A Newbies cry for Help

[mikeyikeey]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Troubleshooting starter

1. Overview of the problem
   Recently my computer has experienced BSOD never-ending loops.
   
   
2. Full description of the problem and symptoms
   I recently ran memtest on all my sticks of ram and found a few errors on one of them. Removed it, reformatted, and experienced the loops again. What happens is Windows (Vista 32bit) will be running, randomly crash with a BSOD and not be able to start normally. Safemode works, but even that has crashed once or twice on me. Sometimes I get a good start up and can use my computer for a little while (I have not got the exact BSOD error message down yet. I'll take a picture next time it happens, but there are a few different ones that I've seen.)
   
   
   
3. Did it work normally at one time, or has the problem always existed?
   Computer was working fine until about two days ago when I was seriously 10 minutes away from beating Far Cry 2. No significant changes have been made to my computer recently.
   
   
   
4. Is the problem consistent and repeatable, or entirely random, or semi-random?
   Semi-random. I'm not too sure what triggers the BSOD loop, which is why I'm here
   
   
   
5. I already tried these steps:
   I've tried reformatting, and the stick of ram with the memtest errors is no longer in my computer.
   
   
   
6. My software:
   • Windows Vista Ultimate SP1
     
   • Norton 360 v1.3.2.4
   
   
   
7. My hardware
   • ASUS P5K-E/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
     
   • Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor (Not Overclocked)
     
   • EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
     
   • Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
     
   • CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 SLI Certified
     
   • Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
   
   

 

[Billb2]

Right click My Computer > Advanced System Properties >Start up and Recovery > uncheck Automatically Restart....then you can read the BSOD error code. Google the first set of numbers.

Though a better thing to look at is the Event Viewer.
For an explanation of an entry, right clock it > Properties. For more explanation, click the link in the box that appeared, answer yes, and get an explanation from Microsoft.

 

[mikeyikeey]

I didn't know there was an option to disable the BSOD restart, thanks Bill! I'll do that as soon as I get home.

As for the Event Viewer, I've tried looking at critical errors that have occurred but they don't seem related to the crashes. For example, there isn't one before the message saying "The restart was unexpected." And there are not any at the time of the crash. When I get home I'll read them in detail though and post what I find.

Also something to note, all that's installed right now is all updates for Windows, MS Office, Firefox, Rainmeter and Rocketdock. I've reformatted a few times now though, and the system has crashed with only a few Windows updates installed. So I think its a hardware problem.. maybe?

 

[Ausm]

Make sure you have proper cooling in your case and that your GPU on your video card is working properly too.

 

[mikeyikeey]

Cooling has never really been an issue, its worked fine for two years and all the fans are still functioning.

How do I determine if my GPU is malfunctioning? Is there some kind of program like memtest to check for errors?

 

[mikeyikeey]

Looking through the errors, none of them caused a BSOD crash.

I have stopped automatic restarts though, so I will be able to read the BSOD message this time around.