BSODs - Motherboard or PSU?

Hello,

I've been dealing with a strange series of BSODs for a while now. My computer will be stable for several days to a week, then randomly bluescreen. Afterwards, the bsods and other crashes occur constantly with random errors. Memtest 86 detects RAM problems, but after swapping it from the 1,3 slots to the 2,4 slots problems ceased. Normally, I would assume that means bad slots, but when I swap the sticks back to the 1,3 slots it stabilizes again for a few days. I've flashed the BIOS to the latest version and the severity of the crashes reduced, but there are still problems.

Has anyone encountered anything like this before or have any idea how to deal with it? I'm upgrading my power supply from an Antec 650W to a Corsair 950W, but I'm worried my motherboard might be the actual culprit.

Thanks for your help!

Chrheff said:

Hello,

I've been dealing with a strange series of BSODs for a while now. My computer will be stable for several days to a week, then randomly bluescreen. Afterwards, the bsods and other crashes occur constantly with random errors. Memtest 86 detects RAM problems, but after swapping it from the 1,3 slots to the 2,4 slots problems ceased. Normally, I would assume that means bad slots, but when I swap the sticks back to the 1,3 slots it stabilizes again for a few days. I've flashed the BIOS to the latest version and the severity of the crashes reduced, but there are still problems.

Has anyone encountered anything like this before or have any idea how to deal with it? I'm upgrading my power supply from an Antec 650W to a Corsair 950W, but I'm worried my motherboard might be the actual culprit.

Thanks for your help!

Hi Chrheff & welcome,
We will get a more definitive overview of your problems if you follow this advice -
[1 - Novice] How to ask for help with a BSOD problem

Upload all of the minidump files located in C:\Windows\Minidump
If you require more help let us know.

Here're the minidump files from when problems originally started back in February.

Hello again,

DirectX and all the drivers are up to date, though I did do as you said. The memtest went fine. I've run it up to 15 times when the system is stable without any errors detected. I've taken it to multiple repair places and have had other people look at it, and it's pretty much the same pattern every time. Problems start, I get repeated random BSODs. Windows refuses to boot, even in safe mode sometimes. I single test each memory stick in slot one and they pass fine. I move them to slots 2 and 4 and it seems to be stable, though I haven't kept them in there for an extended period of time. Then I move them back to slots 1 and 3 and it will remain stable for a few days to over a week before the crashes resume again.

Chrheff said:

Hello again,

DirectX and all the drivers are up to date, though I did do as you said. The memtest went fine. I've run it up to 15 times when the system is stable without any errors detected. I've taken it to multiple repair places and have had other people look at it, and it's pretty much the same pattern every time. Problems start, I get repeated random BSODs. Windows refuses to boot, even in safe mode sometimes. I single test each memory stick in slot one and they pass fine. I move them to slots 2 and 4 and it seems to be stable, though I haven't kept them in there for an extended period of time. Then I move them back to slots 1 and 3 and it will remain stable for a few days to over a week before the crashes resume again.

Until our "resident experts" come in on this thread I am doing some lateral thinking -

Have you run a system file check to verify and repair your system files?
Go to search - right click to run as Administrator - type in sfc /scannow. [Make sure you have a space between sfc and /]
Let us know the result.

What anti-virus application or security suite is installed and is your
subscription current?

What anti-spyware applications? (other than Defender)
What third-party firewall? (if any)

Has a Norton or McAfee application ever been installed on the
computer? (e.g., a free-trial version that came preinstalled when you bought
it)

Thank you for the ideas. I've done a lot to make sure it's not a software problem, but there's always a chance I missed something.

I ran a system file check a while back. I did it again and everything turned up fine.

I use ESET NOD32. It has antivirus, antispyware, and a firewall. I built the computer, so it's never had Norton or McAfee on it.

Chrheff said:

Thank you for the ideas. I've done a lot to make sure it's not a software problem, but there's always a chance I missed something.

I ran a system file check a while back. I did it again and everything turned up fine.

I use ESET NOD32. It has antivirus, antispyware, and a firewall. I built the computer, so it's never had Norton or McAfee on it.

Resident experts notified. Not all are online so please be patient.
I will follow your progress with interest......

Chrheff said:

Thank you for the ideas. I've done a lot to make sure it's not a software problem, but there's always a chance I missed something.

I ran a system file check a while back. I did it again and everything turned up fine.

I use ESET NOD32. It has antivirus, antispyware, and a firewall. I built the computer, so it's never had Norton or McAfee on it.

So where are you now?

Have we ever seen the acutual DMP files?

W need to find where you are now to know how to proceed. I think we need to get more aggressive to find and fix this problem. Before we do you need to have a backup, a restore point, and a win 7 dvd.

When you have done all of these let us know

You can also read here. Using Driver Verifier to identify issues with Drivers



Ken