BSOD during Guild Wars 2 gameplay or update

Griff01 · 05 Feb 2014

I have had multiple crashes over the last month which I believed to be due to bad video drivers. I downloaded the newest drivers for my Radeon 6950 HD cards and installed the drivers (no CCC or bloatware), but the issue was not fixed. On a hunch, I installed the CCC and when run, it tells me there are no settings to be configured with the software. I uninstalled again, and reinstalled just the December 2013 audio and video drivers. Now, the most prevalent BSOD I see is titled MEMORY_MANAGEMENT. I have included all files collected by the SevenForums Diagnostic tool. I have also updated my system specs on the forum.
I believe this is the 5th or 6th thread in 2 years since buying my PC from CyberPowerPC and I may have gotten a lemon. It has been mailed back to them twice for bad hardware (once for CPU and once for Video Card replacement).

Arc · 07 Feb 2014

Hi Griff01.

Free up the startup. Windows does not need any other program to auto start with it, but the auto start programs often conflicts and causes various problems including BSODs.

Click on the Start button
Type “msconfig (without quotes), click the resulting link. It will open the System Configuration window.
Select the “Startup” tab.
Deselect all items other than the antivirus.
Apply > OK
Accept then restart.

If it still BSODs in the same way, test your RAM modules for possible errors.
How to Test and Diagnose RAM Issues with Memtest86+
Run memtest for at least 8 passes, preferably overnight.

If it start showing errors/red lines, stop testing. A single error is enough to determine that something is going bad there.

If it does not show any error, enable Driver Verifier to monitor the drivers.
Driver Verifier - Enable and Disable
Run Driver Verifier for 24 hours or the occurrence of the next crash, whichever is earlier.

Information

Why Driver Verifier:
It puts a stress on the drivers, ans so it makes the unstable drivers crash. Hopefully the driver that crashes is recorded in the memory dump.

How Can we know that DV is enabled:
It will make the system bit of slow, laggy.

Warning

Before enabling DV, make it sure that you have earlier System restore points made in your computer. You can check it easily by using CCleaner looking at Tools > System Restore.

If there is no points, make a System Restore Point manually before enabling DV.

Tip

If you fail to get on the Desktop because of DV, Boot into Advanced Boot Options > Safe mode. Disable DV there. Now boot normally again, and try following the instruction of enabling DV again.
If you cannot boot in Safe mode too, do a System Restore to a point you made earlier.

Let us know the results, with the subsequent crash dumps, if any.

Griff01 · 15 Feb 2014

Thank you Arc. I haven't had a chance to be online since you posted this possible solution. I will take action now and post the results (success or failure).

Griff01 · 20 Feb 2014

Arc, I finally located the single stick of RAM that went bad. Apparently, my mobo requires that 2 sticks be inserted in order to boot, so this took longer in order to isolate the single bad one due to the excessive swapping to isolate the bad piece. I will order a new stick.
However, I do have a question that is more a matter of opinion: should I replace the stick in pairs so that the matching slots are running the same brand, or will it be okay to just replace the one stick as long as it is 4GB PC3 - 12000 like the other three?

Arc · 21 Feb 2014

It would be the best if you can change the entire kit. In that case there will be no chance of mismatch at all.

Griff01 · 13 Mar 2014

I'm late closing this, but that is because it took a while to get new RAM. I ran on 3 sticks until I was able to buy new RAM. I have been running the new RAM for a week, MemTestx86 ran 12 passes with no errors, and life is good again. Thank you Arc for your diagnosis and help. You were spot on!

Arc · 13 Mar 2014

You are welcome mate. :)
Happy computing. :)