BSOD on a random basis, sometimes can't even boot

[amir77a]

HI,

My wife's computer is crashing on a random basis.

After some of the crashes, I wasn't even able to reboot. On that point sometimes I get "Disk read error", sometimes, instead of booting , I get screen which shows changing colors of white, gray, black and colors (green, red & blue - as far as I remember).

I had that problem last week. I've updated the BIOS, the problem gone, but now the computer keeps crashing. Sometimes it crashed in the middle of the night with no reason (no file sharing activities are present).

For a long time, on a random basis the computer hangs for a several seconds, with message "display driver stopped responding". Then the computer become usuable again with no BSOD.

My guess... hardware problem with 1. video card or 2. power adapter or 3. motherboard.

Any advise would be very welcomed

Thanks,
Amir.

 

[Dsprague]

OK so right off the bat a few things that definitely need attention:

Update your video card driver directly from the Nvidia website: Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers
Select the second option on that page it will detect what video card you have and find the appropirat drivers.

Next Update your bios it is very old:

BIOS Version/Date    American Megatrends Inc. 0638, [COLOR=Red]30/09/2008[/COLOR]

Run the system file checker:

SFC.EXE /SCANNOW
Go to Start and type in "cmd.exe" (without the quotes)
At the top of the search box, right click on the cmd.exe and select "Run as adminstrator"
In the black window that opens, type "SFC.EXE /SCANNOW" (without the quotes) and press Enter.
Let the program run and post back what it says when it's done.

then from the same command prompt run the follow ing command and reboot:

chkdsk /f /r

once those two things are done please Run through this tutorial on hard drive diagnostics:

Hard Drive Diagnostic Procedure

 

[amir77a]

well, things become much worse.

I've got BSOD while browsing the web.
Now the computer won't boot at all.

It crashes while booting.
Sometimes I get "Disk read error, press ctrl+alt+delete to boot", sometime its black screen, sometimes reboots while booting.

Selecting startup repair brings me to a window with "Windows boot error", and with message saying Status: 0xc00000e9, and Info: "An unexpected I/O error has occurred".

The thing is.. that the disk was checked a through long test using WD diagnostics, with no errors.
Last time (a month or so ago) the same situation was solved directly by reinstalling the BIOS.

The motherboard is quiet old. no further update is available.

Don't know what more can be done...

 

[Dsprague]

Hmm, I will see if I can get a fresh set of eyes on the problem and see if they can provide further assistance.

 

[x BlueRobot]

Update your System Specifications with Speccy, and then copy this information into your System Specifications: Go to your UserCP, and then select Edit System Spec in the left pane. Copy the information from Speccy into the required fields. These System Specifications will then follow your every post.

When was the last time you checked the hard-drive with the Western Digital tests?

 

[x BlueRobot]

[COLOR="Red"]BugCheck 7A[/COLOR], {fffff6fb80008000, [COLOR="SeaGreen"]ffffffffc000000e[/COLOR], 3e798880, fffff70001000000}

Probably caused by : ntkrnlmp.exe ( nt! ?? ::FNODOBFM::`string'+36c1a )

Usual causes:  Memory, Paging file corruption, File system, Hard drive, Cabling, Virus infection, Improperly seated cards, BIOS, Bad motherboard, Missing Service Pack

0: kd> [COLOR="seagreen"]!error ffffffffc000000e[/COLOR]
Error code: (NTSTATUS) 0xc000000e (3221225486) - A device which does not exist was specified.

A page fault was not able to read the contents of the page file to the specified physical memory address, we may be looking at possible RAM issues or hard-drive corruption.

Run some hard-drive diagnostics and follow these steps:

• Hard Drive Diagnostic Procedure

Find your hard-drive manufacturer and run their tests.

Additional Tests:

• SeaTools for DOS | Seagate
• CrystalDiskInfo - Software - Crystal Dew World

Post a screenshot of Crystal Disk Info summary:

• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html

If you have an SSD, make sure the following are up to date:

• SSD firmware
• BIOS Version
• Chipset Drivers
• Hard disk controller drivers/SATA drivers
• If you have a Marvell IDE ATA/ATAPI device, make sure the drivers are up to date from the Intel site or Marvell site and not from your motherboard/vendor support site.

Check for any file system errors and bad sectors using Option #2 of:

• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/433-disk-check.html

Use this command with Disk Check:

chkdsk C: /f /r

Scan for any malware:

• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/166445-windows-defender-offline.html
• Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller

 

[amir77a]

The computer I'm working at now, is not the problematic computer (which is my wife's computer)

The problematic computer is inaccessible at all, since I can't boot it at all.

It's primary specs are:
Mobo: Asus P5BE - Plus
CPU - Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo E6600
RAM: G.Skill 4Gb
Video: Asus GT210 512MB GDDR2
HD: Seagate Baracuda 1.5 TB

My confusion - the disk was never tested.

What is the best diagnostics utility I can work with to diagnose that computer in its current status?

There are many possible hardware suspects, I'm not sure how to isolate it.

Thanks again!
Amir

 

[x BlueRobot]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219533-troubleshooting-windows-7-failure-boot.html

All the tests specified in my second post are either bootable versions, or version which can booted before loading Windows.

 

[amir77a]

Hi again,

I've spent hours testing the computer using HirenBoot CF Tools.

Hours of burn in using Memtest86 + Goldtest, shows no errors at all as referring to the RAM.

As to the hard drive:

Seatools by Seagate - the short test & long test, went OK with no errors at all.

CHKDSK - the same. Meaning no bad sectors.

BUT Hard disk sentinel reported that the disk health is 59% (still reasonable) - and that it contains 3 bad sectors.

Does the 3 different results make sense? Who should I believe?

thanks again,
Amir.

 

[amir77a]

Another update.

I've opened the computer case, and changed the SATA socket for the cable that was connected to the hard drive.
After restarting the computer, to my surprise the computer just booted as nothing ever happened at all.

BUT, running the crystal diskinfo, shows that there is a problem..

View attachment 261754

 

[x BlueRobot]

Hard-drive tests are not always perfect, and most programs will most probably test using different methods, 59% doesn't sound good at all and seems to pointing towards a failing hard-drive.

For Crystal Disk Info:

1. Open Crystal Disk Info
2. Click Caution
3. Move All Slider To The Left
4. Click Apply
5. Post Screenshot

I would strongly suggest creating a backup of your personal data and files with:

• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/615-backup-user-system-files.html

Move the backup to an external media, such as a another computer, external hard-drive or a USB stick.

 

[amir77a]

As regarding to backups.. I'm all good.
I'm using triple ongoing backups... so I'm not worried on backup issues.

Here is the 'after' screenshot..

View attachment 261992

 

[x BlueRobot]

It looks better, and how many passes did you run MemTest86+ for? Repost what the Sentinel program now reports also.