Solved BSODs when watching flash movies, playing games, installing drivers...

... or looking at computer funny.

Reports attached.

System specs in my profile.

Here's a public link to a GDocs Spreadsheet with the relevant info:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...hkey=CNbUl48J&hl=en_US&authkey=CNbUl48J#gid=0

Mobo: ASRock H61M/U3S3 LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
CPU: Intel Core i3-2100 3.1GHz Dual-Core 65W LGA1155
Memory: G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT
Video card: Sapphire Radeon HD 5850
OS: Win7 64-bit; student discount version (so I guess full retail?)

I'm stuck using a USB wireless adapter because there isn't space inside for a PCI ethernet card, and because the router is located somewhat far away (downstairs on other side of house).

Age: built summer 2011.
I've tried re-installing the OS from scratch a couple times.


There's really no rhyme or reason that I can discern. I've tried running CCleaner and such, to no avail.

Example of random crashing:
* Every now and then, shockwave will stop working in Chrome; sometimes I get a "memory referenced at ____________" type error, and a "click OK to close the program" box (which just turns off the shockwave plugin until I reload windows)
* I recently got a blue screen (I think from flash) and when I turned my computer back on, the wireless usb adapter wasn't loading. I reinstalled it. The first attempt to reinstall it produced a bluescreen, and it worked on the second try (after it rebooted). In retrospect, I probably could have just unplugged it and plugged it back in.

It's not BSODing so much that it's totally unusable, but even BSODing just several times a day is problematic. I get the feeling this is a driver problem, but I don't know how to identify the bad/redundant drivers and get rid of them.

Appears to be a "memory corruption" problem. This could be a memory module fault, wrong drivers loaded, corrupt system store or a virus. (or a combination) I would start by running spf scannow followed by Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (free version) in safe mode. If neither will run, run a memory test. Some corrupt system store errors showed up so you may end up having to do a Repair install of Windows.

carwiz said:

Appears to be a "memory corruption" problem. This could be a memory module fault, wrong drivers loaded, corrupt system store or a virus. (or a combination) I would start by running spf scannow followed by Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (free version) in safe mode. If neither will run, run a memory test. Some corrupt system store errors showed up so you may end up having to do a Repair install of Windows.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice!

I ran scannow and Malwarebytes from a Safe Mode reboot. Malwarebytes didn't pick up anything, but scannow did indeed report some errors it couldn't fix. I've attached the log to this post.

I tried starting up with the Windows disc to do a repair, but it said the version on the disc couldn't repair the version on the drive.

Looks like there were a lot of Windows patches/updates that it couldn't resolve. There's also some pre-sp1 modules that were loaded. Did you remove updates to save space? Right click on the Action Center (flag in lower right) and click on Windows Update then Check for Updates.

Another thought came to mind. Have you been loading modules or programs individually in an attempt to fix a problem? There seems to be a lot of version mismatches. Now that you've run the sfc /scannow, re-run but use "sfc /verifyonly" (no quotes). This should list mis-matches.

sfc, sfc, sfc.... I'll get the letters straight sooner or later. I just noticed my first post. Glad you understood what I really meant.

carwiz said:

Did you remove updates to save space? Right click on the Action Center (flag in lower right) and click on Windows Update then Check for Updates.

Click to expand...

I didn't remove any updates. Windows Update doesn't report any new updates.

A piece of background: I'm visiting home after some time away; I applied all new updates shortly after getting back.

carwiz said:

Another thought came to mind. Have you been loading modules or programs individually in an attempt to fix a problem? There seems to be a lot of version mismatches. Now that you've run the sfc /scannow, re-run but use "sfc /verifyonly" (no quotes). This should list mis-matches.

Click to expand...

Loading modules or programs individually? I'm not sure I understand. I've tried reinstalling a few drivers, like ATI's graphics drivers. I also ran Driver Sweeper and CCleaner.

I ran the new SFC command, and have attached the results.

carwiz said:

sfc, sfc, sfc.... I'll get the letters straight sooner or later. I just noticed my first post. Glad you understood what I really meant.

Click to expand...

Haha, no problem. Google straightened me out pretty quick when I checked.


I'm actually going to be leaving for a few weeks starting tomorrow, but after that I'll be back at this computer. I might bump the thread back up at that point. I won't be able to run any new tests until then, but I would be very curious to hear any theories you have as to how I might go about fixing this comp.

And once again, thank you! I'm blown away by your generosity.

I would plan on backing up any data you want to save. It looks like a Clean Windows Install is in your future. It looks to me that Windows store and shadow versions aren't matching for some reason. This could be why the Repair Install wouldn't run.

Bring this thread back up when you get back. By then, someone else might have a look and we can figure out the best approach.

carwiz said:

I would plan on backing up any data you want to save. It looks like a Clean Windows Install is in your future. It looks to me that Windows store and shadow versions aren't matching for some reason. This could be why the Repair Install wouldn't run.

Bring this thread back up when you get back. By then, someone else might have a look and we can figure out the best approach.

Click to expand...

Thanks! Fortunately, I have DropBox running, so that should cover pretty much everything.

I'll bump this back up when I'm back and have access to my computer once again. It'll be wonderful if I can end this problem once and for all.

Thanks again for the help. +1'd.

carwiz said:

Bring this thread back up when you get back. By then, someone else might have a look and we can figure out the best approach.

Click to expand...

I am home again and bumping this as suggested.

Drive Sweeper and CCleaner probably did you in if you ran them with default settings. Most here don't promote the use of CCleaner without specific settings. It can destroy your Registry and System Files. Which appeartly has happened. Follow these instructions for a Clean Install.

I've completed the clean install.

I noticed something that I think also happened the first time: one of the bazillion windows updates kept "sticking" (it would stay on 35 of 41 forever). I eventually got all the updates to install, but I had to restart it at one point after it seriously hung on an update for like an hour.

So far, one app (Windows Defender) has gone non-responsive, though nothing else was affected.

Also, when I clicked "run" from IE9 on a Razer driver installer, the screen froze. No BSOD, it just froze.

Still, for the most part, it seems to be running fine.

I'm going to run an scf /verifyonly from Safe Mode and post the results.

I ran sfc /verifyonly.

at 51%:
"Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation" and it stopped.

I noticed the command prompt already said "Administrator" in the title, but to be safe I closed the prompt and then re-ran cmd, this tie explicitly telling it to run as administrator (right click --> run as admin). It actually bluescreened.

Here are the zipped contents of my C:/Windows/Logs/CBS folder.

And finally, here are the requested BSOD files. I ran perfmon and the BSOD utility.

There are a couple BSOD errors.

Story behind them:
(1) I ran sfc /verifyonly from safe mode. Stopped at 51% with "windows (something) could not perform the requested operation". I closed the prompt and opened a new one. I ran sfc /verifyonly again. Bluescreen.

(2) I had firefox open. I downloaded Steam. I bought a game on Steam, but didn't install it. I clicked over to Firefox. I opened a new tab. I typed "windows 7 forums"; this thread popped up from history, and I clicked on it. Bluescreen.

Update: I ran memtest86+, rather than just plain old memtest86, and immediately hit a stack of red error messages. I did some swapping and testing, and there was a perfect correlation between one of the two RAM sticks being inserted into the computer and the errors. I've taken it out and run some SFC repairs. SFC can't quite get everything, but ... so far, no bluescreens since removing the RAM.

Fingers crossed that the problem is solved.

I've attached a recent SFC log, just for clarity.