Help me read my minidumps from recent BSODs

[sativasaviour]

I recently thought all my recent BSOD issues were due to an overheating CPU. Now I have a new cooler and the temps are perfect (35-41C under load). After running the prime95 blend test for about 2 hours, I stopped the test and was browsing the internet. After about 20 minutes of browsing I got a random BSOD. It was a PFN_LIST_CORRUPT stop code. I read online that this usually is due to a misbehaving driver on my system. So used driver verifier with the default settings set to all my drivers on my system. My PC rebooted and right when I logged onto my vista user name I got another BSOD. It was a Driver IRQL_less_or_not_equal stop code. I can attach my minidump files in a zip for someone to read to help me identify the driver. Thank you for your help!

 

[sativasaviour]

Also I want to specify that I have run check disk on my WD caviar blue 650GB drive and it passed. I have ran windows memory diagnostic for about 6 passes on my one stick of 2GB DDR2 PC6400 RAM and it passed those too. I know that isn't the optimal amount of passes for RAM testing but I think this may be a driver issue.

 

[Archean]

PFN_LIST_CORRUPT can mean that there are issues with RAM, and please keep in mind that some times even checking your RAM with memtest or the likes, may not detect any issues with RAM.

Anyway I'll have a look at minidumps you have provided asap. Regards

*PFN List = Page Frame Number List

Lastly, are you using Daemon Tools ?

 

[sativasaviour]

I have alcohol 120 installed

 

[Archean]

Please uninstall alcohol as sptd.sys caused one of the crashes, and it is a part of this software as well.

If the issue is resolved once you get rid of alcohol it means we have diagnosed correctly. Otherwise, I would suggest you to download memtest from techspot's download section, and run at least 10-12 passes on you RAM.

 

[sativasaviour]

Ok I uninstalled Alcohol 120 and the sptd.sys driver from my system. I'll use my computer and run more mem tests to see if the system stays stable. Thanks for your help, Archean. I appreciate it.

 

[Archean]

Cool, good luck and please do keep us posted. Regards

 

[sativasaviour]

Ok, well, I was playing left 4 dead 2 earlier and my system seemed fine. CPU temps were great framerate was smooth. All seemed fine. After about an hour of playing the game I was done for the time being. So I closed the program. About 2 seconds into reaching the desktop I got hit with a BSOD. It was another PFN_LIST_CORRUPT code. I no longer have the sptd.sys driver on my system and alcohol 120 is uninstalled. So I'm pretty sure that can't be the culprit. I will attach the minidump here for a helpful fellow to analyze. Thank you, guys, so much.

 

[Archean]

Again the reason is memory corruption.

I think you may consider replacing your RAM, as I still suspect it to be causing all these issues.

 

[sativasaviour]

Is it not unheard of to go through 4 sticks of 2GB DDR2 PC6400 RAM in two years? My first 2 sticks I got with this system corrupted at around 1 year into having the system. And 1 stick of this second pair corrupted in about 2 months into having it. Now I'm on the second stick of the second pair and it is probably having problems.

 

[Archean]

It doesn't happen often. Can you please give me full system specs of your computer including PSU make/model/wattage etc. ?

 

[sativasaviour]

Here are my full system specs:

Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 2.5GHz
MSI P43 Neo3 (Ver 1.1) motherboard
2GB of DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) A-DATA brand RAM
480W Rosewill Power supply (Model: DR-8500BTX)
640GB Western Digital Caviar Blue SATA HD (WD6400AAKS)
Powercooler ATi Radeon HD 4870 512MB Video Card
Memorex DVD-RW Burner

 

[sativasaviour]

I guess I should specify that I bought these components in August 2009. Except for that one stick of RAM which I bought together with another stick in January of this year.

 

[Archean]

Okay, can you confirm that you RAM is correctly setup in the BIOS, i.e. its timings and voltage is exactly the same as RAM's specs tell it should be?

You said that this is fourth stick you are using in this rig, does replacing RAM solved the issue for sometime before the problem started again?

Have you stress tested your graphic card at any point in time to rule out any issues with it?

 

[sativasaviour]

Ok I check my RAM to see if the timings are correct and it appears they are correct (5-5-5-18 @ 400MHz)

To be honest, the problems with RAM always appear to be random in nature. Crashes would just slowly get worse. Then I would check the sticks with windows memory diagnostic and they would fail. That's when I replaced the 1st sticks I got with this system. Then I bought 2 new ones. One of which is in my motherboard right now. I reformated a new HD and installed the new sticks of RAM when I got them. About 2 months or so after I got these sticks I would get very severe BSODs. Like within 5 mins of booting windows. So I tested them with memory diagnostic. Sure enough they failed while both were in the motherboard. Then I tested each individually. One failed and one did not. The one that did now has stayed in my board since then. That was about 5 months ago.

Last night I tried uninstalling the video drivers for my vid card and then using driver sweeper in safe mode to clean them out. Then rebooting and reinstalling the new drivers. Since doing this I have played some games and have not experienced any BSODs or crashes to desktop.

However, I have had windows explorer crash on me while navigating the file system. It crashed and did not recover. So I was sitting looking at my desktop background. So I had to ctrl-alt-del and then reboot.

I have also noticed that Windows Host Services will randomly stop working (popup notifying me that it stopped working). The system did not crash, however.

Since cleanly installing the video drivers, I have tested the one stick of RAM again with about 30 passes of the windows memory diagnostic. It passed.

