Varied BSODs, Drivers/Memory

Sure, go with the reinstall, and backup any personal stuff you'd like to keep.

Just make sure that, that wireless PCI card is not in the machine when you do it and don't have any external devices hooked up like that USB wireless thingy, any hubs or an ethernet cable to the router or modem.

Don't have any USB cables plugged into and dangling from any USB ports even if they aren't connect to a device, there is a slim but possible chance that the OS could read the added electrical resistance caused by the cable, and think, "I wonder what this is for?".

The only devices you need connected are the monitor, keyboard, and mouse.


Your Asrock Z87 Extreme3 has a 64Mb AMI UEFI Legal BIOS with Multilingual GUI support, so you should follow this tutorial if you haven't already: UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with

Read through it to familiarize yourself on the procedures, one caveat I see is in the Warning box to tell you to Disable Secure Boot before you proceed. That link will take you to our Sister Forum, EightForums to explain how to in step #4 Option One.

This EightForums tutorial is for an ASRock X79 Extreme11, but yours should be similar, check your ASRock > Z87 Extreme3 manual first.

It does look similar: Chapter 4.8 page 94 Security Screen Secure Boot is only needed for The Windows Eight Operation System, so you won't have to re-enable.

AutSamurai said:

Ok, I plan to go ahead with this, but before that, something strange just happened.

Since you're going ahead with the reinstall the driver verifier (DV) error is a moot point, but I may have an explanation.

AutSamurai said:

I got a blue screen, but it seems to be different than the earlier ones I've been getting. Somehow, it registered as a DRIVER_VERIFIER_DETECTED_VIOLATION....? This doesn't make any sense - I didn't have driver verifier on, and just to check, I opened up verifier, deleted existing settings, and got the message "No settings were changed."

I've noted in two of your posts that you had DV on, but never verified that it was turned off. From post #5:

AutSamurai said:

Also, I suppose it's worth mentioning, I turned on Driver Verifier, but forgot to turn it off before uninstalling the drivers.

• It could be assumed from this that you did turn off DV to uninstall those drivers, did you? And, did you restart the machine? The No settings were changed message indicates you never restarted your machine.

• Can you now state that DV was turned off and you restarted your machine before it was hit with this latest BSOD?

• Every time Driver Verifier is either enabled or disabled the machine has to be restarted.

Moving forward, the fault was caused by Chrome:

Code:

*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

DRIVER_VERIFIER_DETECTED_VIOLATION (c4)
A device driver attempting to corrupt the system has been caught.  This is
because the driver was specified in the registry as being suspect (by the
administrator) and the kernel has enabled substantial checking of this driver.
If the driver attempts to corrupt the system, bugchecks 0xC4, 0xC1 and 0xA will
be among the most commonly seen crashes.
Arguments:
Arg1: 0000000000000091, A driver switched stacks using a method that is not supported by
    the operating system. The only supported way to extend a kernel
    mode stack is by using KeExpandKernelStackAndCallout.
Arg2: 0000000000000002
Arg3: fffffa8006e2d1a0
Arg4: 0000000000000000

Debugging Details:
------------------
BUGCHECK_STR:  0xc4_91

CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT:  1

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID:  VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT

PROCESS_NAME:  chrome.exe

There is a reference here:
STOP 0x000000C4: DRIVER_VERIFIER_DETECTED_VIOLATION | carrona.org that; NOTE: May occur in Win7 and later w/o Driver Verifier being enabled. With w/o meaning, without. But it still doesn't explain why DV popped an error unless you never exited DV properly.

I did try to find why that w/o behavior exists, but I couldn't come up with anything.

AutSamurai said:

My usb wireless stick also stopped working on restart. When I logged in, it started installing drivers for it, and failed. I unplugged it and plugged it back in, and it started working again.

This may explain that behavior: STOP 0xC4 may occur in tcpipreg.sys following a reboot after Driver Verifier is enabled on Windows 7 SP1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

Scroll down and look under Resolutions then read More Information. You did try to delete existing settings, but I doubt that you tried #2 to: remove the registry key that can cause the null-byte allocation.

When you plugged the stick back in the OS re-recognized and reinstalled it.

AutSamurai said:

Are the previous card's leftovers conflicting with my new wireless stick? Or does my computer just hate the internet or something?

For all intents and purposes, you were not able to find any remnants of the wireless PCI card, remember, you even tried to search for files relating to it, but nothing popped up.

Its not that your machine hates the internet, its just that it seems confused. When you go for the reinstall of the OS make sure you only have what I asked for earlier:

• One cord in, the power cord.

• Three cords out; Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse.

• When you're up and running check to make sure your .dmps are set properly. Go to: Dump Files - Configure Windows to Create on BSOD Option one, Step #6 the minidmp will be sufficient.

• Do Not install any third-party programs, stay only with what the OS provides you!

• Explore the OS, go through the Start Menu. Check out the Accessories and Administrative Folders and their programs. Play some Solitaire and other games.

• Go easy for now, only use what came with the OS, and if at any point while doing this you get a BSOD upload it in your next post.

