Random BSOD, Bad Faulty Drivers?, mainly ntoskrnl.exe

[xxkevsterxx]

Seven Forums:

I've been having a big BSOD problem. It happens about 3-4 times a day, all quite random, never doing the same thing when it occurs (watching a video on YouTube, music, browsing, gaming, typing, or just waking up from sleep mode). I've been having this problem for months, I have reformatted multiple times, thinking starting clean would help. I must either be installing a bad driver, or something is wrong with my installation CD? I originally used AVG on this most recent Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit install, but read the BSOD issues with it, so switched to MSE after using the AVG removal tool. Mainly the BSOD are caused by ntoskrnl.exe according to WhoCrashed, with various problems such as MEMORY_MANAGEMENT or IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL.

I've tried searching around for similar problems, but still haven't found the right solution. I've downloaded WhoCrashed to analyze my crash dumps, and the conclusion leads me to believe it is faulty drivers, not a hardware problem. Even so, I ran MemTest on each stick of RAM (currently using 2 x 2GB, which are only 2 months old) and each RAM slot module for a couple hours each time with no errors found. If there is not an obvious solution, I may try for even longer, but I don't suspect this as the RAM is new.

Believing it was a drivers issue, I downloaded a trial version of DriversMax, which I then scanned my system for and updated my drivers. Still, I have BSOD problems. I updated all the main drivers shown in DriverMax, and my nVidia GTX 260 drivers.

I have tried to use the "sfc /scannow" command twice before last week, but it leads to a BSOD.

So, how and what else should I test for? Is WhoCrashed providing me with a correct conclusion and it is a faulty driver I am not aware of? Should I provide any more info? Attached is my information with the SF Diagnostics Tool

I'll deeply appreciate all the help and hopefully we can have this problem solved! Thanks a lot in advanced!

 

[xxkevsterxx]

Pardon the extra post, but I accidently grabbed the wrong ZIP file which is missing information. I attached the NEWER ZIP file with everything included to check.

Thanks!

 

[Arc]

xxkevsterxx, your crash dumps are not showing any finite probable cause. In such a situation, it is better to enable Driver Verifier to monitor the drivers.

Driver Verifier - Enable and Disable

Run Driver Verifier for 24 hours or the occurrence of the next crash, whichever is earlier.

Let us know the results, with the subsequent crash dumps, if any.

 

[xxkevsterxx]

Post Driver Verifier

Thanks for the quick advice!

I went ahead and ran driver verifier for about 40+ hours and had about 3 BSODs in the time frame it was running. I continued to let it run after I checked that the first BSOD was again ntoskrnl.exe. The other crashes were also due to kernel drivers.

I went ahead and uploaded a updated version of my crash dumps.

Is there a way to reinstall kernel drivers or repair them?

Thanks again for the help.

 

[Anthony]

Follow this: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105647-ram-test-memtest86.html

 

[Dave76]

Can you fill out your System Specs?
Speccy Free System information Utility
This will help us to diagnose problems.

Agree with Anthony, run memtest86+ for a full 7 passes with both RAM cards installed.
If you get an error you can stop the test.
The test is usually long so best to run it overnight.

When the crash is blamed on a Windows driver or kernel, it is because the real culprit cannot be easily identified. It is rarely the cause.
Re-installing Windows will fix the problem if it is a Windows driver or the kernel, since you have already done this, it can be ruled out.
New hardware can and does fail, sometimes it is a driver or setting causing the problem. Also a hardware failure can be blamed on a driver in a crash report.

Is this a company desktop?

Your crash files back to 24 September are all Driver Verifier Enabled dumps, 25 of your last crashes.
Disable Driver Verifier in Safe Mode.
Driver Verifier - Enable and Disable

Most of these crashes are caused by 'Memory Corruption'.
Run memtest86+ as mentioned above.

Post any Full crash reports if they occur after disabling Driver Verifier.
Too many Driver Verifier enabled crashes don't help us to find new information.

From your System Event Logs:

Event[18254]:
  Log Name: System
  Source: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Processor-Power
  Date: 2012-10-01T00:30:39.552
  Event ID: 26
  Task: N/A
  Level: Information
  Opcode: Info
  Keyword: N/A
  User: S-1-5-18
  User Name: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
  Computer: Kevin-PC
  Description: 
Processor 0 in group 0 exposes the following:

1 idle state(s)
3 performance state(s)
8 throttle state(s)

The throttle state indicates the CPU is overheating.
Use Real Temp , to check the CPU temps when at idle, under load and/or testing.
Let us know the minimum and maximum temps you get.