BSODs running various sw (or idling after startup) w exceptions

Do1029ug3 · 11 Jan 2014

I've been getting BSODs with increasing frequency over the past year on my 4+ year-old HP dv7t. Although it's become unstable, it performs well in between crashes, and I'd like to resolve the BSODs without reinstalling Windows if possible. (BTW, it still has the original BIOS CMOS battery, which I have not tested yet.)Over the last year I've used it mainly for writing a couple of journal articles (Office 2007), developing and running Matlab (R2008a) codes, browsing the Internet over wired and Wi-Fi connections, and watching videos, but no gaming. In a typical session of 4 to 8 hours, there may be 3 or 4 BSODs after a successful (but slow) startup or occasionally a black-screen freeze during startup. I've gotten BSODs while backing up files to a USB flash drive, while actively browsing with multiple tabs, and while away from the (idle) machine. It's been difficult relating the crashes to any specific activity. The output from the "WhoCrashed" diagnostic tool suggested upgrading the nVidia kernel driver nvlddmkm.sys and the Symantec driver symds64.sys. The recent crashes all resulted from exceptions in system services (0x3B) or from non-handled exceptions in system threads (0x1000007E) or kernel-mode threads (0x1E). Without symbols or a detailed understanding of Windows software, I'm lost. Hoping someone can suggest some things to try and/or help interpreting what the SF Diagnostic Tools has collected. Thanks in advance,Doug

koolkat77 · 11 Jan 2014

Check if you get BSOD's in safe mode. Start your computer in safe mode - Microsoft Windows Help

Next carry out the steps below:

Based on the bugchecks, I would recommend you follow and complete the steps given below:

1. If you are overclocking any hardware, please stop. Reset any changed values back to default and reset/clear CMOS: Clear CMOS - 3 Ways to Clear the CMOS - Reset BIOS. Uninstall any overclocking tool as these can also be a reason of blue screens.

2. Uninstall your current antivirus software. It can be a cause of BSOD very often. Please remove it with its removal tool and use Microsoft Security Essentials in its place. Malwarebytes is a great combination with it. Go through this thread for more info.

3. Run Disk Check with both boxes checked for all HDDs and with Automatically fix file system errors. Post back your logs for the checks after finding them using Check Disk (chkdsk) - Read Event Viewer Log

4. Run SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker to check windows for integrity violations. Run it up to three times to fix all errors. Post back if it continues to show errors after a fourth run or if the first run comes back with no integrity violations.

5. Make scans with Kaspersky TDSskiller and ESET Online scanner.

6. Perform a Clean Start up, this will help avoid any problematic applications from bugging the system.

7. Use Revo Uninstaller Free to uninstall stubborn software. Opt for Advanced Mode and uninstall the software, delete the leftover registry entries.

8. Use Crystal Disk Info to upload a screenshot of your Hard Drives (s). Test your Hard Drives (s) running a Hard Drive Diag.

9. Test and Diagnose RAM issues with RAM - Test 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.

10. Monitor hardware temperature for overheating issues with system monitoring software like Speccy or HWMonitor. Upload a screen shot of the Summary tab as well:

Do1029ug3 · 12 Jan 2014

Koolkat77, thanks so much for the very specific steps to try and for the accompanying explanations and links.

Re your initial suggestion to restart in Safe Mode:
At various times following BSODs, I've restarted in Safe Mode (With Networking) long enough for the system to come up, render the Desktop with reduced screen resolution, and respond normally to mouse and keyboard input. I used these SM restarts as checks that the PC would come up successfully, but didn't stay in SM beyond that point.

I don't recall any freezes or crashes having happened during those Safe Mode startups. Are you suggesting that I restart in SM With Networking (or one of the other SMs) and stay in SM beyond the successful startup and spend some time there?

Re step 1:
I've noticed that going into the BIOS setup utility at startup time, it doesn't allow me to change much of anything. Is this normal? I'm wondering if it means my CMOS battery needs to be replaced. One source I read said they're supposed to last 10 years, and another said it should be replaced as a matter of course after 3 years.

Re step 2:
As you suggest, I'll uninstall Norton 360, install Microsoft Security Essentials, and add Malwarebytes as a supplement. Interestingly, we have another dv7t running Norton Internet Security instead of Norton 360, that has not suffered from these problems so far. It was bought in June 2012 and also runs 64-bit Win7.

Thanks again,
Doug

koolkat77 · 13 Jan 2014

Thanks for the feedback.

Keep us posted.

Do1029ug3 · 13 Jan 2014

Hi again,

So here's the progress so far:

Restarted in Safe Mode with Networking and encountered no problems.

Ran the BIOS setup utility and, as before, saw no opportunity to change anything except date, time, possibly boot order, and to reset the BIOS to its default values. I did the reset. BTW, I have not played with clock rates at any time with this PC.

Got rid of N360 with the removal tool and installed Microsoft Security Essentials + Malwarebytes. Right after MSE install, I did a quick scan. After Malwarebytes install, I did a full scan (overnight).

