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Getting BSOD's the last month

marmasatt

marmasatt

Diamond Member
Don't know what has happened to make my system so unstable the last 4-5 weeks. Basically seemed to notice getting dumped during gaming. Now it ALWAYS dumps during gaming but also dumps when I'm browsing or watching youtube videos.

Dump files seem to indicate more driver/software then hardware. Should I run a driver utility? Latest Bios for my mobo didn't fix anything. Latest drivers for video card didn't fix, etc. Kind of odd that I'm getting multiple BSOD's. I seem to be getting everything in the book.

Other than what's listed I have a 600 Watt OCZ PSU, GTX 460 2gb, and 256 Gig Patriot SSD.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

System Information (local)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

computer name: FAMILY-PC
windows version: Windows 7 Service Pack 1, 6.1, build: 7601
windows dir: C: \Windows
Hardware: P67H2-A3, ECS
CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz Intel586, level: 6
4 logical processors, active mask: 15
RAM: 8552964096 total




Crash Dump Analysis
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crash dump directory: C:\Windows\Minidump

Crash dumps are enabled on your computer.

On Thu 12/25/2014 2:11:18 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C: \Windows\memory.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: Unknown (0xFFFFF80003290207)
Bugcheck code: 0x7F (0x8, 0x80050033, 0x406F8, 0xFFFFF80003290207)
Error: UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the Intel CPU generated a trap and the kernel failed to catch this trap.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error.
Google query: UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP


On Thu 12/18/2014 12:57:16 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C: \Windows\Minidump\121714-15100-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x75BC0)
Bugcheck code: 0xA (0xFFFFF88009ED6120, 0x2, 0x1, 0xFFFFF8000328966A)
Error: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This indicates that Microsoft Windows or a kernel-mode driver accessed paged memory at DISPATCH_LEVEL or above.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.



On Tue 12/9/2014 2:29:10 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C: \Windows\Minidump\120914-14757-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x75BC0)
Bugcheck code: 0x50 (0xFFFFF704C01DB26C, 0x1, 0xFFFFF800030DF0D9, 0x5)
Error: PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This indicates that invalid system memory has been referenced.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.



On Thu 11/27/2014 12:04:50 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C: \Windows\Minidump\112714-11294-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x75BC0)
Bugcheck code: 0x1 (0x7774186A, 0x0, 0x1000000, 0xFFFFF8800A255B60)
Error: APC_INDEX_MISMATCH
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This indicates that there has been a mismatch in the APC state index.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.

On Wed 11/26/2014 8:01:10 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\112614-11356-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x75BC0)
Bugcheck code: 0x19 (0x3, 0xFFFFF800032636F0, 0xFFFFF800032636F0, 0xFFFFFA00032636F0)
Error: BAD_POOL_HEADER
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This indicates that a pool header is corrupt.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem. This might be a case of memory corruption. More often memory corruption happens because of software errors in buggy drivers, not because of faulty RAM modules.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.



Conclusion

5 crash dumps have been found and analyzed.
Read the topic general suggestions for troubleshooting system crashes for more information.

Note that it's not always possible to state with certainty whether a reported driver is responsible for crashing your system or that the root cause is in another module. Nonetheless it's suggested you look for updates for the products that these drivers belong to and regularly visit Windows update or enable automatic updates for Windows. In case a piece of malfunctioning hardware is causing trouble, a search with Google on the bug check errors together with the model name and brand of your computer may help you investigate this further.
 
Software that may have been corrupted by marginal hardware (RAM in particular).

Ensure the DIMM's are seated firmly within their respective slots.

Run memory testing program such as this, for at least three passes to check if the RAM is faulty.

Repair Windows 7 installation. One procedure shown here.

Reinstall ALL drivers - chipset, video, sound etc.

If there are still issues, then the SSD may have to be reformatted, and OS and drivers reinstalled.
 
Last edited:
Based on your description and the dump messages, it's a bad stick of RAM. If you have more than one stick, swap them out to figure out which one it is. Sometimes memtest can help, but not always, and your errors and experience are pretty much a dead ringer for RAM.

Very nice troubleshooting on your part!
 
ketchup79 said:
Based on your description and the dump messages, it's a bad stick of RAM. If you have more than one stick, swap them out to figure out which one it is. Sometimes memtest can help, but not always, and your errors and experience are pretty much a dead ringer for RAM.

Very nice troubleshooting on your part!
Click to expand...

I think you're spot on.
 
ketchup79 said:
Based on your description and the dump messages, it's a bad stick of RAM. If you have more than one stick, swap them out to figure out which one it is. Sometimes memtest can help, but not always, and your errors and experience are pretty much a dead ringer for RAM.

Very nice troubleshooting on your part!
Click to expand...

