Random crashes BSOD, dump file won't zip

[kuurt]

My computer crashes are becoming more frequent - probably once or twice a week. Hard for me to diagnose because it works fine most of the time.

Often occurs right after Windows 7 boots up, although, has also occurred hours after having been on. Sometimes the computer just freezes up, tries to restart itself, but then has a disk boot error. Occasionally doesn't want to start up at all and says "disk boot failure". I don't think I always get a blue screen - sometimes it's black.

I'm guessing it is a hardware issue of some kind (although I don't know for sure) because I have reinstalled the OS about 3 times in the last year or two and each time I get random crashes. Even after upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7.

I recently did a computer health check and it all turned out ok. My harddrive was all good, no bad sectors or anything. I have tested the RAM with Windows 7 memory check tool. I have done dskchk and sfc/scannow - no issues.

So, now I want to see if the crash dump file can tell me anything. I went to "C:\windows\minidump". Oddly it doesn't show anything for the crash I had today, but it shows that I had a crash yesterday so I right clicked on the dump file to zip it and upload it here, but it won't let me zip the file. It says "file not found or no read permission" when I try to zip it.

Anyway, I uploaded the file that the DM log collector created if that tells you anything. Did that also get the crash dump file?

 

[Thedoctor44]

BugCheck [COLOR="Red"]F4[/COLOR], {3, [COLOR="red"]fffffa8006155b30[/COLOR], fffffa8006155e10, fffff80002dc9270}

0xF4 bugchecks indicate that a critical object necessary for Windows to function has been terminated for whatever reason.

Unfortunately I cannot analyze much of this bugcheck with Small Memory Dumps, therefore Kernel Memory Dumps would be useful.

Follow these instructions on how to change to Kernel Memory Dumps.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/174459-dump-files-configure-windows-create-bsod.html

Once changed wait for another BSOD, then upload the new dump file to a file sharing website like OneDrive.
The new dump file will be located in C:/Windows/memory.dmp.

Don't zip it up as it corrupts the dump file by compressing it.

In the mean time, whilst you wait for another BSOD I recommend running these tests as failing drives and bad RAM can cause these issues.

Memtest86 will test your RAM

   Information

Run Memtest86 for at least 8 passes so we get enough information to confirm that your RAM isn't failing

Run a Disk Check to scan for errors

   Note

Afterwards go into an Elevated Command Prompt (Run as administrator) and type in sfc /scannow
If it finds errors reboot and run the scan two more times

Run SeaTools to see if your HDD or SSD is failing

Post back the results.

 

[kuurt]

I didn't actually have to switch to kernel memory dump because my settings were already set on that. But, it won't let me upload that file anywhere because it says I don't have permission. Is there some way around that?

I'll get back to you on those other tests.

 

[Thedoctor44]

What is the date on it?
It has to be recent.

You must have full Administrative privileges to copy the memory.dmp to the desktop.
Then upload it to OneDrive, after it has been uploaded post the download link.

 

[kuurt]

The date on it is the 28th - two days ago.

I only have two accounts on my PC - mine (which should be the administrator account) and a guest account. And I am in my account so I don't know why it's not giving me administrator privileges.

I'm also having an issue with downloading this memory tester tool since my CD burner doesn't work. I have to use my flash drive, but that Memtest86 link you gave me says that I need to format the flash drive first to avoid problems. Then in red it says "WARNING!! Contents on this drive will be deleted..". And I don't want to delete the contents on my flash drive. So that's a problem.

 

[Thedoctor44]

Well, you could move the contents to a folder on the computer until you've ran memtest then format the USB again then move the contents back.

As for the dump file yes that will be fine to upload.

 

[kuurt]

Here's the dump file:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n3e5i47z67tl7rz/MEMORY.DMP

 

[Thedoctor44]

Normally 0xF4 bugchecks are caused by hardware or memory leakage.
We are unsure about hardware yet seen as you haven't ran the tests.

You don't seem to have any memory leakages so that's out of the question.

NonPagedPool Usage:    [COLOR="Purple"]11964[/COLOR] (     47856 Kb)
	NonPagedPool Max:     [COLOR="Blue"]774527[/COLOR] (   3098108 Kb)

I am seeing a lot of IRP errors though.
Lets take a look.

Ok, Avast is showing issues.

*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for [COLOR="Red"]aswSnx.sys[/COLOR]

Other drivers related to Avast are involved but that doesn't matter.

Now the other thing that interests me is this...

*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for [COLOR="red"]ccSetx64.sys[/COLOR]

*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for [COLOR="red"]Ironx64.SYS[/COLOR]

These are Norton/Symentec drivers.

You should never have more than 1 real time Anti Virus installed at the same time, especially Norton and Avast which are very prone to issues...

I suggest removing both with their removal tools.

avast! Uninstall Utility | Download aswClear for avast! Removal

https://support.norton.com/sp/en/uk/home/current/solutions/kb20080710133834EN_EndUserProfile_en_us

Replace them with MSE and Malwarebytes.

   Tip

Make sure you don't enable the free trial of malwarebytes pro, deselect the option when prompted.

Your C Media audio driver is causing issues as well.

*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for [COLOR="Red"]cmudax3.sys[/COLOR]

You should update it here.

