BSOD possibly related to M-audio 2496 card?

[mctavish]

Hello,

May I say that I'm incredibly impressed that there are dedicated people out there willing to help solve complete strangers P.C troubles - well done!

Perhaps you could help me - my machine experiences BSOD typically during video playback and sometimes just during audio work. I run an m-audio 2496 sound card utilising the MIDI input to trigger drum samples from my drum kit. The BSOD occurances are random, sometimes not occuring for days, then perhaps more than once a day. To the best of my memory, the BSODs didn't occur before I installed the m-audio card so it is probably the issue. I'm up to date on all latest drivers, I've been through the 'Before posting your minidumps...' guidance - memtest etc... and still my problem persists.

Attached are the last 5 minidumps if anyone is kind enough to have a look...

Many thanks in advance

Mctavish

 

[Route44]

All five of your errors are 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 and, of these, memory hardware failures are the most common.

And all point to the same M-Audio driver deltaII.sys which is an M-Audio PCI driver. M-Audio makes great cards and many other things. I myself have their M-Audio 5.1 Revolution sound card and it is great. However, after almost 5 years M-Audio released a new driver for this sound card. The thing is Microsoft doesn't like it because it is not an "officially" recognized driver. I think it has something to do with $.

 

[mctavish]

Thanks for the assessment route44, much appreciated. Is there anything that can be done other than complain to m-audio / MS / both? Or is time for a different card?

Thanks again, mctavish

 

[Route44]

I don't think it is time for a different card. You may want to uninstall and then do a clean reinstall. Contacting MS won't solve anything. You could contact M-Audio for help but their tech support is, for the most part, a joke. Just look at their community forums and read customers outcry over the woeful lack of support. I would first try emailing their Tech and then post on their community forums to see if someone has a work-around.

That is is a nice card by the way.

You may also want to pay close attention what you are doing when the BSODs do occur.

 

[mctavish]

Thanks once again Route44 - most helpfull!

I have browsed the m-audio forums and I'm rather shocked at the appauling customer service. I picked up the idea that the latest driver (SP3) for my card is actually tripe, and that the SP2 driver (several years old) is more stable, so I've rolled back with a fresh install of the old driver - fingers crossed no more BSOD!

The most common BSOD scenario has been watching films through the T.V - nice and comfy, settled in for the night then boom - high volume BSOD buzz through the speakers! Nearly wrote off my inlaws the other night - made them jump out of their skin!

Here's hoping - thanks Route44 from across the pond in dear old blighty..

Mctavish

 

[Route44]

You are most welcome! It is a downright shame that M-Audio is so lousy on supporting their own products because when they are working properly they are very, very good.

Glad to see that things are stable again. I have yet to install the latest driver for my sound card precisely because of what you have gone through.