At my wit's end with BSODs (minidumps included)

[graf1k]

Hi all. I came across this place after googling my latest problem I really hope someone here will be able to diagnos my problem. To get a couple things out of the way:

I have already run MemTest86 to 12 passes, no errors found.
I have run chkdsk twice in a row with no errors found.
I've checked the seating and connections of the RAM.
CPU runs at about 48*C under load, around 36*C idle.
GPUs are also well within temp range (maxing at about 60*C under load). There are 2 cards in SLI, but the BSODs happen in SLI, and running each card on it's own.

Okay, now that that is taken care of, the BSODs I've been getting happen exclusively when playing a 3D game, or running 3DMark05 or Aquamark3. Going by the stop codes, I can't find any real pattern myself, but I'm certainly no expert. The machine is about 2 weeks old and the problems have happened since I put it together. A fresh install of Windows XP seems to have cut the frequency of the BSODs quite a bit, but they still happen. Most BSODs have pointed to nv4_disp.dll as the culprit (makes sense I guess), although the most recent one was kmixer.sys or something like that and quite a few have been PAGE_IN_NONPAGE_FILE_AREA errors. I've tried multiple drivers for the video cards including WHQL drivers and beta drivers with little or any difference. I've tried using Driver Cleaner 3 also with no benefit.

Any help is greatly appreciated as tech support from the VGA card maker and RAM maker have yielded no improvements in my situation. Thanks to any and all that take the time to help.

If you need any more info, just let me know. I'm including all minidumps I have.

 

[graf1k]

3 more minidumps makes 7 total.

 

[cpc2004]

Hi Graf1K,

The culprit is faulty memory such as memory modules, Level 2 (L2) SRAM cache of CPU, or video adapter RAM. You can run memtest to stress the ram. If memtest reports the ram is faulty, ram is bad. However Memtest is not a perfect tool to test the memory as some faulty ram can pass memtest. There have no tools to diagnostic video memory. For your case, I do believe that it is faulty ram or overheat

Suggestion
1. Check the temperature of the CPU and make sure that it is not overheat (ie temperature < 60C)
Make sure that the CPU fan works properly
2. Reseat the memory stick to another memory slot. Reseat Video Card.
3. Downclock the ram
4. Clean the dust inside the computer case
5. Make sure that the ram is compatible to the motherboard
6. Check the bios setting about memory timing and make sure that it is on
If it still crashes, diagnostic which memory stick is faulty
1. Take out one memory stick. If windows does not crash, the removed memory stick is faulty.
2. If you have only one memory stick, replace the ram

Debugging Report
FAULTING_IP:
nt!MiLocateAndReserveWsle+51
8050504f 8b0c81 mov ecx,[ecx+eax*4]

MM_INTERNAL_CODE: 0
CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT: 1
DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: DRIVER_FAULT
BUGCHECK_STR: 0x50
LAST_CONTROL_TRANSFER: from 80512c2c to 8050504f

STACK_TEXT:
b6816ca8 80512c2c c0883cfc 80000000 00000000 nt!MiLocateAndReserveWsle+0x51
b6816cc0 80513d9b 08109000 c0040848 81450638 nt!MiAddValidPageToWorkingSet+0x84
b6816ce8 8051f6c1 08109000 81450638 88d72da0 nt!MiResolveDemandZeroFault+0x1f3
b6816d4c 80543568 00000001 08109000 00000001 nt!MmAccessFault+0xbf1
b6816d4c 0a487dd2 00000001 08109000 00000001 nt!KiTrap0E+0xd0
WARNING: Frame IP not in any known module. Following frames may be wrong.
00129ad8 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 0xa487dd2

FOLLOWUP_IP:
nt!MiLocateAndReserveWsle+51
8050504f 8b0c81 mov ecx,[ecx+eax*4]

SYMBOL_STACK_INDEX: 0
FOLLOWUP_NAME: MachineOwner
SYMBOL_NAME: nt!MiLocateAndReserveWsle+51
MODULE_NAME: nt
DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP: 42250a1e
STACK_COMMAND: kb
IMAGE_NAME: memory_corruption
FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: 0x50_nt!MiLocateAndReserveWsle+51
BUCKET_ID: 0x50_nt!MiLocateAndReserveWsle+51

 

[graf1k]

Okay, thanks for the diagnosis cpc2004. I had noticed that one of the errors said that either the L2 cache, the video RAM, or the system RAM was bad, but because I ran Memtest overnight, I figured the RAM was okay. Is there anyway to rule out the CPU and it's L2 cache? I mean, it's probably the RAM as the CPU is brand new, but then again so is the rest of the PC.

