Need help with consistent BSOD issues

About a year and a half ago I helped my friend build a computer. Basically everything in the computer was bought new, with the exception of the case, the power supply and the cd rom drives. At first everything seemed to work fine, however then it began to show consistent recurring BSOD problems. The only consistent pattern we have noticed is that it pretty much always happens while playing or even attempting to play a video game. It has happened occasionally outside of games, but games pretty much always cause a BSOD eventually if they even load at all.

The system specs are:
Windows 7 Home Edition 64 bit (OEM) This was not the original os but we formatted the hard drive when we built it. The hard drive had windows xp from the other computer he had used it in.
AMD Phenom II X2 555
Ati Radeon 5770
3gb of ram.

The games that have caused problems are Morrowind, Oblivion, dragon age origins, dragon age 2 and The witcher 2. Most of these games would essentially crash when launched, often resulting in a BSOD.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Let me know if I can provide more information that would help.

Abremer00 said:

About a year and a half ago I helped my friend build a computer. Basically everything in the computer was bought new, with the exception of the case, the power supply and the cd rom drives. At first everything seemed to work fine, however then it began to show consistent recurring BSOD problems. The only consistent pattern we have noticed is that it pretty much always happens while playing or even attempting to play a video game. It has happened occasionally outside of games, but games pretty much always cause a BSOD eventually if they even load at all.

The system specs are:
Windows 7 Home Edition 64 bit (OEM) This was not the original os but we formatted the hard drive when we built it. The hard drive had windows xp from the other computer he had used it in.
AMD Phenom II X2 555
Ati Radeon 5770
3gb of ram.

The games that have caused problems are Morrowind, Oblivion, dragon age origins, dragon age 2 and The witcher 2. Most of these games would essentially crash when launched, often resulting in a BSOD.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Let me know if I can provide more information that would help.

The most recent crash in these was from May 2011. Have you had any crashes since then? If so, can you upload them to us.

Those are about the most recent. He had basically stopped using the computer outside of normal web browsing every now and again. I can try and get it to crash a few more times if that will help figure it out.

Abremer00 said:

Those are about the most recent. He had basically stopped using the computer outside of normal web browsing every now and again. I can try and get it to crash a few more times if that will help figure it out.

More than half are video related. I would start by updating his video driver using this method.

When upgrading your graphic driver you MUST remove all traces of the current driver. In order to do that we recommend using

Phyxion.net - Driver Sweeper

When it is removed then download and install the fresh copy.


Then I would run these two tests to test the RAM, and the drivers. These will take a fairly long time.



1-Memtest.

*Download a copy of Memtest86 and burn the ISO to a CD using Iso Recorder or another ISO burning program. Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool

*Boot from the CD, and leave it running for at least 5 or 6 passes.

Just remember, any time Memtest reports errors, it can be either bad RAM or a bad motherboard slot.

Test the sticks individually, and if you find a good one, test it in all slots.

RAM - Test with Memtest86+



2-Driver verifier

I'd suggest that you first backup your data 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.

Driver Verifier - Enable and Disable

We formatted the entire hard drive and reinstalled the driver onto the system. That seemed to help a little. The main effect we saw is that it would now launch Morrowind and Dragon Age II where before it would crash immediately upon launch. However now when he plays Morrowind it will eventually crash usually leading to the system crashing altogether. I don't know if this helps to narrow it down any, but i thought i should post it. I'm going to proceed with the memory test as soon as I am able.

Alright I've used memtest to test the ram and the motherboard slots. It looks like only 1 stick of ram was causing errors. Would this be a pretty strong indicator that this was causing the issue. I want to make sure so that I don't recommend that my friend buys another stick of ram just to have that not be the issue.

Abremer00 said:

Alright I've used memtest to test the ram and the motherboard slots. It looks like only 1 stick of ram was causing errors. Would this be a pretty strong indicator that this was causing the issue. I want to make sure so that I don't recommend that my friend buys another stick of ram just to have that not be the issue.

There is no way to be 100% sure. Memtest is a good indicator. Leave that ram out and test. no BSOD's its the ram.