Random BSOD last two days

Hi, I need help troubleshoot BSODs I have been having the last two days. Attached are the dump files and the system health report. This started only the last two days. No such issues since OS was installed last month.

OS
- Window 7 Ultimate SP1 64bit
- Full Retail
- OS installed about a month ago

Hardware
- Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3 (rev. 1.0)
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.00GHz
- RAM: Corsair Dominator 2GB (2x1GB DDR2) 1066MHz PC2-8500 C5 (TWIN2X2048-8500C5D G)
- Graphics card: MSI 5770 Hawk
- PSU: Corsair TX750


Thank you.

nihaz said:

Hi, I need help troubleshoot BSODs I have been having the last two days. Attached are the dump files and the system health report. This started only the last two days. No such issues since OS was installed last month.

OS
- Window 7 Ultimate SP1 64bit
- Full Retail
- OS installed about a month ago

Hardware
- Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3 (rev. 1.0)
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.00GHz
- RAM: Corsair Dominator 2GB (2x1GB DDR2) 1066MHz PC2-8500 C5 (TWIN2X2048-8500C5D G)
- Graphics card: MSI 5770 Hawk
- PSU: Corsair TX750


Thank you.

Memory corruption caused by a driver. Please run these two tests


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.



Driver verifier

I'd suggest that you first backup your stuff and then make sure you've got access to another computer so you can contact us if problems arise. Then make a System Restore point (so you can restore the system using the Vista/Win7 Startup Repair feature).

In Windows 7 you can make a Startup Repair disk by going to Start....All Programs...Maintenance...Create a System Repair Disc - with Windows Vista you'll have to use your installation disk or the "Repair your computer" option at the top of the Safe Mode menu .

Then, here's the procedure:
- Go to Start and type in "verifier" (without the quotes) and press Enter
- Select "Create custom settings (for code developers)" and click "Next"
- Select "Select individual settings from a full list" and click "Next"
- Select everything EXCEPT FOR "Low Resource Simulation" and click "Next"
- Select "Select driver names from a list" and click "Next"
Then select all drivers NOT provided by Microsoft and click "Next"
- Select "Finish" on the next page.

Reboot the system and wait for it to crash to the Blue Screen. Continue to use your system normally, and if you know what causes the crash, do that repeatedly. The objective here is to get the system to crash because Driver Verifier is stressing the drivers out. If it doesn't crash for you, then let it run for at least 36 hours of continuous operation (an estimate on my part).

If you can't get into Windows because it crashes too soon, try it in Safe Mode.
If you can't get into Safe Mode, try using System Restore from your installation DVD to set the system back to the previous restore point that you created.

Thanks for the help zigzag3143.

I used memtest86+ 4.20 usb installer to create a bootable usb drive since my dvd drive does not work well. Ran it for about 3 passes and did not show any errors. Will leave it running tonight.

I tried the driver verifier. When i first configured it as instructed, I could not get into windows. It crashes and restarts. I was able to go into safe mode. In safe mode I tried to troubleshoot by selecting drivers separately. Found out the sptd driver was causing the problem, which was installed along with Daemon Tools Lite. Now, with the driver removed (as well as Daemon Tools Lite) I'm able to boot to windows. No BSOD yet (only 2 hours) and all non Microsoft drivers are selected in driver verifier as instructed. I had sptd version 1.76. Used the 1.78 installer to uninstall the old version. Haven't installed version 1.78.

By the way, the BSODs started few days after i installed The Sims 3. Daemon Tools Lite was installed about a month before but wasn't used to load any images. After installing The Sims 3, I used Daemon Tools Lite to load a no-disk image to play the game and kept it loaded all the time. I wonder if that SPTD driver was the cause of the BSODs. Anyway, will wait for another BSOD.

Thanks.

Memtest86+ 4.20 made 13 passes last night with no errors. So far no BSOD also.

nihaz said:

Memtest86+ 4.20 made 13 passes last night with no errors. So far no BSOD also.

Sptd.sys is a known cause and I always recommend its removal

Looks like there are more problems than just that SPTD driver. I had several BSODs since last night.

After getting about three BSODs I decided to post here about it. So I used the BSOD Dump & System File Collection app. Went well. When I tried perfmon, it BSOD again before anything could be viewed. And this time even in Safe mode it BSOD. So i booted to Memtest86+ when it restarted (no shutdown or power cycle), and it showed all errors.

I changed the RAM voltages back to normal and the timings to SPD. As mentioned above, I have a corsair dominator, which requires 2.1 volts. The timing is 5-5-5-15. Then the memetest stopped showing errors again. Passed 3 times with no errors. Now i was thinking, we had a power cut from the whole neighbourhood earlier that night. I thought maybe the power interruption caused something in the BIOS configurations. So i reset BIOS to optimized defaults and reconfigured everything. Also changed RAM to OC setting of 2.1v and 5-5-5-15 timing. Things were normal again. No memtest errors.

But again this morning it BSOD, and kept on restarting. Ran memtest and there again, all errors. This time also I did not power cycle the PC. I tried to check if it was just one stick or both that was having errors. Am not very sure if this is the way, but i set an upper limit to 1024 and memtest stopped counting errors. With 1024 set to lower limit, it was counting errors. I don't know a way to clear the red error detail screen, so I don't know if the errors on screen are from the new or old setting. Anyway, while i was trying to figure out the configurations, the errors suddenly disappeared in a new scan. Even after restarting, there are no errors. Can load windows too with no problems at all.

My qestion is, can a driver or virus in the OS cause this? Can restarting without power cycling leave some things that could cause memtest to show errors? And do RAMs suddenly show errors and then again stop doing so the same way?

Next time, I will power cycle before checking for errors.

I wrote the above post about two hours ago and saved in a txt file. Before i could post, the system crashed and it has restored to an older date. Now attached is a new BSOD Dump & System File Collection and system health report.

nihaz said:

I wrote the above post about two hours ago and saved in a txt file. Before i could post, the system crashed and it has restored to an older date. Now attached is a new BSOD Dump & System File Collection and system health report.

Easy, your Avast. Would remove and replace with Microsoft security essentials.

http://files.avast.com/files/eng/aswclear5.exe

Virus, Spyware & Malware Protection | Microsoft Security Essentials