Solved BSOD playing ESO, BCCode a.

[Requimatic]

That guide is essentially how I installed these drivers. I learned (from here, actually) a long while ago that everything but the PhysX and graphics drivers can cause problems, especially the HD Audio in some cases.

As for Steam... I'm beginning to think this is somehow related to it. The weird things seem to only happen while Steam is running (or a game in Steam), or after it's been closed. After not using Steam the majority of the day yesterday, I gave ESO a play later in the night and not only did it crash (in a manner to trigger the game's "What were you doing? Send us data." dialog), but after I killed the process (since it decided to stay open), MSE once again tried to tell me its service was stopped. It came back on shortly after Steam had been closed this time, though.

From the event viewer, this is the most common entry:

Faulting application name: MsMpEng.exe, version: 4.8.204.0, time stamp: 0x5541eadf
Faulting module name: mpengine.dll, version: 1.1.11701.0, time stamp: 0x55458bd7
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x000000000002d068
Faulting process id: 0x388
Faulting application start time: 0x01d098a5f2d782e1
Faulting application path: c:\Program Files\Microsoft Security Client\MsMpEng.exe
Faulting module path: c:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Microsoft Antimalware\Definition Updates\{8D786D3A-D8AA-487A-805D-34F2DB9ED83C}\mpengine.dll
Report Id: de4b94a4-04a9-11e5-83d4-001fbc09890f

But then there's also one involving mrt.exe:

Faulting application name: mrt.exe, version: 5.24.11401.0, time stamp: 0x554259ff
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.1.7601.18839, time stamp: 0x553e8bfa
Exception code: 0xc0000374
Fault offset: 0x00000000000bfc22
Faulting process id: 0xcd4
Faulting application start time: 0x01d0990f3d79739e
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\system32\mrt.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
Report Id: 80fa7d4a-0502-11e5-98b4-001fbc09890f

I also had DWM.exe halt a few nights ago and not restart until the machine was restarted also. Though I forget what else was going on at the time.

And now that I look at MSE's settings, I notice my Exceptions have been wiped. At one point I had the entire Steam directory in the Exception list, which is now blank. I can't say for how long it's been like this, though.

 

[essenbe]

With your problems with MSE as well as MRT (Malicious Software removal tool) I would look at A virus or Malware of some sort. Download an run these online scanners

Scan with Kaspersky TDSSKiller:
http://support.kaspersky.com/viruses/disinfection/5350#block1
Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller
ESET online scanner:
Free Virus Scan | Online Virus Scanner from ESET
Free Online Virus Scanner | ESET
Also download and run Superantispyware
SUPERAntiSpyware | Remove Malware | Remove Spyware - AntiMalware, AntiSpyware, AntiAdware!
And Malwarebytes Malwarebytes | Internet Security Product Downloads
With Malwarebytes during install uncheck the Real time protection trial.

See if any of those come up with anything.

 

[Requimatic]

TDSSKiller didn't find anything. ESET found two items, one of which is an old mIRC script that used to reference a DLL file for system information ("mooscript"), and while harmless, I let it take it out anyway. The other item was, I think, a Windows Desktop Sidebar CPU meter.

I believe the other user profile on the PC has that enabled (I do not) and uses widgets with it, but I let it take that out anyway, too.

SuperAnti found 123? items. All tracking cookies; not totally unexpected.

As for MBAM, I installed and ran it last night. It found 50? items. Mostly registry keys related to some "SysTweak" thing that had apparently been installed in the past. Two other items were things I didn't recognize, but didn't look terribly malicious at a filename glance. Probably some random junk the other user downloaded at some point.

"UpdaterEX", according to the log. All the stuff it found were PUP objects. All gone now, though.

 

[essenbe]

OK, that's good. UpdaterEX can be a problem to get rid of in some cases. I would scan again tomorrow and make sure it does not replicate itself. Also look in Control Panel and see if it is listed, if so or some strange program you don't recognize an uninstall it. One of the first things that a virus will do is disable your anti virus and stop installed anti malware scans in order to keep them from detecting it. Much of the same that is happening to you.

 

[Requimatic]

Yeah, I remember back during the Windows 95 era getting the Sub7 virus on a PC. Dealing with that was just lovely with a dialup connection, and file extensions so messed up I could only get stuff to run through my ISP's little program that they had you install with a floppy disc. I stayed up all night dealing with that, but finally got it.

Since then, though, the worst thing I've had to deal with was a rootkit a few years back (on a different PC) that required the use of ComboFix. Pretty nasty little program, ComboFix is, but it gets the job done... if it doesn't accidentally destroy something in the process, haha.

