Seemingly random BSODs, lots of different error messages

[cretin]

New build, did it myself. Have rebuilt from scratch in the past, made sure no static etc. Not overclocked at all.

System:
ASUS P8Z77-V PRO
i7 3770k
16gb corsair vengence RAM
GTX 285
Kingston Hyper-X 120gb boot drive
3 SATA data drives
Bluray SATA drive
Corsair AX750 PSU
Silverstone Raven RV02E Case

I don't know when the blue screens started, but it wasn't straight from the off. It must have been about 1-2weeks later. I've tried quite a lot of things! This is what I remember doing (not in order):

* Ran memtest86. No errors after 2 passes
* Updated BIOS to latest version
* Set the BIOS back to defaults (I had it on 'performance mode')
* Updated SSD firmware to latest version
* Uninstalled Daemon Tools lite after reading something on here. Not sure if I managed to get the driver too
* Lots of the blue screen errors were Atheros, so dug around with alternate drivers for my TP Link wireless card, then uninstalled it, removed it and started using the ASUS onboard one
* Updated all the mobo utilities and drivers from the ASUS site
* Updated the Nvidia drivers (clean install)
* Unplugged my Wacom
* Switched SSD cable and port (using the onboard ports rather than 3rd party)
* Monitored temps with CoreTemp running Prime95 (80 degrees max), no bsod
* Monitored temps with Furmark (87 degrees max), no bsod

Currently I've taken 3 sticks of RAM out and plan to test all of them individually in all slots.

The bsod almost never occurs in light use or idle. Quite often it happens when Steam is downloading and I'm using a browser as well. It always happens when I'm gaming (Trine 2 or Rage), usually not too long after I start. It can happen fairly often with mild multitasking - just VLC and Chrome, and sometimes doesn't happen with heavier multitasking - VLC, Chrome, Photoshop, WMP, lots of Explorer windows. It happens so randomly I'm writing this in a text file and saving every sentence.

I'm getting most of my ideas from this forum but have decided to bite the bluetit and ask for some personalised expert advice!

 

[Arc]

Welcome aboard.

► First you fill up your system specs.
See your system specs and fill it up here.

► 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.

 

[cretin]

Hi, and thanks for looking.

I followed your post, filled in my system spec and then did the verifier process as described in the walkthrough.

It blue screened about 10 mins into normal use. At the time I was playing music and copying music files from data drive to usb stick. Steam was downloading Crysis and I was browsing in Chrome.

It didn't automatically restart following the memory dump, so I manually restarted. When it booted it was running really slowly. I forgot to disable Verifier and began the SF_Diagnostic_Tool process to copy the dumps. While retrieving System Info it bluescreened. No auto restart, so I manually restarted. This time I saw a quick BSOD in the boot sequence, and it auto restarted.

It booted again, things very slow again. I disabled the Verifier and restarted. Once it booted, it bluescreened straight away, auto restart, another dump copy, this post!

 

[cretin]

Quick update: After another bsod it refused to boot, saying bootmgr was missing. It had done this previously and i'd got rid of it by fiddling, but this time i figured a fresh install might help me diagnose.

So, one fresh install later, plus a few drivers (chipset, audio and gfx) i figure i'll leave it playing a video file and go shopping to see if it bsods while i'm gone. It bsods 5mins in before i even leave!

This makes me think its likely hardware. Would i be right in thinking that? I'll install network drivers and post dumps asap!

Sorry for the grammar i had to send this on my phone!

 

[Arc]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html

Run it three times. Run, restart, run, restart, run, restart, and see if it boots or not.

 

[cretin]

Bit late for that! I guess we must have posted at a similar time!

 

[cretin]

So I took the graphics card out and am using onboard. No blue screens as yet but haven't thought to run driver verifier yet! Also going to put my old graphics card in to see if it's card or slot

 

[cretin]

So, it has bluescreened again without the graphics card. A Chrome tab crashed just prior to the bluescreen. Attached are dumps.

I'm really hoping they show something!

 

[Arc]

You need to enable verifier now. The dump is not specific about the causes of the crash.

 

[cretin]

Enabled verifier, opened a bunch of stuff, as far as I can tell bsod occurred when I opened 2 instances of flash in Chrome, but who knows. Dumps attached

 

[Arc]

Even with the verifier running, dumps are silent.

Still, I got something there, some hints of Ntfs file system corruption. To resolve it, you need to perform a disc check.

1. Reseat the sata and power.
2. Run chkdsk /f/r, following the option two of the tutorial Disk Check
3. Seatool for dos: SeaTools | Seagate download
   Burn it in a blank cd. boot from the CD, click on "Accept", wait for it to finish detecting the drives, then in the upper left corner select "Basic Tests", then select "Long Test" and let it run.

Seen a fltmgr.sys error, too. That may cause by the antivirus. AVG is just a crap. nothing more. Uninstall it, and use Microsoft Security Essentials - Free Antivirus for Windows.



