Hmm, I did that already, but the dump files I posted were inconclusive according to the people that read them. I'll run driver verifier again though.
Here's a dump file the pc just made. I walked in to run driver verifier and there was a bsod waiting for me. Let me know if there's anything useful in it.
I'm having difficulties making the system blue screen. 4 times, Netflix simply makes the PC freeze, not crash, and letting the computer idle does nothing at all.
I have a question about the driver verifier. According to the instructions, you say to mark only the third party drivers to test (non-microsoft). Are you certain that a windows driver isn't at fault here? Safe mode only loads a minimal amount of drivers for windows to function, excluding any additional non-vital microsoft drivers. For all we know, one of those non-vital drivers may be causing the conflict. Is there any way I can stop specific driver files from loading? I've already disabled devices through devmgmt, but the computer still crashed.
If you've run a
SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker
and it passed the windows core drivers should be fine.
The core files are fine. The scan came clean. Is there a program that lists the current drivers loaded and running in windows? If there's something like that, I can use it to determine what loads in safe mode compared to normal startup and root out the driver(s) that way. Which goes back to my question. Can I stop certain drivers from loading? Not devices, drivers.
Last edited by Britt; 27 Jul 2011 at 21:43.
Thanks for the link, but that article is clearly for startup items, not drivers. The only option I've noticed in msconfig related to drivers is the check box for "Diagnostic Startup." Unless I'm going crazy and I didn't read the tutorial right, heh.
However, I came across a great tool for disabling specific drivers and services.
ServiWin: Windows Services/Drivers Tool (start/stop/restart service)
It's been incredibly useful and does EXACTLY what I wanted to do. Since driver verifier has been no help, this seems to be the last resort for my system. By mimicking safe mode startup, I should be able to pinpoint the problematic driver through process of elimination.
EDIT: By the way, anyone get the chance to read the dump file I posted yet?
That is a good tool but also requires that you also know exactly what hw/software combi requires which drivers... which is why I advised on starting with that tutorial as, with "not starting certain software", you also don't load it's drivers....
The road you now take is fine by me but please be careful as it could easily make your problems greater: If you disable the start of a specific driver whilst its corresponding 'owner" software is still running and maybe corresponding hardware is still connected, W7 could just install the driver all over... maybe not even the one you want...
Booyah!I've determined the cause of the crashing. The system driver AmdK8 was the culprit for the random restarts and freezing. Disabling the driver fixed the issue. This must be why driver verifier didn't work; it's provider was Microsoft Corporation. Just as I suspected. I'm hoping that further issues won't manifest though, because this driver is for my AMD processor and now device manager shows it with the yellow exclamation icon. However, this driver wasn't present in safe mode, so hopefully it won't be something too major to worry about. That program ServiWin was a miracle worker!
Thanks for your suggestions, guys! I can finally watch Netflix in peace.
You may want to run by Global Provider of Innovative Graphics, Processors and Media Solutions | AMD and see if you can't get a proper version of that driver.
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