I also ran prime95 for 3 hours to test the CPU and it passed all the tests within that time period.

What could be causing the host services and explorer crashes?

 

[sativasaviour]

Ok , now I just had a BSOD in the middle of playing L4D2. The BSOD indicated a problem with the dxgkrnl.sys driver. I'm guessing this is a direct x driver? Can this indicate a hardware problem or just an issue with the driver?

EDIT: I should also mention I've never seen this type of BSOD on my system since I've reformatted in january. It seems like new different types of problems keep popping up.

2nd EDIT: Ok now Superfetch closed randomly after a restart. Ugh, this is boggling my mind...

 

[Archean]

Yes it is DirectX related drive, but before jumping to conclusion, I'd suggest you to stress test your Graphic Card with OCCT (or any other similar stress tool).

The way you keep ending up having your system's RAM damaged is baffling, I'll ask a friend to look into this matter. Lastly, you haven't confirmed one thing, that Voltage settings for your RAM are as per specifications.

 

[sativasaviour]

yeah it's running at 1.8v as should be.

I'll go ahead and stress test my vid card with OCCT and report back.

 

[Archean]

Okay, thanks.

This is one weird issue, I remember few years ago (before the broadband era) my modems would stop detecting dial tone every few weeks for no apparent reasons. Anyway, after replacing about half a dozen of them without any clue what may be causing it, I ended up concluding that it was due to some sort of shortage in telephone line, so I bought a surge protector for telephone line and the issue was resolved.

 

[sativasaviour]

Wait, what? Well that's pretty odd...


Well, anyway, I stress tested my video card and it finished with no errors.

I also scanned my vista system files for integrity and it came back with no integrity issues.

I mean, yeah this really does look like a memory issue. Is it possible that this memory stick is failing because it is no longer paired with the stick it came with and is running solo? However, my memory tests keep coming back passed.

I just ran my western digital hard drive diagnostic. I used the extended test and it said I have some bad sectors. But it can only repair them with data loss/possible data loss. Before I attempt to fix those I want to know if those could cause the random BSODs, crashes to desktop in games, and the explorer and superfetch crashes. Also I don't have my vista install disk with me so I can't reformat it at the moment, so i'd really hope this isn't the source of the problems. Especially since I got this hard drive in january. However, many things could have caused the bad sectors...

EDIT: Also, if it is a memory failure I'd really hate it to actually be my motherboard causing faulty sticks over time. Is there any way to check that without just throwing memory sticks at my motherboard and waiting to see if it chews em up?

Also, should I try the OCCT test for the PSU? Just hesitant to try since it warns that it will put a lot of strain on the PSU.

 

[dividebyzero]

@sativasaviour
Have you run Memtest86+ as Archean suggested back in post #3 ?
To answer an earlier question, RAM can go bad on a fairly regular basis. The failure rate for RAM is a lot higher than most people would guess.

If you haven't done so, download Memtest86+ v4.2 bootable iso , unzip and make a bootable CD (or use the USB installer if your system supports booting from USB -unlikely).
Toss the CD into the drive, reboot, change your boot order to CD/DVD (or whatever medium you burned the iso to), save your changes and reboot.
Memtest86+ will boot automatically once the motherboard POST's. As it's a DOS program it is fairly straightforward -The test actually comprises 8 seperate tests. Once all 8 have run then your RAM has completed a "Pass". 7-12 passes should be enough. If the RAM is just starting to throw errors then Memtest may not pick them up -it depends on how corrupted the IC's are...if indeed they are going bad.

 

[sativasaviour]

dividebyzero,

how different is the windows memory diagnostic from memtest86+?

I ask because I have no writable CDs at the moment to boot from. But I have run the windows memory diagnostic multiple times. One for 5 passes and one with 30 passes. Both passed. Also, windows memory diagnostic DOES run upon reboot outside of the operating system running.

EDIT: also, windows memory diagnostic has three settings for mem tests: basic, standard, and extended(they use larger and larger sets of mem tests). Both the tests I did were with the standard setting. I can go ahead and run the extended setting for 20-30 passes if need be.

 

[sativasaviour]

Well, I ran the extended tests in windows memory diagnostic and it detected a problem in the first pass. Well I guess we can say the memory is corrupted.

But I really don't want to keep throwing RAM at this motherboard that seems to let RAM corrupt too fast. Either that, or I've been unlucky with my RAM purchases on this system.

hmm...

 

[sativasaviour]

Well, I'm probably going to head to Fry's this morning to pick up new 4GB (2x2GB) RAM and an OEM version of windows home premium 64 bit (since im running 32 bit vista; now ill actually make use of the full 4gigs of RAM, lol)

Let me know any new info you think I need before I head out in a few hours. Maybe something along the lines of testing the mobo in some way so my new memory won't be wasted on a funky mobo?

 

[sativasaviour]

Ok I reformatted my hard drive and installed windows 7 64 bit. I bought new RAM. 2 sticks of 2GB DDR2 PC2 6400

So I'm setting up my system. Installing drivers. Moving over files I backed up on my Ipod as a back up hard drive. I received another god damn BSOD. Here's the minidump. I'm pissed. I'm thinking it's this couple month old hard drive. It was said to bad sector errors that can't be fixed. But it passed SMART tests. I'm confused... it could be motherboard, PSU (although my system passed the PSU test from OCCT) or hard drive.