Intermittent Blue Screen

[Heracles]

Please help. I built my PC about 8 months ago, and it keeps on crashing. The PC will run fine for a month or so then will Blue Screen and reboot. I figured it had something to do with drivers so I installed latest and continued to use it. However, it has kept happening and I am no longer convinced that it is the drivers. I found a similar thread here at techspot, and from what I gathered this blue screen is probably hardware related. I checked the event viewer, and got the following:

Event Type: Information
Event Source: Save Dump
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1001
Date: 12/16/2008
Time: 11:16:30 PM
User: N/A
Computer: C2QUAD
Description:
The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x1000008e (0xc0000005, 0xa7ff457b, 0x9f76d70c, 0x00000000). A dump was saved in: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini121608-01.dmp.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at:
(link to Microsoft)

I have a Core 2 Quad 2,4 Ghz (q6600) processor and an Evga nForce 780i SLI main board.

Can anyone help me track down where the error is? I have posted a few of the mini-dumps I have had.

Thanks!

Chris

 

[Tedster]

1. check you have the correct bios
2. check ram with memtest 86+
3. check registry with crap cleaner registry repair
4. check psu with a tester tool and multimeter.

 

[Tmagic650]

Yes, this could be a memory issue or a bios memory timing fault. Turn off "automatic restart" in Control Panel, System, Advanced, booting or somthing like that...

Check your hard drive for errors too

 

[Heracles]

Ok, so here is what I have done.

1) I went to Evga and found that they do in fact have an updated bios. I'll have to give it a try.

2) I have run memtest 86+ on 3 different occasions for 12 - 24 hours each time. I can do it again, but I don't think it is the RAM.

3) I ran registry mechanic. It said it found 150 problems with my registry, but wouldn't fix them unless I bought it for $30 bucks. So I did. I think I remember running it after a fresh windows install and it finding about that same number of problems and thinking it was a scam. Anyone know more about it?

4) I have run the nVidia graphics stress test for 12 hours. Their stress test kind of sucks though. Anyone know of a good free one?

5) I ran Prime95 overnight. No problems.

6) I don't have a multimeter. I am a software geek not a hardware geek. ;-) However, I did take my computer to a local computer repair shop about 6 months ago. I believe they tested the PSU, and said nothing was wrong. They also ran a more extensive Graphics test, made sure I wasn't overclocking or anything, and that I was charged $40 bucks for them doing effectively nothing. After reading some of the posts here I found that I have a folder full of minidumps that people who know what they are doing (not me) can use to figure out what is wrong.

Anyways, I was hoping someone who does know how to read a minidump could take a peek at the ones I posted, and give me a hint. Also, I am curious what program is used to read them. Anyone know?

In a number of posts it says that a BuckCheck ending in 8e tends to mean a hardware issue. Is this true?

Thanks for the help so far,
Chris ... er... Heracles ;-)

 

[peterdiva]

All the crashes were caused by RtkHDAud.sys, which is a Realtek sound driver. The process in all the crashes was war3.exe. This game has a habit of messing with sound and video drivers.

BugCheck 1000008E, {c0000005, a8d20d9b, a615071c, 0}
Probably caused by : RtkHDAud.sys ( RtkHDAud+6ad9b )

Different driver versions, same crash.
Image name: RtkHDAud.sys Timestamp: Tue Sep 09 19:07:31 2008 (48C64AE3)
Image name: RtkHDAud.sys Timestamp: Tue Oct 16 19:38:15 2007 (47149497)

Minidumps (how to). http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35246

 

[Heracles]

Thank you!

So I never had a problem with warcraft 3 on my previous computer. Now that you mention it though I think it was the game I was playing the last few times it crashed. It did crash in Two Worlds (a few times), and Far Cry (twice) before I took it in to the local repair place. I haven't played those games in a while though. I have been playing "The Witcher" most recently. I thought it crashed once or twice in the last 6 months playing it. Maybe I just didn't get a dump on those occasions. I have played Warcraft 3 the entire 8 months I have had the computer, and often play it for a while before switching to one of these other games.

So what should I do now? I am using the mobo's audio hardware ( no sound cards or anything ). With the 2 huge graphics cards I don't know where I would put a sound card. Are there any sound tests that could tell me if there is a problem with the sound portion of my mobo? If I disable audio and it works for 2 months or so without crashing I guess I know that it can be fixed that way, but I would like to have audio.

Thanks again,

Heracles