BSOD's, crashes and delays in being able to boot into Bios

[Apple Ram]

I have a 2 and a half year old HP Pavilion P7-1020 desktop with the following specs:

Motherboard H-Alvorix-RS880-uATX
Chipset: AMD 785G (integrated ATI Radeon HD 4200 video)
Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 960T quad core
Ram: Hynix 8 gig (2 sticks of 4 gig) non ECC DDR3-1333 in slots 3 & 4 (dual channel architecture)
Integrated ALC888S-VD audio
802.11 Wireless b/g/n PCI-E Mini card
PCI Realtek RTL8105E
1 TB Seagate Barracuda 7200 rpm HD (just installed)
500w Corsair Modular PSU (just installed)
OS - Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit)

The full computer info is located here:
HP Pavilion p7-1020 Desktop PC | HP® Support

About 3 weeks ago, the computer started crashing with BSOD's, and frozen screens which would turn into a jumble of blue and white. Quite often, after these crashes, I couldn't even boot into bios for 15 minutes. The Memtest86 tests I've run show no errors. although I didn't run 10 passes like some here recommend. I ran about 2.5 passes for 3+ hours. I also have used a video graphics memory test from a Hirens boot CD and that also showed no errors. A WD HD diagnostic of the old WD disk didn't show any bad sectors.

Eventually I decided to use the HP recovery disks (burned from the old hard drive with the HP utility several months after I first started the computer), but after choosing recovery, I realized that their recovery meant reformatting the entire hard drive and wiping all my files. I stopped it after 4% and lost the boot record in the process. The Testdisk utility indicated my files are still there but it will take some time to restore them.

I've since replaced the PSU and HDD, thinking that might be the problem. However, I've tried two Windows 7 re-installs from the the HP recovery disks and both times the system crashed during online Windows updates. Usually, I still can't even boot into Bios for 10-15 minutes after these crashes.

Before and after I installed the new PSU and HDD, during the crashes, the power light always stayed on, as did the motherboard power light. However, when the computer crashes, there is no HDD indicator light, and that won't show activity until I can boot into Bios again.

Here's the strange thing. I'm able to run a live Linux Mint DVD for over 5 hours with no problem. It does freeze on occasion, but the screen retains the last image and doesn't go black like in a Windows crash (BSOD turns to a black screen). I mounted the HDD partitions, surfed the net, watched live streaming videos, downloaded rescue disks and a large 3 gig Digital River Windows 7 ISO file, all while in Linux from a live disk. This was all after a number of Windows 7 crashes. However, if I try to run the Kaspersky Rescue CD, Bitdefender Rescue CD, and F-secure rescue CD (all based on Linux), they all crash. The system crashes before the live Kaspersky CD can fully load. Dr. Web's Cure It Live CD found a TrojanDownloader.9 in an IE5 subdirectory file called Amddriverdownloader[1].exe. When I clicked on delete and CureIT, the system froze! F-Secure crashes about 60% of the way through a live CD scan.

I've tried flashing the Bios with the latest update, and updating all the hardware drivers. I find that a big problem with the HP website is that their forums aren't really moderated by pros and the pages that contain driver and firmware updates are very out of date. The descriptions for the files are even mislabeled in some instances.

I'm not sure it this is a hardware or software problem that has to do with bad drivers. Could it be some hard to find malware that may have gotten into the mobo Bios?

Attached is a zip file of my recent minidumps. I tried looking at it using Nirsoft's Blue View utility, but I'm currently using an old Dell with Win 2000 on it, and other than showing the kernel file info, the program uses Windows 2000 to base its findings.

Today, I was able to boot the computer into safe mode and run Kaspersky's TDSS rootkit utility. No rootkits were found. However, I couldn't run your utility as the system would crash too soon. I do have a zip file of the minidumps I've saved.which I'm uploading. Since this last install has been so compromised by crashes during updates, I decided to run Darik's Boot and Nuke to wipe the drive before any other reinstall, and it crashed after about 5%.

