Solved BSOD remains after attempted hardware fixes 0000000000000003

[karlbr]

I started having trouble with fairly random freezes and BSODs. I ran Speedfan and noticed my old GPU (a Radeon 4870) was running a temp of ~61-65C. The cpu was also hot, running upwards of 90C.
I ordered an Nvidia 740 after reading they ran fairly cool, and didn't want to buy a high end card for this older PC that I'm trying to keep alive at least until the end of grad school.
When the new graphics card arrived, I decided to give the case a thorough cleaning, vacuuming out dust bunnies. I removed the fan from the CPU heatsink and found about 2mm of dust blanketing it. After cleaning that off with paper dampened with isopropyl alcohol, the CPU runs at a reasonable 35C. When not gaming the GPU stays under 30C.
After thinking all was better, I booted up this afternoon, only to have it freeze up (hourglass when mouse over start menu, followed by screen going completely black (didn't even see the blue screen this time. On reboot, I got "Windows has recovered from a serious error, with the same codes as before my attempted repairs/cleaning:
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: f4
BCP1: 0000000000000003
BCP2: FFFFFA800B0F7B10
BCP3: FFFFFA800B0F7DF0
BCP4: FFFFF80003380E70
OS Version: 6_1_7601
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 256_1


This PC is something I put together a few years ago
Specs:
AsRock M3a790gxh128m
AMD Phenom II x3 720
recent 2x4GB GSkill Ripjaws plus older OCZ Reaper 2x2Gb (12Gb total, all tested good by memtest 86)
Samsung 850Evo 500GB

I'd really appreciate any insight you might have

Thanks,
Karl

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

Hi Karl and welcome to Sevenforums.

Well unfortunately F4 + ntoskrnl.exe BSOD means that there is a problem with either the RAM or the HDD/SSD.

And I also noticed that your RAM configuration will not work, I look through the memory QVL for your motherboard and there are only two vendors with 4GB support, Samsung and Kingston. So yes you might have gotten the machine to boot but with your BSOD I could bet that this is your problem.

But you might also do a test with SeaTools just to be sure.

Cheers! /Boris

 

[karlbr]

update

The SSD and storage hard drives passed every seatools test.
After I installed the new ram, On attempting to record CD-Rs, I made a whole lot of coasters.
I don't recall having BSODs before the new ram. Maybe the heat issues were more coincidental

This was my first build. I had to google what a VQL is. I suppose a motherboard from 2009 would lack support for memory sticks larger than 2GB in general...

7 years of use out of a build is not too bad, is it? How long do you guys keep a computer around?

I'll take out the GSkill sticks and see if the BSODs go away and ponder an upgrade of motherboard and CPU, reusing all the parts I can.

Thanks for your help, Boris.
-Karl

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

Hi karl.

Well now that you say that you don't recall getting any BSODs before the new RAM, I think we can rule out most things now.

Well my computer is nearing 4 years but I don't know what is really the maximum years one can have the same computer, I think most people are pretty spoiled when it comes to buying new stuff and throwing away the old stuff that worked and didn't have any issues but oh look at that feisty CPU.

Yeah remove the ram and keep us updated here on how it goes!

Cheers and I'm happy to help.
-Boris

 

[karlbr]

Being without the extra 8GB of GSkill RAM didn't fix everything. On bootup earlier (doesn't happen every time, it just kind of froze- I could still move the mouse cursor, but not click on anything on the desktop. Hovering the cursor over the start menu would make the little spinny blue circle appear, like it was waiting on something to load. I waited for a while, hoping something would happen, then everything but my desktop background disappeared. I couldn't do anything, so I turned it off at the power supply. No more bluescreens, but not solved either. It also sometimes freezes on bootup at the Windows 7 logo.
Ideas?
-Karl

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

Huh well it does sound like a problem with your SSD, have you checked with the Samsung Magician software if there are any firmware updates for your SSD?

Also open an elevated command prompt(cmd + right click run as administrator) and run this "sfc /scannow", and run it up to 3 times with a reboot between but if it reports that there are no integrity violations then you don't need to run it several times.

 

[karlbr]

I ran sfc /scannow, got an error message "Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files, but was unable to fix some of them"
Should I reboot and try again? The log from the first scan is attached.

This is a windows install I cloned off the Windows 7 partition of my old hard drive, where the other partition still had XP. I think the mbr is still on the old hard drive and it curently points to the SSD in order to boot. I can do a clean install over spring break, leaving only the ssd in there to avoid drive confusion

 

[karlbr]

sfc/scannow

I ran sfc/scannow a third time, but the CBS log doesn't seem to be uploadin as it's over 3megs

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

Hi,

Please download and run the System Readiness Tool.

After you have done this, run the sfc /scannow again and post the new log.


Cheers /Boris

 

[karlbr]

update

Alright, System Readiness ran, which found and installed one update I had previously given up on as it would just freeze on installing. New firmware updated on SSD, Samsung Magician installed. I once again ran svc/scannow three times, with a reboot in between each. The CBS log got bigger each time...
The log file as a *txt was too big to upload here, so I zipped it. Is that ok?
-Karl

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

Hi karl,

thanks for the log, I've noticed that some of the entries in there are linked to Windows Update and you will need to reset Windows update components:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/971058

-Boris

 

[karlbr]

I ran Mr. Fixit a few times. The first time, Two green check marks. The second, three green check marks. Rebooted, ran it once more and:
Problems found
Problems installing recent updates - Not fixed,
Service registration is missing or corrupt - Fixed

I'm over my head... What's next?

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

I ran Mr. Fixit a few times. The first time, Two green check marks. The second, three green check marks. Rebooted, ran it once more and:
Problems found
Problems installing recent updates - Not fixed,
Service registration is missing or corrupt - Fixed

I'm over my head... What's next?

Have you tried to use this tool?
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/gp/windows-update-issues/en-gb?wa=wsignin1.0

Click the blue box named "Run now (->)".

 

[karlbr]

The blue box that was on your previous link?
I ran the one on https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/971058

 

[karlbr]

On running it one more time from your last link, it resulted in
Problems found
Registration is missing or corrupt - Fixed
Problems installing recent updates - Fixed
Problems installing recent updates - Fixed (same line twice)

Anything else I should do?

Thanks,
Karl

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

The blue box that was on your previous link?
I ran the one on https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/971058

Yeah it's the Windows Update Automated Troubleshooter.

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

On running it one more time from your last link, it resulted in
Problems found
Registration is missing or corrupt - Fixed
Problems installing recent updates - Fixed
Problems installing recent updates - Fixed (same line twice)

Anything else I should do?

Thanks,
Karl

Well have you had any more BSODs since we started the troubleshooting.

 

[karlbr]

I've had a couple random freezes and the screen just go black or empty desktop background, but no official BSODs.
How do those system files get corrupted in the first place?

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

Well I think the most probable cause is outdated drivers.

And also it "just happens".

But if you do regular backups I don't think you have to fear it.

 

[karlbr]

Well, Boris, the offending ram was removed, and I found a couple more sticks of 2GB OCZ like the first ones I had. 8GB total isn't a whole lot these days, but it's enough for my purposes, and best of all, no more blue screens!
Thank you very much for your help!
-Karl