Solved BSOD occuring at random

[Wolfgangs246]

Hi all,

I have been using a SSD drive as my OS drive for the last year or so. During that time I have experienced random BSOD's that appear to occur literally at random. The BSOD's have occured in the midst of games, whilst surfing the web (using Google Chrome) and even when idling overnight (BOINC app running as screensaver)

I have only had 1 or 2 chances to see it happen in front of my eyes but the BSOD screen usually flashes by so quickly that I can't catch the error code. As such, I'd like your assistance in trying to figure out what the heck is going wrong with my computer.

Thank you in advance for your help!

Add-on Information:

Another problem noted is that after the BSOD occurs, the bios is unable to detect and load the OS from the SSD drive. This is resolved by performing a complete shutdown of the system. Any rebooting or Ctrl+Alt+Del will only result in a 'Boot Manager Not Found' error.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hiyya and welcome Wolfgang I am NO expert mate but if you can remember when those BSOD's occurred run back in the Event Viewer and truck through the events around that time or day it might pop up a reference to it / them.

To get Event Viewer > Start type "event" (without quotation marks) - it should pop up a blue tab at the top of the start list right click then run as administrator.

Click Custom Views > Administrative Events and trawl down the listings.

Sorry should have said any you find double click on that error and it should open up to give the details.

 

[Wolfgangs246]

Hiyya and welcome Wolfgang I am NO expert mate but if you can remember when those BSOD's occurred run back in the Event Viewer and truck through the events around that time or day it might pop up a reference to it / them.

To get Event Viewer > Start type "event" (without quotation marks) - it should pop up a blue tab at the top of the start list right click then run as administrator.

Click Custom Views > Administrative Events and trawl down the listings.

Sorry should have said any you find double click on that error and it should open up to give the details.

Thanks mate. Yeah I've looked through the logs. The last known event occured at 1:15am on the 9-DEC-2012. But based on the event log. IT doesn't look anything happened other than an unexpected shutdown.

Thought?

 

[koolkat77]

There are no dump files. We need small memory dumps. Check: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/174459-dump-files-configure-windows-create-bsod.html

BTW, did you check for a newer firmware for the SSD?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Another option Wolfgang is to stop the PC from automatically restarting during the blue screen, tap F5 during startup, and at the menu, select Disable automatic restart on system failure.

Found this in a Google so might be worth a shot - what have you got to lose?

 

[Wolfgangs246]

Hi All,

based on my system config. I have assigned a non-default dump folder. But this crash happened again overnight and when I check the folder, it's empty. The system Dump was configured to be the Kernel version. I'll set it up again and set it to the small dump version and hope for an event.

Oh, and the BIOS for my mobo and the firmware for the SSD are both uptodate.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Good mate so have you got it set to that stop when it happens cosa screen shot would be really handy.

John

 

[Wolfgangs246]

Good mate so have you got it set to that stop when it happens cosa screen shot would be really handy.

John

Sorry man, I checked my BIOS and I don't have anything that specifically says 'don't reboot on error'. There was something that mentioned about in the event of a power loss if it a) Soft-Off, b)Full-On or c) Memory-state dependent. I set that of Soft-Off for noww but I'm not sure where I is the option you mentioned?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hiyya mate no it isn't in the BIOS try this to do that


How To Disable the Automatic Restart on System Failure in Windows 7

 

[Wolfgangs246]

Thanks man. I've set it up. I'll post again when I get the error code for more info. Thanks!

 

[ICIT2LOL]

No probs and sorry for the late reply have been doing a lot of very long early shifts

 

[Wolfgangs246]

It finally happened again.

Hey guys.

Finally got the BSOD to occur again. Once again no one was at the computer when it happened, so no clues as to a unified cause for the error.

Anyway the BSOD error stats as follows:

Kernel_Data_Inpage_Error

Any ideas?

 

[koolkat77]

Take memtest. Run for 8 passes and test each stick in a know good slot for an additional 6 passes.

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

The goal is to test all the RAM sticks and all the motherboard slots.

Check your motherboard manual to ensure the RAM sticks are in the recommended motherboard slots. Some motherboards have very specific slots required for the number of RAM sticks installed.