In the mean time, I restarted my computer last night and now it BSODs during the Windows screen everytime now with the same error code. I tried booting in Safe Mode, same thing. I tried booting using Last Known Good Config and I get the same error. My initial thought was that the hard drive must be going because I had tried to run checkdisk and told it to run at reboot. I'm running the Western Digital diagnostic now and will run Memtest again afterwards.

Is there anyway to get to the minidumps through DOS, because I should have at least 5 more now but like I said I can't seem to get back into Windows anymore.

In the mean time, here is the Stop code from the BSOD in case it helps. It seems to be the same code from the last BSOD I got that referenced the kmixer.sys file, although these most recent ones do not mention any specific file.

***STOP 0x0000007E (0xc0000005, 0xA1400143, 0xBAD03950, 0xBAD0364C)

I found the 0x0000007E code on the MS website but not one that matches the rest of it.

 

[graf1k]

Well, it definitely appears to be the RAM now. All of a sudden Memtest86 shows 38 errors almost as soon as it starts up. Good job on the diagnosis cpc2004 and thank you very much for taking the time to do this. I am RMAing the RAM first thing tomorrow.

Now I have one last question for anybody that would like to answer. The RAM I will be RMAing is OCZ Platinum RAM, which is not on the QVL for my motherbaord. While this probably isn't the cause of the problem and I've heard OCZ RAM is some of the best, if you were me and you had the chance, would you return the RAM and buy some other quality RAM that WAS on the motherboard manufacturer's QVL list? I'm looking at CORSAIR XMS memory as the replacement which is about $50 more expensive, and I'd have to pay 15% restocking fee on the other RAM, but it is on the QVL list. Hell, on Corsair's mainpage they plaster it all over the place that they are "ASUS-Ready".

 

[cpc2004]

Okay, thanks for the diagnosis cpc2004. I had noticed that one of the errors said that either the L2 cache, the video RAM, or the system RAM was bad, but because I ran Memtest overnight, I figured the RAM was okay. Is there anyway to rule out the CPU and it's L2 cache? I mean, it's probably the RAM as the CPU is brand new, but then again so is the rest of the PC.

In the mean time, I restarted my computer last night and now it BSODs during the Windows screen everytime now with the same error code. I tried booting in Safe Mode, same thing. I tried booting using Last Known Good Config and I get the same error. My initial thought was that the hard drive must be going because I had tried to run checkdisk and told it to run at reboot. I'm running the Western Digital diagnostic now and will run Memtest again afterwards.

Is there anyway to get to the minidumps through DOS, because I should have at least 5 more now but like I said I can't seem to get back into Windows anymore.

In the mean time, here is the Stop code from the BSOD in case it helps. It seems to be the same code from the last BSOD I got that referenced the kmixer.sys file, although these most recent ones do not mention any specific file.

***STOP 0x0000007E (0xc0000005, 0xA1400143, 0xBAD03950, 0xBAD0364C)

I found the 0x0000007E code on the MS website but not one that matches the rest of it.

Hi,

One of the reason I believe that the culprit is faulty ram because system crash at kmixer. It is a stable moudle, it crashes only if it is caused by faulty memory.

 

[graf1k]

I found a stick of DDR333 laying around so and now I can at least get into Windows. Looks like you were right all along cpc2004. It was the RAM alright. I think I'm going to go for the Corsair RAM instead now. It's a little more expensive but worth it for my peace of mind.

Thanks again for all the help, cpc2004. You've saved what little bit of my sanity I have left after dealing with this crap for weeks. :grinthumb :wave: