Solved BSOD even after replacing RAM.

MvdB said:

Something must've changed though.... for it to function well now...
Are you sure there was no windows update or something like that? Did you check the maintenance center to see?

Click to expand...

Just checked Windows Update to see, it updated yesterday morning for me(Like 27 hours ago), but this was while the problems were still happening, even after rebooting it was still BSODing. I went to sleep and when I woke up I posted that message about buying a new motherboard and Bad Company not BSODing me anymore.

My dad watched some shows and played a few games, but he didn't install anything or update anything. He tells me whenever he does that.

Ok.. well, if you're happy the thread is solved, please mark it so at the top of the thread? Thx!

Looks like we're back to square one.
Was playing Bad Company 2 again like twenty minutes ago and it blue screened. I'll list of what happened.
1. "Blue Screens"(See picture) while playing Bad Company 2 for half an hour.
2. Log into my Windows User, "Blue Screens" a few seconds later.
3. Log into my Windows User, about to go open up Firefox(Was a click away) and it does an actual Blue Screen with an IRQL_Not_Less_or_Equal(0a I think).
4. The thing crashes during the Bios transition from my "Hardware Monitor" screen to "Loading Windows", stays inactive for several minutes.
5. Log into my Windows User, manage to get Firefox open this time, Blue Screens with "System_Service_Exception"(3b)
6. I'm finally able to log on and post this message. It seems stable so far.

The heat was the same as always, 25-29°C for the System, while CPU is a steady 32-37°C(Sometimes lower).

Something strange here, these dumps (3 of them) are all of the 22 of july... None for today.
Your latest errorlog entry is from the 23rd...where it seemed to have start a Startup Repair...
Did this happen over the course of 1,5days? Like from the 22nd at night into the 23rd trying to get the system back?

In this case you had 2 A's pointing to system files... and one C4 (what's in a name...) pointing to PnkBstrB.exe. Yhe latter is software that came with one or more games you play. Its purpose is to make sure you do not use game cheats and other help to gain an unfair edge in internet play against others. It could be there's a problem there but I doubt it. My guess is still HW or drivers.

Since we already tried graphics drivers, lets first do some tests:
RAM is the most obvious candidate:

Download a copy of Memtest86 and burn the ISO to a CD using Iso Recorder or another ISO burning program.

Boot from the CD, and leave it running for at least 5 or 6 passes.

Just remember, any time Memtest reports errors, it can be either bad RAM or a bad motherboard slot.

Test the sticks individually, and if you find a good one, test it in all slots.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105647-ram-test-memtest86.html

Click to expand...

You'll find the download location in the tutorial.

This takes at least a night.... 8 hours or so as you need to let memtest run for 5-7 passes at least.

If that works fine, it is not ram nor the mobo part that supports the ram. Next up is CPU etc:

Try this free stress test: Free Software - GIMPS

Prime95 Setup:
- extract the contents of the zip file to a location of your choice
- double click on the executable file
- select "Just stress testing"
- select the "Blend" test. If you've already run MemTest overnight you may want to run the "Small FFTs" test instead.
- "Number of torture test threads to run" should equal the number of CPU's times 2 (if you're using hyperthreading).
The easiest way to figure this out is to go to Task Manager...Performance tab - and see the number of boxes under CPU Usage History
Then run the test for 6 to 24 hours - or until you get errors (whichever comes first).
The Test selection box and the stress.txt file describes what components that the program stresses.

Click to expand...

Please post back with any results or questions...

MvdB said:

Something strange here, these dumps (3 of them) are all of the 22 of july... None for today.
Your latest errorlog entry is from the 23rd...where it seemed to have start a Startup Repair...
Did this happen over the course of 1,5days? Like from the 22nd at night into the 23rd trying to get the system back?

In this case you had 2 A's pointing to system files... and one C4 (what's in a name...) pointing to PnkBstrB.exe. Yhe latter is software that came with one or more games you play. Its purpose is to make sure you do not use game cheats and other help to gain an unfair edge in internet play against others. It could be there's a problem there but I doubt it. My guess is still HW or drivers.

Since we already tried graphics drivers, lets first do some tests:

Click to expand...

It did try to do a startup repair at the time of the post, but the last time I tried(Which was the day before) it didn't give me any options besides System Restoring. Never found a problem.

I've been using PunkBuster for a while, I've heard that there are problems, but it's mainly just it thinking some background stuff is a virus/hook, and when the Bad Company 2 game was released it had many problems with it kicking people, but nothing like this. I've also used it for Call of Duty 4, and apart from lag(It does constant checks to see if you are cheating, annoying) it never caused a BSOD or anything.

As I said before, I had RAM in this box before that I did stress test in all four slots and had no problems whatsoever, but we decided to replace them because we thought they were the problem. Again, the RAM inside this box is BRAND NEW, no more than a few weeks old.

CPU is also brand new(Or refurbished I suppose), I sent in my old one because we thought it was a CPU problem(Instantly crashed when running the Prime95 stress test). I also remember stress testing the new one(Also only a month or so old) and it passed when I did it, so there's that.

I'm starting to think more and more that this is a motherboard problem rather than anything else, and what is a good, under $100 board that's reliable and would allow me to Crossfire(Or was the term SLI?) two 5770's later on? I'd also love it if the board would be able to allow me to OC my i2 to an i4, that would be great.

I'd love to advice on that but that is difficult for me as mobo's and specifically prices vary greatly and the US market is very different from our European/Dutch market.... If you want I'll ask for US based advise?

MvdB said:

I'd love to advice on that but that is difficult for me as mobo's and specifically prices vary greatly and the US market is very different from our European/Dutch market.... If you want I'll ask for US based advise?

Click to expand...

That would be nice, as I said in a previous post I was looking at this board:
Newegg.com - MSI 870S-G46 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s ATX AMD Motherboard

Does it look like it would be a good bang for its buck? As I said before, many people said theirs arrived dead on arrival which is something concerning, and if that's the case should I just get my current one replaced by Biostar for one that works?

For that question it is a good idea to start a new thread here: Hardware & Devices - Windows 7 Forums