Upgraded RAM and hard drive, now random bsod

[ice3m]

the last error i got was the irql is less that not equal too bsod. i just upgraded from 8 gigs of ram to 24, 2x8 and 2x4 both gskill memory. and i just added a seagate 7200 rpm 1tb hard drive. No problems before, but i ram mem checker a few times and it didnt give me any errors. Ive already reinstalled (clean) the graphics drivers, the network card drivers, and the intel rapid storage drivers. info attached below. it has happened once while playing video and twice now while playing games. it says nvlddkm.sys is causing problems. still happens after all those reinstalls and ive had the computer for about a month and been playing games and whatnot with no problems for hours, untill after upgrades

 

[badkarma11]

the nvlddkm.sys is an NVIDIA driver. when you clean installed the video drivers, did you install the same version as before you upgraded the hardware? If you installed a newer version, you could go back and clean install the previous version. Have you tried Memtest86+? This will turn up RAM issues. Have you tried re-seating all of the RAM since the upgrade? Is the new HDD your C: Drive? If so, did you do a clean Windows install?

 

[ice3m]

It was the same version of the drivers u clean installed again, the hard drive is just a secondary d: drive. I have 64 bit will memtest86 work on that? And I dont know what would of changes on the graphics end, I've played several games for several hours before these upgrades and no problems

 

[badkarma11]

OK and OK. 64 bit is the OS, RAM is RAM. Here's the link to Memtest86: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105647-ram-test-memtest86.html
Basically you boot from a USB stick and it starts running. 7 passes minimum (unless you get an error, then report it here). 7 passes on 24 Gig will take a long time (7 passes with 8 gig on my machine took 12+ hours). did you replace existing RAM or add to it?
Just because the video driver threw the error doesn't mean it's at fault.

 

[ice3m]

I added to it, had 2x4 and added 2x8

 

[ice3m]

Is that the kind of error faulty memory or hard drive could cause? I have heard that mis matching memory can cause problems, they are both g skill, but I'll try later on just the 2x8, my heat sync on the CPU is aftermarket and has a huge fan on the side, the memory has a large heat sync, so my question is does it matter if the memory is in the 2 slots closest to the CPU which doesn't really have space or can they be in the further 2 slots as long they are in the paired slots?

 

[badkarma11]

Might or might not be a heat issue. There is a program called SpeedFan that you can download to check various component temps. Your specs say you have an SSD and the 1tb drive that you added. Did you replace another drive and add both? If your OS is on the SSD, did you do a clean install? The RAM slots are usually paired so that every other slot is a different color and best practice is to pair like RAM types together in that fashion. you can pull 1 or both of the new 8gb chips and see if that helps. I'd be inclined to pull both. We need to understand what changed and in what order. Don't worry, we'll get it sorted out

 

[ice3m]

Os is on ssd but that didn't change, and i did a fresh install of windows when got the parts a month or so ago, the 1 tb was just for more space. I do see that I might of made a mistake mismatching an 8 and a 4, but I'll have to check later tonite, which I feel dumb for and am hoping is the cause this, but everything is completely new as of a month ago, and no problems till now, I'm gonna try just the 2 8s and see if I still get bluescreen, I bumped up ye MHz to 1600 in the bios, but I didn't change any voltage settings. I have ai 2 suite to monitor the temps and afterburner for the gpu, core stays at 29 idle and 38 under load, motherboard is like 22 steady, gpu only jumps up in games but well within tolerance limits. Just installed hd and memory last nite.

 

[badkarma11]

OK. Like any troubleshooting situation, try to only change one variable at a time. Be methodical so as to eliminate each possible failure point. Each mobo can react differently to a given RAM configuration and be snotty about it (I'm in the middle of another BSOD storm myself). At this point, I'd leave the BIOS settings at wherever they were before you added the RAM and HDD. We can play with voltages and whatnot later if necessary.
Temperatures sound within reason, good on ya for checking

 

[ice3m]

Thanks for the help, ill let u know if just putting the 16 in ye correct pairings fixes it and then maybe ill to readd the 8 if it's stable with the 16, I have a feeling it's the mispairig/ i really hope that's all it is

 

[badkarma11]

let us know the results please. Every solution is one more bit of help for the next person. Way to hang in there.

 

[ice3m]

Well I don't want to jinx it, but I put in just the two 8s and in the correct pairing slots and was on the computer with no errors for 5 hours or so. Only played the game it failed on for about 20 mins with no problems, but it only took ten last time to bsod so I'm hoping alls well and will try to re-add the other two 4's later on, thanks for all the help, if It shows up again I'll seek further advise.

 

[badkarma11]

sounds promising, let us know how it works out