Solved BSOD a few minutes after every boot, error 0x000000F4

[Mr Chaucer]

Hi all. I built my computer about a month ago. Worked fine for a while, and then it started to hang then crash about 4 or 5 minutes after every boot. This happens even in safe mode. I did a clean installation of Windows 7. Everything was fine for about two weeks... and now the hanging+crashing is back. This also happens in safe mode.

Its not an overheating issue so far as I can tell - CPU temp is around 41C. It happens even if no applications are open.


[I have run the file collection app, zipped the resulting file, but cannot get it to upload. The upload utility hangs indefinitely at "Uploading Files - Please wait".]


Thanks in advance!

 

[writhziden]

Can you try uploading the .zip file on a different computer? We really need the crash reports in order to provide troubleshooting steps.

Also, what antivirus/firewall combination are you running?

 

[Mr Chaucer]

Got it! Here's the .zip file.

I'm just using the firewall in my router... as for Antivirus, I'm using Microsoft Security Essentials.

 

[writhziden]

Unfortunately, the zip file seems to be corrupted and I cannot extract it...

I asked about the antivirus/firewall mostly in relation to not being able to upload. Surprising those would cause an issue unless the router firewall is blocking it...

 

[Mr Chaucer]

Hmmmm... I tried running the file collection app again. Is this a viable .zip (attached)?

 

[writhziden]

I was able to open it, but no .dmp files are included.


Problem Devices:

Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controller	PCI\VEN_1033&DEV_0194&SUBSYS_77501462&REV_04\FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF00	The drivers for this device are not installed.

Bug Check 0xF4: CRITICAL_OBJECT_TERMINATION
A windows system process was terminated unexpectedly. Possible causes are hard disk errors... System file corruption... Viruses... Lack of Windows updates... Drivers...


Start by checking data corruption:

• If you are overclocking any hardware, please stop.
  
  
• Run Disk Check with both boxes checked for all HDDs and with Automatically fix file system errors checked for all SSDs. Post back your logs for the checks after finding them using http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/96938-check-disk-chkdsk-read-event-viewer-log.html
  
  
• Run http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html up to three times to fix all errors. Post back if it continues to show errors after a fourth run or if the first run comes back with no integrity violations.

Also, make sure your configuration is the same as OPTION ONE part 6. of http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/174459-dump-files-configure-windows-create-bsod.html and do not use CCleaner, Windows disk cleanup, etc. to clean the hard disk after crashes.

 

[Mr Chaucer]

I've enabled the small minidumps, but the BSOD screen hangs where it says it is creating a dump. I have never seen anything in the windows/minidump folder.

I will take a swing at running these diagnostics, but the problem is that I only have about 4-5 minutes of use on the machine before it hangs then crashes. For example, on the sfc/scannow, I get 31% complete and then the system goes into hang-crash mode. I'll see what I can do....

 

[writhziden]

You may run SFC offline: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/139810-sfc-scannow-run-command-prompt-boot.html


You can also do a disk check offline. Use http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/666-advanced-boot-options.html to select Repair Your Computer and get to the http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/668-system-recovery-options.html. Then select the command prompt. Do the following:

chkdsk /r c:
chkdsk /r d:
chkdsk /r e:
chkdsk /r f:​

.etc until you get the message that the volume could not be opened for direct access. For any drives that do not give the message:
"Windows has checked the file system and found no problems"
run chkdsk again as above. In other words, if it says:
"Windows has made corrections to the file system"
after running the disk check, run the disk check again.

I realize you may only have one disk show up in Windows explorer, but you may have more than one disk through recovery options. This is because the system creates a hidden boot partition (which will be C: in recovery), you may have a recovery partition for your PC that is hidden (which will be D: in recovery), and you will have your primary Windows partition (which may be E: in recovery). A custom PC will likely have at least C: and D: to scan.

 

[Mr Chaucer]

Ok - I tried to run sfc/scannow offline (booted from Windows 7 installation disk, selected repair system, clicked command prompt). Ran "sfc /scannow /offbooddir=d:\ /offwindir=d:\windows". Initially said "Beginning system scan. This process will take some time." Halted after a few minutes and said "Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation." I immediately retried the command, and got same message.

Tried running "chkdsk /r d:", etc., and repeatedly got "Cannot open volume for direct access."

 

[writhziden]

You received "cannot open volume for direct access" for c: - f:? That is odd if you did...

