BSOD playing various games, ntoskrnl.exe

JsnThrtn · 08 Dec 2012

This might be an *aggressively* stupid hypothesis, but could an error or misstep with pagefile.sys cause this issue to occur?

I only bring this up because I just caused the BSOD to occur while watching a really long video. That seems more RAM related than video card memory (which I realize doesn't mean much on its own), but it's also worth bringing up because, up until very recently, I did not have pagefile.sys on my machine, due to me mismanaging space on my C: drive. Once I cleared up space, it created itself (which is right when these BSODs started popping up). It seems suspicious that a memory error has started to occur very shortly after a memory utility has been activated.

But this is going far beyond my actual knowledge of computers, and I'm aware it could sound incredibly ignorant if I'm just way off the mark. I'm also aware, though, that a newly created pagefile.sys on a 3 year old machine is atypical, so I thought I would just throw it out there.

I can keep my crazy theories to myself, though, if what I'm saying just does not make sense in how the operating system acts. As it stands, I've gotten rid of pagefile.sys for the time being, and I'm going to run the video card memory test on a loop overnight.

koolkat77 · 08 Dec 2012

Will be waiting for an update.

After the video memory test you can test RAM when you have time.

This way:

Take memtest. Run for 8 passes and test each stick in a know good slot for an additional 6 passes.

RAM - Test with Memtest86+

The goal is to test all the RAM sticks and all the motherboard slots.

Check your motherboard manual to ensure the RAM sticks are in the recommended motherboard slots. Some motherboards have very specific slots required for the number of RAM sticks installed.

If you get errors, stop the test and continue with the next step.

1. Remove all but one stick of RAM from your computer (this will be RAM stick #1), and run Memtest86 again, for 7 passes.

*Be sure to note the RAM stick, use a piece of tape with a number, and note the motherboard slot.

If this stick passes the test then go to step #3.

2. If RAM stick #1 has errors, repeat the test with RAM stick #2 in the same motherboard slot.

*If RAM stick #2 passes, this indicates that RAM stick #1 may be bad. If you want to be absolutely sure, re-test RAM stick #1 in another known good slot.

*If RAM stick #2 has errors, this indicates another possible bad RAM stick, a possible motherboard slot failure or inadequate settings.

3. Test the next stick of RAM (stick #2) in the next motherboard slot.

*If this RAM stick has errors repeat step #2 using a known good stick if possible, or another stick.

*If this RAM stick has no errors and both sticks failed in slot#1, test RAM stick #1 in this slot.

4. If you find a stick that passes the test, test it in all the other motherboard slots.

If Part 2 testing shows errors, and all tests in Part 3 show errors, you will need to test the RAM sticks in another computer and/or test other RAM in your computer to identify the problem.

In this way, you can identify whether it is a bad stick of RAM, a bad motherboard, or incompatibility between the sticks.

Errors are sometimes found after 8 passes.

Do this test overnight, before going to bed.

JsnThrtn · 09 Dec 2012

Quick update:

Ran video memory test overnight. 22 passes, 0 faults.

Had a chance to play a good amount of gaming content today, no BSOD. The only thing that's actually changed since the last BSOD is the removal of pagefile.sys.

Going to run memtest86 overnight and well into tomorrow as a precautionary measure.

I'll update if anything notable occurs. If everything stays stable for a few days I'll mark as solved.

Thank you again for all the support.

JsnThrtn · 11 Dec 2012

Ran memtest86 2 days ago, 9 cycles, no errors.

No BSOD's in the last 2 days, with heavy computer use.

Marking thread as solved. Thank you so much for your time.

koolkat77 · 11 Dec 2012

Thanks for the update. Post back if the problems arise again.

Also keep a check on hardware temperatures.

For monitoring the heat/celsius of the system, use Speccy or HWinfo:

Good luck.