Expert Advice Needed: W7 x64 Software Causing Random BSODs!

douchery5 · 23 Nov 2012

My overclocked Win7 x64 system was running rock solid (24-hour stress tests with no issues) until about 2 months ago, when intermittent crashing started to occur (memory read errors, Stop 0x3b, Stop 0x124). I returned to stock hardware settings, even underclocked, upgraded drivers, installed SP1 -- all to no avail.

By successfully stress testing on a secondary Windows 7 x64 install using the same drivers, I've verified that it's not a hardware problem -- it must be Windows itself!
I have no idea where to go from here, though. I used Nirsoft's BlueScreenView to analyze minidump files and all I'm seeing is ntoskrnl errors for the most part. For the last few BSODs, the BSOD seems to be writing a minidump, but when I restart there doesn't seem to be a more recent one.

Any help or commentary is appreciated. Pulling my hair out here.

P.S. A repair install will overwrite settings, so I don't want to go that route if it can be avoided.

Hardware:

Asus Rampage III Formula
i7 950
Kingston SNV425S264GB SSD (primary, unstable W7 SP1 install)
2TB Hitachi HDS722020ALA330 (older W7 install)
Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600 RAM

Steps I've already taken:

underclocked
sfc
chkdsk
Prime95 for 4+ hours
memtest86 for 12+ hours
used Nirsoft's BlueScreenView to analyze minidump files

**Capt.Jack Sparrow** · 23 Nov 2012

Hi there

please read the instructions here: Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Posting Instructions

douchery5 · 23 Nov 2012

Really interesting issue that happened twice: I ran the diagnostic utility, it generated the files, I zipped it up -- then BSOD. When I restarted, files were gone! This happened on a number of occasions in different folders, which led me to believe it was the NTFS.SYS file. I replaced that with one from my old install of Windows, but that didn't seem to do the trick. Reverted the NTFS.SYS to the latest.

Anyhow, I got the system running long enough to upload this: SF_23-11-2012.zip from Sendspace.com

Please help!

**Capt.Jack Sparrow** · 23 Nov 2012

Hello there!

Just check the dump files seems like the dump is blaming the CPU more specifically the processor. I would recommend to reinstall the chipset drivers completely unfortunately error status is Internal unclassified (Proc 0 Bank 5) which means Intel has documented in internally not available for us. (Well they decided to call unclassified .. LOL) Check for any BIOS updates. Try to reset the BIOS to stock settings.

Code:

0: kd> !errrec fffffa8007543028
===============================================================================
Common Platform Error Record @ fffffa8007543028
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Id     : 01cdc1042e936d0c
Severity      : Fatal (1)
Length        : 928
Creator       : Microsoft
Notify Type   : Machine Check Exception
Timestamp     : 11/13/2012 2:08:27 (UTC)
Flags         : 0x00000000
===============================================================================
Section 0     : Processor Generic
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Descriptor    @ fffffa80075430a8
Section       @ fffffa8007543180
Offset        : 344
Length        : 192
Flags         : 0x00000001 Primary
Severity      : Fatal
Proc. Type    : x86/x64
Instr. Set    : x64
Error Type    : Micro-Architectural Error
Flags         : 0x00
CPU Version   : 0x00000000000106a5
Processor ID  : 0x0000000000000000
===============================================================================
Section 1     : x86/x64 Processor Specific
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Descriptor    @ fffffa80075430f0
Section       @ fffffa8007543240
Offset        : 536
Length        : 128
Flags         : 0x00000000
Severity      : Fatal
Local APIC Id : 0x0000000000000000
CPU Id        : a5 06 01 00 00 08 10 00 - bd e3 98 00 ff fb eb bf
                00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
                00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Proc. Info 0  @ fffffa8007543240
===============================================================================
Section 2     : x86/x64 MCA
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Descriptor    @ fffffa8007543138
Section       @ fffffa80075432c0
Offset        : 664
Length        : 264
Flags         : 0x00000000
Severity      : Fatal
Error         : Internal unclassified (Proc 0 Bank 5)
  Status      : 0xfa00000000400405

douchery5 · 23 Nov 2012

Capt.Jack Sparrow said:

Hello there!

Just check the dump files seems like the dump is blaming the CPU more specifically the processor.

Check for any BIOS updates.

Try to reset the BIOS to stock settings.

As I mentioned, my other W7 x64 install on the same computer runs perfectly fine, stress testing for hours without breaking a sweat! This tells me CPU and BIOS can't be the issue, else they would impact both OS installs.

Am I wrong?

douchery5 · 23 Nov 2012

Looks my SSD (unstable W7 install) is dying -- could that be the cause of all these errors?