Solved Random BSODs While Not Playing Games or Surfing Internet

[axe0]

Most drivers should be provided by Dell so Dell would be your main source for the drivers and the ONLY source for BIOS updates.

If a driver isn't provided by Dell, lookup the official support site of the company to find the right drivers.
For example GPU, CPU and input devices (mouse/keyboard), for these drivers you could check Nvidia, Intel, the support page of the company. For the GPU Dell sometimes does provide drivers too, but with desktops you could also get them from Nvidia

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Most drivers should be provided by Dell so Dell would be your main source for the drivers and the ONLY source for BIOS updates.

If a driver isn't provided by Dell, lookup the official support site of the company to find the right drivers.
For example GPU, CPU and input devices (mouse/keyboard), for these drivers you could check Nvidia, Intel, the support page of the company. For the GPU Dell sometimes does provide drivers too, but with desktops you could also get them from Nvidia

Yes unfortunately some brands are like this now you could run this and find the exact details which sometimes border on the super tech stuff - on the components - use PART B:
Using HW Info
PART A:
You can test the volts on the PSU with HW Info HWiNFO, HWiNFO32/64 - Download < download the right bit version and close the right hand window select Sensors and scroll down to the power section where you will see what the volts are doing see my pic. In my pic the section (Nuvoton) with VBATT is a dead give away you are in the section for the rail voltages. There are other section titles and one that pops up often is ITE
Now the voltage on the different rails have to be within 5% =+/- of what is required or the machine will not work properly if at all.
Limits +/-
12v = 11.4 – 12.6v
5v = 4.74 – 5.25v
3.3v = 3.135 – 3.465v
The Power good signal voltage at pin 8 on the 24 pin plug (grey cable) should be the same as the 5v rail reading/s
See this for the rail voltage info
Power Supply 101: A Reference Of Specifications - Power Supplies (Section 2.)
The original right hand window shows the machine running and is handy for that but for looking at the components in some detail close it and use the main left hand side panel
FOR OTHER COMPONENTS
PART B:
Open each small square with + in it on the section the components are in and then click on the individual component/s (it will highlight in blue) - in the right hand side will appear all sorts of details including brands speeds and other essential info that particular device. See pic for example.

 

[SickOfTheBSOD]

Too Early to Be Celebrating

Just when I thought I had this licked:

STOP: 0x1E
STOP: 0x19

(I'm able to save BSODs again so when my PC can boot, I'll send you an updated log)

I got STOP: 0x1E partially through installing Seagate Dashboard. I then received STOP: 0x19 partially through updating Steam.

Do you think my RAM or HDD is dying?

Now, with the drivers, do I have to install EVERY driver that is provided by Dell for my PC? I installed the ones from the Resource CD but opted out of a few of them. Should I have installed all of them? If I messed up, I'll just do another reinstall if that's the case.


Also, should I be keeping any of these partitions or should I be deleting them as well?

-ESP Partition - OEM Reserved (I think)
-DIAGS Partition - OEM Reserved
-Partiton # - MSR Reserved
-RECOVERY Partition - DELETED
-Primary Partition - C:/

Perhaps I'm getting BSODs because I goofed on the reinstall?

 

[axe0]

Could you make a screenshot of the partition manager, this makes that part more clear.

Regarding the drivers, you only need to install the drivers you need.
I'm pretty sure Dell provides drivers on their site you don't need, so you don't have to install them all in that case.
What you could do is install the drivers you need from the support page of Dell to see if that makes any difference.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Do you think my RAM or HDD is dying?

A possibility and I am assuming you have more than one stick so yes one stick or more if you have say four sticks - can be going south so see this it is the only way of finding out
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105647-ram-test-memtest86.html make sure you do run it for at least 8 passes (unless errors come up fairly quickly) or you may as well not bother. If you do get errors then you will need to check each stick individually.

 

[SickOfTheBSOD]

A couple of things I've noticed since reinstall:

1) I got the "Windows Did Not Shut Down Normally" screen to appear again. It never appeared ever since I got it serviced by that retailer.

2) I seem to only get BSODs now when installing certain programs.

3) I now get "Windows Has Recovered From an Unexpected Shutdown" window now. Before, if I BSODsed, I wouldn't receive this window.



Here's the latest log info for my newly reinstalled PC.

