Solved Windows 7 Restarts Randomly When Using Netflix

[MvdB]

The last one was a 7E:
Insufficient disk space, Device driver, Video card, BIOS, Breakpoint with no debugger attached, Hardware incompatibility, Faulty system service, Memory, 3rd party remote control,

It might not fit your machine but it's worth a try:
"Stop 0x0000007E SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED" error when the GPU is under heavy load conditions in Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2

The driver reference was netio.sys, which should have been up to date through Windows Update. You have ONLY uploaded dumps so I can't check the logfiles...

You could try to download newest graphics drivers from here: Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers
Some of yours are 2008...

 

[Britt]

Hopefully we're getting somewhere now. Perhaps my initial assumption may be correct about the GPU causing issues. That seems unusual how the drivers would be out of date, as Windows has been updating quite frequently, however there may be an unticked box I didn't notice or it's unsupported. I'll download the drivers immediately and see if anything happens.

 

[MvdB]

Hope it helps....let us know...

 

[Britton30]

Find you drivers here... http://www.sevenforums.com/graphic-...t-video-driver-windows-7-a-149.html#post17671
Windows Update for my nVIDIA card is at least 3 drivers behind.

 

[MvdB]

Find you drivers here... http://www.sevenforums.com/graphic-...t-video-driver-windows-7-a-149.html#post17671
Windows Update for my nVIDIA card is at least 3 drivers behind.

Britton is right, I put in the wrong link, sorry..

 

[Britt]

No, MvdB was correct. The drivers are for a nvidia GPU, not an ATI. The on-board is also nvidia. You can read the specs on the Shuttle website page I linked in my first post.

As for the issue, I updated the drivers but the pc still restarted. I took the geforce video card out and switched back to the on-board gpu. I reinstalled windows to ensure all traces of the geforce's software was removed (not the best way, but I had nothing to loose). I updated the drivers for the on-board video card and tried again. No dice. The pc didn't leave any traces in the event log, only that an unexpected shut down occured. No dump files were created.

I'll go ahead and run memtest to see if any problems are found with the ram. If not, then maybe the motherboard is failing. Are there any additional tools I can use to diagnose issues with the motherboard?

 

[Britt]

I ran memtest for at least 5 passes and no errors were found. Anything else, or is this pretty much a dead end?

 

[MvdB]

The only thing I can think of now is to throw all the HW tests at it that we haven't done yet... just to be sure it's HW and not drivers. I did not have the time to go over the whole thread again (which is why I thought I made a mistake in the link yesterday, Britton probably, as is custom, looked at your primary machine spec's...)

1 test is: can you test for the crash while in Safe mode? Or won't your netflix function then...

2. Try known other tests for CPU and HDD:

For a full diagnostic of your HD that goes beyond Chkdsk, see:
HD Diagnostic

Try this free stress test: Free Software - GIMPS

Prime95 Setup:
- extract the contents of the zip file to a location of your choice
- double click on the executable file
- select "Just stress testing"
- select the "Blend" test. If you've already run MemTest overnight you may want to run the "Small FFTs" test instead.
- "Number of torture test threads to run" should equal the number of CPU's times 2 (if you're using hyperthreading).
The easiest way to figure this out is to go to Task Manager...Performance tab - and see the number of boxes under CPU Usage History
Then run the test for 6 to 24 hours - or until you get errors (whichever comes first).
The Test selection box and the stress.txt file describes what components that the program stresses.

 

[Britt]

I don't want to get my hopes up, but we might be making more progress. Netflix seemed to work just fine in safe mode. I ran it overnight and nothing happened. So as you suggested, there must be a driver causing the system to restart. The hard part is figuring out which one.

Any strategies on how I can go about doing this?

 

[MvdB]

I hesitate because it was in one of the first posts, by Magnum. Our normal way to find the driver is by letting Driver Verifier run continuously in the background. It normally helps in finding the driver and gives us more info on the bad driver in the resulting crash.

I'm assuming you tried that already? If not:

I'd suggest that you first backup your stuff and then make sure you've got access to another computer so you can contact us if problems arise. Then make a System Restore point (so you can restore the system using the Vista/Win7 Startup Repair feature).

In Windows 7 you can make a Startup Repair disk by going to Start....All Programs...Maintenance...Create a System Repair Disc - with Windows Vista you'll have to use your installation disk or the "Repair your computer" option at the top of the Safe Mode menu .

