Two BSODs while playing, error 0x0000001A

zipli · 28 Oct 2013

Hey,

My computer has been running without any problems for a while now, but out of nowhere I got two BSODs and there was only few hours between them. This got me concerned and I figured you guys could help me identify the problems, since I'm not that tech savvy myself.

I believe it was the same 1A error at both times, but can't be absolutely certain. In both cases I was playing a game, and had firefox + it's flash plugin running at background. I was only able to get the most recent dmp file though, but I hope it helps. At another note, there's been few weeks from the last Windows update. I got a bit paranoid, since there was an update way back which caused some random BSODs.

koolkat77 · 28 Oct 2013

Welcome to the forum.

Remove Daemon Tools/Alchohol completely. SPTD.sys is known to cause BSODs.
- How to remove sptd.sys from system
- Registry and SPTD problems | DAEMON Pro Help

Uninstall your current AV for testing purpose. Microsoft Security Essentials & the Free version of Malwarebytes, update and make full scans separately:

Note

Do not start the trial version of MalwareBytes

Also take a look at: Good & Free System Security Combination

Virus Check:
- Make scans with these tools below:
  - TDSSKiller Rootkit Removal Utility Free Download | Kaspersky Lab US
  - Online Virus Scanner Eset
Application conflict:
- Reduce the start-up items. This will help avoid software conflicts:
  - Remove Startup Programs in Windows 7
  - Clean Startup in Windows 7

Use Crystal Disk Info to upload a screenshot of your Hard Drives (s).
- Then test your Hard Drives (s) running a Hard Drive Diag.

Test and Diagnose RAM issues with MEMTEST86+
- Pay close attention to Part 3 of the tutorial "If you have errors". Take the test for at least 7-10 passes. It may take up to 22 passes to find problems.
  - Make sure to run it once after the system has been on for a few hours and is warm, and then also run it again when the system has been off for a few hours and is cold. RAM - Test with Memtest86+

Check for heating issues using Speccy or HWmonitor
- HWMonitor CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting
- Speccy - System Information - Free Download
  - Please upload a summary tab using Speccy. Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in Seven Forums

Let us know the results.

zipli · 29 Oct 2013

Hey,

Thanks for your quick reply and sorry that I took some time to reply back. I'm quite busy at the moment, so I only had time to scan for viruses (nothing major found) and take the screen from the hard drives and speccy summary tab. I also reduced the number of programs at start up. Haven't had another BSOD yet, but my firefox has been crashing awfully lot in the last two days. I wonder if it could have something to do with this?

Anyway, I'll try out memtest and hard drive diag in the as soon as possible and report back.

PS. Not sure if this is relevant in any way, but my graphics card runs around 65-75 when heavily stressed. Used to run a bit higher, but I started using MSI Afterburner and created a custom fan speed profile.

PS(2). The I: and H: Hard drives in the screenshot are external HDs.

koolkat77 · 30 Oct 2013

The caution indication can be converted to good using CrystalDiscInfo. Click on the caution Button, you will get another window ....

In the resulting window, there are three sliders in the left. Drag them to the ultimate left, and notice the values at the right side are converting to zeros.

Now click the apply button, and notice that the caution is gone.

Also, scan the Samsung 750 GB HDD with Seatools for Windows: SeaTools | Seagate

zipli · 02 Nov 2013

Sorry for the lack of updates, been quite busy. I did the seatools windows scan, (long and short generic) the samsung HD. It failed on both cases, but passed the seatools S.M.A.R.T scan.

I also had another bluescreen. I added the dmp file in a zip as an attachment. I would've uploaded the whole deal using the SF diagnostics tool, but it gave a missing file error (SysApp or something), weird.

koolkat77 · 02 Nov 2013

That's an old dump.

zipli · 03 Nov 2013

Huh, yes it is. It was the only one in the dump folder though. I wonder why it didn't create a new dump file.

As a side note, I'm going to leave my pc to run memtest86 overnight and see if it finds anything.

zipli · 04 Nov 2013

Well I ran the memtest86 (v.4.0) for just under 5 hours, 9 passes or so, and there were PLENTY of errors. I believe the only test with no errors was the first one, other had random numbers of errors if I read the summary correctly. I can't really say that I know how to read the information given by the memtest correctly, but I'm rather sure there should be absolutely no errors if the memory were good.

Should I test the ram seperately to know which one (or both) is the faulty one, or can memtest tell me that?

I've also heard that errors could be happening because of wrong memory settings in BIOS (voltage, clocks, etc.). Is there any way to confirm this?

Can the older version of memtest cause problems? I happened to have boot cd of 4.0 already and used that. The newest version is 4.3.5 or something like that.

PS. Considering the huge number of errors it gave (some tests had several thousand) I'm surprised my PC is running at all tbh

Arc · 05 Nov 2013

Now follow the "Part 3: If You Have Errors:" of How to Test and Diagnose RAM Issues with Memtest86+

Errors/red lines means one or more RAM is faulty. But the fault may occur due to a faulty DIMM slot, too, which is a motherboard component. Using memtest86+, you can discriminate between a faulty RAM and a faulty motherboard.

How? Say you have two RAM sticks and two DIMM slots. You obtained errors at the test with all RAM sticks installed. Now, remove all the sticks but one. Test it in all the available slots, one by one. Continue the same procedure for all the available sticks.
How to make the inference that is it a RAM issue or it is a motherboard issue? Suppose you have got the result like that:

No code has to be inserted here.
It is a RAM, a bad RAM.

But if you have got a result like that:

No code has to be inserted here.
It is a motherboard issue. The particular slot is bad.

zipli · 05 Nov 2013

Well I spent better part of the night testing out the slots and the memory. Turns out that one of the RAM sticks were faulty. I replaced it and haven't had bluescreen yet. I think the problems is now fixed. Haven't had program crashes, which were freguent, and my PC starts up way faster without the faulty ram.

Thanks to both of you for your patience and help.