If you get errors, stop the test and continue with the next step.

1. Remove all but one stick of RAM from your computer (this will be RAM stick #1), and run Memtest86 again, for 7 passes.

*Be sure to note the RAM stick, use a piece of tape with a number, and note the motherboard slot.
​

If this stick passes the test then go to step #3.

2. If RAM stick #1 has errors, repeat the test with RAM stick #2 in the same motherboard slot.

*If RAM stick #2 passes, this indicates that RAM stick #1 may be bad. If you want to be absolutely sure, re-test RAM stick #1 in another known good slot.
​

*If RAM stick #2 has errors, this indicates another possible bad RAM stick, a possible motherboard slot failure or inadequate settings.
​

3. Test the next stick of RAM (stick #2) in the next motherboard slot.

*If this RAM stick has errors repeat step #2 using a known good stick if possible, or another stick.
​

*If this RAM stick has no errors and both sticks failed in slot#1, test RAM stick #1 in this slot.
​

4. If you find a stick that passes the test, test it in all the other motherboard slots.

If Part 2 testing shows errors, and all tests in Part 3 show errors, you will need to test the RAM sticks in another computer and/or test other RAM in your computer to identify the problem.

In this way, you can identify whether it is a bad stick of RAM, a bad motherboard, or incompatibility between the sticks.

   Information

Errors are sometimes found after 8 passes.

   Tip

Do this test overnight, before going to bed.

 

[Wolfgangs246]

Frick me this testing is gonna take a while. *sigh*
I'll let you know the results when I get done with the testing.

Thanks for all your patience guys.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hum Kool Kat I wonder if it is worth doing a ADWCleaner run too - I found it really good at picking up a fair bit of crap even on my Ivy B
AdwCleaner Download

Wolfgang hang in there mate it is worth it in the end.

 

[Wolfgangs246]

Ok I've completed the first round of testing. (All sticks tested in slot 0)
As far as I can tell Stick 1 failed the 8th pass of the test. The rest all passed, some running up to the 13th run of the test.

However I actually got another BSOD error whilst using stick 3. This is even after it passed the 8 rounds of testing.

I'm now moving on the testing them all in Slot 1. But is this kind of odd that the stick 3 could pass the memtest but still experience a BSOD?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Ok I've completed the first round of testing. (All sticks tested in slot 0)
As far as I can tell Stick 1 failed the 8th pass of the test. The rest all passed, some running up to the 13th run of the test.

However I actually got another BSOD error whilst using stick 3. This is even after it passed the 8 rounds of testing.

I'm now moving on the testing them all in Slot 1. But is this kind of odd that the stick 3 could pass the memtest but still experience a BSOD?

Certainly sounds like something wrong with either the slot and sticks (compatibility)- just as matter of curiosity are the sticks all the same brand and if they are - were they purchased as a set of two or four? I have found sometimes in the past that sticks that are not "related" don't work real well together as opposed to a matched pair or quad set.

I am just trying to work through every eventuality if you are wondering as the machine's behaviour is quite erratic eh?

 

[Wolfgangs246]

I bought the 4 sticks as a single set, the packagaing put them in 2 separate packages of 2 sticks each.
They are all the same model.

Not sure if that answered your query?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

I bought the 4 sticks as a single set, the packagaing put them in 2 separate packages of 2 sticks each.
They are all the same model.

Not sure if that answered your query?

Yes mate it did that means they were probably from the same batch of sticks produced therefore increasing the chance of them being equally balanced. Like say producing a batch of red BMW cars one week then three weeks later the same thing the chances of the colour being absolutely identical would be debatable if you see what I mean. i5 chips are really just not quite good enough i7 chips for example

Now it is looking more like a motherboard problem but just as matter of curiosity try checking the PSU outputs this could be a problem with stable volts to the motherboard. Do you know how to check the PSU? If not post back and I will try find the tutorial on doing that.

 

[Wolfgangs246]

You mean check the voltage going to the RAM slots?
If this is the same setting that you use to OC your RAM, then I think I know where it is in the BIOS.

I also noticed that something called ECC isn't enabled on my RAM config. IS this something that may be relevant?