Solved BSOD watching online videos/audio streaming.

My brother has a COMPAQ Presario CQ50-107NR Notebook PC, it came originally with Windows Vista OEM, but I had upgraded to Windows 7 Pro x64 in January. From the looks of it the laptop was manufactured in 2008, which makes it about 4 years old.

The issues he is having is, that whenever he is streaming videos on Netflix, Hulu, for a long period of time it stops responding, then it blue screens. The same thing occurs, when he is streaming music on Pandora. Other times it occurs randomily, but it simply stop responding, and I can't click on anything which leaves me to force shut down. I am thinking it is the Hard-drive since it was originally on a previous laptop, that kept crashing and the HDDs would always spoil. I am not sure if it is the Memory I installed, but I am clueless at the moment.

The laptop used to get real hot due to the CPU fans being blocked by dirt, but I resolved it when I cleaned the heat-sink and CPU fan.

If anyone can help me resolve this issue I would greatly appreciate it.

No BugChecks are being recorded for the blue screens, so that makes it difficult to debug the crashes. Since you suspect hardware and specifically the hard disks and memory, go through the following steps.

• If you are overclocking any hardware, please stop.
  
  
• 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 http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/96938-check-disk-chkdsk-read-event-viewer-log.html (you may need to search for wininit instead of chkdsk).
  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.
  
  
• Run the short and long tests with SeaTools.
  SeaTools for Windows
  
  SeaTools for DOS​
  
  
• Monitor temperatures during the following tests.
  
  Use the following programs to monitor the temperatures.​
  • Real Temp is a good CPU temperature monitor.
  • Speccy - System Information - Free Download will monitor all hardware temperatures.
  • HWiNFO, HWiNFO32 & HWiNFO64 - Hardware Information and Analysis Tools can be inaccurate for CPU temperatures, but is a good program for GPU temperature monitoring.
  • Use FurMark: VGA Stress Test, Graphics Card and GPU Stability Test, Burn-in Test, OpenGL Benchmark and GPU Temperature | oZone3D.Net to test the graphics card GPU. Let it run until the GPU temperatures even out or until the GPU temperatures reach a dangerous level (you can find the max temperature for your card on either the nVidia or AMD sites; if you are not sure, ask us). The goal is to get a steady temperature, find out if the GPU is overheating, or to see if there are any artifacts present in the test itself: look for strange pixelated patterns on the screen or colors that do not look like they belong. Then use the |MG| Video Memory Stress Test 1.7.116 Download to test your graphics card memory. Let the memory test run for at least seven passes; the more the better.
    
    
  • Run http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/100352-hardware-stress-test-prime95.html to determine any hardware problems. Run all three tests for a few hours each. If you get errors, stop the test and post back here.
    
    
  • Follow the steps for doing CPU stress test using IntelBurnTest
  
  
• Run the boot version of Memtest86+ paying close attention to Parts 2 and 3 of the tutorial. Also, in case Memtest86+ misses anything and comes up with no errors, run the extended version of the Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool for at least five passes. These you may want to run overnight since they take a long time to complete (run them an hour before bed each of the next two nights and check before going to sleep that they are still running).
  
     Warning

  Before you proceed with the following, answer these two questions: Are you still under warranty? Does your warranty allow you to open up the machine to check hardware? If you are unsure of the answers to these questions, contact your system manufacturer. :warn:WARNING: The steps that follow can void your warranty!!!
  
  For Part 3: If You Have Errors: If you swap any memory components, follow these steps for ESD safety:
  1. Shut down and turn off your computer.
  2. Unplug all power supplies to the computer (AC Power then battery for laptops, AC power for desktops)
  3. Hold down the power button for 30 seconds to close the circuit and ensure all power drains from components.
  4. Make sure you are grounded by using proper grounding techniques, i.e. work on an anti-static workbench, anti-static desk, or an anti-static pad. Hold something metallic while touching it to the anti-static surface, or use an anti-static wristband to attach to the anti-static material while working. If you do not have an anti-static workbench, desk, or pad, you can use your computer tower/case by finding a metal hold in it, such as a drive bay.
  Once these steps have been followed, it is safe to remove and replace components within your computer.

Appreciate the quick response "writhziden" I shall perform these updates, and give you an update.

You're welcome. Let us know if you need any help as you proceed. Also let us know if you find the cause.

I performed all the tests except for the GPU test. Attached you will find the CHDSK result. The SeaTools test didn't find any errors, both short and long passed. The same goes for the Memtest86+, which I left overnight. I have not done the extended version of Windows Memory Diagnostic Tools, but plan to do this tonight before I got to bed.

With all the passes, I am not sure what could be the problem. I shall have to wait and see, for another bluescreen and run the perfmon once again in the hopes it locates the dump files.

Let me know if the attached files prove useful. I saved it as a .txt and .evtx format. And I appreciate the help writhziden.

Today the computer managed to stop working after my brother paused the laptop while taking out the trash. He was streaming a TV episode online, and he mentioned it was the 3rd episode before it occured. When I checked the laptop was in a black screen with simply "_" on the upper-left hand side of the laptop screen. I assume the HDD finally crashed, but when I connected it using a USB sata converter to my desktop the HDD loaded, and I managed to back up all the important files, but still was unable to locate any ".dmp' files. This still leaves me baffled as to what the problem might be.

   Warning

Before you proceed with the following, answer these two questions: Are you still under warranty? Does your warranty allow you to open up the machine to check hardware? If you are unsure of the answers to these questions, contact your system manufacturer. :warn:WARNING: The steps that follow can void your warranty!!!

Strip down your system to run only the bare essentials: one RAM module, the CPU, motherboard, one hard disk, one graphics card (or use onboard graphics if you have it), keyboard, mouse, and one monitor. See how the system behaves by running Windows for twice as long as it typically takes for you to get a crash. If it is stable, add one piece of hardware back at a time until you get crashes again. Take notes of what hardware you add and how the system responds to the hardware changes.

As you add and remove hardware, follow these steps for ESD safety:

1. Shut down and turn off your computer.
2. Unplug all power supplies to the computer (AC Power then battery for laptops, AC power for desktops)
3. Hold down the power button for 30 seconds to close the circuit and ensure all power drains from components.
4. Make sure you are grounded by using proper grounding techniques, i.e. work on an anti-static workbench, anti-static desk, or an anti-static pad. Hold something metallic while touching it to the anti-static surface, or use an anti-static wristband to attach to the anti-static material while working. If you do not have an anti-static workbench, desk, or pad, you can use your computer tower/case by finding a metal hold in it, such as a drive bay.

Once these steps have been followed, it is safe to remove and replace components within your computer.

I managed to have it working well now. It has not shut down so far, so I am assuming it is fixed. What I had done was replaced the Hard Drive and the memory. I then reinstalled Windows 7 and it seems to be working fine. I appreciate your help Writhziden, you were very helpful. If the problem occurs again I will be sure to ask.

That's excellent news! Happy to see it solved!!