• If you're okay up to now, attach a wired ethernet cable to connect to your ISP modem/router and see if you can connect to the internet. Staying with the built-in OS programs see if you can connect to the internet with the version of Internet Explorer provided with the OS install and validate your OS with Microsoft.

• Download and install MSE, at least to test.

• See if you can connect to the Windows Update Server and update your OS through Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Windows Update.

• Cruise the Internet, but nothing heavy like Steam, you could visit gaming forums, you could visit anywhere, but, no other third-party downloads!

• If you're okay up to this point, try the USB wireless stick, and see if you can connect to the internet and how stable it is.

• If at any point during your re-initialization you encounter any problems, stop and post what happened so we can discuss it.

Anak said:

-

Ok, so I just went ahead and reinstalled Windows 7. I installed it following the instructions, and poked around in the accessories and such. Couldn't play any games - they're turned off in Windows features.

MSINFO32 isn't recognizing any of my wireless devices, so good news there.

I'm working on getting a permanent wired connection as well.

Anything else I can try until then?

Edit: I have my wired connection now, and have been surfing around the internet. Went to a couple game-specific subreddits, browsed some images, and been other places. Everything seems to be going smooth.

Had to install a LAN driver from the disc included with my motherboard to get the connection to work though.

Haven't went to windows update or tried to download MSE though. I'll do that tomorrow, I suppose.

So far, so good.

Did you have any problems with activation?

You'll need those OS updates and MSE so do that first before you go cruisin' the net again, you need the updates to guard against any OS vulnerabilities, and MSE for a malware guard, its okay to internet if you go and take care of those first. You may also need those updates for when you go to try and use that wireless USB stick, I seem to recall that being addressed in the last few years worth of updates.

If you see any updates relating to SP1 do those first, when you're done search the update site again in case you or Windows may have missed any.

With your newer equipment Windows may have missed putting that LAN driver on the disk. Then again, if you would have updated first you may not have had to do that after Updates read your machine and offered it to you to install. Remember the wireless USB stick.

Adobe flash isn't much better than Java for videos, but stay away from Java. I haven't had it on my machine since they were having all those problems a few years ago and I'm living without it. Also no Quicktime use VLC instead.

Adobe - Install Adobe Flash Player Untick the optional McAfee offer!
Did you know there are three types of Flash? One for Internet Explorer (ActiveX), one for FireFox (NPAPI) and Chrome takes care of itself. Flash will automatically run the one you need by identifying the browser you're using when you visit the site.

You can use this if you're having problems with Flash: Do a clean install, and Uninstall Flash Player | Windows

That's it for now, make sure you're ready to log a minidmp in case you BSOD

Okay on the Activation.

Okay on the MSE, IE11, and Flash. I've never heard of IE11 having flash natively or it being offered as an add-on update. I'll have to look into that.

Yes permission to plug-in, but shut down your machine before you do that, then plug-in and restart. You may see a notice that speakers have been added and all is okay. If so, OK to close notice then pick out a video and see if you have sound.

How long to stay stable? It looks like you could start adding devices now, but one at a time and work with them to make sure they don't upset the stability before you add something else.

• Can you list "the rest of your stuff"

• Downloading isn't the problem, installing and running it is, can you list what you want to download?

• Can you reveal the name of the game, and does it require Steam or the manager that EA uses?

Just a reminder, minidmps enabled? In case there's a BSOD. Hope not, Knock on wood Attachment 313948

AutSamurai said:

The rest of my things to plug in are my USB microphone, the speakers, a digital optical cable for my wireless headphones and the USB plug for its receiver, and a Wireless Xbox 360 Controller Transmitter.

• Do each one of these separately.

• Reboot after each to observe your OS's reaction, if okay move on to the next.

• If a BSOD occurs then it's likely a problem exists with either the newest connection or the combination of all new connections up to and including the newest.

• If you get to the Xbox controller and everything including it is running okay for an hour or so, move on to installing Steam.

AutSamurai said:

Also: Internet Explorer is bad. Worse than I recall.

If you're okay up to this point and before you download and install Steam, go ahead and install Chrome. Use it for a while to make sure it is stable.

   Note

A thought at this critical point. Are the machine's BIOS settings set to default? No overclocking?

AutSamurai said:

As for games, Dark Souls II is releasing on PC on the 25th. Hyped up. That'll run through Steam. My friends and I also play a lot of Team Fortress 2, so Steam again for that. I also have an itch to play The Sims 3. I have it both on Origin and a disc. Unfortunately for the disc, I'd probably have to install some of EA's crap anyways.

Try to wait until DS2's hype cools down in case other players are having problems, and as for that itch you can always try calamine lotion.

If your OS is stable with the addition of Chrome, use it to download Steam and TF2. Before you install them make sure any other programs are closed. I would go so far as rebooting the machine then do the installs, I believe Steam would be the first to install?

Welcome to Steam

https://support.steampowered.com/

Steam Community

Check the Steam settings to optimize for your system and style. Then install and play TF2. You may have to adjust settings for stable play.

AutSamurai said:

Just checked the minidumps: they're on.

I'll try speakers tomorrow.

Okay.

Remember the drill, if at any point you BSOD, stop, and post a report.