Random Black Screen Of Death

[Stucatz]

In the last few weeks I've had random Black Screens Of Death. It can happen (most of the time) while playing a game, but it has happened while the PC was idle (rare) and just now it happened as I was attempting to refresh the Win 7 performance index.

Most of the time, the screen goes black (complete video signal loss) and I have to hard reset. On the rare occasion it will go black, then after a while crash and dump. The last minidump file I got is included here. It seems fairly obvious that the issue is video related but I can't tell if it's the ATI drivers or a 3rd party driver causing havok with them.

I've been trying, with zero success, to get some Driver Verifier output. Once I set Driver Verifier to check the 3rd party drivers it bluescreens during the Windows 7 splash screen and then reboots and loops. What I did do was hit F8 during one of the loops and stopped it from rebooting on error so I could capture the detail of the bluescreen. It's as follows:
Stop 0x0000001E (0xFFFFFFFFC0000005, 0xFFFFF80003AD4D56, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000).

I can't tell if this issue is related to my black screen issue.

I think the issue is driver related but can't prove it at this point and I'm having difficulty interpreting the addresses above.

I've run memtest for a couple of hours and no errors came up.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Please find the required files attached here.

System Info
---------
Windows 7 x64 Ultimate SP1 Alienware OEM
Age of system : 14 months
CPU : i7-980X
Video Card : ATI 5970
MotherBoard : Alienware
Power Supply: 850W
RAM : 24 Gig RAM (1333 9-9-9-24)
All BIOS versions and driver versions are the latest.

 

[Dave Atkin]

Hello,

Black screens are normally caused by the Graphics Driver failing. I would make sure that you have the latest ATI drivers.

How long has this been happening? If you have done a recent driver update for the Graphics Card then I would roll back the driver and see if the problem persists.


Dave

 

[Stucatz]

I'd say it's been happening for the last 2-3 driver updates. I have the latest and yesterday I even upgraded to the ATI 12.1 preview drivers. I've tried downgrading drivers - even back down to v10 - and it still happens. So, I've got to think that some other file is causing conflict because now it doesn't really matter what version driver I have on there.

 

[writhziden]

I'd say it's been happening for the last 2-3 driver updates. I have the latest and yesterday I even upgraded to the ATI 12.1 preview drivers. I've tried downgrading drivers - even back down to v10 - and it still happens. So, I've got to think that some other file is causing conflict because now it doesn't really matter what version driver I have on there.

If you have not used Driver Sweeper to re-install your drivers, follow these steps:

1. Download and install Driver Sweeper
2. Download the latest driver for your display card
3. Click Start Menu
4. Right Click My Computer
5. Click Manage
6. Click Device Manager from the list on the left
7. Click the + next to Display adapter
8. Right click your display/graphics card device
9. Click Uninstall
10. Check the box to Delete driver software for the device
11. Click OK
12. Restart your computer in safe mode
13. Run Driver Sweeper, select display card manufacturer's drivers, analyze, clean
14. Restart your computer
15. Install the latest drivers

 

[Stucatz]

Hi. Thanks for the reply.

Yeah, I've done the Driver Sweeper bit when I was testing various versions of drivers. Unfortuntately, it didn't help.

 

[writhziden]

Hi. Thanks for the reply.

Yeah, I've done the Driver Sweeper bit when I was testing various versions of drivers. Unfortuntately, it didn't help.

try the following:
Note: backup any files if you are using a RAID controller of any kind.
1. Go into your BIOS and load default settings to clear the CMOS memory (this will reset your RAID configuration resulting in loss of data, so if you have RAID and want to proceed from step 3, that is fine).
2. Save Settings and exit the BIOS.
3. Shut down and turn off the computer.
4. Unplug the computer from the wall or surge protector (then remove the battery if it is a laptop).
5. Hold down the power button for 30 seconds to clear the software connections between the BIOS and hardware and clear any corruption in the temporary memory.
6. (If it is a laptop, plug the battery back into the laptop and then) Plug the computer back into the wall.
7. Turn it on to reinitialize the software connections between the BIOS and hardware, and post back your results.

