BSODs - tearing my hair out!!!!

[Seb Richards]

Hi all,

Having a complete nightmare with my PC at the moment... For the last 4 or so months it's been BSODding only very occasionally, but within the last 3/4 weeks its gone crazy!! I've tried all sorts:-

- disabled overclocking (now running back at 3.2GHz)
- done the memtestx86 without problems
- done chkdsk, done maxpower, no problems
- reinstalled windows xp with all latest drivers (full re-format job)

I can't see any heat issues, as my zalman HSF keeps the CPU nice and cool (never goes above ~45°C when trashing it).

The BSODs don't appear to be linked in any way that I can figure out, for all I can tell it's random - sometimes I'll be gaming, other times word processing, web browsing, even leave it on all day to come back to a BSOD when it's been sitting doing nothing!!

So I've resorted to calling upon your community knowledge and wisdom, as I wish to keep some of my hair instead of pulling it all out!

I've attached a 5 minidumps (only this many since windows re-install... 3 days!!!). I've tried looking at them in the windows dubugger, but I really don't know what I'm looking for in it so kinda gave up

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

Again many thanks,

Seb R

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Hello and welcome to Techspot.

1 minidump crashes at sptd.sys. It has a bugcheck of 8E. sptd.sys
Command: System32\Drivers\sptd.sys
Description: Driver used by the CD Rom emulation program, Daemon Tools Version 4. There have been some reports of problems with this driver.

Try updating/uninstalling this software.

3 minidumps crash at win32k.sys. This is the Windows Multi-User Win32 Driver. They have bugchecks of 8E, and D1.

1 minidump crashes at ntkrnlmp.exe. windows nt and kernel file. It has a bugcheck of 0A.

0x0000008E: KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED

A kernel mode program generated an exception which the error handler didn’t catch. These are nearly always hardware compatibility issues (which sometimes means a driver issue or a need for a BIOS upgrade).


0x000000D1: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

The system attempted to access pageable memory using a kernel process IRQL that was too high. The most typical cause is a bad device driver (one that uses improper addresses). It can also be caused by caused by faulty or mismatched RAM, or a damaged pagefile.

0x0000000A: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Typically due to a bad driver, or faulty or incompatible hardware or software. Technically, this error condition means that a kernel-mode process or driver tried to access a memory location to which it did not have permission, or at a kernel Interrupt ReQuest Level (IRQL) that was too high. (A kernel-mode process can access only other processes that have an IRQL lower than, or equal to, its own.)

Try repairing your page file.

Instructions for this can be found in reply #11 of this thread HERE

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:

 

[Seb Richards]

Thanks!

Seems to have sorted it out! Will do some severe testing over the weekend and make sure that it's fixed...

But for now, thanks v. much! :giddy:

 

[Seb Richards]

Overclocking issues

Right... So my system is now stable when not overclocking - however when I put the FSB up to 230 (like I have been for months - stabley) it falls over randomly. My ram is DDR500, so I doubt 230FSB would be an issue and I have run memtestx86 without errors. I have attached a minidump corresponding to the first BSOD when overclocking when back on.

I haven't had much time to play with the FSB, but thinking about it, why should the machine fall over? My zalman HSF keeps the CPU very cool (~28°C idle, ~45°C full load), the ram is capable of 250fsb out of the box. Now I keep all other settings to auto, so the ram timings are 3-4-4-8 as the SPD dictates. Also I notice a setting for PCI/AGI frequency setting, I don't imagine that this would change when set to auto?
Basically the question I'm asking is should my CPU be able to take an FSB set to 230 stabley? It's a 3.2GHz northwood. From what I've read on the internet, I can't understand why my machine would have problems with overclocking? Is it just a case of trial and error finding FSBDR ratios that work and FSB values that are stable? I feel like I'm stabbing in the dark and would very much desire to know more about what could be causing a problem!!

Thanks,

Seb R

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Your minidump crashes at SPBBCDrv.sys. Symantec antivirus. It also references AIRPLUS.exe as the owning process. WLAN Adapter Utility.

Regards Howard

 

[Seb Richards]

Another BSOD! Haven't played with any overclocking at all. The minidump shows that the error was apparently due to my Hauppuage WinTV card, which have the latest drivers, which are not the same drivers that I had on before the WinXP reinstall, so I doubt it'd be those.

Any ideas why the BSODs are becoming more and more random?

As I said before I reset the pagefile as you recommended.

Many Thanks,

Seb Richards

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Your latest minidump crashes at ntkrnlmp.exe. NT & kernel system file. It has a bugcheck of 0A.