But I haven't ran Steam today at all, and am pretty reluctant to at this point since all the strange behavior happens while or very shortly after it's running. I haven't heard any whispers of any recent Steam updates causing problems, but I suppose it's entirely possible.

That, or my installation could be messed up somehow. At this point I suppose anything is possible... so annoying.

 

[essenbe]

Why not try Reinstalling Steam and the games? See if that helps.

 

[Requimatic]

I've reinstalled Steam, and the only two games I played via Steam that I encountered problems with.

Since I didn't delete the SteamApps\ folder, it recognized the files I still had for the games. TF2 claimed it needed to download 6.8GB worth of data, but quickly jumped up to only a few minutes remaining, and completed. ESO, on the other hand, is claiming it needs almost 10GB of data, which is hard to believe considering it was fully installed the first time around.

But, when deleting everything but Steam.exe and the SteamApps folder, there was around 5-6GB of data in the recycle bin, which is quite a large amount considering all of that contained no game files. So maybe an overly-large Steam installation was the problem, I really don't know.

Since it's been running, though, nothing weird has happened... yet. I guess we'll see.

 

[essenbe]

Ok, just let me know.

 

[Requimatic]

As an update:

I played a bit of Team Fortress 2 after reinstalling Steam, and the first thing I noticed when I joined the game server was missing floor textures, again. This time, I opened the game's console and took note of the errors regarding map particles and whatnot (some of these are common, specifically a certain weapon element's blast animation), so I've since uninstalled TF2, and haven't reinstalled it yet to see if that fixes it. Honestly, it was probably time for a reinstall for that game anyway. It gets regular updates and it's been probably over 1.5 years since I've reinstalled.

Last night and earlier, however, I had a non-Steam game (WoW) crash twice due to access violations (although I've had these happen at random in the past with no other issues going on; never this close together, though), which once again points to the memory being wonky. I ran Windows' pitiful memory diagnostic, and it failed to find anything for a standard test. After that, I shut the PC down, took the memory modules out and cleaned them with isopropyl alcohol... they were surprisingly dirty, so maybe that has something to do with these problems.

I'm honestly at a point now that I don't even want to deal with this any longer. If one (or more) of the modules are trying to fail, I wish they'd hurry up and just completely fail so I could RMA them. (Yay for lifetime warranties on RAM!)

For now, though, I'm about to leave and be gone all night, so I'll be unable to run memtest or anything of the like until tomorrow or tomorrow night. I just figured I'd update the thread with new information. No new BSODs or dump files to upload yet, though.

Anyway, once again, thanks for the help & patience. Have a good one!

 

[essenbe]

You too, and enjoy yourself. These things can be quite frustrating, I know very well. With Graphics cards, it is almost always the drivers, the card, the PSU or the Motherboard. Those are about the only things involved. Just enjoy yourself tonight and we'll work on it whenever you feel like it.

 

[Requimatic]

Well, it's been a few days since I updated this. It appears that cleaning the contacts on the memory modules was all that was needed to begin with... since doing that, I've had no weird issues at all, even with Steam. (Although I still haven't reinstalled TF2, so I don't know if that map texture issue was related or perhaps they became corrupted somehow.)

But since doing that, I haven't had any weird things happen, be them games crashing, BSODs, or MSE's service randomly stopping. I figured I'd give it a couple days at least (since things were going well) to post here again, and it's been a few, so there's that at least.

The only odd thing to happen since all of this is that lovely GWX.exe Microsoft slipped in through Windows update starting every time I boot the machine, or switch users, or at 6PM or whenever the task is triggered to start the program. But I (and I assume everyone else here) knows what that is, and how to get rid of it if need be, haha.

In any event, thanks again for the assistance and patience. Hopefully cleaning those modules was all that was needed... they were surprisingly dirty; some black residue, which I assume was just from being in contact with the metal contacts on DIMM slots (like old NES carts), and some brown-ish residue, which I assume was a combination of dust/dirt/? from the air itself.

If any more BSODs happen I may be back with more dump files, but so far everything is good. Kinda hate we went through all that trouble only to have the modules cleaned and have things clear up, but as old as this hardware is, putting it through stress tests and seeing it pass is pretty good I suppose.

Anyway, thanks again, and have a good one!

 

[NoelDP]

GWX is the 'Get Windows 10' notification - if you want to get rid of it, uninstall and hide the KB0305583 update

 

[essenbe]

I'm glad it's working for you.

 

[Requimatic]

Hate to necro the thread, but I'm back again with more BSODs!

I'm fairly certain that it's the hard drive that's causing the problems. After installing a couple optional KB files the other night, after restarting so it could finish installation, Windows randomly decided to run chkdsk. This was after having issues trying to play ESO all day long. It crashed twice, then got to the point that it wouldn't even run. When launching the game it would just crash immediately with a "BEX HashStack_xxxx" error.

In any event, here's the log collector files.

I have a feeling I'm going to be seeing another run of memtest and/or a chkdsk /f /r in my very near future.

Either way, if I can isolate it and replace the hardware I'll be glad to get it done.

Thanks in advance!

 

[essenbe]

Hello again, Requimatic. The dump file is blaming a video error, specifically a video memory error.

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.
BugCheck 3B, {c0000005, fffff880045e1853, fffff880055c55d0, 0}
[COLOR=red]Probably caused by : dxgmms1.sys ( dxgmms1!VIDMM_MEMORY_SEGMENT::[/COLOR]EvictResource+f53 )
Followup: MachineOwner

That is direct X, but it is usually caused by a video driver crashing as was later pointed to in the dump.

fffff880`055c4c78  fffff880`04b09728Unable to load image \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\nvlddmkm.sys, Win32 error 0n2
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for nvlddmkm.sys
[COLOR=red]*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for nvlddmkm.sys[/COLOR]
 nvlddmkm+0x27e728

Due to the fact that you are having hard drive problems reported, I would suggest you checking that first. The image that was in use at the time of the crash was iw4sp.exe, which I believe is Modern Warfare 2 . One of your 2 dump files would not open as they were corrupted, which may also point to a hard drive error.

I would run the Diagnostic tests on the hard drive. I believe your system specs list a Western Digital Hard drive. Western Digital's Data Lifeguard for DOS can be found at WD Support / Downloads / SATA & SAS / WD Black Please run the long and short test. There have been some reports of trouble with that program. If you have issues I would run Seatools for DOS, http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/313457-seatools-dos-windows-how-use.html#Part3 both the short and long test. Also please run check disk http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/433-disk-check.html

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

 

[essenbe]

I did some further looking and noticed several errors from eso.exe which is Elder Scrolls. If you believe it to be a Hard drive error, I would strongly suggest you backing up your personal files to an external source, preferably an external hard drive.

 

[Requimatic]

I see. Unfortunately, with our last round of testing earlier in the thread, I was unable to use either DOS-based HD tools (Seagate or WD's). I was able to use both of the Windows-based ones, but with the hard disk currently in use I question their results with how many times the system itself has wanted to run chkdsk in the past 48 hours.

I think what I'll do first, in this case, is go ahead and schedule a /f /r and see what it finds.

Edit: Yeah, all of yesterday I experienced issues with ESO. It started out fine, but then crashed randomly. I started it back up, played again for a bit, and it crashed again. That time, it wouldn't run at all afterwards. I restarted and it would run again, but I exited the game without even logging in to check on why it crashed, and a bit later discovered it wouldn't run due to that "BEX HashStack_xxxx" error. That continued all day. It was later that night that I installed the two optional KB updates and chkdsk ran during a restart while I was up.

I came back just in time to watch it find a boatload of orphaned .jar files.

 

[Layback Bear]

Did you ever complete the test essenbe recommended?

I would suggest forget the games and follow essenbe instruction exactly and let him know the results.

 

[Requimatic]

Did you ever complete the test essenbe recommended?

I would suggest forget the games and follow essenbe instruction exactly and let him know the results.

During the first round of testing, I was unable to run either DOS-based HDD tests. The WD DOS-based test just failed to run entirely (it would go to command prompt as per normal, but trying to run the program resulted in a blank screen that did nothing), and the bootable USB drive wasn't recognized at all when attempting to use the Seagate DOS-based test, even after following instructions to make the drive bootable and whatnot.

The Windows version of both said the HDD passed all tests (the short/long versions, anyway), but seeing as this drive is the only one in this machine, the results of running it on the drive while it's active are questionable; at lest to me. Especially considering the system itself flagged the drive for chkdsk without BSODing first. (Just after a full day of games crashing, and after those two updates installed.)

chkdsk is still running; at the last stage. It hasn't found anything so far, but that doesn't mean it won't during the last step. (I'm on a laptop currently.)

 

[Requimatic]

The results are in, and... chkdsk has determined that the drive is clean. Kind of hard to believe... but it is what it is, I guess.

So with that in mind, and considering that my video drivers are up to date... what would you suggest? Another round of memtest? Maybe a longer-than-a-few-minutes GPU test with Furmark?

I was almost positive it was the hard drive, with how it's been acting, but I am apparently wrong. I suppose I could try replacing the SATA cable; I believe I have a spare.

I'm pretty much at my wits' end with this thing at this point.