Random BSODs, often 109s, usually linked to ntoskrnl.exe

[dossa51]

Hi all,

A friend built me a gaming computer three years ago (most of the specs should be in my profile) and it crashes every so often. Sometimes a few times in a single day, sometimes once a month.

This can happen in the middle of a game, when browsing the Internet or when the computer is simply sitting idle. I have not noticed any correlation at all over the years in terms of what causes it.

I am a relative novice and my research into the problems led me to bluescreenview and the analysis of the BSODs for any correlation within the codes themselves, but this goes far beyond my capability and I'm hoping that there are people on here who might be able to scrutinize my dump files and help me out. All I have learned from looking at the data is that most crashes are 109s with the occasional 3b and the crash address seems to always be at ntoskrnl.exe+75bc0.

I have run both memtest and the Windows memory diagnostics several times over the years and my RAM has passed every time.

Although this is something I can live with, a friend reminded me the other day that I don't have to, and that computers should never crash.

Any help would be most appreciated - I will co-operate in any way possible. I followed the instructions on the sticky thread at the top of this forum so all of the relevant information should be attached.

Thanks.

 

[Golden]

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

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.

BugCheck 109, {a3a039d898c46a09, b3b7465eeb423947, fffff80003400920, 1}

*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for win32k.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for win32k.sys
Probably caused by : memory_corruption

Followup: memory_corruption
---------

I realise you've run some memory tests, but to thoroughly test RAM you need to do it as follows:

Run a minimum of 8 passes, preferably overnight, or until errors occur using MemTest86+.

Reference this tutorial to help you use MemTest86+:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105647-ram-test-memtest86.html

Try that first. If it comes back clean, we can go hard-core and try soemthing different.

 

[dossa51]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I'll run memtest overnight tonight and post the results tomorrow.

 

[dossa51]

Memtest results

As much as I would have liked the relatively simple solution of corrupt memory, after 18 hours and 16 passes nothing had been flagged by Memtest (please see attached image). What should I try next?

Thanks

 

[Golden]

Please do the following:

Run Driver Verifier for 24 hours or the occurrence of the next crash, whichever is earlier.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/101379-driver-verifier-enable-disable.html

Driver Verifier will cause your computer to run very sluggishly - this is normal. What it is trying to do is force your system to BSOD and isolate the offending driver/s. When it does, reboot, disable driver verifier, reboot as normal and upload the new dmp file/s here.

I recommend creating a system restore point before turning on driver verifier:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/697-system-restore-point-create.html

If your system fails to boot to desktop once driver verifier is enabled, turn it off by booting into Safe Mode:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/69585-safe-mode.html

 

[dossa51]

Hi again,

I followed the instructions you posted, which were very clear and easy to follow by the way.

I ran the program from 4pm yesterday until just now (25 hours total) and no crash occurred. The commercial program linked to verifier.exe did a garish popup that suggested 18 drivers were "out of date or corrupt" but this was Tweakbit Driver Updated rather than verifier.exe, so I assume this is irrelevant.

What do you suggest next?

 

[dossa51]

Ha ha that's more like it. Less than an hour later and I hear a crash (the speakers were on) while I'm out the room. Oddly it didn't get picked up by bluescreenview but is hopefully in this dump.

 

[dossa51]

And another, they're coming thick and fast now... joy! I was at the screen this time. It was my old friend the 109. Log attached.

 

[dossa51]

I can't find the forum rules regarding 'bumping' but as I have followed all instructions thusfar and fairly promptly at that, I hope it's ok to 'bump' this post after two weeks with no reply.

Lots of people post on this forum and posts disappear quickly. Regardless, most issues are solved, whilst mine remains unsolved.

Any further help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Golden]

Sorry that your thread slipped through the cracks - it happens sometimes due to the volume of BSOD threads.

The commercial program linked to verifier.exe did a garish popup that suggested 18 drivers were "out of date or corrupt" but this was Tweakbit Driver Updated rather than verifier.exe, so I assume this is irrelevant.

Hold on a minute - there is no commercial software linked to Driver Verifier. Driver Verifier is a Microsoft program, not 3rd party one, so I'm not sure what you ran to get that.

Never install any drivers recommend by 3rd party programs, unless specifically advised to do so.

I'll look at your .dmp files shortly, but for now ensure that there are NO 3rd party driver programs, tune-up utilities etc. installed.

 

[dossa51]

Just to confirm, TweakBit Driver Updater is not what I used to run the test you suggested. This was verifier.exe and I followed the instructions given to me by the letter. The TweakBit program got onto my computer either a while a go or it piggybacked on the verifier install, like McAfee does when you install/update Flash.

I'll remove it now and await your reply.

Thanks.

 

[Golden]

Note the dates on these .dmp files - check in C:\Windows\Minidump.....there should be dmp files dated December/January?

View attachment 345235

 

[dossa51]

Yes I did notice that. Even now that folder shows no dumps later than October last year, and yet it has definitely bluescreened since then.

The dumps don't automatically save, is that right? You have to select an option where they can be stored in that folder. Perhaps that setting reset itself... is there any way I can restore things so that every crash is logged?

I realise I will then have to await another crash before I can post any info for you, but at the moment they simply don't seem to be saving in C:\Windows\Minidump.

 

[dossa51]

Confirmed - dump files not being saved. Just had a 109 an no record of it exists in minidump folder.

Please advise how to reactivate the feature whereby .dmp files are saved in the relevant folder and we'll go from there.

 

[dossa51]

Don't worry. After another annoying 109 I Googled how to record .dmp files and it should now store them again. Will post next one I get, which should be soon the way my computer's behaving at the moment (yes I personify it!).

 

[dossa51]

Actually... HELP!

Despite following instructions online regarding how to save dump files, a crash just occurred and was not saved.

Please advise as to how to save dump files or I'm doomed to a future of crashing with no trace on my machine afterwards that it has ever happened.

 

[Golden]

Sorry, I've taken a few days off to catch up on other things. Please see:

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

Choose the small dump option

 

[dossa51]

Yeah those were the instructions I followed from the other day to no avail... the only thing that was different was the 'Automatically Restart' button being checked (it now is).

I will post when the next crash happens as to whether or not it records it.

 

[Golden]

How much free disk space on C, and how large is rhe pagefile on C?

 

[dossa51]

There's 25.5gb free on my c drive, and what's a pagefile and how do I check how large it is?