IDK, should I just delete EVERYTHING and do another reinstall?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Nick now I am no real expert but the BSOD dump is showing something that has to do with an update what that is I can only speculate so I would suggest yes another install.

MODULE_NAME: fileinfo

IMAGE_NAME:  [COLOR="Red"]fileinfo.sys[/COLOR]

DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP:  4a5bc481

IMAGE_VERSION:  6.1.7600.16385

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: [COLOR="red"] X64_0x19_3_fileinfo!FIStreamGetInfo+11f[/COLOR]

Now before you do that if you can if we haven't done it before could you test that drive use this SeaTools for Windows | Seagate and please remove that McAfee if you are still running it as in your specs I would even go as far as disable the Avast too.

If you do go with an install then I personally always do a clean all on the OS drive to make sure it is absolutely spotless http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk-clean-clean-all-diskpart-command.html takes some time but I find it is worth it.

 

[SickOfTheBSOD]

I thank you guys for helping me through this ongoing dilemma.

I'm sorry that it's taking a very long time to resolve. I still do not see how I have McAfee and Avast in the logs. I reinstalled my entire OS but left the original partitions intact. (I will provide an image later on). I'll look over the information you provided and reply back.

This is probably not the place to put this but it's all connected to the ongoing problem. After reinstalling I tried to play a game through Steam to promote a BSOD. Instead I was met with an AppCrash and it said "KERNELBAS.DLL" was the cause.

I'm going to reinstall but I'm afraid to delete the remaining partitions as they might be important (DIAGS partition for example). I'll read over what has been provided and decide from there. If at first you don't succeed...

 

[axe0]

Neither of those are in the logs for a long time.

Could you explain to me what the connection between the kernelbas.dll cause and the BSODs is?

Again: Could you make a screenshot of the partition manager, this makes that part more clear.
I have no idea how your partitions look like and thus have no idea what you're talking about with the DIAGS partition - OEM reserved?

When you clean reinstall the OS, you can format your whole drive and install, the install process will create the partitions it needs.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

I still do not see how I have McAfee and Avast in the logs

Sorry mate my mistake they were still in the specs so I just thought they had been reinstalled.

Now if you are goig to reinstall then personally I do a clean or clean all on the drive before I install because I feel it makes the drive squeaky clean for the install. That is no remnants left over which I do believe is a lot of the problem in clean installs that do not go right. Anyway I always do this now and have had no issues since. It takes time ok but it's worth it in the end.

 

[SickOfTheBSOD]

Neither of those are in the logs for a long time.

Could you explain to me what the connection between the kernelbas.dll cause and the BSODs is?

Again: Could you make a screenshot of the partition manager, this makes that part more clear.
I have no idea how your partitions look like and thus have no idea what you're talking about with the DIAGS partition - OEM reserved?

When you clean reinstall the OS, you can format your whole drive and install, the install process will create the partitions it needs.

Honestly, I have no idea anymore. I thought reinstalling would fix my problems (my BSODs have subsided tremendously) but it just introduced more it seems. I mention the "KERNELBASE.DLL" because it involves the Kernel, and I'm wondering if it has some connection to the BSODs in general. I'm just trying to provide as much info as I can when I try something mentioned here.

@axe0, after reading everything you and the others have posted, I deleted the RECOVERY partition and got back some features I had lost through the previous reinstall by the retailer I went through to first diagnose my BSOD problem. I have some partitions still on my PC that have "OEM Reserved" in them and I read that "DIAGS" is what contains the ePSA for Dell PCs, so I'm nervous to touch any of those other partitions because I may mess up my PC more than it already is. I will provide you my partition.There's four sections:

1) DIAGS partition
2) An MSR partition
3) C:/ partition
4) RECOVERY partition

I ran the tests on the HDD and they still came back fine. My memory also tested fine last time I ran it, so I'm really at a loss on what the heck is wrong! I've narrowed it down to my drivers or one of the softwares needed to run my AlienFX program. However, I'm not advanced enough to diagnose this myself so I can only guess.

I have included the information about my HDD too through SeaTools. Don't know if it will help.

At this point, I'm willing to do another clean reinstall but I just need to know whether or not I should delete any of the other partitions or just leave them? Based on the readings provided, deleting the RECOVERY will help regain F8 options and wipe the C:/ drive completely clean. Anything else?

