Solved BSOD 0x000000F4 - Occasional momentary hangs, BSODs. Suspect SSD

Hello

In brief:
Getting momentary freezes (during which I can still interact with the computer to some extent), which is sometimes followed by BSOD. Problems started after installing new SSD and re-installing Windows 7 onto it.

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I'm running a home built comp which have never given me problem up until a ilttle while ago. The major change was I invested in my first SSD, installed Windows on it and am now running a SSD with OS on it, and a regular SATA HDD with data. due to this, I suspect it's something to do with the SSD or that I've messed up some drivers upon the reinstallation of Windows. I ran same OS and hardware before the new SSD.

I've found several posts and threads were SSDs are suspected culprits and users with similar problems to mine and have tried following the suggested solutions in those threads, but they either end up unsolved or the solution didn't solve my problems.

The hangs/BSODs can happen seemingly anytime. I can play games which are taxing on the hardware, or I can be browsing/watching movies. The "hangs" don't cause the computer to completely freeze up. I can move the mouse and tab between windows and click on things, but it seems nothing new can happen. What I mean is, I can't open a new web page or open a program/window of any sort. Sometimes the computer comes back after maybe half a minute/ a minute, sometimes it BSODs.

I believe I have rrun most tests that have been advised in other threads.
I have run chkdsk and sfc, I have updated/reinstalled many of my drivers, I've made sure SSD firmware is up to date. I've also run memtest without any errors detected. However, memtest was only run for three-four tests, since it only wanted to run one test at a time. As a side question, how do I set it to run tests repeatedly until termination?

I hope I have been somewhat clear in my description and not to wordy. If I've missed any relevant information, please let me know, and thank you for taking a look at this.

Update:

My system deteriorated quite rapidly after I posted this, still unsure what I did to cause it. I was eventually forced to re-install the OS. therefor, the logs and dump I posted are invalid.

I will post an update if the problem persists. Sorry if I have wasted anyone's time

Welcome

Sorry that it took a while to answer your thread.

Did you check how your computer performs with this new SSD without any drivers/software installed?

You may want to take tests from this link: Hard Drive Diagnostic Procedure

Hello

I did a clean install of Windows 7, problem persisted. I did however install the basic draivers and things such a graphics, sound and so on. It's not AS problematic as it was just before install, but the F4 BSOD remains. Now I get occasional 7A errors as well.
Tell me if you want me to re-upload logs/dumps now that I've re-installed the system

Some times the computer can run several hours without any problems whatsoever. Other times, it BSODs a minute after startup, two-three times in a row. Might also mention is happens in both normal and safe mode.

Thanks for the link, I will try that when I come home.

On a second note, I read somewhere that it's recommended to, in the case of a system SSD and a storage HDD, install Windows on the SSD without the HDD plugged in, and plug it in after system installation. Is there any sense to this?

On a second note, I read somewhere that it's recommended to, in the case of a system SSD and a storage HDD, install Windows on the SSD without the HDD plugged in, and plug it in after system installation. Is there any sense to this?

Click to expand...

Does make sense, but you won't know until you try it yourself. Did you?

STOP 0x0000007A: KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR
Usual causes: Memory, Paging file corruption, File system, Hard drive, Cabling, Virus infection, Improperly seated cards, BIOS, Bad motherboard, Missing Service Pack

STOP 0x000000F4: CRITICAL_OBJECT_TERMINATION
Usual causes: Does not have any

Anyway, lets enable driver verifier rule out buggy drivers.

Verifier puts extreme stress on the drivers, bad ones will cause BSOD. If we change all those drivers we hope for no more BSODs, If you get no BSODs, then its not a driver and we look to hardware. With verifier on your computer may be a little laggy, but actually..its just doing its work.

Driver Verifier

I'd suggest that you first backup your data and then make sure you've got access to another computer so you can contact us if problems arise. Then make a System Restore point (so you can restore the system using the Vista/Windows 7 Startup Repair feature).

In Windows 7 you can make a Startup Repair disk by going to Start....All Programs...Maintenance...Create a System Repair Disc - with Windows Vista you'll have to use your installation disk or the "Repair your computer" option at the top of the Safe Mode menu .

Then, here's the procedure:
- Go to Start and type in verifier and press Enter
- Select Create custom settings (for code developers) and click Next
- Select Select individual settings from a full list and click Next
- Select everything EXCEPT FOR Low Resource Simulation and click Next
- Select Select driver names from a list and click Next
Then select all drivers NOT provided by Microsoft and click Next
- Select Finish on the next page.

Reboot the system and wait for it to crash to the Blue Screen. Continue to use your system normally, and if you know what causes the crash, do that repeatedly. The objective here is to get the system to crash because Driver Verifier is stressing the drivers out. If it doesn't crash for you, then let it run for at least 36 hours of continuous operation (an estimate on my part).

If you can't get into Windows because it crashes too soon, try it in Safe Mode.
If you can't get into Safe Mode, try using System Restore from your installation DVD to set the system back to the previous restore point that you created.
Driver Verifier - Enable and Disable

Click to expand...

Information
Driver Verifier runs in the background, "testing" drivers for bugs. If it finds one, a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) will result; the corresponding dump file will hopefully show the faulty driver.

