Well, I suspect the licence key didn't work because I installed the latest version of AVG (which isn't, err, version 9 which I was licenced for). Durrrr
Anyway, I'm hoping when I switch my PC on again when I get home, it'll boot nicely-nice :) We shall see (and thanks, Jonathan_King - I definitely owe you one :)
With AVG 2011 it still BSODs...
Bloody POS. Uninstalling now, and won't be near this PC until Saturday. I still don't see how AVG can cause a cold boot crash - can it be something else AS WELL as AVG causing the crash with driver verifier?
Watch this space
That's something else for sure! As suspected the most AVG would cause would at the worst stall Windows when already having reached the desktop. With BSODs you want to uncheck the automatic restart in the advanced system settings if needed to jot down the actual error code.
You could be looking at a hardware issue resulting in software errors being tacked on as well or some device driver is loading sideways on you. But the actual error message on the blue screen is what you will want to pass along here since that will be pointing at the likely source of your problems.
The only other thing that I can see causing AVG to crash would be your old Realtek Ethernet drivers:Install these updated ones: RealtekCode:Rt64win7.sys Thu Aug 20 12:05:06 2009 (4A8D7432)
In my experience, cold boot BSODs are usually caused by RAM. Try running Memtest86, after your machine is cold.
RAM - Test with Memtest86+
Agreed! Bad ram will cause a lengthy list of issues to begin with. A good run of memtest certainly won't hurt.
You may want to run a hard drive diagnostics tool as well to see any if problems like bad sectors are being seen with the drive. Meanwhile try to grab any further blue screen error information since that will be the largest clue pointing to hardware or software in most cases.
Thanks guys - that's food for thought! At work we have a free licence for Sophos, so am installing that tonight BEFORE going online again first...
I've run Memtest86 overnight from a cold boot with no errors, and have chkdsk'd the hard drive a couple of times, though will retry that later as well.
The Realtek ethernet drivers are supposedly the latest ones from Gigabyte for my board, but I'll also try installing those too. Will definitely be back soon with more info - thanks for this, guys :)
Mind you, will have a good look inside my case first - I kicked the computer HARD several times on Saturday (yes, the HDD was powered down). Made me feel a lot better, but made the case look rather scuffed
Well, that was a new one; got this in SAFE MODE (with networking) before putting AVG9 back on and trying those new drivers:
irql_not_less_or_equal windows 7 0x0000000a 0x000005ab00007b370 0x00000000000000002 0x0000000000000001 0xfffff800020c6419
I think that those codes are correct... Anyhow, the computer's up for now, and I've got Memtest in my CD drive for trying from cold tomorrow morning.
Interestingly, this last BSOD didn't create a minidump file... D'oh.
At least I've not kicked the computer this time :)
The irql_not_less_or_equal part of that points to a kernel mode driver issue of some type. At least that part is software not a hardware fault. A look at the Event Viewer logs would be an idea to see what manufacturers names are seen there.
<wipes egg off face>
Ohmygod - this gets weirder and weirder (thanks by the way, Night Hawk - will try to suss that one out later)... Cold booted straight into Memtest86 this morning, and errors all over the shop - a whole wall of red! Have left it running while at work, but looks like it is mainly down to memory after all!
So - what's the likeliest cause (as it's fine after a power cycle)? Should I meddle with the memory voltages, buy some new RAM (not a happy option) or send the Corsair RAM back and get it exchanged?...
Curiouser and curiouser...
I suggest you send the RAM back for an exchange.
Out of the 100+ cold-boot BSODs I have seen, perhaps a couple of them were solved by increasing the RAM voltage slightly. Not a great success rate, but perhaps worth a shot.
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