 

[axe0]

I mention the "KERNELBASE.DLL" because it involves the Kernel, and I'm wondering if it has some connection to the BSODs in general

From your description it hasn't anything to do with the kernel of Windows, nor the BSODs, it is just a dll that caused the program to crash according to what you said, but it isn't from Windows.

Regarding your last BSOD, you've had some software installed of which some are a lot being used on systems where BSODs are occuring (Nvidia software, please note that I don't say it is bad to have it installed). What ICIT2LOL says I'm not 100% clear about, but what I do know is that the fileinfo.sys driver is from Windows so we can assume it isn't the true cause as Windows drivers are pretty never the cause. However when such a driver is being updated, the way it behaves changes what can help with stability, security, performance, etc., and eventually it may resolve the problem, hence the reason why it is important to keep up to date.

I just had a visit to the support page at Dell, it looks like there is a BIOS update, I suggest that you install this update and see if it helps
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us...uct/alienware-x51-r2/drivers/advanced?os=w764

 

[SickOfTheBSOD]

Uummm, a BIOS update?

I have read that if anything happens during the update (for instance, with my luck, another BSOD) I can have a "bricked" motherboard and have zero chance of recovery. Do I have to do a BIOS update? What does that even do anyway?

 

[axe0]

If a BIOS update goes wrong you have a bricked mainboard yes, but if you have a mainboard with dual BIOS then you could recover from it.

Yes, you have to do the BIOS update, it contains improvements (as always) which may make your system more stable.

 

[SickOfTheBSOD]

If a BIOS update goes wrong you have a bricked mainboard yes, but if you have a mainboard with dual BIOS then you could recover from it.

Yes, you have to do the BIOS update, it contains improvements (as always) which may make your system more stable.

I'm very ignorant when it comes to the hardware of a computer. How can I tell if I have a mainboard with dual BIOS?

Also, to update, I fixed the problem involving KERNELBASE.DLL, and you were right. After some research, it is a DLL that is used for compatibility in certain games. Nowadays, its function is replaced by "nt.dll" or something.

Well, I tested downloading another game (APB: Reloaded, 5.3GB) and everything went find. I have yet to test their actual function during playing games, but I feel that the PC is now back to an acceptable operation level. If anything else happens I'll just make another thread. At least now I got back my F8 options and the ability to dump BSODs.

Thank you @axe0, @ICIT2LOL, and all others involved. Once again, you have both brought my PC back to a working state AND have made me even more knowledgeable on the subject.

 

[axe0]

Dual BIOS is usually stated in the specs, I can't however find proper specs about your motherboard.

It already sounded like a dll that was being installed with certain games.
Next time it would be better if you would provide a pic/screenshot of the message when an app crashes, that makes troubleshooting easier

 

[ICIT2LOL]

No nor me mate without having specific model number off that machine. I know a lot of the later Asus and Gigabyte have dual BIOS so that if one wrecks one then the other can be used so any info you can glean form that machine would be handy and again you could use HW Info to get the details on that motherboard - if I didn't reference it before -
Using HW Info
PART A:
You can test the volts on the PSU with HW Info HWiNFO, HWiNFO32/64 - Download < download the right bit version and close the right hand window select Sensors and scroll down to the power section where you will see what the volts are doing see my pic. In my pic the section (Nuvoton) with VBATT is a dead give away you are in the section for the rail voltages. There are other section titles and one that pops up often is ITE
Now the voltage on the different rails have to be within 5% =+/- of what is required or the machine will not work properly if at all.
Limits +/-
12v = 11.4 – 12.6v
5v = 4.74 – 5.25v
3.3v = 3.135 – 3.465v
The Power good signal voltage at pin 8 on the 24 pin plug (grey cable) should be the same as the 5v rail reading/s
See this for the rail voltage info
Power Supply 101: A Reference Of Specifications - Power Supplies (Section 2.)
The original right hand window shows the machine running and is handy for that but for looking at the components in some detail close it and use the main left hand side panel
FOR OTHER COMPONENTS
PART B:
Open each small square with + in it on the section the components are in and then click on the individual component/s (it will highlight in blue) - in the right hand side will appear all sorts of details including brands speeds and other essential info that particular device. See pic for example.
Use PART B: see pic of my mobo details