Random BSOD

[hfournier]

I'm working on my daughters Dell Inspiron N5010 notebook. Ship date was Dec 2010, but bought it as open box on eBay in August. OEM Win7 Home Premium 64-bit. (4GB)

She randomly gets BSOD. Running CHKDSK /F /R would help for a while, but system would eventually BSOD again. Windows Update wouldn't install latest updates. Windows Firewall was off for a while, but I managed to get it to function again. Scan for viruses with Microsoft Security Essentials, Malwarebytes, SuperAntispyware and system was clean.

Ran Dell Support Center app (PC Doctor) and it "passed" all the tests.

Ran sfc /scannow, but it failed at 11%.

Made recovery disks, reformated drive and restore to factory install. First attempt got stuck at 37%. Rebooted and second attempt completed succesfully. Uninstalled McAfee and Live Toolbar, but didn't add or remove anything else.

Started to install Windows Update, got stuck 31 of 73. Clicked Stop Installation. Rebooted computer and got BSOD. And here we are...

Since the machine is now back to factory install (with some Windows Updates), it needs a BIOS update and probably several drivers as well. But, since it previously randomly BSOD with updated drivers, and again now, I thought I'd hold off until I heard from you guys on what the cause might be.

Tried running sfc /scannow again. Failed at 25% with:
"Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation."

Thanks.

 

[Micah W]

hfournier,

The dump file included in your BSOD zip indicates that the BlueScreen occurred in NTFS.SYS, the driver that allows windows to read and write to NTFS formatted hard drives. When you ran the Dell Support Center diagnostics, did you go to PC Check (top right of main page) and then click "Run Custom Scan"? If you do that and then select the "Run Test" link to the right of the Hard Drive, you'll be given an option to run the "Full Hard Drive Test" which could take several hours, but will verify every area of the hard drive.

You should be backup any sensitive data on this drive before doing anything, however.


Micah

 

[hfournier]

No, just the default scans. I'll run the suggested test and report back.

I did install SeaTools and run all those tests and they all passed.

 

[FredeGail]

Hello hfournier and welcome.

- I'm gonna say maybe a memory exception on this one.

Follow this Tutorial, and pay attention to part 3.

Part 3.

The goal is to test all the RAM sticks and all the motherboard slots.

Check your motherboard manual to ensure the RAM sticks are in the recommended motherboard slots. Some motherboards have very specific slots required for the number of RAM sticks installed.

If you get errors, stop the test and continue with the next step.

1. Remove all but one stick of RAM from your computer (this will be RAM stick #1), and run Memtest86 again, for 7 passes.
Be sure to note the RAM stick, use a piece of tape with a number, and note the motherboard slot.
If this stick passes the test then go to step #3.

2. If RAM stick #1 has errors, repeat the test with RAM stick #2 in the same motherboard slot.
If RAM stick #2 passes, this indicates that RAM stick #1 may be bad. If you want to be absolutely sure, re-test RAM stick #1 in another known good slot.
If RAM stick #2 has errors, this indicates another possible bad RAM stick, a possible motherboard slot failure or inadequate settings.
3. Test the next stick of RAM (stick #2) in the next motherboard slot.
If this RAM stick has errors repeat step #2 using a known good stick if possible, or another stick.
If this RAM stick has no errors and both sticks failed in slot#1, test RAM stick #1 in this slot.
4. If you find a stick that passes the test, test it in all the other motherboard slots.

If Part 2 testing shows errors, and all tests in Part 3 show errors, you will need to test the RAM sticks in another computer and/or test other RAM in your computer to identify the problem.

In this way, you can identify whether it is a bad stick of RAM, a bad motherboard, or incompatibility between the sticks.

Summary

*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM (24)
    If you see NtfsExceptionFilter on the stack then the 2nd and 3rd
    parameters are the exception record and context record. Do a .cxr
    on the 3rd parameter and then kb to obtain a more informative stack
    trace.

Fred.

 

[hfournier]

It came up with 40 errors immediately after the test started. Now I have to play find the bad stick (s)...

 

[FredeGail]

It came up with 40 errors immediately after the test started. Now I have to play find the bad stick (s)...

Just because another socket is working definitely doesn't mean the stick is perfect. If you have some sticks you can borrow from a friend it'd be great to test them. Personally I think that's the best way to test if it's the slots, or sticks.

Hopefully it's just your sticks.

Fred.

 

[hfournier]

The first stick I tested came up with errors immediately, so I stopped the test and swapped sticks (same slot). The test has just started, but no errors yet (48% of first pass). I'll let it run and see how it goes, but I'm hoping I've already found the problem.

 

[FredeGail]

The first stick I tested came up with errors immediately, so I stopped the test and swapped sticks (same slot). The test has just started, but no errors yet (48% of first pass). I'll let it run and see how it goes, but I'm hoping I've already found the problem.

It's very likely that changing your memory sticks will fix this. But don't throw money away until we know what's wrong.

Fred.

 

[hfournier]

Bad stick... errors in both slots. Good stick... no errors in either slot (9 passes).

sfc /scannow runs properly now, found problems, but couldn't fix everything. Running Dell Recovery from disks now.

 

[hfournier]

Almost back to normal, but sfc /scannow is still reporting problems it can't fix. However, the machine seems to be running fine now and all Windows Updates have been applied.

Also, tried running CHKDSK, but after rebooting, it says it was cancelled and Windows starts.