BSOD on Windows 7 64-bit

[Yoshimara]

Hello,

I have received the BSOD on my computer numerous times over the past few years. I build the computer about 4 years ago with a friend and even after having reformatted at least 5 times I will still get it. I have used XP 32 and 64 bit and Windows 7 32 and 64 bit. My System Information is:

System Manufacturer: Nvidia
System Model: nForce 680i SLI LT
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU @ 2.40GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Memory: 4096MB Ram
DirectX Version: DirectX 11

I figure the reason my computer gets the BSOD is because of hardware, since even after reformatting yesterday to Windows 7 64-bit it had the BSOD this morning.

Any help would be appreciated!

Edit:
I went through all of the troubleshooting and the only thing that might be a problem is the power supply. I downloaded the SpeedFan program that was in the troubleshooting section and when I ran it I got these results:

Vcore: 1.19V
+12V: 9.82V
AVcc: 3.20V

I also noticed when running SpeedFan that my Speed02 was at 67% while all my other speeds were at 100%.

Does this mean I need to purchase a new power supply or is this normal?

 

[Mark56]

Have you checked to make sure all your drivers are up to date and for Win 7 64bit. Is there anything showing in Device Manager with a yellow ? next to it.

Check you voltages in the Bios, they will be more accurate. If what you have listed means that your 12V rail is at 9.82V your power supply is defective. See what it says in the Bios.

If this is not conclusive please post your last five crash dumps in a zip file. Follow this guide.

Below the reply box click on Go Advanced.Then scroll down until you see a button Manage Attachments. Click on that and a popup-window opens.

Click on the Browse button, find the minidump files you wish to attach on your PC and doubleclick on it. Normally found in C:\Windows\minidump

Now click on the Upload button in the popup. When done, click on the Close this window button.

Enter your message-text, then click on Submit Message.

 

[Yoshimara]

All of my drivers are up to date and for WIndows 7 64-bit, I recently reformatted and those were some of the first things I downloaded, but I still crashed the following morning. I have only had one blue screen since I reformatted about a week ago and I can't find a C:\Windows\minidump on my computer, is it a hidden file? The next time it blue screens I will write down what i see it.

I checked my BIOS and this is what I got:
+3.3V 3.20V
+3.3V Dual 3.20V
+12V 11.98V
+5V 4.99V
+Vbat 3.04V

 

[Mark56]

Those voltages look within limits.

Follow this to make sure the settings are correct to collect minidumps.

Click on Start > Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings (left pane) > Advanced tab > Settings button for Startup and Recovery. In the System Failure box make these settings.

Check > Write an event to the system log.
Check > Automatically restart.
Select > 'Kernal Memory Dump' in the Write debugging information box.Then clear the box for 'Overwrite any existing file' step back and change Kernel dump to Small Memory Dump.
Small Dump Directory should read %SystemRoot%\Minidump.

Hit OK, OK again and close the System box.

Back to your first post, if you are concerned about your fan speeds I would use this free software to monitor temperatures. Fan speed monitors and voltage monitor software are notoriously inaccurate. Fans with speed control will not always be at 100%.

http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

 

[Yoshimara]

Okay I made the changes to my system settings, it was previously setup with 'Kernal Memory Dump'. I still cannot find a 'minidumps' file in Windows, but I haven't restarted my computer yet.

My Core Temp temperature readings are:

Tj. Max 85°C Low High Load
Core #0 35°C 35°C 42°C 0-3%
Core #1 34°C 33°C 41°C 0%
Core #2 29°C 29°C 37°C 0%
Core #3 29°C 28°C 37°C 0-13%

 

[Mark56]

it was previously setup with 'Kernal Memory Dump

If that is the only settings you have changed then it still should have saved a dump file. Also if it is set to Automatically Restart after a system failure and it does not reboot after a BSOD then it would not have saved a minidump. This only happens when there is a complete system failure. What you have had may just have been a straight forward crash. That will be recorded as an Error in your Event Viewer.

