviar 320GB
    Samsung DVD-RW
    Corsair TX750w PSU
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64 Retail

    The hardware is all ~9 months old, this Windows installation was a clean install approx 5 weeks ago (but I have been experiencing problems on other installations too, on both hard drives, since the PC was built).

    I have run Memtest86 overnight on numerous occasions, with single sticks fitted to one slot and with all sticks fitted. I've also run Prime95 overnight. Both run without uncovering any problems at all so I believe the basic hardware to be Ok.

    Western Digital's drive tools have scanned both drives fully and find no issues. although sometimes, following a BSOD, I have to let scandisk repair faults to the information on a drive.

    Coretemp and HWMonitor all show system temps as normal (CPU idles in the 30's and goes to ~50 under heavy load - chipset is slightly higher than this but with 5 to 10 degrees) and the system is running with standard clocks, even the ram although it is rated to run higher. I've tried disabling power saving features & hyperthreading in the BIOS and switched all my drives onto the SATA ports from the ICH10 instead of the extra controllers. All unused hardware is disabled in the BIOS (SATA3, eSATA, USB3 and onboard audio)

    I get practically daily BSOD's on this installation (and the previous one) despite rebuilding the machine from scratch and initially installing with just the CPU, RAM, graphics and 1HDD attached. I'm using the most recent drivers I can find for all hardware, though I've also tried older versions just in case. The BSOD's have various different bugcheck codes, programs like WhoCrashed and WinDbg haven't helped me find a misbehaving driver, so any help or advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

    I'm attaching the requested BSOD analysis .zip and also the perfmon report.

    Thanks in advance :)
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 28,845
    Win 8 Release candidate 8400
       #2

    SylverFyre said:
    Hi

    I could really do with some ideas/help in locating the causes of the repeated BSOD's I'm getting please.

    My system specs are:
    Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R (rev 1.0) motherboard
    Intel i7 920 CPU
    3x2GB Patriot Viper DDR3 RAM kit
    Sapphire Radeon HD5850 1GB PCI-e
    Soundblaster XFi Fatal1ty PCI
    Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
    Western Digital Caviar 320GB
    Samsung DVD-RW
    Corsair TX750w PSU
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64 Retail

    The hardware is all ~9 months old, this Windows installation was a clean install approx 5 weeks ago (but I have been experiencing problems on other installations too, on both hard drives, since the PC was built).

    I have run Memtest86 overnight on numerous occasions, with single sticks fitted to one slot and with all sticks fitted. I've also run Prime95 overnight. Both run without uncovering any problems at all so I believe the basic hardware to be Ok.

    Western Digital's drive tools have scanned both drives fully and find no issues. although sometimes, following a BSOD, I have to let scandisk repair faults to the information on a drive.

    Coretemp and HWMonitor all show system temps as normal (CPU idles in the 30's and goes to ~50 under heavy load - chipset is slightly higher than this but with 5 to 10 degrees) and the system is running with standard clocks, even the ram although it is rated to run higher. I've tried disabling power saving features & hyperthreading in the BIOS and switched all my drives onto the SATA ports from the ICH10 instead of the extra controllers. All unused hardware is disabled in the BIOS (SATA3, eSATA, USB3 and onboard audio)

    I get practically daily BSOD's on this installation (and the previous one) despite rebuilding the machine from scratch and initially installing with just the CPU, RAM, graphics and 1HDD attached. I'm using the most recent drivers I can find for all hardware, though I've also tried older versions just in case. The BSOD's have various different bugcheck codes, programs like WhoCrashed and WinDbg haven't helped me find a misbehaving driver, so any help or advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

    I'm attaching the requested BSOD analysis .zip and also the perfmon report.

    Thanks in advance :)
    These were caused by a memory exception. In several CTEXFIFX.SYS your Creative XFi Effects driver was mentioned. I would re-install and updated to test


    Ken
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 16
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Thanks for the fast reply Ken. :)

    I'll give it a shot by removing the card and uninstalling the drivers. Although I have to say that I was having BSOD's without the card or drivers installed when I originally stripped the machine and re-installed Win7.

    I forgot to post also that the BSOD's seem to occur within the first few minutes of cold booting the machine - once it has been running for a while it seems to work great, and will run for hours without an issue. Sometimes though programs or services will misbehave or fail completely, but it's always within the first few minutes of a cold boot (usually problems have happened within about 15 to 20 minutes). Sometimes problems will persist between restarts but after a few minutes and a switch off and back on it will be reliable from then on

    Is it possible that there is an underheating issue - I've never heard of that before !?!

