Bsod

[stevieray]

The Answer?

I think I figured out the problem.

I'm using G Skill DDR2 1066 RAM (4x2Gb). If you look at the "Memory" and the "SPD" tabs on CPU-Z, you can see the problem:
View attachment 12158

View attachment 12159
The RAM is running at a lower rating (800 Mhz) because it is getting 1.8 volts. I think the RAM needs to get 2.0 - 2.1 volts to run at its designed speed... could it be unstable at lower voltages?

I rechecked the NewEgg page for this RAM, Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory, and noticed that my mb's northbridge chip (Intel P45) isn't listed under the RAMs features. Perhaps I need to raise the voltage to the design specs for the RAM to get stability... or perhaps this RAM just can't be truly stable on this mb?

(Note: It doesn't say "Only use this RAM with these northbridges...", it just lists a few chipsets under the "specs" tab.)

Edit: I no longer think this is the cause of the BSOD. The RAM is just running at a lower speed due to the lower voltage. It seems to be stable at 1.8 volts.

 

[stevieray]

Complicating fact

I just passed the twenty four hour mark with no crashes. This leads me to think the problem isn't hardware, which hasn't changed, and is in fact software related.

I disabled the UAC when I fired up the pc this morning, but I don't think its the UAC causing the crashes... not directly, anyway.

When UAC is disabled, the gadgets shut down. Since I've been getting minor error messages about the gadgets for a few days now, I think they are the root of the problem. The gadgets have been freezing, Windows would search for a solution online, and then the gadgets would blink and reload. This was happening every few hours or so since Sunday. I think sometimes this error is bigger, and takes the whole pc down with it.

 

[torrentg]

When UAC is disabled, the gadgets shut down.

That is normal and by design of Microsoft for protection of the system. You can hack it to allow gadgets and UAC disabled.

You can use the following reg file. It's in a .rar here:

RapidShare: Easy Filehosting

 

[stevieray]

That is normal and by design of Microsoft for protection of the system. You can hack it to allow gadgets and UAC disabled.

You can use the following reg file. It's in a .rar here:

RapidShare: Easy Filehosting

Thanks for the hack. I like knowing these kind of work-a-rounds....

Yes, the gadgets normally get shut down when UAC is turned off... I was expecting that to happen. The trouble with text is you can't always convey the meaning accurately.

The odd thing was the gadgets didn't shut down right after the reboot... I had to run sfc/scannow to get them off.

When I look at all of the quirks in my system, I see a pattern:

1. Couldn't access the minidumps until UAC was off.
2. Gadgets freeze and reset.
3. Gadgets didn't shut down when UAC shut down... needed to run sfc/scannow.
4. Couldn't get WhoCrashed to load the debugger until UAC was shut down.

The one thing these all have in common is the UAC. I think some chunk of code involving permissions/privileges/ownership is corrupted.

 

[stevieray]

Solved?

Its been a couple of days without a BSOD, so the admin might as well mark this problem solved. If the BSOD pop up again in the future, I'll start a new thread at that time.

The problem (as far as I can tell) was caused by my antivirus (Kaspersky). After running every check I could find on the hardware, it all came up clean.

I was getting a seemingly random spread of crash messages until I disabled the UAC. For about a day, there were no crashes, but then they started again. This time, they all pointed to one source... kl1.sys, a Kaspersky file. After three BSODs in a row all named kl1.sys as the source, I removed Kaspersky and switched to AVG. No problems since.

I think Kaspersky and some part of the UAC were conflicting with each other, causing whatever file they were fighting for to crash... and that file would get the blame... hence the wide variety of different "causes" in the WhoCrashed reports. Shutting down UAC let the true problem shine through.

Thanks to torrentg, hammerhead, usasma, and anthony for your help. I never would have known where to start looking without y'all!

 

[Hammerhead786]

stevieray, glad you got it sorted. Hopefully you can start enjoying the OS now.