Daily BSODs at random...

[Jericho2244]

I need help. I have a relatively new computer, a few months old, and I'm getting blue screens almost every day. They occur completely at random - it could be in the middle of the day or right at startup before Windows 7 even launches. I've checked everything I could find but I'm at a loss as to what's causing it. Every BSOD yields different error codes and I can't find a consistent problem to diagnose it. I almost never get any error message either, like "Paged Fault in non Page Area" or "Driver IRQL Not Less or Equal (though I've seen this one once)."

Here are some samples of the info I do have:

OS version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033

BC Code: (I've gotten 50, 19, 9, and 7f that I know of)
BCP1: (including FFFFF7FF8C5330AF, 0000000EA7E22E40, 00000000000000403)
BCP2: (including FFFFF6800000B7808, 0000000080050031, 000000000000002)
BCP3: (including FFFFF7FF8C5330AF, 5000000183AD9867, 00000000000006F8)
BCP4: (including FFFFF800030D0230, FFFFF800030D5327, FFAFF680000B7808)

Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 768_1

I'll also include the minidumps I have from these crashes. Any help would be greatly appreciated, because I'm lost right now!

 

[Route44]

Your issue is with memory corruption. Therefore you’ll need to run Memtest on your RAM.

1. Go to www.memtest.org and download the latest ISO version which is 4.20. It is free and perfectly safe.

2. Burn ISO to a CD.

3. Place CD in your drive and reboot with CD in drive. (You might have to place your drive as first bootable in your BIOS) The test will take over.


There is a Tutorial: How to use Memtest in our Guides and Tutorials forum; follow the instructions. There is a newer version than what is listed; use the newer. If you need to see what the Memtest screen looks like go to reply #21. The third screen is the Memtest screen.

Step1 - Let it run for a LONG time. The rule is a minimum of 7 Passes; the more Passes after 7 so much the better. The only exception is if you start getting errors before 7 Passes then you can skip to Step 2.

There are 8 individual tests per Pass. Many people will start this test before going to bed and check it the next day.

If you have errors you have corrupted memory and it needs to be replaced.

Step 2 – Because of errors you need to run this test per stick of RAM. Take out one and run the test. Then take that one out and put the other in and run the test. If you start getting errors before 7 Passes you know that stick is corrupted and you don’t need to run the test any further on that stick.


* Get back to us with the results.

 

[Jericho2244]

Thanks so much for the prompt feedback! I'll be sure to let you know the results soon :approve:

 

[Jericho2244]

Okay, so I tested each stick of my DDR3 RAM individually (I have 4, 2GB sticks) and Memtest found no errors on any of them. Here are my results:

Stick 1: 11 passes, 0 errors
Stick 2: 24 passes, 0 errors
Stick 3: 11 passes, 0 errors
Stick 4: 10 passes, 0 errors

Are we sure it's memory corruption? If it isn't the RAM, what else could be causing these blue screens (I've already scanned numerous times for viruses and it doesn't look to be that either). Your continued assistance is greatly appreciated!

 

[Route44]

Since Memtest shows no errors then find the voltage specs of your RAM and compare it to the voltage setting in your BIOS. Do they match?

 

[Jericho2244]

The voltage of my RAM is 1.5v, and my BIOS settings for the VDIMM were 1.65v. So I switched the VDIMM setting to 1.5v to match the RAM. Is that what I should've done? (I can go back and change it if not :stickout.

 

[Route44]

That is exactly what you should have done. How is your stability?

 

[Jericho2244]

So far so good, but I'll let you know if I get any blue screens over the next day or two. Fingers crossed... I'll be in touch!

 

[Jericho2244]

Okay, when I started my computer this morning (after I changed the VDIMM settings yesterday) it started with a black screen that said: "The file is possibly corrupt. The file header does not match the computed checksum."

I have no clue what that means, but I restarted it and everything then booted like normal. Any ideas?

 

[Route44]

Try this...