Ran Chkdsk on D (the Recovery Disk volume of the hard drive) on a normally booted system, and scheduled it on C, then restarted. In both cases both boxes were checked. Copied the logs from EventViewer to the attached files. Could the free memory listed as allocated have caused blue screens in some scenario?

Best,
Doug

Do1029ug3 · 14 Jan 2014

Not out of the woods entirely yet after taking the first 3 of the 10 steps recommended by koolkat77. The 2nd time I started the PC up since the previous post, it came up with the attached alert. Planning to continue on... --Doug

koolkat77 · 14 Jan 2014

Looks fine.

Code:

Chkdsk was executed in read/write mode.  

Checking file system on D:
Volume label is RECOVERY.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 5)...
  256 file records processed.                                          File verification completed.
  0 large file records processed.                                      0 bad file records processed.                                        0 EA records processed.                                              0 reparse records processed.                                       CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 5)...
  346 index entries processed.                                         Index verification completed.


CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 5)...
  256 file SDs/SIDs processed.                                         Cleaning up 45 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 45 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 45 unused security descriptors.
Security descriptor verification completed.
  46 data files processed.                                            CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
  1172152 USN bytes processed.                                             Usn Journal verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
  240 files processed.                                                 File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
  650569 free clusters processed.                                         Free space verification is complete.
Windows has checked the file system and found no problems.

  15808511 KB total disk space.
  13138208 KB in 81 files.
        44 KB in 47 indexes.
     67979 KB in use by the system.
     65536 KB occupied by the log file.
   2602280 KB available on disk.

      4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
   3952127 total allocation units on disk.
    650570 allocation units available on disk.

Corrections were made.

Code:

Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.

A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.                         

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 5)...
Cleaning up instance tags for file 0x457e0.
  842496 file records processed.                                          File verification completed.
  1329 large file records processed.                                      0 bad file records processed.                                        2 EA records processed.                                              76 reparse records processed.                                       CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 5)...
  999674 index entries processed.                                         Index verification completed.
  0 unindexed files scanned.                                           0 unindexed files recovered.                                       CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 5)...
  842496 file SDs/SIDs processed.                                         Cleaning up 2902 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 2902 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 2902 unused security descriptors.
Security descriptor verification completed.
  78590 data files processed.                                            CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
  37552672 USN bytes processed.                                             Usn Journal verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
  842480 files processed.                                                 File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
  62730497 free clusters processed.                                         Free space verification is complete.
CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the
master file table (MFT) bitmap.
CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the volume bitmap.
Windows has made corrections to the file system.

 472266751 KB total disk space.
 220031772 KB in 745541 files.
    350540 KB in 78591 indexes.
         0 KB in bad sectors.
    962447 KB in use by the system.
     65536 KB occupied by the log file.
 250921992 KB available on disk.

      4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
 118066687 total allocation units on disk.
  62730498 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:
00 db 0c 00 4f 93 0c 00 ff de 16 00 00 00 00 00  ....O...........
f8 43 00 00 4c 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  .C..L...........
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................

Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.

Do1029ug3 · 14 Jan 2014

4. Run SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker to check windows for integrity violations. Run it up to three times to fix all errors. Post back if it continues to show errors after a fourth run or if the first run comes back with no integrity violations.

Did this and got:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>sfc /scannow

Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

C:\Windows\system32>

On to step 5. --Doug

Do1029ug3 · 19 Jan 2014

Step 5 & 6 results:

5. Make scans with Kaspersky TDSskiller and ESET Online scanner.

TDSskiller completed without finding any threats. The ESET scan (the esetsmartinstaller_enu.exe version), run along with the SeaMonkey 2.23 browser/email client following a normal startup, led to a BSOD. The identical scenario except running Internet Explorer 9 instead of SeaMonkey, completed normally.

6. Perform a Clean Start up, this will help avoid any problematic applications from bugging the system.

An ESET scan, running with the SeaMonkey browser, completed without problems following a clean startup. Then I ran ESET along with SeaMonkey repeatedly, after Selective Startups that enabled all services but varying subsets of the startup apps. I enabled the first ten apps, then first 15, then first 18, then all 20. All completed normally, without encountering BSODs or finding threats.

I've seen only one BSOD since removing Norton 360 from my system last week. Either the startup apps aren't the problem, or the BSODs are now infrequent enough and the scans time-consuming enough (4-6 h per scan of ~800,000 files) that this divide-and-conquer approach isn't efficiently leading to a diagnosis.

Do you think it could be more productive to instrument my system with a kernel debugger, return to normal use of my PC, and wait for a future BSOD to occur? Or maybe to focus on memory, hard drive, or thermal management, which I haven't yet thoroughly tested?

Thanks in advance,
Doug

koolkat77 · 19 Jan 2014

You can hold on to that for now. Post the files following the BSOD posting instructions if they occur again.

BSODs running various sw (or idling after startup) w exceptions

BSODs running various sw (or idling after startup) w exceptions

Step 4 results (no integrity violations)

Scan results unenlightening