BSOD Randomly, Win7, HP Pavilion H8-1041

Hello:

I need help with a random BSOD that I have been experiencing on this HP Pavilion H8-1041 Win7 64-bit machine. I bought it refurbished and it seems this problem existed since day1. It was running Win7 Premium and now Win7 Pro, but the same problem still exists. Warranty already expired, although it is only 4 months old.

NOTE: I do have McAfee VirusScan 8.7 installed and up to date.

Dump is attached.

Several issues

1-this one crash was related to a disk error

KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR (7a)
The requested page of kernel data could not be read in. Typically caused by
a bad block in the paging file or disk controller error

Please run a chkdsk

Disk Check

2- McAfee
McAfee is a frequent cause of BSOD's. I would remove and replace it with Microsoft Security Essentials AT LEAST TO TEST!

http://download.mcafee.com/products/...tches/MCPR.exe

Microsoft Security Essentials - Free Antivirus for Windows


3- SP-1.
Please run the System Update Readiness Tool (SURT) and then update to SP-1


32 Bit

Download: System Update Readiness Tool for Windows 7 (KB947821) [February 2012] - Microsoft Download Center - Download Details

64 Bit

Download: System Update Readiness Tool for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB947821) [February 2012] - Microsoft Download Center - Download Details


Now update to SP-1

Learn how to install Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

That was very prompt response. Many thanks.
Ok, here is what I did so far:
1. Ran chkdsk and saw that it deleted hundreds of index entries! It did not report any bad blocks though.
2. I kept McAfee as this was only installed lately. The BSOD was there before I installed McAfee. So, for the time being, I assume it is not the cause of the problem.
3. Installed SURT, then SP-1 successfully among other updates, and finally restarted my machine.
No BSODs since then.
What should I do next?
I would like to know about the suspected disk controller error. In one of my diagnostic trials, I got disk error code 303 reported by the SMART test during startup. But I only saw this error once. Could this be confirming a faulty disk controller? Keep in mind that this was a very recent install of Win7 Pro retail version, after I had the same problem with the previous OEM install of Win7 Prem.

My pleasure


1-good

2-McAfee is your choice of course.

3-Good news on SP-1. Wait for the next BSOD/DMP

4-It could and if I were y ou I would run the mfr's HD Utility to check yours.

I have just experienced what I thought was a BSOD but it is probably not.

Basically, the system suddenly stops responding but I see nothing on my screen because it goes to energy saver mode. This was exactly the case when I had BSODs previously. That's why I thought it was another BSOD. So I had to restart my machine forcefully. But I didn't get the usual warning message (after windows started) about a BSOD.



I thought the USB power settings might be wrong, so I disabled the energy saver mode on all USB ports. The problem still happens. The common thing about it when it happens is that I am usually downloading stuff while also playing videos.


What do you advise me to do? Is this related to my initial problem?

Thanks.

alidubais said:

I have just experienced what I thought was a BSOD but it is probably not.

Basically, the system suddenly stops responding but I see nothing on my screen because it goes to energy saver mode. This was exactly the case when I had BSODs previously. That's why I thought it was another BSOD. So I had to restart my machine forcefully. But I didn't get the usual warning message (after windows started) about a BSOD.



I thought the USB power settings might be wrong, so I disabled the energy saver mode on all USB ports. The problem still happens. The common thing about it when it happens is that I am usually downloading stuff while also playing videos.


What do you advise me to do? Is this related to my initial problem?

Thanks.

Start by uploading any new BSOD's

Dont forget I am still betting McAfee is playing a role

Well, my machine has frozen many times during the past few days. Again, it happens whenever I play videos.

Everytime it did, the screen will be black (energy saver mode). I got no BSOD dump all those times until I got one today. So, I am uplodaing the new dump.

I am still holding to McAfee, but will uninstall it if the new dump does not point to the root cause of the problem.

Your crash indicates a Video TDR Error caused the crash.

• H2SO4 said:

  These are all stop 0x116 VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE conditions.
  
  It's not a true crash, in the sense that the bluescreen was initiated only because the combination of video driver and video hardware was being unresponsive, and not because of any synchronous processing exception.
  
  Since Vista, the "Timeout Detection and Recovery" (TDR) components of the OS video subsystem have been capable of doing some truly impressive things to try to recover from issues which would have caused earlier OSs like XP to crash. As a last resort, the TDR subsystem sends the video driver a "please restart yourself now!" command and waits a few seconds. If there's no response, the OS concludes that the video driver/hardware combo has truly collapsed in a heap, and it fires off that stop 0x116 BSOD.
  
  If playing with video driver versions hasn't helped, make sure the box is not overheating. Try removing a side panel and aiming a big mains fan straight at the motherboard and GPU. Run it like that for a few hours or days - long enough to ascertain whether cooler temperatures make a difference. If so, it might be as simple as dust buildup and subsequently inadequate cooling.
  The above quote was taken from https://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-d...tml#post280172, which is linked to in usasma's thread about this error. Closely follow the first three posts of usasma's thread outlining STOP 0x116: VIDEO_TDR_ERROR troubleshooting and proceed through each step. Let us know if you need further help.

You gave me a good hint:

Before attempting to apply the steps recommended above, I decided to open the case to check the video card. Well, guess what I found? One of the cables got into the video card's cooling fan so it was overheating and that's what caused all these freezes!

The machine is running smoothly now. I should have checked the machine when I first got it. It is a refurb, that's a lesson for me. I hope the card didn't sustain any damages.

Not sure what HP is doing, but I am writing to them to complain and asking for a warranty extension. Wish me luck.

alidubais said:

You gave me a good hint:

Before attempting to apply the steps recommended above, I decided to open the case to check the video card. Well, guess what I found? One of the cables got into the video card's cooling fan so it was overheating and that's what caused all these freezes!

The machine is running smoothly now. I should have checked the machine when I first got it. It is a refurb, that's a lesson for me. I hope the card didn't sustain any damages.

Not sure what HP is doing, but I am writing to them to complain and asking for a warranty extension. Wish me luck.

HP is difficult when it comes to warranties. There are so many things they say void the warranty that sometimes it just gets written off to a learning experience.

One other thing only when it is out of warranty, and only if you feel comfortable with it is the re-application of thermal paste.

Between that and a laptop cooling pad I was able to lower the max load temp on my DV-7 by 25F and it took about an hour.

Good luck.