This may be important - I also discovered recently that the AMD 785g northbridge chipset heatsink which is attached by clips to the motherboard no longer is glued to the chip (the adhesive has worn off) and gets very hot to the touch. I think this chipset contains the built in ATI Radeon HD 4200 graphics. I'm wondering if the heat from this is shutting down the system and causing the Bios boot delays of 10 minutes or more (waiting for the chip to cool off?). I ordered some Arctic Silver Ceramique and cleaner to take care of that.

If it's not too much trouble, perhaps someone could take a look at my minidumps before I install another version of Windows 7 next week. I tried using the forum diagnostic tool but by the time I was able to attach a thumb drive to save the file, the system crashed in Windows. My next install, after applying thermal paste to the northbridge chipset, will be a version of Windows 7, but this time from the Digital River iso downloads available.

 

[Golden]

Additional information is required.

1. Download this .BAT file to your desktop

Download


2. Right-click the .BAT file and 'Run as Administrator'
3. Locate the .ZIP file created on your desktop, and upload it here in your next reply.

 

[Apple Ram]

I finally was able to re-load Windows again after reapplying the northbridge heatsink. It seems that the system starts crashing as soon as I start updating Windows. Most of the crashes and BSOD's have to do with the ntoskrnl.exe file dated August 28, 2013.

Here's the SF Diagnostic tool. I'll upload the debug tool in a few minutes.

 

[Apple Ram]

Here's the SF Debug zipped file. It may have another minidump or two as it was created an hour or two after the diagnostic tool. Based on too many Google searches over the last few weeks, it seems like a number of MS updates over the last few months have been causing BSOD's with the kernel, USB drivers and AMD graphics cards. While I was posting my previous reply the screen went black for a second and a message said something about the AMD graphics driver causing a problem.

 

[Golden]

You seem to have a mix of errors here that are difficult to pinpoint.

*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.

BugCheck D1, {28, 2, 1, fffff88005322d29}

Probably caused by : usbohci.sys ( usbohci!OHCI_PollAsyncEndpoint+37d )

Followup: MachineOwner
---------

Driver Reference Table

Run Windows Update - install all updates, check those in optional updates too.

 

[Apple Ram]

Run Windows Update - install all updates, check those in optional updates too.

That always seems to be when the computer crashes. I was running Window 7 sp1 for about 4 hours last night. As soon as I updated, the system crashed. I even tried updating by first selecting all updates issued before August, 2013. I noticed that my system first started crashing soon after the January, 2014 updates
were released.

I'm going to try all the updates now although I think this install is already compromised as I've had to use the restore points about 4 times already. Every 2nd crash or so, I can't boot into Bios for about 15 minutes.

My auto Windows updates wants to install 2012 AMD graphics drivers although I've already updated to the latest April, 2013 drivers. Since I'm sure there's some conflicts, I just uninstalled the AMD Catalyst Center and drivers. Another update is this one from January, 2014 which worries me as many have reported BSOD's after installing it. It updates the USB drivers:

MS13-081: Description of the security update for USB drivers: October 8, 2013

I'm not sure if you read my entire initial post, but my system crashed a week or so ago when I tried to erase the disk using a Darik's Boot and Nuke boot disk.

Eventually, I'm going to try to install Windows 7 from the Digital River ISO downloads and avoid the HP recovery disk installation with all the bloatware.

 

[Golden]

Eventually, I'm going to try to install Windows 7 from the Digital River ISO downloads and avoid the HP recovery disk installation with all the bloatware.

I think you should do this sooner rather than later. To be honest, you have tried so many things its going to be hard unravelling it all. Start with a new clean installation - only what is necessary to get Windows + all available updates running.

If it BSOD's then, it will be easier to diagnose the issue.

 

[Apple Ram]

To be honest, you have tried so many things its going to be hard unravelling it all. Start with a new clean installation - only what is necessary to get Windows + all available updates running. If it BSOD's then, it will be easier to diagnose the issue.

