BSOD on Windows 7 64-bit

All computers suffer to a degree from dust build up but in all the cases I have come across it only ever causes overheating by clogging up the cooler fins. Dust is not conductive unless it has particles of metal in it which is extremely rare.

I did notice on your temp readout that it had a Max temp recorded above 80ºC, that is getting quite high, has your CPU cooler been cleaned recently. Has it been removed and then refitted without replacing the thermal paste? What temperatures do you see when games are played?

To display the temps in your toolbar follow this.

From the programs list open Core Temp, under Options select Settings, under the Display tab check the box next to "Close to System Tray" then click on Apply and close the GUI. That should constantly show your core temperatures in the bottom righ hand corner in the tool bar. You may have to click on the small arrow to customize the display to show the temps.

A bad contact on the RAM modules is usually due to the contacts oxidising, a simple clean with a rubber cures the problem. Obviously if there is some dust or fluff in the socket prior to the stick being fitted this would cause a problem, but this would probably create an immediate and constant fault rather than a random one.
 
No, I haven't cleaned my CPU recently. Last time I cleaned it was over the summer and I just used a toothpick the get out all of the dust. And no I haven't removed it without replacing the thermal paste, but I haven't removed it at all. I do have extra thermal paste though, should I remove it and clean it and then replace the thermal paste?

I went into programs and even used my search bar and cannot find the "Core Temp." I went into my control panel and went into programs and opened a gadget called "CPU Meter."
 
I was assuming you had installed Core Temp, I gave the link in post 4.

The best way to clean out dust is with a can of compressed air, most electronic or computer shops will have it.

Run Core Temp and make the readings visible as I suggested above then you can see what is going on. If the readings are much above 40ºC you could try replacing the thermal paste on the CPU cooler. Carefully remove all the old paste with rubbing alcohol and then apply a new layer of paste, be sure to use just enough to cover the contact area, make sure you don't use so much that it squeezes out onto the mobo as this could add to your problems.

Run some games or transcode a movie and see what the temps get up to.
 
Yeah I installed that program, but for some reason it didn't save as Core Temp.

When my computer is idle the temperatures are low to mid 30's.

How long should I run some games or a movie for? I don't have time now, but later today I will play a movie or a game to see how high the temperatures are after an hour or two.
 
The idle temps of around 30 are fine.

Not sure about the Core Temp software it installed on mine under that name, perhaps you could try reinstalling it and select (during install) to create a desktop icon, that will then give you access to the settings.

I would just observe the temp during game play or running a movie and see what it gets up to before it stabilises.

As you haven't mentioned it I guess there have been no more crashes while checking the memory, this is encouraging.
 
I redownloaded and it got sent to some weird file when I clicked "open containing folder" so I moved it and now I can find it.

Yeah, I have been busy so I missed one day of testing, but today I am on the third stick.
 
I have tested each stick of ram individually and they all seemed to work fine, except for one time when a game crashed.

I tested temperatures as well and they sit around 40.
 
OK, any crash means that the error is still present. Remove the stick that you were using when it crashed and run it on the remaining sticks to see if the crash happens again.

Is that temp of 40 during idle time or when playing a game, movie, etc.

Have you got some blank CD's now so you can run the memtest86+ software, if so run that on the suspect stick overnight.
If you cannot get a cd to burn then you can use the windows version of memtest86+ but it will not be as good.
 
Immediately after playing a game I checked the temperatures and they were around 40. I was playing for maybe 2 hours of a more demanding game.

No, I still do not have any blank CD's but I can get some in a few weeks. I will run the the windows version of memtest96+ until then.
 
Referring to the post where you linked memtest86+ which one do I download if I do not have a cd? I am not sure if the directions below the link were also for if I was not burning a cd.
 
Ooops, I thought there was a version to run under windows but it appears not. I have only ever used a CD.

This will get you the standard version that you can run from within windows, clcik on "Download" to the left of the page. As I may have already said this is not as good as the CD version as some of the memory will always be in use while windows is running, it should show up bad errors though. Leave it to run overnight or longer, if possible.

http://hcidesign.com/memtest/

The temperatures you mentioned above are absolutely fine, one less thing to be concerned with. And no more crashes as yet, it is looking more and more like this is all down to a bad connection on one of the mem sticks, or just one stick that has a minor fault that caused the last crash, have you removed that stick to see if it crashes again?
 
Okay, I will run it tonight. And yeah I have been going off and on with it to see if there is a difference, but there haven't been any more crashes.
 
My computer just BSOD while I had all 4 sticks in, I then tried to restart my computer but it kept freezing at the same spot which was before I even saw the "Starting Windows." I took out the "bad" stick and then it started.

I now have a file called Minidumps so I attached my BSOD file.
 
No file attached.

That bad stick is conclusive as far as I can see, so the problem is solved.
 
It says my file is too large to upload. Luckily I wrote down what I saw on the BSOD:

Driver_IRQL_NOT_LESS_EQUAL

Technical Information:
***STOP: 0x000000D1 (0x0000000000000030, 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000000, 0xFFFFF88001107BAD)

***Storport.sys - Adress FFFFF88001107BAD base at FFFFF88001105000, DateStamp 4a5bcace
 
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