When SFC returns that error, the only way to fix it is either a repair install (which does not always fix it) or a clean install/restore factory system image. A repair install seems to be out of the question given your five minute rule... Sorry to say, but you should backup any important data and clean install Windows 7.

 

[Mr Chaucer]

Ah - after a reboot or three or five, now I'm getting somewhere with chkdsk.

chkdsk /r c: "Windows has checked the file system and found no problems." But.... "Failed to transfer logged messages to the event log with status 50."

chkdsk /r d: Wow, what a mess. Went fine most of the way and then hit "The disk does not have enough space to replace bad clusters detected in file 64667 of name ." Repeated this for nearly every file through 64767 (out of 98544 files total), then "An unspecified error occurred <6e74667363686b2e b34>." and the scan halted.

When I try to run chkdsk again, I get "cannot open volume for direct access."

 

[writhziden]

chkdsk /r d: Wow, what a mess. Went fine most of the way and then hit "The disk does not have enough space to replace bad clusters detected in file 64667 of name ." Repeated this for nearly every file through 64767 (out of 98544 files total), then "An unspecified error occurred <6e74667363686b2e b34>." and the scan halted.

When I try to run chkdsk again, I get "cannot open volume for direct access."

I will try to explain what this most likely means. A hard disk has spare sectors on it by design; all hard disks have bad sectors due to manufacturing because they cannot be 100% quality, and when the disk is formatted or runs for the first time in NTFS, the disk is re-allocated using good spare sectors to the bad sectors which are set aside to never be used again. One of two things is happening in the errors you are receiving: 1. due to the partitioning, it is having a hard time determining where spare sectors are to replace the bad clusters it has found or 2. Bad sectors have accumulated to the point that all spare sectors have already been used and the drive is failing.

To find out which of these is occurring, I would recommend using the steps in HD Diagnostic to determine the hard disk manufacturer and then using the manufacturer's diagnostic tools to run all tests available through those tools to determine if the drive is still good.

 

[Mr Chaucer]

Hmmm.... thanks for the explainer, this is a big help. I was wondering why my clean install of Windows 7 seemed to totally cure the hang-then-crash problem, albeit only for a couple of weeks. I suppose degradation of my (brand new) SSD could account for the sudden reoccurrence of this problem.

I'm not seeing any diagnostic tools available put out by Sandisk for its SSDs. I guess tomorrow I will swap the SSD out and put in a new drive, see if that gets it.

 

[writhziden]

Hmm, SSDs shouldn't have this problem. What I spoke of is for HDDs... Sorry, did not realize it was an SSD before now. Been a busy day... I am still trying to learn about SSD issues since they are fairly new technology. The best I can give is: See the quote from usasma regarding SSDs found in post #2 of BSOD when hibernating.

 

[Mr Chaucer]

Ah - very informative post from usasma. Next step for me is to figure out if the firmware is up to date.

Just curious - the blue screens happen at almost exactly the same time (approximately 4 minutes) after booting up. You could almost set your watch to it. Is this indicative of anything? I do wish I could get some .dmp logs...

 

[writhziden]

I believe that is indicative of something. Someone else had a similar problem. It was resolved through one of the updates (I think it was firmware, but I am not positive). I will see if I can track that down.

Theirs was a once per hour problem: http://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-...ion-1-hour-after-cold-boot-3.html#post1793840

 

[Mr Chaucer]

I will cautiously report that I believe the problem is solved.

Went to the motherboard website (for my MSI H67A), and among other things, there was an Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver update. When I originally built the system, I used the drivers included on the CD with the motherboard, all with a release date of July 2011. I individually updated each new driver listed at the MSI site for my motherboard (this was a laborious process, given that I had only a 4 minute window on my machine; ultimately, I downloaded the updated drivers on another machine and put them on a USB drive).

The Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver update did the trick. After running and restarting, my computer suddenly re-recognized my SanDisk SSD and immediately sought out drivers - then wanted another restart. Restarting again, I've had no problems.

If I could I would post the html file that listed everything this driver update was supposed to do (on the MSI site, description: Intel Rapid Storage Technology for SATA RAID and AHCI mode). Fundamentally, it simply appears my SSD was not working and playing well with others. This driver update from my motherboard manufacturer did the job.

Thanks very much for your attention! I'll be back of course if the hang + crash thing starts again.

 

[writhziden]

You are quite welcome. Sounds like you did good troubleshooting steps. Nicely done.

Also, post back in a few days how the system is responding.