1: kd> [COLOR="Green"]lmvm cmudax3[/COLOR]
start             end                 module name
fffff880`04a7d000 fffff880`04be3000   cmudax3    (no symbols)           
    Loaded symbol image file: cmudax3.sys
    Image path: \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\cmudax3.sys
    Image name: cmudax3.sys
    Timestamp:        [COLOR="Red"]Tue Dec 01 03:31:07 2009[/COLOR] (4B148DFB)
    CheckSum:         0011EE46
    ImageSize:        00166000
    Translations:     0000.04b0 0000.04e4 0409.04b0 0409.04e4

 

[kuurt]

I know you're not suppose to have more than 1 real time antiviruses, but I have Avast turned off. I only use it as a back up. I would temporarily disable Norton if I wanted to use it. It gave me that option when I went to uninstall it and I thought it wouldn't hurt to keep it as a back up. Not sure why it would have an error message unless it has something to do with that fact that it's currently disabled.

My ISP is Comcast and they give me the Norton as part of my package, and since it's suppose to be one of the best I think I'd rather hang on to that rather than switch to Microsoft Security Essentials. I don't know why it would have an error messages either - it works just fine. Are these error messages a big deal?

I do use Malewarebytes, although I need to download it again. Lost it when I reinstalled my OS. I thought the full version of Norton would take care of spyware/maleware also, no?

I actually don't have a C media sound card. My sound card is actually Diamond Multimedia extreme sound, but their website was down for a few days when I reinstalled my OS, and Windows 7 seem to find another driver from C media that seemed to work. I guess I better go download the right one now that their site is back up.

Sorry, still have do those tests - I'm working on getting someone to burn me the memtest86 onto a disk. I did the disk check once, but it froze up on me during, so I'll have to do that again later.

 

[Thedoctor44]

Well for a few people Norton has caused little issues but the majority of people, it looks like yourself included are being affected by it.
Myself, and many others don't recommend Norton at all, we recommend MSE because it has caused no issues.

That being said, I'm curious, what do you have in the way of USB devices?
Specifically USB 3.0 devices.

Your keyboard looks suspicious.

 

[kuurt]

As far as USB devices I have:

• Kodak S101 webcam
• HP Deskjet F340 All-in-one
• Mouse - from a Dell computer
• keyboard - K120 Logitech

I also have a kingston zip drive, and Toshiba external hard drive, but they're not plugged in most of the time. And I just bought a kindle which also uses the USB.



Those are my USB devices, but I have no idea if they are USB 3.0 or not.




Does MSE have live protection in the free version?

 

[kuurt]

Ok, from my research USB 3.0 has blue on the USB connector. The only USB device I have that has blue in the connector is my Toshiba external hard drive.

I have uninstalled Avast, downloaded malewarebites, and installed the latest drivers for my soundcard. I had someone burn memtest86 onto a disk for me, but it's not working. So I guess I'll have try that again later.

 

[kuurt]

I also ran a dskchk, and then followed it up with sfc/scannow 3 times like you suggested. Here's links to those log files. But, I don't think they found anything wrong.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cvlrs9qf1631tjj/chkdsk log.txt

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kdewui8z49bwdnh/sfcdetails.txt


Also, question about Microsoft Security Essentials which you wanted me to switch to. When I go to download it, it has two files and you're suppose to check which one or both that you want to download and I don't know which to download because it doesn't explain how you would know. Would I download "ENUS\amd64\MSEInstall.exe", or "ENUS\x86\MSEInstall.exe", or both? I do know I have an amd processor and a 64 bit OS, so I'm guessing the first one, but I don't know if that's what that amd64 is about. Any idea what to check there?

 

[Thedoctor44]

I can't remember having such options but because you have a 64bit system you would use AMD64.

 

[kuurt]

Maybe I was downloading it from the wrong place. That was at microsoft.com, but when you download MSE from windows.microsoft.com it doesn't give you choices like that. Anyway, I have uninstalled Avast and Norton like you suggested and installed MSE and Malewarebytes. Ran scans - they didn't detect anything, so I'm good there.

You said my keyboard looks suspicious - do you think I need to replace my keyboard? If so, how would I know which keyboard to go with. If this one is incompatible, what's to say the next one I get won't be also?

The last thing you wanted me to do was test the RAM with memtest86. Might be a few days before I can get to that. I'm waiting on my brother - he's going to burn it to disk for me on his next day off.

 

[Thedoctor44]

Ok good

You never answered first, what devices are connection via USB?

What devices are connected via USB 3.0?

 

[kuurt]

I already answered that question in #11 and #12 of this post - you must have missed it.

 

[Thedoctor44]

Sorry about that,

Any more dump files?

 

[kuurt]

No, not yet. My computer hasn't crashed since the last time. Although, It usually does it so frequently it's just a matter of time.

 

[kuurt]

Ok, tonight it crashed again. And as I was uploading my dump file to dropbox, it crashed a second time on me. It doesn't look like it created a new dump file that second time, but I did upload the dump file again just in case it did.

Right after the first crash:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n3e5i47z67tl7rz/MEMORY.DMP

Right after the second crash:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dv1lunt11vdeb6k/MEMORY.DMP

The computer also displayed this message which I have seen numerous times before. It must have something to do with my computer crashes because I often see this message when it crashes:

"If you have recently attached a device to this computer, such as a camera or portable music player, remove it and restart your computer. If you continue to see this message, contact your system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance." And just so you know, I didn't have any devices attached to my computer.

I tried to do a boot up repair (since Windows wouldn't start) and it wouldn't repair and the details said: "A hard disk could not be found. If a hard disk is installed, it is not responding." Eventually I got it to start up again.

The event viewer shows this in system: (source atapi) "The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Ide\IdePort4" This message I have also seen many times before when checking the event viewer to find out why my computer crashed. It appears 13 times in a row right before it crashed. I don't know what it is or what it means, but I feel it is also significant.

Hope this helps