Type Event into the search box in the start menu and then click on Event Viewer as it appears above and the Viewer will open. Look through the log and see what events have been recorded around the time of the last crash.

Those temperatures look perfectly normal.

What Anti Virus and Firewall do you use?

Has the hard drive been tested with the manufacturers diagnostics?

 

[Yoshimara]

I checked the event viewer and no error was recorded.

I use Symantec Antivirus and Windows Firewall.

I do not know exactly what you mean by:

Has the hard drive been tested with the manufacturers diagnostics?

 

[Mark56]

This guide will show you how to run the manufacturers diagnostics on the hard drive.

I would also suggest replacing Norton Anti Virus with Microsoft Security Essentials which is as good if not better and it's free. Norton has been seen to create problems. Use the uninstall tool for Norton then install MSE.

http://us.norton.com/support/kb/web_view.jsp?wv_type=public_web&docurl=20080710133834EN

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/support.aspx?mkt=en-us (Make sure you select the correct OS version)

Identify the make of your hard drive and then use one of the links below to get the manufacturers diagnostic for ISO CD. Burn the image file to a CD, boot the PC with the disc in the drive and run the diagnostics. You first need to set the CD drive to 1st in the boot order in the Bios setup.

If you do not have an image burner use this free software to make the CD.

http://www.isoimageburner.com/



ExcelStor: http://www.excelstor.com/eng/support.php?sub_id=3

Hitachi/IBM: http://www.hitachigst.com/support/downloads/

Samsung: http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/support/utilities/Support_HUTIL.html

Toshiba: http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=ServicesSupport/FujitsuDrivesUSandCanada/SoftwareUtilities

Seagate, Maxtor & Quantum:http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads

Western Digital:http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?lang=en

As there are no minidumps or reports in Event Viewer this is a bit of a mystery so running the hard drive test will be a good start to try and track down what is causing the problem.

If the hard drive tests are OK then run through the next two guides to test memory and drivers.

Power off the PC and remove the mains connection, always touch the metal of the case with your hands to avoid any static electricity from causing component damage. (On laptops ALWAYS remove the battery before removing or replacing memory modules). Remove all your memory modules. Clean the contacts with a soft rubber (up and down not from end to end) then insert just one module and reboot to test for any change in performance. Repeat this for every module one at a time. Obviously if you only have one module this cannot be done, but you should still remove and clean the module and reseat it and test.

If you only have one stick download this to test it. http://www.memtest.org/

You need to scroll down the page until you see the three blue screenshots. Just below is the list of downloads for Memtest86+ V4.10. Click on Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)and save to your desktop, When the download is complete right click the file and select Extract Here and burn the image to a CD. In windows 7 right click the extracted file, select Open With, then select Windows Disc Image Burning Tool then follow the prompts. For all other versions of windows (if you do not have an ISO burner) download this free software. http://www.isoimageburner.com/

Boot the PC into the Bios setup and set the CD/DVD drive to 1st in the boot sequence. Insert the disk in the drive then reboot and the disc will load into dos. Leave the test to run through at least 5 cycles.

The memtest will not be 100% accurate but should easily detect any major faults.

Driver Verifier

Click start, type verifier into the search box and it will appear in the box above, click on it and the Verifier will open.

Select "Create Standard Settings" click next.

Select "Automatically select all drivers installed on this computer"

You will then get a list of all the drivers, click finish and restart the computer.

You will probably get a BSOD straight away and it will identify a driver.

If you are absolutely certain that the driver is OK you can go back into the Verifier and remove this driver from the list.

To turn off the Verifier, go back to the first screen and click "Delete Existing Settings" click finish.

 

[Yoshimara]

I doubt it is my anti-virus, because I have been using this computer for years with different anti-viruses and still gotten the BSOD. I still switched my anti-virus to ms security though, so maybe it will help. Also I don't have a CD, but I don't think it is my hard drive either because last year I thought it could have been my hard drive so I started using my spare hard drive that was unused before that and I still eventually got a BSOD.
I typically get a BSOD or have my computer freeze while I am watching a video or playing a video game, but I have gotten both of those several times randomly (ie. right after starting my computer, as soon as my computer boots to desktop, while surfing the web, doing nothing).
I used the driver verifier and it said "no changes were made" when I clicked finish.