1. Boot in Safe Mode to run disk check utility.

a) Start the computer and press F8 to choose Safe Mode.

b) Open a command prompt to run command chkdsk /f. Note the space between the k and the /

c) Type Y and restart the computer.

 

[Jericho2244]

I ran the chkdsk and there were no errors or corrupted files. I also didn't get that screen again telling me that "the file is possibly corrupt." Is there a next step I should take or just wait and see if the BSODs stop?

 

[Route44]

Let's wait and see. The process may have fixed your issue. How long has stability been since running ChkDsk /F?

 

[Jericho2244]

Alright, when I started the computer this morning it got stuck on the Windows startup screen. I restarted it and it said that it couldn't start due to a software change. One of the options I had was to "start normally" and then it finally booted as it should...

 

[Route44]

But you didn't do any software change, did you? I really curious now to see what happens the next time you start it up.

 

[Jericho2244]

Nope, didn't change any software... We shall see what happens next.

 

[Jericho2244]

Okay, so now it will sometimes start up fine and sometimes I'll get a black screen with white text telling me that a recent hardware or software change has caused Windows to not start successfully. If I choose "Start Windows Normally," it boots up fine.

Haven't had a blue screen in a couple days though (although my longest streak has been 10 days without one, and then the BSOD hit me as usual).

 

[Route44]

Is this system still under warranty?

 

[Jericho2244]

Yes it is, should I talk to the manufacturer? I had it custom built from Digital Storm.

 

[Route44]

I would certainly contact Digital Storm immediately and tell them the issues you have experienced. In no way let them tell you the cost is yours to incur. Let them know what the Blue Screens indicate and that you have had a series of differing error codes. Hold off about the Windows Repair. Though it should in no way violate your warranty (this is a standard diagnostic step that doesn't change software and certainly not hardware) certain companies can be flaky looking for any excuse to lay blame of the owner. I don't know if Digital Storm would do this.

Especially tell them what you related here: It will sometimes start up fine and sometimes I'll get a black screen with white text telling me that a recent hardware or software change has caused Windows to not start successfully. If I choose "Start Windows Normally," it boots up fine. Make it clear you'ver made absolutely no changes at all and that you didn't even open the case.

Keep us updated.

 

[Jericho2244]

Oh, and maybe you could help me figure this out. I used a program called WhoCrashed that analyzed my minidumps, and it seems to think it's a driver issue. This is what it found, if you can make any sense of this:

On Sat 3/5/2011 3:00:41 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\030511-17875-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x70740)
Bugcheck code: 0xA (0x3B, 0x2, 0x1, 0xFFFFF8000307B100)
Error: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System

Bug check description: This indicates that Microsoft Windows or a kernel-mode driver accessed paged memory at DISPATCH_LEVEL or above.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.


On Sat 3/5/2011 3:00:41 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\memory.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntkrnlmp.exe (nt!KeBugCheckEx+0x0)
Bugcheck code: 0xA (0x3B, 0x2, 0x1, 0xFFFFF8000307B100)
Error: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Bug check description: This indicates that Microsoft Windows or a kernel-mode driver accessed paged memory at DISPATCH_LEVEL or above.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.


On Fri 3/4/2011 9:45:46 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\030411-16468-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0xB7349)
Bugcheck code: 0x1000007E (0xFFFFFFFFC0000005, 0xFFFFF800030C4349, 0xFFFFF880009A99D8, 0xFFFFF880009A9240)
Error: SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System

Bug check description: This indicates that a system thread generated an exception which the error handler did not catch.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.


On Sun 2/20/2011 11:13:54 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\022011-15625-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: fltmgr.sys (fltmgr+0x1E2D)
Bugcheck code: 0x3B (0xC0000005, 0xFFFFF88001017E2D, 0xFFFFF880087B1EA0, 0x0)
Error: SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\fltmgr.sys
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: Microsoft Filesystem Filter Manager

Bug check description: This indicates that an exception happened while executing a routine that transitions from non-privileged code to privileged code.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver on your system which cannot be identified at this time.