Random Crash, Freeze, Black Screen or BSOD shortly after startup.

[Xindaris]

This is a strange problem my desktop has had for a fairly long time. Usually, my computer will work fine, start up with no problems for several days in a row. And then..for reasons I don't know, it sometimes will start crashing. Usually the screen goes completely black and the computer completely non-responsive, and it must be hard reset to get any response at all out of it. A few times I've actually seen a brief BSOD, but too brief to actually read it and see what is happening. Sometimes the screen will just freeze where it is, with the last bit of audio that was playing repeating nonstop. The strangest thing about these crashes is they only happen a little bit after or during startup; if the computer is fine for 30 minutes, I know it'll be fine until the next time it's turned off. It has on a few occasions come up with a screen telling me that the CMOS is corrupted. I've had startup repair run, and tried some kind of hard drive diagnostic tool; the startup repair couldn't find a problem, and the tool said the hard drive was good. I've seen it crash this way in the middle of the bios boot, during login, in safe mode; pretty much any time during the first half-hour to hour of the computer being on. But never afterward.

I ran the diagnostic tool; the results are attached to this post. Any help at all would be appreciated.

(In case it has any effect on anything, my computer used to be a Vista and a complimentary upgrade was used to make it windows 7.)

 

[Arc]

Hello Xindaris.

It appears that you have tow antivirus programs installed? MSE and Avira?
Uninstall Avira. Use Microsoft Security Essentials as your antivirus with windows inbuilt firewall, and free MBAM as the on demand scanner.
Download, install and update those, and then run full system scans with both of them, one by one.

Uninstall MagicISO. It may cause the BSODs as you explained.

ITEM|VAUUE
Name | MagicISO SCSI Host Controller
Manufacturer | MagicISO, Inc.
PNP Device ID | ROOT\ SCSIADAPTER \0000
Driver | c:\windows\system32\drivers\mcdbus.sys (2.7.106.519, 249.56 KB (255,552 bytes), 12/15/2009 5:17 PM)

The SCSI adapter installed by MagicISO can cause start time BSODs.

The Display Driver is not Up to date.

fffff880`04884000 fffff880`0532f000   nvlddmkm T (no symbols)           
    Loaded symbol image file: nvlddmkm.sys
    Image path: nvlddmkm.sys
[COLOR=Red]    Image name: nvlddmkm.sys
    Timestamp:        Fri Mar 15 07:07:00 2013[/COLOR] (51427B3C)
    CheckSum:         00A8D47C
    ImageSize:        00AAB000
    Translations:     0000.04b0 0000.04e4 0409.04b0 0409.04e4

Try to install NVIDIA DRIVERS 320.49WHQL

Test your RAM modules for possible errors.
How to Test and Diagnose RAM Issues with Memtest86+
Run memtest for at least 8 passes, preferably overnight.

Stress test the Graphics Card using Furmark.
Video Card - Stress Test with Furmark

Are you overclocking? As you are getting BSODs, you should stop overclocking and run all the hardware components like CPU, GPU and RAM to their default settings. Also set the BIOS to default, too.
How To Clear CMOS (Reset BIOS)

Free up the startup. Windows does not need any other program to auto start with it, but the auto start programs often conflicts and causes various problems including BSODs.

1. Click on the Start button
2. Type “msconfig (without quotes), click the resulting link. It will open the System Configuration window.
3. Select the “Startup” tab.
4. Deselect all items other than the antivirus.
5. Apply > OK
6. Accept then restart.

Let us know the results. And, is it a factory installed windows?
______________________________________________________
BSOD ANALYSIS:

BugCheck 19, {3, fffffa8005182020, fffffa8005182000, fffffa8005182000}

Probably caused by : Pool_Corruption ( nt!ExDeferredFreePool+a53 )

Followup: Pool_corruption
----------------------------------------------------------------------
BugCheck A, {34e502010080, 2, 1, fffff80004079cc8}

*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for nvlddmkm.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for nvlddmkm.sys
Probably caused by : nvlddmkm.sys ( nvlddmkm+1849fd )

Followup: MachineOwner
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BugCheck 50, {fffffa7f8009d9d2, 1, fffffa800626b187, 7}


Could not read faulting driver name
Probably caused by : memory_corruption

Followup: memory_corruption
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
BugCheck 1A, {8886, fffffa8003a29150, fffffa8003a267e0, 500}

Probably caused by : memory_corruption ( nt!MiUnlinkPageFromLockedList+19c )

Followup: MachineOwner
---------

 

[Xindaris]

Thank you very much for your reply. I actually already use MSE and MBAM; I uninstalled Avira quite some time ago. I looked into why it might still appear to be installed, and found something that deletes avira's registry keys, and used that. MagicISO has been uninstalled; the NVIDIA program told me it 'cannot continue' because it 'could not find compatible graphics hardware'. I went into device manager and told windows to update the driver software, and it told me that it is up to date. I'm going to go do the more involved things next, though I seem to remember running furmark before and not seeing any issues.

 

[Xindaris]

Also, the original Vista install was factory; the Windows 7 upgrade was done at home, but the disc came from the same people who sold me the computer (Best Buy).

 

[Arc]

So Avira is uninstalled, but the leftovers remained there?

If memtest comes free from errors, I would suggest you to go for a http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html.

 

[Xindaris]

Furmark leveled out and didn't overheat the computer; I think it was around 80 degrees but I can't exactly remember, and didn't write it down because I thought it was saving the information to a log file somewhere. Memtest ran for 8+ hours and didn't find any errors. I told the BIOS to use "optimized defaults", which I think is the way to reset, but it might not be? I don't know what other option there was that might have done it if that didn't. I also found some context menu bits, registry junk and a dll file still left over from MagicISO and got rid of as much as I was able to. The registry entries were really weird; even after setting my own user account as their owner and giving the owner full permission to do anything with them, I still couldn't delete some "properties" keys because of an unspecified error. The computer seems to be starting up fine right now. Reinstalling windows looks to be a whole lot of trouble, and I'd like to avoid having to do that if at all possible. My computer doesn't have a windows 7 product key physically on it because it was bought with vista and later upgraded, but I suspect the product key given by the properties of "My Computer" is the one I would need if I were going to do that.

 

[Arc]

Do a clean install as it is already stated earlier. All you need to do it is provided in the said link.

Now activation. Use your upgrade key normally. If failed, follow the option three of
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html