 

[Mark56]

How did you install the OS without a CD drive?

As your system tends to crash more when watching video or playing games, which both use a lot of memory, the prime suspect is your RAM.

I used the driver verifier and it said "no changes were made" when I clicked finish.

Run through the instructions again as this should not be the message you receive. It should say something like Restart the computer for changes to take effect.

When you looked in Event Viewer was there no record of Events in the center pane, there should be plenty of Events visible by date order. All errors should be recorded.

 

[Yoshimara]

I have a CD drive but not a blank CD to burn.

I tried running through the instructions again and it keeps saying "No settings were changed"

There are a lot of errors listed in my event viewer, these were the sources of the listed errors:

Kernel-EventTracing
HAL
CAPI2
Application Error
Dhcp-Client
Customer Experience Improvement Program
Security-SPP
Server
NetBT
EventLog
Service Control Manager
Service Control Manager

There was also one listed under 'Critical' with the source: 'Kernel-Power'

 

[Mark56]

You will have to get a blank CD or two so you can burn the diagnostics discs. Have you checked to see if you have more than one memory stick, if so, follow the instruction I gave in post 8 at least that will test the memory.

Seeing what you have listed from Event Viewer and that there was only one Critical Error in the list (most probably due to a power cut or manual shutdown) this still keeps the memory at the top of the list of suspects.

Did that Critical Error coincide with a BSOD?

Please look at driver verifier again, the message you are getting suggests you have not changed any of the settings, please confirm that it is already set for the instruction line 2 & 3, check carefully.

 

[Yoshimara]

I have 4 memory sticks and I just started the computer using each one individually and it ran fine each time. I will get some blank CDs soon to run the diagnostics. Do I have to download memtest if I have more than one stick of memory?

I have had critical Kernel-power events on the following dates:
2/19/2011
2/19/2011
2/17/2011
2/15/2011

I have only had my BSOD only once and it was on 2/14/2011.

As for the verifier, I keep on following these instructions:

Click start, type verifier into the search box and it will appear in the box above, click on it and the Verifier will open.

Select "Create Standard Settings" click next.

Select "Automatically select all drivers installed on this computer"

After selecting "Automatically select all drivers installed on this computer" it does not give me a list of all of the drivers, but then I click finish and it says "no changes were made"
Am I supposed to get the list of drivers once I have just selected "Automatically select all drivers installed on this computer" or after I click finish?

 

[Mark56]

I have 4 memory sticks and I just started the computer using each one individually and it ran fine each time.

You need to do this for at least a day per stick with some heavy use playing a movie or a game. You only need to use Memtest if you want to do a quick test on each stick or you only have one stick.

Sorry, there was an error in the Driver Verifier instruction. After you select "Automatically select all drivers on this computer" it does not bring up a list of drivers, it should just say reboot for the changes to take effect. As yours is not doing this I would select "Delete Existing Settings" on the first screen and "Finish" it should then confirm the changes and request a reboot. I suspect the verifier was already turned on so leave it off for now.

There seems to be a long list of possible cures for the Kernel Power event, could you just confirm that it was ID 41. It seems there was a bug in Windows 7 but as you have had this issue with other OS's we have to look for something unrelated to the OS, as you have suggested it is most probably hardware.

Lets see how tests go with the RAM and if any more crashes occur. It may have been something as simple as a bad contact on a RAM module which you have now reseated.

 

[Yoshimara]

Okay I will run each stick individually for the 4 days and let you know what happens. I did notice earlier when I was using each stick that videos took longer to buffer and that my computer seemed slower in general, but that seemed true for each stick.

Okay, I have 'Deleted Existing Settings' and restarted.

