BSOD first when playing graphics intensive games, now when browsing

Around the new year, I installed new RAM. Ever since, I have been getting BSOD at various times. I ran memtest86 and it came back clean. Unfortunately I left the old RAM a few thousand miles away so I can't test it with that. I also started playing a couple of more graphics intensive games (Star Trek Online and BFBC2) around that same time. At first, the BSOD would only occur during gameplay. Lately, the games have been running better but I get random blue screens while web browsing about once a week. The ones during games usually said atimpag.sys or dxgmms.sys. The ones during browsing usually say ntfs.sys or fltmgr.sys. ntoskrnl.exe seems to occur with both. I've attached a file with the dmps and some screen shots of cpuz. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

aksteve said:

Around the new year, I installed new RAM. Ever since, I have been getting BSOD at various times. I ran memtest86 and it came back clean. Unfortunately I left the old RAM a few thousand miles away so I can't test it with that. I also started playing a couple of more graphics intensive games (Star Trek Online and BFBC2) around that same time. At first, the BSOD would only occur during gameplay. Lately, the games have been running better but I get random blue screens while web browsing about once a week. The ones during games usually said atimpag.sys or dxgmms.sys. The ones during browsing usually say ntfs.sys or fltmgr.sys. ntoskrnl.exe seems to occur with both. I've attached a file with the dmps and some screen shots of cpuz. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

1. These crashes were caused by memory corruption/exception (`c0000005) (probably a driver).

Memtest ran for how many passes there?

We recommend to leave it running for at least 5 or 6 passes.


* If you are overclocking anything reset to default before running these tests.
In other words STOP!!!

* If you have Raid update its Driver.


2. Suggest you run Driver verifier.

Using Driver Verifier is an iffy proposition. Most times it'll crash and it'll tell you the driver is. But sometimes it'll crash and won't tell you the driver. Other times it'll crash before you can log in to Windows. If you can't get to Safe Mode, then you'll have to resort to offline editing of the registry to disable Driver Verifier.

So, 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).

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 "Special Pool", "Force Pending I/O Requests" and "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.

Reboot into Windows (after the crash) and turn off Driver Verifier by going back in and selecting "Delete existing settings" on the first page, then locate and zip up the memory dump file and upload it with your next post.

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.

I ran memtest86 for much longer this time. After the 5th pass, it started detecting errors. At first it was just two, but then suddenly it started showing them constantly counting up in the millions. I proceeded to test the sticks with memtest with only one in at a time to try and find the faulty one. Each one went through 6 passes + without issue. So they fail when they're together, but all pass when they're apart. Not sure what to do from here...

Run Windows with one module at a time. See if one module provides stability where the other does not. If so, you have found your good/bad module.

Avoid Static Damage to Your PC when swapping RAM modules.