New
#1
BSODs fairly frequent, 0xf4, no dump created
OK, let's see if I can get help here as both hardware guys I know are baffled...
First off, I have no dump files. I have set the machine up to create minidumps, I have a pagefile on the right drive, I have tried both having Windows manage the pagefile and setting it manually to a size well above my memory size, the whole nine. I didn't even have a Minidump directory until yesterday, when I manually created it to try to encourage it to write a dump!
The error is an 0xf4. Awhile back I got a 7A but everything for a couple weeks now has been f4. It occurs at random, completely, but the last few have been preceded by a general nonresponsiveness of the machine even though I retain full mouse control.
The BSOD never makes it past initializing for crash dump; probably why there aren't any .dmp files to be had. While there are no dump files, the event viewer seems to have quite a few "Atapi - Event ID:11 - The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Ide\IdePort0" errors in clusters.
I built the system, all brand new, just under 6 months ago. Hardware is as follows:
MOBO: BIOSTAR|A880GZ
CPU: AMD quadcore FX-4100 3.6gHz
GPU: MSI|N550GTX-Ti
PSU: ANTEC|BP550 PLUS
RAM: 4Gx2|GSKILL F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL
HDD: 500G|WD SATAIII WD5000AAKX
OS: Win7Pro x64
Tests I have run thus far:
Windows Memory Diagnostic - no problems
MalwareBytes full scan (1 infected found and removed - affiliate.downloader)
MSE full scan - no problems
sfc /scannow - no problems
chkdisk - no problems
WD Data Lifeguard - was running when I left the house this morning.
I have not done memtest86+, mainly because my flash drive didn't register as bootable, but then again I've heard it isn't great with AMD procs.
I have manually updated the BIOS to latest, and had to DL and install a new ethernet driver to eliminate a /!\ in Device Manager. The BIOS solved a temporary issue wherein the machine would not fully boot with my USB Wifi Adapter plugged in.
Error conditions:
Seems to be at random. I've not seen it BSOD while playing games or doing heavy Adobe CS work or anything obvious like that. For some reason I thought it was Google Chrome doing it, and when I stopped using that it remained stable for 2 whole days (so I thought I was right) and then crashed again. Yesterday, twice.
Note: though I built the machine, it was with heavy guidance from one of my hardware-savvy friends, so if you ask or tell me something about cabling and ports on the mobo, etc, you'll have to be very, very specific. I am not a HW guy.
Thanks in advance for any assistance here - pulling my hair out.
Last edited by PrimoOptimoso; 02 Aug 2012 at 11:52. Reason: more info