As far as I`m aware ocing does shorten the life of some components. Maybe some of your components are just becoming a little exhausted from the overclocking.

Check your mobo for bulging, or leaking capacitors. See HERE for further info.

Also check your psu is putting out enough power for your system.

Regards Howard

 

[Seb Richards]

This is getting irritating...

Hi Howard,

I checked my motherboard for such signs of degredation, but didn't find any evidence of damage. I've managed to get the bios updated successfully, and I've left the overclocking along for now, but I just got another BSOD.
Yet again, it seems to be a random error - I'm really confused now!

I can't understand what's going wrong - this minidump goes on about the windows video port driver!?! I changed my graphics card not long ago to try and solve the BSOD problem!

Any idea what on earth is doing this? I'm thinking maybe the RAM got through memtestx86 by fluke and is actually damaged - I'm noticing no pattern to the occurence of the BSODs.

Many thanks,

Seb Richards

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Your minidump crashes at VIDEOPRT.SYS. This is the Windows video port driver. It has a bugcheck of 50.

Some faulty ram can pass Memtest86+.

Seemingly random BSOD`s, are often caused by faulty ram.

Regards Howard

 

[Seb Richards]

Made some progress

Right, so this last week I've been testing the RAM. I ran with each stick seperately, and with each I still had the BSOD problem - surely this means that the RAM is fine??

I also started running verifier, with all settings applied, hoping for it to detect a faulty driver. One of the attached minidumps suggests that the hauppauge driver for my nova-t crashed the system, however I have had this BSOD issue since well before I installed the hauppauge card.

I am a little confused, as if this hauppauge driver was the actual cause of the crash, this would not explain my BSOD problems before I install the card - obviously. But for this report to be a red herring, the fault must lie somewhere else - which one would expect to be the RAM. So this leaves me thinking that the problem is possibly my mobo/cpu? Is indeed possible that a CPU that's on its way out could product such behaviour?

Again, I've checked the mobo for the tell-tale signs of death you informed me of - no visible damage. Also in January I transferred the whole PC into a new case, and the cards are definately seated propely.

I do hope that the mobo isn't dead, as its discontinued! This would mean a new mobo, new cpu, possibly new ram, possibly new gfx card! This expense I cannot spare!!

Many thanks for you time,

Seb Richards

 

[Seb Richards]

Another BOSD

This appears to be another random one... surely if the graphics card drivers are causing issues then the other BSODs from hauppauge are not correct...

All of this evidence points to bad RAM!

 

[howard_hopkinso]

2 minidumps crash at win32k.sys, and have a bugcheck of 8E.

1 minidump crashes with hardware, and has a bugcheck of 7F.

1 minidump crashes at ati2cqag.dll. Graphics card. It has a bugcheck of 8E.

1 minidump crashes at hcw88rc5.sys. TV card? It has a bugcheck of C1.

0x0000007F: UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP

One of three types of problems occurred in kernel-mode: (1) Hardware failures. (2) Software problems. (3) A bound trap (i.e., a condition that the kernel is not allowed to have or intercept). Hardware failures are the most common cause (many dozen KB articles exist for this error referencing specific hardware failures) and, of these, memory hardware failures are the most common.

0x000000C1: SPECIAL_POOL_DETECTED_MEMORY_CORRUPTION

A driver wrote to an invalid section of the special memory pool. You need a new driver!

I think you have some kind of hardware problem. Unfortunately, I can`t tell you exactly which hardware it is. Everything points to a ram problem, but it`s possible that it`s something else.

Regards Howard

 

[Seb Richards]

Strange behaviour...

Right...

So last night, I restarted my PC - and when my mobo ran through POST, it froze after doing its normal memcheck routine!!

To cut a long story short, the RAM has been tested in memtest86 and is fine, but the board won't get past post with "performance mode" (PAT I gather??) set to anything other then "auto"... It's been running with "standard" for months now, so could all this trouble with blue screens and fingers pointing at RAM be due to the mobo memory management?? Just to check that it wasn't a RAM/mobo incompatibility, I chucked in a different pair of 512s (kingston) and the error persisted... Surely this shows that its the mobo's fault... Luckily it has a 3-year warranty!

Right... So I haven't found anything on the net about a problem of this type, but after my testing I think I have proven that the mobo PAT setting is to blame for all this trouble... So my question is: does that reasoning sound plausible??

Many thanks,

Seb R

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Yes that sounds plausible.

Rma the mobo, hopfully that`ll solve your problem.

Regards Howard