Solved Various BSODs during startup and/or within early usage.

[Mitim0]

Hello again,

After memtest86+ running overnight (resulting in 10 full passes) on all my ram, it yielded nothing (no errors). Today I had shut off my computer in the morning after memtesting and didn’t turnn it on until night time, so it would have had a good whole day (like 12 hours) to ‘cool off’. I booted and checked the voltages and they were pretty much the same as my previous image. Then I managed to get to my desktop and go on the internet...for about 15 mins, then I got a bluescreen with error code STOP 0x00000024. I rebooted and went right in to my bios again to check the voltages and they were the same.

One of my hard drives is a 2tb drive, not a 200gb drive (WD2001FASS -> 2 TB Caviar Black). I’ve been using a partition on my 2tb drive as my system drive since I first installed win7. If it matters, I have a winXP partition on my 320gb drive, though last time this happened, I’d get bluescreens in there too.

I’m not sure if patch KB977178 would relate due to how long I’ve been using it with no issues before. I am also pretty certain I’ve never seen a 0x00000077 or 0x000000F4 on a bluescreen (I’ve been taking pictures of them with a camera to keep track. ) STOP 0x0000007A however I think I've seen them.

Vir Gnarus, is there any way to test a motherboard? I think if I find a way to consistently produce a bluescreen on demand, then it would be pretty good evidence on what is going on.


Edit:

Oh, now this is something new and potentially interesting.

When I got the latest bluescreen mentioned above, I said I rebooted and then went in to my bios to check the voltages. Once I did, I got out of the hardware monitor and went to exit, but I actually didn’t exit….just left the “exit and discard changes” option highlighted. Then I went to go to my other computer (which is totally beating my main computer in terms of longevity ) to write my last post. When I submitted my post and checked back on my main computer... my bios had frozen, I couldn’t change option, press enter, or do anything. :huh:

 

[Vir Gnarus]

Just remember that a PSU can mess up in one of three ways: it can either have a constant state of instability which can display with voltage irregularities; or it can "hiccup", which is usually unstable enough to crash the system instantly with no prior warning or it only shows up spontaneously in voltage logs; or the PSU can just flat out die period. There's a possibility this could be a PSU hiccuping.

Yeah, again, problems shown in the BIOS usually mean one of two things: PSU is bad, or Motherboard is bad, as was our suspicion. Unfortunately, there is no testing procedure outside of either swapping them with reliable parts or using hardware diagnostic kits which can cost a good bit of money to figure it out. Looks like you're just going to have to pick one and cross fingers that you're replacing the right one. While I would not shy away from the PSU being suspect, the fact we don't actually have any data to go against it should lead us to replacing the mobo first. The fact that the BIOS is freezing, as well as other BIOS-related oddities occurring, points blame on the mobo.

 

[Mitim0]

Hi again,
I spent a bit of time over the weekend just seeing if the bios freezing was something that always happened. I figured, maybe the bios freezing could be part of what is bringing windows down (this does not seem to always be the case however as when the bios does not freeze, windows still gets a bluescreen). But I did find a pattern, where the bios would freeze at least two times upon starting my computer ‘cold’. Then I wouldn’t be able to get it to freeze again after that until I turned it off for a few hours. Also when it froze, it would always do so within the first little while (like 15 mins).

For each ‘test’, I’d boot my computer, jump in to the bios and just leave it there. The first screen happens to have the running time, so I’d just leave it there and check back to when the time had stopped ticking (indicating it had frozen). Once I switched to the hardware monitor page so I can see the fans and voltages, figuring I could ‘catch’ them if they changed too much (if that is what caused the freezing), but they were always normal.

Below is my ‘log’ I kept. After each ‘test’ where the bios did not freeze, I would exit out of the bios before resetting.

If I wrote “reset via menu”, it means I exited the bios and run to where I could choose which OS to boot (win7 and winXP), and hit esc, which rebooted the system from there.
If I wrote “reset button”, then it means I just hit the reset button after exiting the bios.
If I wrote “power off” it means I held down the power button until it went off.

The over-clocking issue mentioned is always the same thing: the bios says my over-clocking values are bad and asks me to reset to default or go in to the bios. I’ve noticed when this happens, the bios thinks my cpu is set at 2.4ghz, when it is 3ghz normally. My bios is always at default settings, with the exception of the floppy drive being disabled.

May 9th
~1am - noticed bios frozen (mentioned while I was posting my previous post). Wondered if this was always happening and is what brings down windows; decided to start a log.

