Basically my home computer as it stands is as good as dead: 1st had this BSOD happening a couple of months' back, but could never figure out what was wrong. It steadily increased to the point it is now happening all the time, with no set pattern.

I have fully tested my memory both through the bootup sequence and through the MS application. Same with HDD, properly tested also. I have even re-installed everything, and got a crash at installation.

The only thing I can think of is internal hardware since it still crashes with no real s/w installed, maybe the graphics card or something, but without pinpointing the problem, there is no way I can actually solve anything (I have N360 and have run full scans). Any help REALLY appreciated, I will have to buy a new computer otherwise as I use it for work purposes.

I am including my 4 mini-dumps since clean install. Please note the 1st 1-2 will probably include reference to yet yet to be installed drivers.


Thanks!

Attached Files

Minidumps.zip (76.2 KB, 3 views)

the only way to find the causes of random crashes is substitution, not easy I know if you dont have ready access to friends with similar hardware. When you complain of steadily increasing BSOD I would suspect power supply first, then video card then motherboard.

Is there a built-in video as well as a card? If so take the card out for the substitution check and run it in simple vga for a while. "substitute" cd-rom, dvd by simply disconnecting them. Make sure no network/usb things/printer are connected.

Thanks, how would the power supply trigger a BSOD? If it did fail it would go blank rather than "blue" and would have no power to dump anything.

The video card is the 2nd part, problem as you mentioned is how to test this theory.

Has anyone seen the mini dumps attached? Do they mention anything? No idea how to read them myself.

Thanks,

JAG

First dump - 0x50 citing memory corruption.

Your second and third dumps were 0xFC errors and your fourth was a 0xBE error.

I think your need to go to the Windows Vista forums to find out more about these errors.

Thanks will do straight away, sorry for any inconvenience, I am new at this game

A dud power supply can be throwing internal sparks, drop outs, noise, spikes, dips etc. Quite enough to cause CPU errors without actuallly cutting out.

Damn, how on earth can I test for motherboard, power supply and graphics card?

No incovenience at all. That is what TechSpot is here for: to help. Can you give us your system specs?

When you say you tested your RAM have you also done the MemTest?

SUBSTITUTION, except motherboard. If substitution does not solve it, then as Sherlock Holmes might have said, whatever is left must be the cause of the trouble.

OK a specialist is coming tomorrow morning. We will check everything and I will post the results. I should be leaving for the USA tomorrow, so worst case, I can buy stuff there rather than double pay in the UK

Just as a suggest in case your problem is somehow corrupted or missing file related...do an sfc /scannow run and see if that will replace any lost/missing or corrupted files for you and give you a good run. Pay close attention to the space between the c and the / in sfc /scannow. Go to start>run and type in sfc /scannow and have your xp or vista disk handy in case it asks for it. I am of course assuming that you have xp or vista on your machine for you to try this fix attempt. Best to you...

Thanks but returned a clean bill of health. I actually just remembered I did not test the memory fully, so this is the next exercise.

Well all in all, not the memory, nor the HDD, nor the video card, but the BIOS / motherboard chipset which were flashed and or re-installed.

Unbelievable frankly, how is anyone supposed to diagnose all this without spending a fortune in time and effort? $200 for the specialist anyway, not too bad.

Sorry to hear of the expenditure. Chipsets can real flacky. It is one of those things a lot of people have issues with along with the BIOS.

Thanks for giving us an update.