Solved BSOD randomly, Mostly 0x1e, others occasionally

[Amiculi]

For a second time I make a call to the Seven Gurus in hopes of finding out once and for all what is wrong with my hardware.

Specs:

Windows 7 64-bit
4x2gb Corsair CM3X2G1333C9
Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P (Socket M2) Motherboard
AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 B50 Processor
Nvidia Geforce GTX 260

Background:

The computer was acquired second hand, the friend who had it before had never experienced a bluescreen, or so he said. He had been running 32bit windows with the 8gb of ram for some reason, I went to 64bit and began immediately experiencing crashes which have not let up for more than a couple weeks with absolutely no rhyme or reason. Today I've had 3 and enough is just enough.

Usage of the hardware seems to have no impact, some days you can spend all day doing all manner of high intensity activity and nothing will happen, others you can't hardly move the mouse without it crashing.

Actions Taken:

I've updated all drivers via manufacturer's homepages, though, that was a few weeks ago but it had no impact.

I've run Memtest86 for 13 passes without error.

I've run Memtest86 for 4 passes on each stick of ram individually without error.

I've run Memtest86 for 4 passes in each slot with a verified good stick of ram without error.

I've run Prime95 for several hours without error.

I've reinstalled windows completely and updated all drivers that I could find updates for.




At this point I'm really at a loss, about to call this thing a lemon and start saving yet again to build yet another computer but I do hope an expert here may be able to help me nail down the problem.

I know it's not my windows disc as the same disc has been used to install on other computers without problems. I've got this thing ventilated like CRAZY at this point to ensure it's not heat. I've tried unplugging all non-essential USB devices, I'm just completely baffled. At this point my only recourse feels like I'll have to install 32-bit and live with the under 4 gigs of ram and see if it continues to run without crashes.

Anyway, it's very late, I've been futzing with this thing all day yet again, pretty much every bit of free time I have for the past near three months. I do hope whoever picks up on this can help me with it. My expertise is completely exhausted and so am I with this thing.

I've attached all requested information as per the sticky.

 

[zigzag3143]

Nothing concrete but several of these were related to tcpip.sys and the Rt64win7.sys (network driver).

Just to be sure I would


1-run malwarebytes (just in case)

2-run driver verifier to test for the mis behaving driver.


Please download the free version of Malwarebytes.
Update it immediately.
Do a full system scan
Let us know the results at the end.

Malwarebytes : Download free malware, virus and spyware tools to get your computer back in shape!



* If you are overclocking anything reset to default before running these tests.
In other words STOP!!!

* If you have a Raid update its Driver.




Driver Verifer

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.

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).

In Windows 7 you can make a Startup Repair disk by going to Start....All Programs...Maintenance...Create a System Repair Disc - with Windows Vista you'll have to use your installation disk or the "Repair your computer" option at the top of the Safe Mode menu .

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 "Low Resource Simulation" and click "Next"
NOTE: You can use Low Resource Simulation if you'd like.
From my limited experimentation it makes the BSOD's come faster.
- 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.

If you are using win 8 add these
- Concurrency Stress Test
- DDI compliance checking

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.
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.

Thanks to JGriff2 & Usasma.

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

Driver Verifier

Using Driver Verifier (Windows Drivers)

 

[Amiculi]

A malwarebytes scan came up clean.

Running Verifier with the settings listed resulted in three crashes in quick order.

To stress the system they were caused with the following behaviors, chronologically:

1. First time install of DirectX on a game via Steam, crashed during and the crash points to atapi.sys and ataport.sys
2. Running Serious Sam 3 to give a good hardware workout, crashed a short time in, pointed to Dropbox for some odd reason.
3. Running Sniper Elite V2 demo being that it was new and looks fancy, after several minutes it crashed again, this time pointing to ndis.sys

They also all three seem to point to ntoskrnl.exe, if I recall correctly. That's all I saw at a glance though, in hopes that I could quickly update some drivers and move on until something I couldn't solve popped up. Seems all the drivers it points to are windows update based ones and windows update shows me as having the latest everything it updates.

Anyway, three new minidumps attached. Hopefully they can tell you more than they tell me.

 

[writhziden]

Did you have any other crashes beyond those three (with Verifier enabled)? Those were not too revealing, unfortunately. I did see that your Chipset drivers may be out of date. See AMD Chipset Drivers for the latest drivers.

 

[Amiculi]

I put the system through a great deal of rigors and those were the only three I got.

The next day I found the updated chipset drivers via AMD's site as opposed to Gigabyte's which were years behind.

However, I ended up doing a great deal more research and found reports of people with the same motherboard and ram configuration as I have stating that the default 1.5v setting is insufficient for 4 banks of ram. Bumping my NB up by 0.1v and my ram up by 0.2v seems to have solved all crashes, I haven't had one in almost a week now.

I was waiting for the 1 week mark to post back with results and mark the thread as solved, but I suppose 6 days, 17 hours, 27 minutes is sufficient

As to what happened here, I had been having a lot of issues with the computer since getting it, it was second hand so I was expecting some problems but the previous owner saying he'd not had any crashes lead me to believe he either didn't or he was lying to pawn it off easier, and I'm a bit disappointed in myself for thinking the latter now. His 32bit install was just preventing two banks of ram even being used and therefor it didn't need the extra voltage.

Either way, the system has been through significant usage for all manner of activities, I've actively run high intensity games while rendering video in the background, playing flash video and opening any and everything else I can think of just to put it to as much stress as possible. Not only has it not crashed but it's barely taken a performance hit in any of the software running. So I guess we're good to go!

Thank you for your time, hopefully the smooth sailing will continue for the life of the hardware.

 

[writhziden]

The steps you did for the RAM are dead on. Well done! Glad it is sorted.