Solved BSOD during various activities

[phelgan]

Hi all,

Have been having various problems resulting in BSOD ever since purchased laptop. No hardware has been added, it is as bought.
Windows 7 Home Premium is OEM but software such as Office 2010, McAfee AV, Firefox, Thunderbird and smaller utilities have been installed.

Note that in many cases, the crashes were occuring before and after installation of our software.

There are no specific triggers that I have been able to identify - BSOD may occur if running Office, Firefox, or doing nothing (come back to an unexpected shutdown message), but I believe that about half of the BSODs trace back to ntoskrnl.exe.

Have done the obvious stuff - repeated virus scans, keeping it up to date with Windows update and chkdsk. Not sure where to go now.

I have therefore followed the instructions and posted the resulting dump file/ performance monitor data. Any help would obviously be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Phil

 

[JMH]

Phil,


These crashes were caused by memory corruption/exception (Cx05) probably a driver.
Please run these two tests to verify your memory and find which driver is causing the problem.

* If you are overclocking anything reset to default before running these tests.
In other words STOP!!!

* If you have a Raid update its Driver.



Memtest.

*Download a copy of Memtest86 and burn the ISO to a CD using Iso Recorder or another ISO burning program. Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool

*Boot from the CD, and leave it running for at least 5-7 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.

Any errors are indicative of a memory problem.

If a known good stick fails in a motherboard slot it is probably the slot.

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






Driver Verifier

Using Driver Verifier is an iffy proposition.
Most times it'll crash and it'll tell you what the driver is.
But sometimes it'll crash and won't tell you the driver.
Other times it'll crash before you can log in to Windows.
If you can't get to Safe Mode, then you'll have to resort to offline editing of the registry to disable Driver Verifier.

I'd suggest that you first backup your stuff and then make sure you've got access to another computer so you can contact us if problems arise.
Then make a System Restore point (so you can restore the system using the Vista/Win7 Startup Repair feature).

In Windows 7 you can make a Startup Repair disk by going to Start....All Programs...Maintenance...Create a System Repair Disc - with Windows Vista you'll have to use your installation disk or the "Repair your computer" option at the top of the Safe Mode menu .

Then, here's the procedure:
- Go to Start and type in "verifier" (without the quotes) and press Enter
- Select "Create custom settings (for code developers)" and click "Next"
- Select "Select individual settings from a full list" and click "Next"
- Select everything EXCEPT FOR "Low Resource Simulation" and click "Next"
NOTE: You can use Low Resource Simulation if you'd like.
From my limited experimentation it makes the BSOD's come faster.
- Select "Select driver names from a list" and click "Next"
Then select all drivers NOT provided by Microsoft and click "Next"
- Select "Finish" on the next page.

If you are using win 8 add these
- Concurrency Stress Test
- DDI compliance checking

Reboot the system and wait for it to crash to the Blue Screen.
Continue to use your system normally, and if you know what causes the crash, do that repeatedly.
The objective here is to get the system to crash because Driver Verifier is stressing the drivers out.
If it doesn't crash for you, then let it run for at least 36 hours of continuous operation

Reboot into Windows (after the crash) and turn off Driver Verifier by going back in and selecting "Delete existing settings" on the first page, then locate and zip up the memory dump file and upload it with your next post.


If you can't get into Windows because it crashes too soon, try it in Safe Mode.
If you can't get into Safe Mode, try using System Restore from your installation DVD to set the system back to the previous restore point that you created.

Thanks to JGriff2 & Usasma.

Using Driver Verifier to identify issues with Windows drivers for advanced users

Driver Verifier

Using Driver Verifier (Windows Drivers)

 

[zigzag3143]

If you continue to crash after following JMH's suggestions I would remove McAfee and update or remove the driver Related to mwlPSDVDisk.sys MyWinLocker PSD Virtual Disk Driver from Egis Incorporated.

All the Winlocker software is almost 4 years old


McAfee is a frequent cause of BSOD's. I would remove and replace it with Microsoft Security Essentials AT LEAST TO TEST!

http://download.mcafee.com/products/licensed/cust_support_patches/MCPR.exe

Microsoft Security Essentials - Free Antivirus for Windows

 

[phelgan]

Thanks both,
I am running Memtest86+ now, one pass has passed so far...
Assuming thats clear I'll follow with the Driver Verify.

I may have caused further trouble, as even while I typed my original problem, it was running a chkdsk and I managed to shut it down in the process and now have a corrupted registry <idiot>

 

[zigzag3143]

Thanks both,
I am running Memtest86+ now, one pass has passed so far...
Assuming thats clear I'll follow with the Driver Verify.

I may have caused further trouble, as even while I typed my original problem, it was running a chkdsk and I managed to shut it down in the process and now have a corrupted registry <idiot>

Chalk it up to learning experience. So whats the status now? Can you boot (even in safe mode F8)?

Do you have a backup/restore point?

Do you have a win 7 DVD?

 

[phelgan]

Progress

Hi Zigzag,

I let memtest run overnight - a total of 6 passes, all clear. So that is positive.

Since then I have tried a recent restore point, but that still gives me the corrupt registry BSOD and thus returns me to the System Recovery Options dialogue.

I have used the command prompt to run chkdsk again (no /f switch this time) and that is still reporting clear.

No DVD - it is an OEM installation so there is a recovery partition (it gives me the reinstall option at the bottom of the System Recovery Options) but I'd rather explore if there other options first.

Cheers,

Phil

 

[writhziden]

Go through the steps in http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219533-troubleshooting-windows-7-failure-boot.html and report back after each step as you proceed. I doubt this is a virus since you seem to have admitted user error, so you can probably safely skip the virus scans.

 

[phelgan]

Hi All,

Sorry I haven't been back sooner. I eventually got fed-up (and the wife wanted a working PC back) and returned it to Acer (still under warranty). It is coming back tomorrow - no indication of what they have percevied the fault to be, but I will post whatever detail I get for future reference...

Cheers for all your help.

Phil

 

[writhziden]

Thanks for keeping us updated. Also appreciate you letting us know what the problem was when you find out.

 

[phelgan]

Well, the OEM has not specifically stated what the problem was, but replaced 1GB stick and updated BIOS. Limited usage since returned with not a single BSOD - happy days!!!

Thanks again all....

 

[writhziden]

You're welcome. I am very happy to see it solved.