    I'm very confused as you can imagine :)

    *off to remove sound card*
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 16
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Well, I removed the XFi card, uninstalled and removed the drivers from within device manager and since then I've still had 2 BSOD's with 2 cold boots.

    The reboot both times is still stable - I'm typing this now after rebooting from the BSOD.

    I'd appreciate any ideas - I've not been able to find anywhere with someone getting the same symptoms as me

    Thanks
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 28,845
    Win 8 Release candidate 8400
       #5

    SylverFyre said:
    Well, I removed the XFi card, uninstalled and removed the drivers from within device manager and since then I've still had 2 BSOD's with 2 cold boots.

    The reboot both times is still stable - I'm typing this now after rebooting from the BSOD.

    I'd appreciate any ideas - I've not been able to find anywhere with someone getting the same symptoms as me

    Thanks
    We could use the new BSOD's.

    Sometimes creative cards combine with certain BIOS to wreak havoc. Do you have the most current BIOS?

    Before upgrading BIOS have a restore point and backup just in case.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 16
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64
    Thread Starter
       #6

    I'm running the F6 BIOS version which is the latest for my motherboard.

    Recently there was an F7L Beta BIOS available, but I was reluctant to try a beta version in case in made things worse or added more complications. This BIOS version seems to have been pulled from the Gigabyte website at the moment though.

    To get the latest analysis should I delete the older memory dumps, otherwise the report file will rapidly get huge?

    Thanks for your time in replying :)
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 28,845
    Win 8 Release candidate 8400
       #7

    SylverFyre said:
    I'm running the F6 BIOS version which is the latest for my motherboard.

    Recently there was an F7L Beta BIOS available, but I was reluctant to try a beta version in case in made things worse or added more complications. This BIOS version seems to have been pulled from the Gigabyte website at the moment though.

    To get the latest analysis should I delete the older memory dumps, otherwise the report file will rapidly get huge?

    Thanks for your time in replying :)


    The DMP's you have uploaded to us can be deleted. Make sure you have a small dmp enabled in control panel





    To enable us to assist you with your computer's BSOD symptoms, upload the contents of your "\Windows\Minidump" folder.

    The procedure:

    * Copy the contents of \Windows\Minidump to another (temporary) location somewhere on your machine.
    * Zip up the copy.
    * Attach the ZIP archive to your post using the "paperclip" (file attachments) button.



    To ensure minidumps are enabled:

    Go to Start, in the Search Box type: sysdm.cpl, press Enter.
    Under the Advanced tab, click on the Startup and Recovery Settings... button.
    Ensure that Automatically restart is unchecked.
    Under the Write Debugging Information header select Small memory dump (256 kB) in the dropdown box (the 256kb varies).
    Ensure that the Small Dump Directory is listed as %systemroot%\Minidump.
    OK your way out.
    Reboot if changes have been made.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 16
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64
    Thread Starter
       #8

    Ok, these are the latest 2 crash minidumps with the creative XFi drivers removed, dumps attached.

    Both crashes are within moments of Windows booting, the first less than a minute after logging in, the second crashed as Windows was first displaying the login screen.

    As usual, the machine is stable after it is switched back off from the BSOD, then rebooted.

    Thanks for taking the time to help me :)
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 28,845
    Win 8 Release candidate 8400
       #9

    SylverFyre said:
    Ok, these are the latest 2 crash minidumps with the creative XFi drivers removed, dumps attached.

    Both crashes are within moments of Windows booting, the first less than a minute after logging in, the second crashed as Windows was first displaying the login screen.

    As usual, the machine is stable after it is switched back off from the BSOD, then rebooted.

    Thanks for taking the time to help me :)
    Both memory exceptions (probably caused by an as yet un-named driver). Please run driver verifier to find out which

    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).

    In Windows 7 you can make a Startup Repair disk by going to Start....All Programs...Maintenance...Create a System Repair Disc - with Windows Vista you'll have to use your installation disk or the "Repair your computer" option at the top of the Safe Mode menu .

    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"
    - 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).

    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.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 16
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64
    Thread Starter
       #10

    Sorry for the really slow reply.

    I've enabled verifier and am attaching a zip of the minidump of todays crash. This happened again immediately after logging into Windows for the first time.

    Really appreciate your time in looking into this for me :)

    Cheers
      My Computer


 
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