 

[writhziden]

The following drivers need to be updated:

pcouffin	fffff880`04de9000	fffff880`04dfd380	Tue Dec 05 07:39:30 2006 (457584a2)	00019954		pcouffin.sys
ElbyCDFL	fffff880`04cad000	fffff880`04cbb000	Thu Dec 14 14:22:27 2006 (4581c093)	000113b5		ElbyCDFL.sys
SiWinAcc	fffff880`01276000	fffff880`0127f000	Thu Jun 14 18:02:02 2007 (4671d6fa)	00007b63		SiWinAcc.sys
SiRemFil	fffff880`01b68000	fffff880`01b70000	Wed Jun 20 13:42:10 2007 (46798312)	00005eb5		SiRemFil.sys
SI3132	fffff880`00dca000	fffff880`00de4000	Wed Oct 03 12:39:29 2007 (4703e1e1)	00018cb2		SI3132.sys

For pcouffin, if you do not know what it is part of, go to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\pcouffin.sys and rename pcouffin.sys to pcouffin.BAK and "see what CD/DVD program it breaks" (Driver Reference).

Please remove any CD/DVD virtualization software, such as Daemon Tools/Alcohol 120%, as they use a driver called sptd.sys that is known to cause BSODs. Use the sptd.sys uninstaller

I prefer TotalMounter as my CD/DVD virtualization software as it allows me to burn images to a virtual CD/DVD if I just want an ISO file instead of a disc, and it is free.

Many use MagicISO - Convert BIN to ISO, Create, Edit, Burn, Extract ISO file, ISO/BIN converter/extractor/editor as well, which is also free.

 

[Stucatz]

try the following:
Note: backup any files if you are using a RAID controller of any kind.
1. Go into your BIOS and load default settings to clear the CMOS memory (this will reset your RAID configuration resulting in loss of data, so if you have RAID and want to proceed from step 3, that is fine).
2. Save Settings and exit the BIOS.
3. Shut down and turn off the computer.
4. Unplug the computer from the wall or surge protector (then remove the battery if it is a laptop).
5. Hold down the power button for 30 seconds to clear the software connections between the BIOS and hardware and clear any corruption in the temporary memory.
6. (If it is a laptop, plug the battery back into the laptop and then) Plug the computer back into the wall.
7. Turn it on to reinitialize the software connections between the BIOS and hardware, and post back your results.

No, I'm not using a raid controller. I've tried your suggestion above. No difference.

I can reproduce the issue almost immediately if I use a program like Furmark to test. The video drops out after about a second.

 

[writhziden]

I am guessing your driver verifier issues were due to one or more of the drivers that need to be updated; the drivers I mentioned above. I do not know if that is related to your graphics issue or not, but if you update those, we can find out.

Sorry my suggestions have not been helpful so far, but they do narrow down the possible issues. Let me know if you need help with the driver updates.

 

[Stucatz]

I think I definitely need help with the driver issues. I don't believe the Driver Verifier issues are related.

In any case,
pcouffin.sys
ElbyCDFL.sys

are all now gone. I don't use them.

SiWinAcc.sys
SiRemFil.sys
SI3132.sys

are all the latest version for the SiI 3132 SATALink Controller.

I may try Driver Verifier again but it hasn't helped the video issue. I do use Alcohol but it has always been here and never caused an issue. I have updated SPTD to the latest version (1.79).

 

[writhziden]

I think I definitely need help with the driver issues. I don't believe the Driver Verifier issues are related.

In any case,
pcouffin.sys
ElbyCDFL.sys

are all now gone. I don't use them.

SiWinAcc.sys
SiRemFil.sys
SI3132.sys

are all the latest version for the SiI 3132 SATALink Controller.

