BSOD Windows 64bit

[EpicWolfy]

Hello,

I've been getting bluescreens for a few days now and seemingly random times, but it seems to be throwing the same error every time. I am running windows 7 64bit on a brand new system I just built. I'm pretty sure my drivers are up to date, but I realize that is one of the causes of this BSOD, so maybe not. Here is the report I get after it reboots:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: a
BCP1: 0000024EE63EFB7D
BCP2: 0000000000000002
BCP3: 0000000000000001
BCP4: FFFFF80002DA41E1
OS Version: 6_1_7600
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 256_1

Also, attached is a.dmp file I've collected (but can't read). Can anyone tell me what's going on? Thanks : )

 

[Archean]

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (a)
0xA VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT

It occurs when an attempt is made to access a pageable (or completely invalid) address space at an interrupt request level (IRQL) that is too high. This is usually caused by drivers using improper (memory) addresses.

As system process is listed being the cause of your BSOD, it won't be easy to suggest any remedy at this moment.

Please follow steps elaborated here to see whether forcing windows to verify drivers will result in pin pointing at something more tangible in this regard.

Steps:

Important: Before proceeding on the following steps please ensure that you can boot your system in safe mode.

1) Press Windows Key + R (or go to Start, then click on Run..)
2) Type in 'verifier' and hit enter
3) Make sure 'Create Standard Setting' is selected and hit next
4) Click on 'Select all drivers installed on this computer' and hit Finish
5) Reboot

There is a possibility that your computer will crash on reboot. If this occurs hit F8 when rebooting just before the windows logo screen and select the safe mode boot option. Follow the same steps above but on step 4 choose 'Select driver names from a list'; hit next; check the box next to any driver where the provider is not Microsoft; hit Finish; reboot.

This will slow the performance of you computer a little while enabled but will hopefully catch the driver causing corruption. Next time you crash the blue screen will hopefully say something like "DRIVER_VERIFIER_DETECTED_VIOLATION". When this occurs please post your new minidump.


Please note that Driver Verifier will continue to run on every boot up until you run (by going to Start, then to Run):

verifier /reset

 

[EpicWolfy]

Hey thanks. I did what you said here, but I haven't noticed any real lag or anything. Actually, I didn't notice anything on startup that was different. Am I supposed to see a message like "Verifier running" when I reboot or anything? How do I know it's running?

Thanks =)

 

[Archean]

No it runs in the background. Keep things updated here. Regards

 

[EpicWolfy]

No it runs in the background. Keep things updated here. Regards

Actually, I found out it did lag significantly when I was running game like Starcraft 2 and some other programs.

Here is my latest dump file with verify running.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Archean]

First please run this by clicking Start, then Run ....... and type this command:

verifier /reset

DRIVER_VERIFIER_DETECTED_VIOLATION (c4)
A device driver attempting to corrupt the system has been caught. This is
because the driver was specified in the registry as being suspect (by the
administrator) and the kernel has enabled substantial checking of this driver.
If the driver attempts to corrupt the system, bugchecks 0xC4, 0xC1 and 0xA will
be among the most commonly seen crashes.

Now the process which initiated this crash was setiathome (6.0) which probably caused nvlddmkm.sys to crash.

I think you should first see which version of nVidia drivers you have; and download the latest WHQL certified nVidia drivers and install them (Please uninstall the current ones, then run driver cleaner to wipe out any trace of them, before proceeding to the installation of upgraded drivers)

Once you have done that; and if the BSOD's return (hopefully they won't ); please re-run verifier as described above. Also keep things updated here in case I can be of any further help. Regards

 

[EpicWolfy]

O.K. I deleted my old drivers and I got the drivers listed on the Nvidia site for my 9 series card on Windows 7 64bit. I'm running verifier and my "@home" projects now.

I noticed the "@home" projects did cause the bluescreen, but even when I didn't run them it would give me the same error. However, it was during things like gaming, or streaming video, so maybe that's why the graphics card driver was causing it to crash.

Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again!

 

[Archean]

You are welcome; & good luck.

 

[EpicWolfy]

Ok, so a little update:

I installed the most recent Nvidia driver (197.13) and that was really messing with some of my programs, flashing at something like .7Hz. Something really annoying.

So I rolled back to the second to most recent driver release, which is still much more recent than what they gave me on the CD. I got a good 15 hours of use but it blue screened again this morning with the same error. Unfortunately, I wasn't running verifier so I don't have a detailed .dmp, but I'm running it now and I'll post it once I have a new one.

I think I should mention that my CPU and RAM are overclocked. Could this type of BSOD be a symptom of an unstable system?

 

[Archean]

I have no idea about it at this time; however, please revert back to default speeds for now until the specific problem is pinpointed.

 

[EpicWolfy]

Well, it took a lot longer this time, but it finally happened again.

I noticed some serious lag in some of my games so I had to knock them down from highest settings while verifier was running, but none of them bluescreened. They would bluescreen while verifier wasn't running though, but only after a few hours of use.

Finally I decided to run Seti@home with the new driver installed and verifier running, and ti didn't take long. Below is my minidump file.

 

[Archean]

Same error; same driver cited as culprit, and same software i.e. seti@home 6.0.

I guess for now; you may have to uninstall seti@home if newest drivers doesn't work for whatever reasons.

You may also check your graphic card's by stress testing them with something like OCCT.

 

[EpicWolfy]

O.K. I'll do both of those things. However, this sort of thing has happened without SETI running.

In the meantime, this crash happened while I was away, and I don't think I was running SETI (though inspecting the .dmp file might show otherwise.)

 

[EpicWolfy]

Oh ho!! OCCT caused a bluescreen the second I did the GPU memtest. Here is the .dmp.

 

[Archean]

Error 0xC4, caused by nvlddmkm.sys; and process was CUDAMemTest.exe.

I suspect there is something up with your graphic card's memory. However, I would suggest you to first, run the test again (ensure nothing else is running).

Secondly, if possible take this card to some other system, and run this test again (after installation of latest WHQL drivers).

If it passes test out on that system, it means there are probably some left over files from your last successful driver update, which may be causing the issue.

Please let me know if I could be of any further help.

Edit:
As you are running SLI setup you should also run this same test on each card individually.

 

[EpicWolfy]

Ok so...

I ran the test on each card individually in both slots to make sure it wasn't some PCI-E issue. All four tests passed. I put both cards back in, and I'm running them in SLI now, and it's working! No errors.

Strange. Maybe they weren't seated correctly? That seems unlikely to me...but the tests are working now, with the new drivers. I'll let you know if problems start up again. I have a feeling they will.

 

[Archean]

Well lets keep our fingers crossed and hope that was the reason and is taken care off. Please let me know if I could be of any further assistance. Regards