Daily BSODs. Can't figure out if its GPU or RAM. Please help.

[etacarinae]

Hi all,

This problem has been plaguing me for some time now and I'm extremely frustrated.

I've ran all the usual tests: Memtest86+ (24 hours with no faults), SFC /scannow, newer or older ATI AMD drivers, updated realtek audio/nic drivers..

I can't for the life of me figure as to whether it's my HD6990 that's physically faulty or one or more of my 6 RAM DIMM at fault.

I've includded a Speccy snapshot for more detailed specifications of my system and in particular the Corsair DIMM modules.

There's quite a lot of minidump files as they accumulate daily and are of various stop errors.

Kind Regards

Christopher

 

[FredeGail]

Hello etacarinae and welcome to Sevenforums.

BSOD Analyse

First of a couple of questions. Have you tried Memtest86+ using this procedure?

To ensure that we'll know if it's the slots on the motherboard that's broken, or the sticks itself - we have a little procedure we'll recommend. Remove 1 stick, scan the other with Memtest in the current slot. After 7 passes, move the stick to another slot and scan, and so on and so forth until you've scanned all the sticks, and all the slots, one by one.

Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool

Hard disk diagnostics

Use the below link to diagnose your hard drives.

Hard Drive Diagnostic Procedure

Driver Verifier

Please enabled driver verifier using the below instructions, by that we're able to tell if 3rd party drivers are causing your machine to crash.

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.

So, 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).

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 "IRP Logging", "Force Pending I/O Requests" and "Low Resource Simulation" and click "Next" ("Special Pool" may be able to be used depending on amount of RAM and errors being seen. In situations with small amounts of RAM, DO NOT select it),
- 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.

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 (an estimate on my part).

Reboot into Windows (after the crash) and locate the memory dump file. If present, turn off Driver Verifier by going back in and selecting "Delete existing settings" on the first page. Then, zip up the memory dump file(s) and upload them with your next post. If no dump files were generated, post back for further suggestions.

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.

If that doesn't work, post back and we'll have to see about fixing the registry entry off-line:

Delete these registry keys to stop Driver Verifier from loading (works in XP, Vista, Win7):
        HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\VerifyDrivers
        HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\VerifyDriverLevel

Best Regards,
Frederik.