I may try Driver Verifier again but it hasn't helped the video issue. I do use Alcohol but it has always been here and never caused an issue. I have updated SPTD to the latest version (1.79).

Are you comfortable removing the casing and removing the graphics card? If so, try

1. Shut down and turn off the computer
2. Remove the power cord form the outlet/surge protector/power supply unit.
3. Hold down the power button for 30 seconds to close the circuit and drain capacitors (for your protection)
4. Remove the casing of the tower.
5. Remove the graphics card.
6. Use a compressed can of air to blow out any dust in the tower and on the graphics card, and especially in the graphics card slot.
7. Replace the graphics card securely in the slot.
8. Replace the casing.
9. Plug the power cord back into the wall/surge protector/power supply unit
10. Turn on your computer.

 

[Stucatz]

I thought that it might have been dust initially. I have cleaned the case out. It's not that, unfortunately.

 

[writhziden]

I thought that it might have been dust initially. I have cleaned the case out. It's not that, unfortunately.

Ah, you're ahead of the game. Have you tried updating the chipset drivers for your computer?

 

[Stucatz]

Do you mean the Intel chipset drivers ? They are up to the latest for the X58 board

 

[writhziden]

Do you mean the Intel chipset drivers ? They are up to the latest for the X58 board

Okay, so that rules that out. Have you tried restoring from a restore point before your problems started or restoring from a backup image before your problem started.

Also, you could try http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ation-conflicts-performing-clean-startup.html to see if it is an application problem.

 

[Stucatz]

I have tried restoring the Ghost image from the initial build and then I ran and installed Furmark and it ran for 6-7 minutes before I stopped it. Then I applied the current drivers and Furmark and the video lost signal straight away.

There must be something in those dumps which point to what the conflict is.

After having removed those previous drivers and updated the others, I tried to run Driver Verifier again but got the same results. I rebooted and made it stop on the error. It's now :

Stop 0x0000001E (0xFFFFFFFFC0000005, 0xFFFFF80003A96D56, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000)

Slightly different but not much.

 

[writhziden]

Unfortunately, the stop error does not help much. I really need the dmp files. Your initial post only contained one such file. Possible reasons why you may not be getting dmp files are: you have no pagefile or a pagefile on another drive, they are not configured correctly (see http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/174459-dump-files-configure-windows-create-bsod.html), memory affected crashes can prevent them, minidump folder is read only.

 

[writhziden]

In the meantime, try these:

Open the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html

 

[Stucatz]

I do have one full Memory Dump file (from the one time that it decided to black screen then crash associated with the uploaded minidump file). I'll upload it but it's 95 Meg when compressed. If you are keen, it's here : MEMORY_DUMP.rar - download now for free. File sharing. Software file sharing. Free file hosting. File upload. FileFactory.com

The black screen issue doesn't generally dump. It just sits there - I have to hard reset.

The driver verifier start up issue crashes during the Windows 7 splash screen and doesn't dump. I had to stop the auto reboot via the F8 Start Menu to get the Stop Error details.

SFC /Scannow comes up clean.

 

[writhziden]

I have tried restoring the Ghost image from the initial build and then I ran and installed Furmark and it ran for 6-7 minutes before I stopped it. Then I applied the current drivers and Furmark and the video lost signal straight away.

There must be something in those dumps which point to what the conflict is.

After having removed those previous drivers and updated the others, I tried to run Driver Verifier again but got the same results. I rebooted and made it stop on the error. It's now :

Stop 0x0000001E (0xFFFFFFFFC0000005, 0xFFFFF80003A96D56, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000)

Slightly different but not much.

When you used Ghost image from the initial build, was your problem resolved?

If so, it may be due to the new display driver. You could go back to that image and run with the driver that was installed at that time without updating any drivers. Then update your drivers one at a time. If one causes the issue to return, then you know which driver it is.

I am going to look over your dmp file, but I suspect it will have the same info as your minidump you uploaded before.