See if there is any update for your network driver?

kd> lmvm athrx
start             end                 module name
fffff880`05454000 fffff880`05704000   athrx      (deferred)             
    Image path: \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\athrx.sys
   [COLOR=Red] Image name: athrx.sys
    Timestamp:        Fri Oct 21 15:15:10 2011 [/COLOR](4EA13F26)
    CheckSum:         002AF1A0
    ImageSize:        002B0000
    Translations:     0000.04b0 0000.04e4 0409.04b0 0409.04e4

Try an alternative browser. I recommend Waterfox.

 

[cretin]

Checkdisk results are as follows:

Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.

A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 5)...
82944 file records processed. File verification completed.
85 large file records processed. 0 bad file records processed. 0 EA records processed. 60 reparse records processed. CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 5)...
115970 index entries processed. Index verification completed.
0 unindexed files scanned. 0 unindexed files recovered. CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 5)...
82944 file SDs/SIDs processed. Cleaning up 318 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 318 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 318 unused security descriptors.
Security descriptor verification completed.
16514 data files processed. CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
The USN Journal entry at offset 0x5f18ff0 and length 0x40 crosses
the page boundary.
Repairing Usn Journal file record segment.
33743256 USN bytes processed. Usn Journal verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
82928 files processed. File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
17440358 free clusters processed. Free space verification is complete.
CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the
master file table (MFT) bitmap.
CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the volume bitmap.
Windows has made corrections to the file system.

117218303 KB total disk space.
47222096 KB in 64865 files.
48684 KB in 16515 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
186087 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
69761436 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
29304575 total allocation units on disk.
17440359 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:
00 44 01 00 f0 3d 01 00 3e 7c 02 00 00 00 00 00 .D...=..>|......
b0 00 00 00 3c 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ....<...........
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................

Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.
​

Seatools couldn't detect any drives. I tried it twice. Windows can see all the drives, so what's that about?

I updated my network driver to the latest one available. I did this before as well (prior to the fresh windows install) and it didn't seem to change anything. Although that's assuming that just one thing is causing all the bluescreens.

I have replaced AVG with MSE. Really glad to do this, I had no idea of the existence of MSE and AVG was becoming bloated! Thanks also for the Waterfox link - it sounds ideal. I have installed and will use as my main browser at least while I try and rid myself of this bluescreenery. Since I sometimes bluescreen without Chrome, I don't think this is the cause.

I'll get Verifier running again and try and induce another BSOD. Happy days.

 

[Arc]

Things going good there.

For disc check, you may to to your HDD/SSD manufacturer's website and take their own test.

 

[cretin]

Ugh, I already wrote this once already and a bsod wiped me out again!
Bizarre turns of events! Woo

Got Seatools working by changing SATA mode from ACHI to IDE in BIOS. SSD passed test really quickly so I decided to test the HDDs.

Started with the 500gb WD, which was my previous boot drive (I haven't got round to getting all useful data off and formatting yet). This test took a while longer! It was 2 hours and approx 80% in (I wasn't watching) when I heard the disk spin up. What I saw on the screen seemed to be that Seatools had crashed - see attached. I couldn't click on anything, no keys responded. I waited 5 mins, then restarted.

• It wouldn't boot. Kept auto restarting on a blank screen. I thought it might be IDE mode, so I went and reverted to ACHI.
• This restart resulted in a no boot BSOD.
• Safe mode, no boot BSOD
• Successful boot, then BSOD while writing this first time round, only Waterfox running
• Successful boot for about 30seconds, BSOD with no programs open

At this point I shut down and disconnected all the HDDs, leaving just SSD and Bluray on the SATA ports. Then I booted successfully into Safe Mode with Networking, which is how I'm posting now.

Verifier wasn't on, so I haven't attached dumps.

 

[cretin]

Really needed to post that, however between writing that about 30mins ago and now, it randomly restarted before I could post it. No bsod, just restarted.

After that, it wouldn't boot. Got bsods, startup repair, failure, bsods, a restart after I'd used the power button to shutdown... (that has happened a few times previously as well)

A mess basically. Turned it off, left it 30mins, it boots. No trouble. So now I'm thinking a heat issue, given that prior to that it had been on (or constantly restarting) all afternoon.

I don't know if you'd care to make any wild stabs about what hardware it could be? My inkling is motherboard, given the variety of issues and the fact that my RAM and SSD passed all the tests and we've ruled out GFX.

I'm thinking of starting an RMA dialogue with ASUS (which is something I really wanted to avoid) unless you advise otherwise?

 

[Arc]

It is very difficult to guess which part of the hardware is causing thouble, but if you think that it is being caused by the hardware, you may follow this steps of hardware troubleshooting.

 

[cretin]

Yeah, it's a bit weak as a diagnosis. I'm basing it on ruling out the SSD GFX and RAM, the fact that sometimes it just restarts, sometimes it won't boot, and that the BSODs become more frequent when the PC has been on a while. And all the stuff we've been through!

Not much to go on really, but Amazon are sending a replacement now, so if it still happens on the new board then at least I will have ruled out the motherboard (or got 2 faulty boards!)

Thank you very much for your continued help! I will post here whatever the outcome of the new board.