Then, here's the procedure:
- Go to Start and type in "verifier" (without the quotes) and press Enter
- Select "Create custom settings (for code developers)" and click "Next"
- Select "Select individual settings from a full list" and click "Next"
- Select everything EXCEPT FOR "Low Resource Simulation" and click "Next"
- Select "Select driver names from a list" and click "Next"
Then select all drivers NOT provided by Microsoft and click "Next"
- Select "Finish" on the next page.

Reboot the system and wait for it to crash to the Blue Screen. Continue to use your system normally, and if you know what causes the crash, do that repeatedly. The objective here is to get the system to crash because Driver Verifier is stressing the drivers out. If it doesn't crash for you, then let it run for at least 36 hours of continuous operation (an estimate on my part).

If you can't get into Windows because it crashes too soon, try it in Safe Mode.
If you can't get into Safe Mode, try using System Restore from your installation DVD to set the system back to the previous restore point that you created.

 

[Britt]

Hmm, I did that already, but the dump files I posted were inconclusive according to the people that read them. I'll run driver verifier again though.

Here's a dump file the pc just made. I walked in to run driver verifier and there was a bsod waiting for me. Let me know if there's anything useful in it.

 

[Britt]

I'm having difficulties making the system blue screen. 4 times, Netflix simply makes the PC freeze, not crash, and letting the computer idle does nothing at all.

I have a question about the driver verifier. According to the instructions, you say to mark only the third party drivers to test (non-microsoft). Are you certain that a windows driver isn't at fault here? Safe mode only loads a minimal amount of drivers for windows to function, excluding any additional non-vital microsoft drivers. For all we know, one of those non-vital drivers may be causing the conflict. Is there any way I can stop specific driver files from loading? I've already disabled devices through devmgmt, but the computer still crashed.

 

[Maguscreed]

If you've run a
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html
and it passed the windows core drivers should be fine.

 

[Britt]

The core files are fine. The scan came clean. Is there a program that lists the current drivers loaded and running in windows? If there's something like that, I can use it to determine what loads in safe mode compared to normal startup and root out the driver(s) that way. Which goes back to my question. Can I stop certain drivers from loading? Not devices, drivers.

 

[MvdB]

Please look at option 3 here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1401-startup-programs-change.html

 

[Britt]

Thanks for the link, but that article is clearly for startup items, not drivers. The only option I've noticed in msconfig related to drivers is the check box for "Diagnostic Startup." Unless I'm going crazy and I didn't read the tutorial right, heh.

However, I came across a great tool for disabling specific drivers and services.
ServiWin: Windows Services/Drivers Tool (start/stop/restart service)

It's been incredibly useful and does EXACTLY what I wanted to do. Since driver verifier has been no help, this seems to be the last resort for my system. By mimicking safe mode startup, I should be able to pinpoint the problematic driver through process of elimination.

EDIT: By the way, anyone get the chance to read the dump file I posted yet?

 

[MvdB]

That is a good tool but also requires that you also know exactly what hw/software combi requires which drivers... which is why I advised on starting with that tutorial as, with "not starting certain software", you also don't load it's drivers....

The road you now take is fine by me but please be careful as it could easily make your problems greater: If you disable the start of a specific driver whilst its corresponding 'owner" software is still running and maybe corresponding hardware is still connected, W7 could just install the driver all over... maybe not even the one you want...

 

[Britt]

Booyah! I've determined the cause of the crashing. The system driver AmdK8 was the culprit for the random restarts and freezing. Disabling the driver fixed the issue. This must be why driver verifier didn't work; it's provider was Microsoft Corporation. Just as I suspected. I'm hoping that further issues won't manifest though, because this driver is for my AMD processor and now device manager shows it with the yellow exclamation icon. However, this driver wasn't present in safe mode, so hopefully it won't be something too major to worry about. That program ServiWin was a miracle worker!

Thanks for your suggestions, guys! I can finally watch Netflix in peace.

 

[Maguscreed]

You may want to run by Global Provider of Innovative Graphics, Processors and Media Solutions | AMD and see if you can't get a proper version of that driver.

 

[Britton30]

Glad you got'er Britt. Odd it runs without a CPU driver.