Intermittent BSODs, errors 0x0c2, 0x019, 0x05c, 0x00a

Hi,

My laptop is around 9 months old, and first showed a few BSODs about 6 months ago. It is still within warranty, and I sent it back to the manufacturer, who apparently did a RAM burn-in or test, found nothing, factory reset it and sent it back. This solved the problem for a few months before it started again, and it has continued for the past month or so. The error codes are in the title in abbreviated form. The BSODs tend to occur when either loading the desktop or launching a program, but they aren't reliably caused by anything and I think they have sometimes happened when doing basic word processing/web surfing etc.
I have run the windows memcheck for a total of 4 passes (2 on standard setting, and 2 on extended) and dskchk at least twice, both with no joy. I updated drivers, and finally the BIOS about a week ago. Since the BIOS update I have had no BSODs, but they are really sporadic (occurring sometimes every day, sometimes once a fortnight), so it's hard to know whether the problem is actually solved.
I tried looking at the minidumps (attached) with BlueScreenView, which shows a problem every time with ntoskrnl.exe, and sometimes fbfmon.sys, fltmgr.sys, hal.dll, and fileinfo.sys additionally, but none of these other files are consistently flagged as problems.
I would really appreciate any help in tracking down the problem as far as possible, as my warranty expires in about 3 months, and if the problem was not fixed by the BIOS update, it would be useful to have some ammunition when I send it back so maybe it will actually get fixed this time. Basically I'd like to know if there is a chance that my BIOS update fixed the problem or not based on what the minidumps show, because I don't have the knowledge to verify this.
The OS listed in my specs is the original one, and I'm not overclocking anything.
Apologies for the mammoth post, but I've tried to be as comprehensive as possible.

Thanks.

Hi and welcome to Seven Forums,

If you are overclocking your system, please return all overclocked components to their stock speeds. If the BSOD's are found not to be caused by the overclock, you can re-overclock the components once we have finished the diagnostics


I have noticed you have 2 anti-virus programs installed, Zone Alarm and AVG. Please correct me if I'm wrong though! Two real time anti-virus programs can cause conflicts so I would recommend uninstalling them both and replacing them with Microsoft Security Essentials. This will offer better protection and is less likely to contribute to a BSOD. If you want on demand malware protection I recommend Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. How to use Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware to scan and remove malware from your computer.


The BSOD dumps you gave me do not give a definitive cause for your BSOD's. They pointed at ntkrnlmp.exe which is a system file and very unlikely to cause a BSOD.

As a result I recommend you check your hardware for issues. Please run Memtest86+ to check your RAM. Let it run for 6-8 passes overnight as described in the tutorial. Pay particular attention to parts 2 and 3.

Also check your HDD for errors using Seatools and chkdsk.. Download and create a bootable version of the Seatools for DOS program as described here. For check disk, follow this tutorial: Disk Check

If you have any questions, feel free to ask
Stephen

In addition to the excellent steps Stephen has suggested: Crashes primarily point to hardware. They may be related to your processor, your hard disk (run Stephen's checks for the hard disks and memory), or your motherboard (those are my prime suspects, but it still may be something else entirely). Run some hardware checks.

• If you are overclocking any hardware, please stop.
  
  
• Monitor temperatures during the following tests.
  
  Use the following programs to monitor the temperatures.
  • Real Temp is a good CPU temperature monitor.
  • Speccy - System Information - Free Download will monitor all hardware temperatures.
  • HWiNFO, HWiNFO32 & HWiNFO64 - Hardware Information and Analysis Tools can be inaccurate for CPU temperatures, but is a good program for GPU temperature monitoring.
  
  
  • Use FurMark: VGA Stress Test, Graphics Card and GPU Stability Test, Burn-in Test, OpenGL Benchmark and GPU Temperature | oZone3D.Net to test the graphics card GPU. Let it run until the GPU temperatures even out or until the GPU temperatures reach a dangerous level (you can find the max temperature for your card on either the nVidia or AMD sites; if you are not sure, ask us). The goal is to get a steady temperature, find out if the GPU is overheating, or to see if there are any artifacts present in the test itself: look for strange pixelated patterns on the screen or colors that do not look like they belong. Then use the |MG| Video Memory Stress Test 1.7.116 Download to test your graphics card memory. Let the memory test run for at least seven passes; the more the better.
    
    
  • Run Hardware - Stress Test With Prime95 to determine any hardware problems. Run all three tests for a few hours each. If you get errors, stop the test and post back here.
    
    
  • Follow the steps for doing CPU stress test using IntelBurnTest

Hi,

I've only run Memtest86+ so far, which ran for 11 passes with no errors. I ran chkdsk before with no results as a I said, but when I tried to run Seatools it showed the message "no hard drives found". I read somewhere that you need to configure your hard drive to IDE instead of AHCI, but I don't know what that means or if it's safe to mess about with those settings in BIOS. Any idea why it isn't working?

Also, my computer does not have a discrete GPU, but runs on the integrated Intel hd 3000 graphics that come with the i series CPUs. Should I just run the CPU stress test, or should I run the FurMark GPU test? And are the stress tests likely to invalidate my warranty?

Thanks,
Tom

EDIT: I ran the Seatools for Windows tests (long generic, short drive self test, SMART check) instead, all with no errors. Can I write the HDD off as the culprit now?

I also forgot to mention that I had another BSOD 2 days ago, so the BIOS update didn't fix the problem. I've run the BSOD Dump & System File Collection app again and attached the results (only the most recent dump from 20/06/12 is new).