May 10th
~13:42 - 13:57 - bios freeze, reset button
13:57 – 14:11 – freeze, reset button
14:15 - 14:48 – No freeze, rebooted via menu
14:48 - ~15:10 – No freeze, shutdown system (had to head out)
20:54 - ???? – No freeze + used system for the rest of the night (till 3am) No issues.

May 11th
14:47-14:58 – freeze, had left it on the hardware monitor screen, voltages appear normal, attempted to reboot via reset button, nothing happened (black screen, no POST). Reset button again, same result. Power off completely, then turned on, bios complained over-clocking issue.
15:03 – 15:22 – No freeze, reboot via menu
15:22 – 15:47 – No freeze, reboot via reset button
15:47 - 16:07 – No freeze, shut off system

22:06 - 22:12:16 – freeze, reset button
22:16 – 22:19:32 – freeze, reset button, no POST, black screen, tried reset button again, still no POST, power off, bios complained about over-clocking issue
22:22:40 - 22:55 – No freeze, menu reset
22:56:10 – 23:29:59 – No freeze, reset button
23:30:30 – 23:56:34 – No freeze, attempted to boot to windows, BSOD on windows loading. Hit reset button, fans spin, but black screen, no POST. Power off, bios complained of over-clocking issue.

May 12th
00:02:00 – 00:32:50 – No freeze, reset button
00:33:22 – 0:1:02:00 – No freeze, tried to boot windows, launched start-up repair, start-up repair had errors, retried start-up repair, still errors, shutdown system

15:13:28 – 15:25:25 – freeze, reset button
15:34:13 – 15:34:32 – freeze (fastest ever at 19 seconds!), reset button, no POST, power off, bios complied of over-clocking issue
15:37:51 – 16:00:30 – No freeze, reset button
16:01:00 – 16:34 – No freeze, reset button
16:34:37 – 16:59:20 – No freeze, attempt to boot in to win7, made it in to desktop, left it on desktop doing nothing then at ~17:14, bluescreen 0x3B
17:14-18:32 – no freeze, attempt to boot in to win7 again, boot manager error 0xC0000428, shutdown system



If you read all of this (thanks ), I think it just adds to the fact that there is something suspect with the hardware, specifically my motherboard. Thoughts?

 

[Vir Gnarus]

No thoughts beyond what I've already estimated. Time to get that hardware replaced, starting with the Mobo then the PSU.

 

[essenbe]

Mitim0, I agree with Vir Gnarus, With it freezing in bios, it points to a bad PSU or motherboard and needs to be replaced. However, you will be hard pressed to find a replacement for that board and if you do your choices will be limited. You seem to keep your computers for a long time. For that reason I would consider an upgrade to a newer chipset which will be supported for a much longer time by manufacturers. While it will be more expensive, in the long run you will be much better off.

 

[Mitim0]

Hi guys,

Essenbe, you’re correct in figuring out I tend to keep my systems for a long time (five years to me is ‘early middle age’ for a system). With that said, I’ve picked out a new motherboard, cpu, videocard, and ram now. If my new system has issues, well, at least I'll know for sure it was the psu.

A bit sad to have to get a new system when the rest of my (tested) parts are perfectly fine, though it seems I may be able to reuse them for another computer.

Thanks for all your patience and help koolkat77, essenbe, Britton30, and Vir Gnarus.

 

[essenbe]

I certainly hope it works out well for you. You may very well be able to use many of the parts from the old system in the new system. If you would like, you can start a thread about what you've picked out in the hardware section. Us hardware guys love nothing more than to give advice on new builds. You will see a few disagreements on certain parts, but you may learn a little from them. You may or may not want to know that Intel is supposed to be coming out with a new CPU and there will be new motherboards coming out at some point next month. Supposed to be. I hope your parts are all working well when you get them. Don't neglect considering an SSD for the new system. As far as I'm concerned, that is the most noticable upgrade you can do for a new system. Buy quality parts if you want it to last a long time, and don't skimp on the PSU. My advice to everyone. If you need any help, please let us know. We love it. Good luck with the new build and let us know if you run into problems.

 

[Mitim0]

Hi essenbe, I did have a few questions so I made a post in the hardware section. For an SSD, I do agree they have a very noticeable effect on a new system, but they are slightly out of my budget for now. I keep checking then every few months to watch the price drop though.

 

[Britton30]

Yes, all the best on the new system. Keep an eye on Newegg.ca they may have a crazy low SSD price now and then.