BSOD's, mostly during first boots of the day

Wyst3r · 30 Sep 2012

Hi,

I built a new system roughly 2 months ago, and initially (several weeks) it all seemed to work perfectly. Then a month ago, after (or possibly slightly before, i'm not entirely certain) installing Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 and a new DVD reader/writer i started getting some BSOD's with lots of diffrent error messages in conjunction with the first boot of the day. I usually got 2-3 BSOD's that occured either during the startup process or within a ~5 minute window after startup. After those initial BSOD's, computer worked perfectly for the rest of the day. Naturally i tried to uninstall Kasperky and also unplug the DVD reader but this didn't seem change anything.

Now a few days ago the problems seemed to get worse, with more BSOD's on startup and even later on during the day. Since then i have been trying to find and isolate the problem. I tried looking through the minidumps but they didn't seem to point me towards any specific driver.

I ran memtest86+ for 15 hours (7 passes) and got 0 errors.

I also tried unplugging all extra harddrives and only keep my SSD boot drive but this didn't help either.

Yesterday i unplugged the SSD drive and instead plugged in one of my older drives. I installed a fresh copy of Windows 7 on this drive (same OS as on the SSD drive) and i also installed the same drivers ( i think ) as on the SSD drive. So far, i haven't had a single BSOD when booting from this drive. (not even on first boots of the day)

I'm not sure if this is helpful info but i can run Safe Mode when booting from SSD drive and it'll work just fine.

Anyway, all help with this is greatly appreciated.

/Wyst3r

Arc · 30 Sep 2012

Welcome aboard.

Your crashes does not show any cause clearly, but apparently it is either a driver fault, or memory corruption.

Before blaming the memory, let us verify if it is caused by any driver or not. Enable Driver Verifier to monitor the drivers.

Driver Verifier - Enable and Disable

Run Driver Verifier for 24 hours or the occurrence of the next crash, whichever is earlier.

Let us know the results, with the subsequent crash dumps, if any.

Wyst3r · 01 Oct 2012

Okay, i ran the verifier for 24 hours and didn't get any crashes.

Arc · 01 Oct 2012

Disable verifier then.

I will ask my friend Dave to have a look who knows a lot about cold boot crashes.

Dave76 · 01 Oct 2012

Hi Wyst3r, welcome to Seven Forums.

Looks like you have narrowed it down to the SSD.
Have you been running the Intel ToolBox?
Intel® Solid-State Drive Toolbox version 3.0.5

What firmware version do you have?
Check the 'Firmware Update' button in the Toolbox, read txt at the bottom.
Be sure to make an Image backup of your SSD before updating the firmware, just to be safe.

Check the Power setting for the SSD.
In Windows Power Options (Control Panel), click Change plan settings, and then the Advanced settings for your power plan. Under Hard Disk, set Turn off hard disk after: to Never.

What storage drivers are you using?
msachi or Intel RST?
If Intel RST, what version, the newest version (11.6.0.1030) is having some issues.
Install the 11.2.0.1006 version.
Intel® Rapid Storage Technology

Wyst3r · 02 Oct 2012

I hadn't run the toolbox before but i installed it now. The firmware now says it's version 300i (not sure what i had before i installed the toolbox).

About the storage drivers, appareantly i hadn't installed RST at all (no idea what drivers i was running, i couldn't find where to check this?). I got the 11.2.0.1006 now though so we'll see if that changes anything.

Anyway, today when i cold booted the system, i got one of those "long beeps" during the "starting windows" and screen just went black. After that though, no crashes or BSOD's (yet). So the problems that i had before seems to be gone, but i'll probably wait a few more days before celebrating...

Dave76 · 03 Oct 2012

Good news that your system is more stable.

In the Toolbox, home page, it lists the Firmware Version, is that where you saw the 300i?
Select the 'Firmware Update' button, post what it says at the bottom of the page.
If it says the below quote then you have the newest firmware.

The selected Intel SSD contains current firmware as of this Toolbox release. Click Check For Updates to look for a newer version of the Intel SSD Toolbox, which may include newer firmware.

You have to click the 'Update' button if you want/need to update the firmware, be sure to make a SSD backup image before trying to update the SSD firmware.
You should run the Toolbox 'Intel SSD Optimizer' once a week, you can schedule it, just check to make sure it is actually running the optimizer when scheduled.
Select the 'System Tuner' button and follow any 'Recommended Action'.

Couldn't find a mention of a single long beep for your motherboard, are you sure it was a single long beep?
Asus Support For Motherboard P8Z77-V PRO

1.4.2 If there is beep, please try to judge from the beep code as the following steps, if the problem still remains after the troubleshooting, please contact your retailer for a check.

1.4.2.1 Memory issue: Beep (1 long 2 short)
A Clean the Golden Finger of memory
B Clean the memory slots
C Leave only one memory stick to test
D If convenient, please change different memory to test again

1.4.2.2 Graphics card issue: Beep (1 long 3 short)
A. Clean the Golden Finger of graphics card
B. Clean the graphics card slots
C. Try to test the onboard graphics card if there is onboard VGA integrated
D. If convenience, please change different graphic cards to test again

1.4.2.3 CPU issue: Beep (5 short)
A. Check whether the CPU is in our CPU support list
B. Check whether there are any damagers of your CPU or CPU socket.
C. .Check whether the CPU fan is correctly connected
D. Check whether the ATX_12V power cable is connected well
E. If possible try to test with another CPU

Is it stable on a cold boot?
Next time you cold boot, first take off the side panel and watch the upper right of the mobo, there are led lights that will stay on if there are problems. See your manual for the light location for the components.
See section 2.2.6 of you motherboard manual: Asus P8Z77-V PRO

A long beep and x short beeps are either the RAM or graphics card problem.
First thing to do is remove the RAM and/or graphics card, check that the mobo slots are clean and debris free, check the cards connection points are clean.
Re-seat the cards, make sure they are firmly seated, the lock down pins should click into place. Sometimes you need to put quite a bit of force to seat them.

I noticed your BIOS is version 1015, the newest version at your mobo site is 1504.
The two newer versions list description improvements: Improve system and memory compatibility.
Update to version 1504.
EZ Flash 2 - the safest way to update BIOS

Let us know how your system is running.

Wyst3r · 03 Oct 2012

If it says the below quote then you have the newest firmware.

Yes, that's what it says.

are you sure it was a single long beep?

I guess it's possible i missed some of the short beeps since i didn't know the structure of these beeps before. If i ever get them again i'll make sure to count the short beeps.

Is it stable on a cold boot?

Today it was very stable, no problems at all.

Dave76 · 03 Oct 2012

Glad to hear it, if it is still stable in 4-5 days you can mark this thread 'Solved'.

Don't forget to run the Toolbox 'Intel SSD Optimizer' once a week.

Wyst3r · 05 Oct 2012

Okay the computer did run well for 2 days but now the problems have started to come back. I got 2 BSOD's yesterday, one after cold booting and another in the evening. And today i've gotten 2 BSOD's so far, both shortly after cold boot. Similar error messages as before (Modification of critical system code detected, PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA).

I haven't updated the BIOS yet though so i guess i should try that.