Yes, and that OCZ PSU may have fried it. That PSU just stuck out to me for some reason. I would think about replacing it with an Antec, Corsair, or SeaSonic.
 
ketchup79 said:
Based on your description and the dump messages, it's a bad stick of RAM. If you have more than one stick, swap them out to figure out which one it is. Sometimes memtest can help, but not always, and your errors and experience are pretty much a dead ringer for RAM.

Very nice troubleshooting on your part!
Click to expand...
+1 and as mention by Larry that ocz might be the culprit to your problems.
 
Not a good start!

As suggested earlier, swap memory in different slots.

Then, use only one DIMM at a time if you have two DIMM's.

Then, use different slots as well for one DIMM at a time.

By process of elimination, this should determine whether DIMM is faulty or the memory slot is faulty.

If there are still (major) issues, then I'm wondering whether the Patriot SSD may be faulty. But, if available, try other DIMM's instead, and if issues continue then the SSD is suspect.

Use another SSD or a HDD with the operating system installed. This will either confirm or eliminate the Patriot SSD as being faulty. If there are continuing issues while using the test SSD or HDD installed, then I'm suspecting a motherboard issue. If there are no further issues with the test SSD or HDD installed, then the Patriot SSD is faulty.

There is no easy way to test the motherboard, but instead, try to use another PSU. If the issues continue then the motherboard if faulty. If the issues stop then the OCZ PSU is faulty.

If by chance issues continue after all the above tests completed, then that leaves the video card as suspected of being faulty. Replace the video card.
 
Last edited:
Update: Switched the memory sticks to different banks shortly after OP. Didn't get a single dump for 4 days...(even while gaming which was a sure thing). Was feeling confident and ran memtest and crashed it last night with this msg:


Crash dump directory: C:\Windows\Minidump

Crash dumps are enabled on your computer.

On Wed 12/31/2014 2:27:25 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\123014-14180-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x75BC0)
Bugcheck code: 0xA0 (0xB, 0x17E58E000, 0x3, 0x25725000)
Error: INTERNAL_POWER_ERROR
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the power policy manager experienced a fatal error.
This problem might be caused by a thermal issue.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.
 
I am a little confused marmasatt. You have a bad stick of RAM. Putting the sticks in different slots is not going to fix that.
 
ketchup79 said:
I am a little confused marmasatt. You have a bad stick of RAM. Putting the sticks in different slots is not going to fix that.
Click to expand...

Well now you're confusing me, lol. Why could I game for 7 hrs without a BSOD when I haven't been able to play for a month (just by switching slots?) It could be the slot, or a general corruption, no? How is it completely narrowed down to the Ram?
 
marmasatt said:
Well now you're confusing me, lol. Why could I game for 7 hrs without a BSOD when I haven't been able to play for a month (just by switching slots?) It could be the slot, or a general corruption, no? How is it completely narrowed down to the Ram?
Click to expand...

Because there is a bad "spot", not the whole stick. So moving stick order, having more/less programs loading at once, will affect when you hit the bad spot.
 
marmasatt said:
Ran 2 boxes of memtest instead of 4 and got no errors over 4 hours - like 400% error free.
Click to expand...

Memtest can run for hours upon hours to find an error. As I mentioned above, you can run one stick at a time for find out which one is bad.

Or deal with the occasional BSOD.
 
ketchup79 said:
Memtest can run for hours upon hours to find an error. As I mentioned above, you can run one stick at a time for find out which one is bad.

Or deal with the occasional BSOD.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't mean to be argumentative because I really appreciate the help. But explain this to me like I'm a 5 yr old. Why was I running into the bad "spot" of the memory stick a few times a day for like a month. Now that I've switched banks I haven't had a single BSOD in a week but for the one time I tried to run 4 memtest boxes at once. I can even game again without BSOD. I don't see how that can prove a bad stick of ram or a bad spot on the ram. I ran 2 boxes at once overnight and got nothing again (both sticks thought).
 
marmasatt said:
Yeah, I don't mean to be argumentative because I really appreciate the help. But explain this to me like I'm a 5 yr old. Why was I running into the bad "spot" of the memory stick a few times a day for like a month. Now that I've switched banks I haven't had a single BSOD in a week but for the one time I tried to run 4 memtest boxes at once. I can even game again without BSOD. I don't see how that can prove a bad stick of ram or a bad spot on the ram. I ran 2 boxes at once overnight and got nothing again (both sticks thought).
Click to expand...

If it runs fine, then leave well-enough alone. But you may eventually run into that spot again. I don't ever see Windows saying it is at 100% memory use (unless there is way too little) so you may have moved it from close-to-the-end of stick one to close-to-the-end of stick two, as far as how Windows sees it.
 
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