Another Win 7 BSOD on Startup Story

Updating the BIOS always spooks me that it'll turn into a paperweight.

But, it worked and now the BIOS is on the current version.

Next step?

What program can I use to verify my other drivers are up to date?

Thanks Writhziden for all the help!!

Drivers all appear to be up to date. You could download driverview and any that seem possibly out of date you could start a thread in Drivers - Windows 7 Forums or look at Driver Reference Table for where to update them.

There are automated driver update programs out there, but they often find drive updates for different hardware than is actually installed on the computer being updated. Using them can result in driver conflicts for this reason. A free one that lets you download three updates a day is: Driver update - Use DriverMax to update all your Windows PC drivers

If you decide to use an automated driver update program, make sure you check your device manager afterward for any problem devices caused by updating. If you have a problem device after updating, roll back to the previous driver and remember not to update that driver again.

To help, there are only a few key drivers that need to be kept up to date on most systems: Chipset drivers (these should always be downloaded from the motherboard manufacturer, builder of the system, or the Intel® Driver Update Utility), Display/graphics card drivers, audio drivers, and network adapter drivers... Storage drivers are also important; SATA/IDE/AHCI driver updates should be checked for.


As a warning: Drivers should be updated only if the system is not functioning as it should. They should not be updated as a regular maintenance procedure. I give this warning because sometimes driver updates can result in instability instead of improving stability.

Great advice, if it isn't broken don't fix it or.....

I went to the Intel site and it looks like all the Intel drivers are current. One thing I didn't realize was the report shows nVidia High Definition Audio & Realtek High Definition Audio. I'm using the onboard audio only which is Realtek. No other sound card. I'm using a GTX470 GPU. No idea where the nVidia sound is coming from. Trouble shooting this I've loaded the latest GPU driver.

I looked in Device manager and only the nVidia Sound shows. The Realtek isn't showing at all. If I plug in a headphone or anything the Realtek window pops open so it's running. I looked in the program manager and nVidia has nothing in there on audio.

When I run the forum System Info tool, under audio it shows both.

Is this normal or could this be an issue?

There have been known cases where the graphics card HD Audio conflicts with the onboard audio. You could disable the nVidia HD Audio in device manager and see if your onboard audio works.

It appears both driver updates on the ASUS site are the same, just one is newer. DriverMax and automated driver update software in general causes instability on systems and should be avoided. Often, the driver "updates" such programs recommend are for different hardware than is actually on the system being updated. It is much better to get the drivers straight from the source by finding the manufacturer of the device or by contacting the manufacturer of the system using the device. For pre-built systems, this means contacting the vendor or using the vendor's support site (by vendor, I mean HP, Dell, etc.). For custom built systems, the manufacturer of the card is the best source, or if the device is integrated to the motherboard, the motherboard manufacturer is the best source.

I cannot stress enough that automated driver update programs cause issues. I have tested them myself and found that device manager was showing devices that were not working properly after updating. I also read a thread on here where one of our other gurus used DriverMax to update a Realtek audio driver that caused problems on her system. She contacted Realtek wondering why their support site did not show the update, and Realtek's representative told her that the update she referred to was for a similar device, but not the same device.


To undo all the problems with your USB controllers and devices, I would recommend going through the device manager and uninstalling all USB devices (this will take a bit of time) to make sure everything is cleaned up. If you have a USB mouse and keyboard, you will need to uninstall the USB controllers and ports for these last. This may take some trial and error to accomplish properly.

1. First, download the latest driver for the USB devices. Then do the next steps.
2. Click Start Menu
3. Right Click My Computer/Computer
4. Click Manage
5. Click Device Manager from the list on the left
6. Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers
7. Right click each device and do the following
   • Click Uninstall (do not click OK in the dialog box that pops up after hitting Uninstall)
   • Put a tick in Delete driver software for this device (if this option is available, otherwise just hit OK) and hit OK
   • Restart your computer only if Windows asks you to.
8. Install the latest driver for the devices once all devices have been uninstalled.

Alternatively:

1. Login as an adminstrative user.
2. First, download the latest driver. Then do the next steps.
3. Click Start Menu
4. Click Control Panel
5. Click Hardware and Sound
6. Click Device Manager (the last link under Devices and Printers)
7. Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers
8. Right click each device and do the following
   • Click Uninstall (do not click OK in the dialog box that pops up after hitting Uninstall)
   • Put a tick in Delete driver software for this device (if this option is available, otherwise just hit OK) and hit OK
   • Restart your computer only if Windows asks you to.
9. Install the latest driver for the devices once all devices have been uninstalled.

The WER file contains much of the same information as that provided by the https://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-d...tructions.html, but I find the information easier to manage when following the instructions on this forum. There is too much data to sort through in one place in the Windows Error Report...


Your crashes were all driver power state failure crashes with a system file being blamed which is very unlikely. Sorry for causing some hard shutdowns with my instructions. That was irresponsible of me to not mention an important step to the process. You want to use OPTION THREE of Power Button - Start Menu to change the power button to either shut down or restart your system. Shut down is preferable.


With all the hard resets, you are guaranteed to have some file system corruption.

• Run Disk Check with both boxes checked for all HDDs and with Automatically fix file system errors checked for all SSDs. Post back your logs for the checks after finding them using Check Disk (chkdsk) - Read Event Viewer Log.
  For any drives that do not give the message:
  Windows has checked the file system and found no problems
  run disk check again as above. In other words, if it says:
  Windows has made corrections to the file system
  after running the disk check, run the disk check again.

Both Chkdsks look good. I've attached the files. Now? Thanks again for the help!

They do look fine... Let's see if we can determine what is actually causing the crashes.

• An underlying driver may be incompatible\conflicting with your system. Run Driver Verifier to find any issues. To run Driver Verifier, do the following:
  
  a. Backup your system and user files
  b. Create a system restore point
  c. If you do not have a Windows 7 DVD, Create a system repair disc
  d. In Windows 7:

  • Click the Start Menu
  • Type verifier in Search programs and files (do not hit enter)
  • Right click verifier and click Run as administrator
  • Put a tick in Create custom settings (for code developers) and click next
  • Put a tick in Select individual settings from a full list and click next
  • Set up the individual settings as in the image and click next
    Attachment 206685
  • Put a tick in Select driver names from a list
  • Put a tick next to all non-Microsoft drivers.
  • Click Finish.
  • Restart your computer.

  
  
  If Windows cannot start in normal mode with driver verifier running, start in safe mode. If it cannot start in safe mode or normal mode, restore the system restore point using System Restore OPTION TWO.
  
  Thanks to zigzag3143 for contributing to the Verifier steps.
  If you are unable to start Windows with all drivers being verified or if the blue screen crashes fail to create .dmp files, run them in groups of 5 or 10 until you find a group that causes blue screen crashes and stores the blue screen .dmp files.
  The idea with Verifier is to cause the system to crash, so do the things you normally do that cause crashes. After you have a few crashes, upload the crash reports for us to take a look and try to find patterns.
  
  When you are ready to disable Verifier: Start Menu -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Right click Command Prompt -> Run as administrator -> Type the following command and then Enter:
  verifier /reset
  -> Restart your computer.