The event ID is 41 and apparently there was another Kernel Power event today, but I am unsure when it happened. What usually happens for a Kernel Power event?

 

[Mark56]

A Kernel Power Event ID41 is used to report that something unexpected happened that prevents Windows from shutting down correctly. A typical cause would be a power failure. That is why this error is quite tricky to resolve as there are a number of things that can cause to PC to crash and generate this error code.

Videos will take longer to buffer due to the reduced amount of memory during testing.

It may be usefull, using the settings guide I gave in post 4, to uncheck the box next to "Automatically Restart". This will stop the PC with the error message displayed on screen. That will give you a clearer indication of when a crash has occured. You will then have to restart manually. Please make a note of the message displayed.

What wattage is your PSU?

 

[Yoshimara]

My PSU has 550 wattage output. It is an Antec True Power Trio.

I unchecked "Automatically Restart" and will make note of the message displayed. Do you mean the message displayed when it crashes or in the event viewer? Also, what if it just freezes and I have to shut down my computer to get it back on?

 

[Mark56]

Just make a note of what appears on screen, if it just freezes take a look in event viewer and make a note of what that reports.

I'm looking at your power supply, I could be wrong here but it looks a little on the low side. Can you give some more details of your system.

What graphics card/s have you got, make and model number?

Is your RAM DDR2 or 3?

How many hard drives and DVD/CD drives do you have and are they IDE or SATA?

Are there any other cards fitted, wireless internet, TV, etc?

Do you have any external USB devices connected like an external hard drive?

 

[Yoshimara]

I have an Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX+
I am not sure what model number, how do I check?

Also how do I check if my ram is DDR2 or 3?

I have 1 hard drive that is a Seagate Barracuda 7200 . 10 that is SATA.

I also have 2 DVD drives, but only one works and I don't know why, but I was getting the BSOD before it stopped working.

I also have a wireless card, but I currently do not have the antenna plugged in and I used wired. I have had this in since the computer was built.

 

[Mark56]

Don't worry about the DDR2 or 3, I have found it from your mobo specs and I found what I needed from the model number you gave for the graphics card.

You will still be testing the RAM and reporting back with any more crashes, so we will see how things progress.

I am a bit confused with your power supply as (and this is from the manufacturers specifications) it has 3 x 12V rails all at 18A. That alone comes to 648W, yet the PSU is only rated at 550W, a discrepency of nearly 100W and that is ignoring the lower voltage supplies. Either the rating is way below what it can deliver or those 12V rails cannot all run together at 100%, this could leave your graphics card or the CPU low on power.

Is there any chance you could borrow a bigger power supply, say about 700W, just to test it out.

Can you tell me if you have a seperate power supply running onto the graphics card?

 

[Yoshimara]

I will continue the RAM testing.

I do not have immediate access to a larger PSU but I can check into that.

No, I only have one PSU running my computer..although I don't think that is what you're asking.

 

[Mark56]

No, I only have one PSU running my computer..although I don't think that is what you're asking.

Correct. What I was suggesting was, if you might be able to borrow a more powerfull PSU to swap with your existing one for testing. If the PC still crashed it would at least save any further concern that the PSU is inadequate but if it stopped crashing it would confirm it.

And my question about the graphics card was asking if you could look inside the box and see if there is a seperate cable running to it from the PSU.

My fault, I should have explained more clearly.

 

[Yoshimara]

I will have to see if anyone I know has a higher wattage PSU that I can borrow.

Yes, there is a cable that is connecting the graphics card and the PSU.

 

[Mark56]

OK, as the graphics card has a seperate feed from the PSU that does slightly reduce the possibility that the PSU is to blame but there is always the chance that it is cutting out.

Looking on the bright side you may find that having reseated the RAM during tests that no further crashes occur. It may have just been caused by a bad contact on one or more of the RAM sticks. Only time will tell.

 

[Yoshimara]

Well I cleaned my computer out over the summer and at least several other times over the years and I have still gotten the BSOD. But I do usually leave the side of my computer open, so maybe dust causes the BSOD?