BSOD Random but usually games

[Jessicka]

To turn off the turbo boost it will just say enable or disable right?


Also, just want to say I really appreciate both of you working on this with me.

I don't get why it was stable for so long and suddenly had these problems. Maybe some update to the drivers or something?

 

[James7679]

OCCT shows the CPU as overclocked as well, left pic, 1/3 down, "CPU 4010.4". This is higher than what was showing in CPUz as well.

How opposed to creating a new partition and installing Windows 7 to it for testing? IF you were to do this we could eliminate any thing that we may not be seeing, software wise.

 

[Jessicka]

Before I do that, is there anything else we could try? I've been trying to research it too on alienware/dell forums but nothing helpful so far. Maybe trying that turbo disabled option?

 

[James7679]

I don't think turbo is the issue. Reason being is that the max turbo speed for the 980x is 3.6ghz. You're at, up to, 4 ghz.

We need to isolate the problem. Doing a clean install, with fresh drivers, on a separate partition will allow this. Do you know what to do?

 

[Jessicka]

The program they used was called Intel Extreme Tuning Ultility. It's on my last Alienware too. Same app I remember once I opened it. They stopped using it recently because of problems though. I had a virus not long ago, that fake windows firewall one. Looking at the old OTL log from it just a few months ago it showed under the safe list C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Intel\Intel Extreme Tuning Utility\PerfTuneService.exe (Intel Corporation) but I don't see this on my computer anymore when I navigate to there.
Not sure if the tech that helped me had it removed by accident or something.Actually after they helped me, I did have problems with my computer.

 

[writhziden]

It is possible remnants of that program still exist on the system and in the registry. That may be causing some of your problems. I would recommend what James suggested and do a clean install on a separate partition to see if you have the same problems with a fresh Windows install.

 

[Jessicka]

Could I just reinstall it and see if I can clock it down? I would do the partition but I need my computer this week for work, so I just don't want to tie-it-up with that.


I'm also guessing the person that helped me with removing that virus cleaned it out of the registry since they had me paste into otl some code or something to remove registry entries. I'm going to try to look for it though.


Left over stuff would be (from what I could research):
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\IOCBIOS.sys
registry entry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services

When I do a search on my computer the only time those entries come up (since I checked both the registry and the windows folder) is in the OTL.txt file and the Extras.txt where it was removed.
So I don't see why reinstalling it wouldn't correct the problem. the removal date of that app was the exact time I started having the BSOD issue.

Like I said, I do want to try the partition option if reinstalling the app won't work, but with work and my sleeping problems, I won't have much time and I don't want to mess up something where I can't access my pc for my job. Luckily next week I'm getting a new one, but I'd still like to try and get this one working right again. I know installing windows again will take a long time for me.

 

[writhziden]

Understandable. Take the troubleshooting steps at whatever pace necessary for them not to interfere with your everyday life.

And yes, re-installing the program is a viable troubleshooting step for the time being. Do you still have the installer available?

 

[Jessicka]

Thank you for understanding, this site truly is great!

I honestly believe the tech just downloaded it off the site. That was 2010 December though. I do see it can be downloaded on the intel site but I'm not sure which version.

 

[James7679]

Jessicka, it shouldn't matter which version if Intel E.T.U. is indeed the software that was used. The new install of it should supersede any previous versions and change previous settings accordingly. Your plan sounds solid, again, if Intel E.T.U. is the culprit. And your reasoning is understandable as well. Let us know how things progress.

James

 

[Jessicka]

I thought I'd show you these screenshots. I'm not sure how to use this yet, and I haven't. I was just looking at the menus. The manual tab I can tune it, I just slide it down the bar?
One interesting thing or not is when I started my computer today I got a BSOD that was related to the creative soundblaster card but it went away when I rebooted.

 

[James7679]

Jessicka, it's really hard to read the settings on the pictures you uploaded. Not really a big deal though. After having reinstalled the Intel E.T.U. it is possible that the overclock reset to base. Please upload the first tab of CPUz. BTW, how's stability been lately? Anymore Blue Screens?

 

[Jessicka]

This is about to take a crazy turn but...

I was looking on various webpages for information about the Intel Tuning issue and suddenly MSE went off and my pc got flooded with some system failure message or something. When I rebooted I kind of knew it was a virus issue because they wanted me to buy some software to fix it. (Safemode didn't work but normal booting did)

I ran unhide which let rkill run for some reason without failing to stop the windows failure pop-ups

I ran mbam and it detected nothing same with tdsskiller

Hitman pro found just a Hosts file problem and disconnected from the internet. I waited hours for it to come back but it didn't so I rebooted.. was reinfected but regained my connection. Ran everything again and still haven't removed it. Taskbar all messed up etc.

is there something I can run that will kill this virus/malware because mbam isn't finding anything like all.

I didn't go to sleep until very late and left my pc running since shutting it down just caused everything to come back.

 

[writhziden]

Fakerean removal tool is probably your best bet. Let us know if that removes it for you.

 

[Jessicka]

Yeah that stopped it, thanks. Everything is different still though. System tray or taskbar area, the icons are all over. What should run at this point? Malwarebytes still isn't finding anything.

 

[writhziden]

Not sure what you mean by the icons being all over. Can you post a screenshot to give an example?

 

[Jessicka]

It just a bit different.

Is there any more cleaning I should do? I read this virus moves shortcuts and other things to the temp folder. Some strange defogger entry , might be what RKill did though.

 

[writhziden]

Go through the following steps:

• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/5547-taskbar-pinned-programs-enable-disable.html
  
  
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ons-hide-show-system-icons-notifications.html -> OPTION TWO
  
  
• Check Windows for corruption. Run http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html up to three times to fix all errors with a restart in between each. Post back if it continues to show errors after a fourth run or if the first run comes back with no integrity violations. Use OPTION THREE of http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html to provide us with the sfcdetails.txt file if errors occur.

 

[Jessicka]

Okay thanks for the quick reply. I will run these right now and post back as soon as it's done.

I hope both you guys get paid for this, your dedication to helping me is really unexpected and I am grateful.



As for when I was hunting down info on that tuning program and Alienware/Dell... I won't be doing that again. The CPU-Z program still looks exactly like the screenshot I initially posted. I haven't played any games yet since this happened and I was mostly working.

Anyway, I will post back soon with the info requested from this sfc /scannow scan.

 

[writhziden]

You're welcome. If you want to hunt down info more safely, you should get a program that tells you if you are about to visit a questionable site. I use WebOfTrust: Safe Browsing Tool | WOT (Web of Trust)

You should also block the 3rd party cookies in your browsers.

More info for better security steps can be found here: http://www.sevenforums.com/system-s...-system-security-combination.html#post1732627