I just reverted back to a restore point that doesn't include any updates after October, 2013 and I haven't crashed for over an hour. I also installed an antivirus program and ran a bunch of system utilities. I even viewed some 1080p Youtube videos. I'm going to install all the updates listed, although I know that will certainly mean crashes, freezes and BSOD's. Tomorrow, I'm going to install the Digital River Windows 7 version and see if that helps. I never experienced an inability to boot for 15 minutes or more after a crash until the BSOD's of the last month. At least this experience has enabled me to really learn the insides of this computer, along with a decent understanding of live Linux disks.

What's puzzling is that one day I can run Linux Mint from a live DVD disk for over 5 hours and several days later I can't even boot it up. The same went for a bunch of live Linux based antivirus rescue disks. That's what made me wonder if there's something loaded in the MBR from the HP recovery disks that were created from the first installation.

I'm not certain whether I should stick with AMD or go back to Intel CPU's. HP's website provides very little information, especially on their proprietary and locked motherboards. The drivers file on their site for my model haven't been updated in over a year, and the file descriptions sometimes don't even match the downloads. In the case of my Pavilion P7-1020, the N-Alvorix board listed in the specs turned out to be an H-Alvorix when I opened the case.

Regardless of the extra cost and time in building one's own computer, at least the best parts could be chosen, and a decent manual would be provided for the motherboard!

The only way to figure out where pins, plugs and switches on the board are is to use a flashlight and a magnifying glass. The sparse diagram at the bottom of this page is HP's entire schematic of the board:

HP Support document - HP Support Center

 

[Apple Ram]

I installed a new, clean version of Windows from the Digital River ISO downloads using my HP product key. There were no problems with the install, but as soon as I started installing the original drivers from the HP site, I started getting BSOD's.

Before the install, I couldn't seem to do a full wipe of the drive using Dban without the system freezing. Two weeks ago, a 3 hour Memtest86 v5.01 test from a live disk yielded no errors, but last night and today each stick is showing errors. What's strange is that the zero's on the screen (in the top info area) have smiley faces! Is this a result of a crash or some malware?

How do I know if the memory is bad or the motherboard is the problem? Every time the computer crashes with a BSOD or freezes from a live disk, I can't boot into bios for about 20 minutes and have to pull the plug on the power (or remove the CMOS battery for 10 minutes)

Another thing I've noticed is that the northbridge heatsink is very hot to the touch, even after applying Arctic Silver Ceramique last week. Speedfan and HWinfo say the mobo temperature is 37° C, but the heatsink feels so hot that you can't touch it for more than a few seconds.

 

[benzaitenman]

Motherboard H-Alvorix-RS880-uATX

I have been working the past few days trying to discover what this fault is as I recently bought an HP P7-1074 PC. There is nothing electronically wrong with Motherboard H-Alvorix-RS880-uATX
The problem with the computer not powering up and going into post and leaving a no signal screen is the Plug in the J18 header. It makes a bad connection. I don't think that these plugs were ever meant to have 2 cores going into the one pin. If you have a look at the plug you will more than likely see that it is a tad loose. I used my DVM probe to gently push on the copper strip that is visible, which then makes for a better connection when plugged into the header. I have now managed over the past 24 hours to start the computer at least 50 times and it boots no problem.

 

[eegad]

must investigate

I have an HPE-410 with that same motherboard. It worked fine for over a year, then became flaky with constant BSOD's and reboots. I unplugged/plugged cables, checked RAM, etc to no avail. Then I removed the CPU and re-seated it. The computer started working fine again. A while ago the same problem returned. And my solution was the same...after checking cables and swapping RAM without any improvement, I removed the CPU from its socket, cleaned it, applied some arctic silver thermal compound (which I hadn't done the first time a year earlier), put it back together and it's been working fine for about 2 months now. I need to take a close look at your J18 solution when I get a chance though. I had been thinking that the problem with these motherboards was a flaky connection in the CPU socket. But you may be right and my fix might have just been coincidence after jiggling the J18 connection again. (or maybe there are multiple poor connections on this board!)