Capt.Jack Sparrow said:

Driver Verifier monitors kernel-mode drivers and graphics drivers to detect illegal function calls or actions that might corrupt the system. It can subject the drivers to a variety of stresses and tests to find improper behavior.

Continue to use your system normally, and if you know what causes the crash, do that repeatedly. The objective here is to get the system to crash because Driver Verifier is stressing the drivers out. If it doesn't crash for you, then let it run for at least 36 hours of continuous operation.

Click to expand...

Roger. Will do when I get home

bluedude said:

Roger. Will do when I get home

Click to expand...

Edited my post a little.
Take your time

In reply to your question: No, not yet. First read about it yesterday, and wanted to confirm before I went through another OS installation.

But in that case, I guess I will try that, and at the same time install no drivers whatsoever, to see how that holds up.

bluedude said:

In reply to your question: No, not yet. First read about it yesterday, and wanted to confirm before I went through another OS installation.

But in that case, I guess I will try that, and at the same time install no drivers whatsoever, to see how that holds up.

Click to expand...

Good idea
Update the thread when you're done

Have reinstalled the OS with only the SSD plugged in. Only thing I have installed is MSE. Problem persists.

Have uploaded my crash dumps in case they can lend some sort of insight. tell me if there are other logs you need.

Apart from the crashes, there are also momentary hangs.
Also, in the device manager there are two devices lacking drivers, but that's solved if I install my chipset drivers.

Same bug check F4.

Enable verifier?

Enabled verifier, but that was first after the previous post. Here are the dumps from the crashes that happened since.
During the first two, the computer didn't undergo any usage, but did for the third one.

bluedude said:

Enabled verifier, but that was first after the previous post. Here are the dumps from the crashes that happened since.
During the first two, the computer didn't undergo any usage, but did for the third one.

Click to expand...

Verifier also gives bug check F4 anyway

Do the following:

1. Make it sure that the storage controller is set to AHCI in th BIOS
2. Reseat the sata and power.
3. Run chkdsk /f/r, following the option two of the tutorial Disk Check
4. Seatool for dos: SeaTools | Seagate download
   Burn it in a blank cd. boot from the CD, click on "Accept", wait for it to finish detecting the drives, then in the upper left corner select "Basic Tests", then select "Long Test" and let it run.
5. Since you already updated to latest firmware, no need to do that anymore.

The F4 error is common amongst SSD error codes.

Have you checked to see if you have the latest firmware?

Hopefully it's a firmware issue, but it could also be indicative the drive itself is faulty.


Be prepared to back up and RMA the drive.





(Of course it could stem from somewhere else entirely)

koolkat77 said:

Do the following:

1. Make it sure that the storage controller is set to AHCI in th BIOS
2. Reseat the sata and power.
3. Run chkdsk /f/r, following the option two of the tutorial Disk Check
4. Seatool for dos: SeaTools | Seagate download
   Burn it in a blank cd. boot from the CD, click on "Accept", wait for it to finish detecting the drives, then in the upper left corner select "Basic Tests", then select "Long Test" and let it run.
5. Since you already updated to latest firmware, no need to do that anymore.

Click to expand...

BIOS already set to AHCI. ran chkdsk, gonna do the seatool test later today.

However, in some previous research I found that nForce shipsets apparently have problems with AHCI and SSD for some reason (my MoBo runs nForce 980a SLI). Some people recommend running the Microsoft AHCI controller drivers instead of the nForce drivers, a solution I think worked for me previously. Don't know if this can cause this kind of problem anyway, even though the drivers aren't installed?

smarteyeball said:

The F4 error is common amongst SSD error codes.

Click to expand...

Yes, apparently.

smarteyeball said:

Have you checked to see if you have the latest firmware?

Hopefully it's a firmware issue, but it could also be indicative the drive itself is faulty.


Be prepared to back up and RMA the drive.

Click to expand...

Yes, I've installed the latest firmware.
My options seem to be narrowing down to RMA, if we don't find a solution

You pretty much answered yourself about the drive. Yes, it's bad. The F4 bugchecks are caused by c000000e errors during page faults. This error means that a drive (usually storage device) that was attempted to be accessed did not exist. I've seen this commonly occur with drives which are having issues, or a motherboard that is flipping out or doesn't bode well with a drive installed. It's no coincidence that this happened just after you installed the new SSD.

RMA the drive, and cross your fingers. SSD drives have a higher probability of failure than HDDs, and it heavily depends on vendor. Cheaper knockoff brands have higher failure rates, as well as OCZ. Intel, Crucial and Corsair don't seem to have as much trouble, but problems still exist with em. Given we're dealing with newer flash-based memory, it's about as usual as getting a bad stick of RAM (which isn't that uncommon).

Thanks for the deeper insight.

If I understand you correctly, the problem can also reside in the motherboard? I guess I will find that out if I RMA the drive and the problem persists (provided I don't get another faulty one).

Sometimes mobos can have compatibility issues with SSDs which can be resolved by a firmware update on the SSD and motherboard driver and BIOS updates. It sounds like you've already gone that route, however. There may also be just a bad motherboard that doesn't actually play out until an SSD drive was installed. It's not as common as a bad drive, but it can occur. However, given that this has been occurring only with your SSD drive, it's much easier to blame it than your mobo.

SeaTools DOS Long test: Passed

Just so you know that Seatools is not a viable source for testing SSD drive stability, as much as I wish it was.