Frequent BSOD's making laptop nearly unusable.

[tellairai]

I just want to thank you guys for taking the time to look at my thread. As stated in the thread title, I'm receiving BSOD's almost every 10-15 minutes. Not every BSOD creates a dump however, some don't even give a reason, just that it was done to protect the computer. Attached is the most recent 12 that saved. There were 40 but somehow they all got deleted. I've done several scans with NOD32 to check for viruses, Hijack this, and also trying the driver verifier. With driver verifier, I couldn't even reach start up, It would just bsod and start over until I boot to safemode. The BSOD's when using driver verifier left no dumps so please advise.

Specs:
OEM: HP DV4-2045DX
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium x64 6.1.7601 SP1
CPU: AMD Turion II x2 M500 2.2 Ghz
bios: insyde F.18
RAM: 4GB DDR2 800mhz both by Micron Technology
SOUND: ATI HD Audio + IDT HD Audio CODEC
DISPLAY: ATI Mobility Radeon HD4200 @ 1280 x 800
HDD:Toshiba 320GB 5400RPM

according to CPUZ
Motherboard: HP 3642 40.24
Chipset: AMD 785GX
SB: Sb700

 

[MvdB]

Hello Tellairai, Welcome to SF!

Please fill in ALL System Specs, see post 4 here: http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/8-forum-rules-info-please-read.html#post256049

Your dumps point to multiple causes which means it could be a lot of things... We'll have to rule out the most obvious things first:

Some of your ATI Graphics drivers seem old. don't know how that could happen on a new install but maybe you used a cd that came with the card?
Please follow this tut to renew: ati driver conn


Some of your problems could be caused by faulty or interrupted Windows Updates. You have a lot of warnings on that...

Please go to your Maintenance Center and check the Windows Update status. Make sure you are up to date, do them one by one manually if needed.
For help or reset see: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/91738-windows-update-reset.html

I'm not sure of the latest date on this old driver for RAiD that you have running:

arc.sys      Thu May 24 23:27:55 2007

To be sure please see here for a possible update: http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/downloads/

There are at least four important drivers that are normally updated with Windows Update, that are not in order according to your dump. So again, please make sure your Windows Update finishes correctly.

Post back for help on that if you need it please.

 

[tellairai]

The ATI Graphics driver should be current, It's on 11.7 which is what is posted on the AMD website. On the faulty windows updates, how do I check on which ones failed on which i should reinstall? I also will more information to my system specs. Sorry, i followed another thread for that part. As for the adaptec, I cannot figure out which dowload to use. There are many many different ones.

 

[tellairai]

I just installed 11.7 again. I guess it didnt take the first time. I've had issues with that in the past. This time it stuck however.

 

[MvdB]

Ok, thx, hope that helps. Lets wait and see... If you have more dumps, please upload?

 

[tellairai]

ill upload them when I can use my computer. It bsod 3 times while trying to post first was a usb driver

 

[tellairai]

Im getting bsods in safemode. Bad_pool_header

 

[MvdB]

Sounds pretty bad. Can you do a repair install? Do you have a W7 disc?
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

 

[tellairai]

I wish I did. The hp I have only comes with an image of factory defaults. This is the second wipe ive donner to factory defaults. Bsods start after sp1?

 

[MvdB]

I wish I did. The hp I have only comes with an image of factory defaults. This is the second wipe ive donner to factory defaults. Bsods start after sp1?

Could be, your log show update problems. You need to be carefull of the order in which you update after a fresh install. First all normal updates offered. Then reboot, wait till SP1 is offered, install, reboot and wait for and update al subsequent after that. Make sure every step completes before going to next.

 

[tellairai]

I was able to get the laptop working. heres 2 more dumps

 

[MvdB]

I think a memory test is in order...
Download a copy of Memtest86 and burn the ISO to a CD using Iso Recorder or another ISO burning program.

Boot from the CD, and leave it running for at least 5 or 6 passes.

Just remember, any time Memtest reports errors, it can be either bad RAM or a bad motherboard slot.

Test the sticks individually, and if you find a good one, test it in all slots.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105647-ram-test-memtest86.html

 

[tellairai]

Sorry I was away on vacation however I did the tests and the laptop passed them all. Both sticks passed also in either slot.

 

[MvdB]

How frequent are these BSOD's and is there any relationship with what you do at the time?
Please upload the latest + latest msinfo32 log

 

[tellairai]

Generally, BSOD's occur when on Lightroom3 or Photoshop CS5. I'm a photographer, so being unable to use those two is really hurting. Probably why most photographers I know use macs. Anyway, since my return from vacation NO bsods, however I have not tried LR3/PS5 or any games. Should I just start messing with my computer?

 

[MvdB]

Sorry to bug but it might help us if you are very specific. By "generally" I take it that is most of the time but certainly not always (in LR3/PS5)?

When you test run LR3 could you have a taskmanager screen on showing cpu and memusage and hopefully see something spike before a bsod?

 

[tellairai]

ok ill try that and post the bsod

 

[Malickfan86]

I just want to thank you guys for taking the time to look at my thread. As stated in the thread title, I'm receiving BSOD's almost every 10-15 minutes. Not every BSOD creates a dump however, some don't even give a reason, just that it was done to protect the computer. Attached is the most recent 12 that saved. There were 40 but somehow they all got deleted. I've done several scans with NOD32 to check for viruses, Hijack this, and also trying the driver verifier. With driver verifier, I couldn't even reach start up, It would just bsod and start over until I boot to safemode. The BSOD's when using driver verifier left no dumps so please advise.

Specs:
OEM: HP DV4-2045DX
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium x64 6.1.7601 SP1
CPU: AMD Turion II x2 M500 2.2 Ghz
bios: insyde F.18
RAM: 4GB DDR2 800mhz both by Micron Technology
SOUND: ATI HD Audio + IDT HD Audio CODEC
DISPLAY: ATI Mobility Radeon HD4200 @ 1280 x 800
HDD:Toshiba 320GB 5400RPM

according to CPUZ
Motherboard: HP 3642 40.24
Chipset: AMD 785GX
SB: Sb700

Hi tellairai,

My computer is very similar to yours. I'm also having a problem with BSODs and random shutdowns. Did you happen to find out what is causing the problem? One thing we have in common (beyond our Pavilion dv4 notebooks) is that we both upgraded the drivers for our ATI Radeon 4200s. HP recommends that you stick with the system's preinstalled driver and avoid all upgrades. After finding this out, I attempted to remove ATI Update 11 completely with Revo Uninstaller in safe mode before restoring the factory-installed driver.

However, ever since I originally upgraded, I have been having this problem. Before, my computer would just go black and all of its lights would turn red. It still sounded like it was running normally but I couldn't see anything. After trying to fix this problem and restoring the old driver, I now get occasional BSODs that quickly restart the system. Unfortunately they aren't even generating minidumps.

Other than this, I am clueless of what's going on and how I could finally solve this problem. Any guidance you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. - Find out more about my situation here: Laptop blacks out randomly.