Solved BSOD - occurs at random times

[dkistner]

I have had blue screen crashes for a couple of months now. Sometimes they occur many times a day, sometimes not at all. They don't seem tied to specific applications or activity, and sometimes occur when I'm not actively using the computer.

About a month ago I had a crash that was so bad that Windows wouldn't boot at all. It would always hang after the "Intel Matrix Storage Manager option ROM v7.6.1.1001 ICH9R" screen, then go black. After doing some diagnosis I decided to replace my hard drive, and do a fresh installation of Windows. Everything ran fine for about a week, then the blue screens started occurring again, usually MEMORY_MANAGEMENT errors.

Before my re-installation, I was getting IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL blue screens, and a message on my Dell mini-screen "memory modules are detected but a memory failure has occurred. I tested isolating each of my 4 memory sticks, but couldn't pinpoint a bad one. I also ran memtest86, and it showed no issues with my memory.

Attached are the files outlined in the BSOD posting instructions. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. This was been a very frustrating problem.

Thanks,
Dave


System specs:
Box: Dell XPS 420 (approximately 3.5 years old)
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. The OS has been reinstalled on a new hard drive 2 weeks ago. It is an upgrade license that was installed on top of Vista
CPU: Intel Core Duo E6850 3.00GHz
Motherboard: CN-0TP406-70821-7AC-K0XU (Came with Dell XPS 420)
Memory: 6GB
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 4650
Sound Card: Creative Soundblaster X-Fi

 

[zigzag3143]

These crashes were caused by memory corruption (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!!!


1-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 or 6 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



2-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.

So, 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).

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 "Special Pool", "Force Pending I/O Requests" and "Low Resource Simulation" and click "Next"
- 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.

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 (an estimate on my part).

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.

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

 

[dkistner]

Thank you for your response. I ran the memtest86 tests again and it showed no issues. I haven't had a blue screen crash in a couple of weeks now. If this issue continues I'll run driver verifier, but for now I'm going to close this thread. Thanks again.