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Vista 64 on new Computer - BSOD and random crash/freeze of hdd

M

MartinFrom

Junior Member
Hello,

i have just put together a new computer, and installed Windows Vista Ultimate X64.
But of some reason I keep getting the BSOD, and i dont know how to find out what is causing the problem (Minidumps are at the bottom)

My new computer consists of the following:
- CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550
- Motherboard: Asus P5Q-E
- CPU Cooler: Scythe Ninja 2
- PSU: Corsair HX520
- Graphiccard: Asus EN9600GT
- Memory: OCZ Reaper PC8500 2x2 GB
- Harddrive: 2x 500 GB Seagate 7200.11


My 2 harddrives is set up in a Raid 1 (mirroring), with the onboard ICH10R Raid controller.
I have downloaded the latest drivers from Asus, Intel and Nvidia, and updated my Bios.

I havent changed anything in the bios except for disabling the Express Gate option and choosen Raid.

I have 4x 120 mm fans in my Antec P180 Case, soo heat shouldnt be a problem (bios also shows the cpu and motherboard running at very low temperature).



It all started when installing a program, suddenly the system froze and i couldnt do anything else than a hard boot.

The Raid array was broken and it wouldnt start Vista (kept freezing at startup). I tried fixing it but first after i disconnected the "good" hd it asked me if i wanted to fix the broken hd (in the post screen raid managment). I said yes but it couldnt bootup without the other hd as it was currently brooken.
I connected the good hd but it said it wasnt bootable.
I did a Vista Repair and even though it said that it didnt fix any problems i was now able to boot and startup Vista.
When Vista started it began rebuilding the Raid Array, and it seems that there were no more problems with the harddrives.

I uninstalled the program, and cleared the temp directory and installed it again without any problems.

A little later i installed another program and the same problem occured. The system froze (but still able to move the mouse around, harddrives would just not respond) and i did a hard boot, this time Vista started without problems and it began rebuilding my Raid Array.

I tried installing the newest chipset drivers and intel matrix storage manager, and i have also uninstalled some energy saving program from Asus called Six Engine.
I havent had problems with the system freezing for a while, but if i right click one of the harddrives in the raid manager application (Intel Matrix Storage Manager) crashes (but Vista keeps running).


Then i began experincing the BSOD, and i cant figure out what is causing it.
It happens randomly it seems.
Last time it happened i was surfering a homepage with IE7 and the time before that i was doing nothing (came home from shopping and it had crashed).


Now i have just experienced another freeze of the hds, and this time the same hd as last time have went down and have not been repaired. I havent tried disconnecting the good one to see if i can make it fix the "bad" one, as the good one is still bootable and i wanted to try and see if it maybe was the bad hd that was causing the problems.

After the last hd crash it began complaining about a NDIS.sys driver at Vista startup and couldnt startup Vista.
I choose "Last know good Configuration" from the "post screen bootup sequence" (Cant remember the right name - but before loading Vista), and it all loaded up just fine without any problems.
I found out that the NDIS.sys driver has something to do with the network / lan (i using one of the onboard lans on the motherboard).
But havent had a problem with that before or after.


I have now been happy for abot a whole day, and thought "YES" it is fixed.
But sadly - NO.

It just happend again. Another BSOD.
I simply have no more ideas of how to find out what is causing the problems, and i have to admit i dont have the experience/expertice needed to read the minidumps.
Therefor i now ask you out there if any of you can help me finding out what the problem is, etc. by looking at my minidumps which i have uploaded.


I have been searching google for ages but i dont have any more ideas of what to search for.

I probably also have to mention that sometimes background services or application just crashes.
The SuperFetch background service have crashed several times (as far as i know it is a Vista Memory Management Service).

I have gotten BSOD errors about IRQL_LESS_OR_EQUAL, Page_fault_in_non_paged_area, and Memory_Management as far as i can remember.

I have all the crash reports which is being stored in the "Problem Reports and solutions", if that can be of any help and isnt already in the minidumps.

I have installed Debugging Tools for Windows (X64), to be able to read the Dump file (with WinDbg) - i have both minidumps and a memory.dmp
But i dont know how to read / understand what the file is telling me except i can see that it is writting something about different files.

I have tried running Windows Vistas own Memory Diagnostic tool, and got no errors.
I have also tried MemTest which also passed without problems.
I also switched the memory around to different slots to see if that would help.

When it have crashed and given me the BSOD, it sometimes (not everytime) ask me to either setup bios again or load default settings.


I guess it could be anything from a brooken driver/s to, graphiccard, memory, lan, raid controller/motherboard, memory settings in bios or similar.

But i really have no clue anymore.


Can anyone out there help me finding out what is causing the problem ?

What should i do ? What information will you need to get a clue ?


I have zipped and uploaded all the minidumps here:
The Minidumps


Best regards

Martin From
 
First things first. Clear CMOS using the jumper on the mobo and the instructions in the manual. Unplug the PSU from the wall before you do this.

Then, go back into BIOS setup, and make certain that you set your memory voltage correctly. PC2-8000 probably requires more than the default 1.8v. It should be indicated on your memory packaging what the voltage is.

Then, burn a bootable Memtest86+ cd on another computer, and then boot this computer with that CD. Let it run 24hr, or until errors show up, or strange things happen with the computer like reboots, etc.

If after 24hr and no errors, then try doing a fresh OS install on a single HD, no RAID. Once that is installed, download and run Prime95 25.6 for 24hr. Assuming that completes without error or bluescreen or reboot, then we start looking for other errors.
 
Hello VirtualLarry,

Thanks for your reply.

It is PC8500. The package doesnt tell me anything but i found the info on their homepage.
I have changed the volt to 2.1 and set it up with 5-5-5-18 timings.
I havent touched Frequency (set to auto) as it seems to be able to detect it is pc8500 (i would assume it knows it is 1066 mhz).

But if it was because of to low voltage wouldnt it be most likely that it would "crash" when under heavy "load" ?


It have crashed a couple of times when shutting down Vista.

But have also crashed at Idle (dont know if it crashed when going into "Sleep" as i was away for more than 1 hour and it goes into sleep after 1 hour).


I have run Memtest86+ the other day and there were no errors (i have read that 7 pass's should be enough).

I dont have a spare hd which i can install vista on at the moment. I only have the good hd from the raid array which contains a lot of important data at the moment (the other one seems broken).
As far as i know the cpu isnt the most likely part to fail and normally isnt the first thing to look at (i guess that is what you are testing with Prime95 ?)

I can make a fresh install on my Raid hd. But if it is a hardware problem it wouldnt really change anything (i guess)


Is there anyone in here which is able to understand what the minidumps are "saying" ?

It would be nice if it was possible to get a clue about if it is the hardware or a driver failure which is causing the BSOD's.
 
When I installed Vista64 on my rig I used only one stick of memory as I read somewhere that 2x2gb sticks can cause issues when installing Vista.Once I got the OS installed and got all updates,patches etc then I shut down and installed the other memory stick.Just a thought.
 
Originally posted by: Zapper48
When I installed Vista64 on my rig I used only one stick of memory as I read somewhere that 2x2gb sticks can cause issues when installing Vista.Once I got the OS installed and got all updates,patches etc then I shut down and installed the other memory stick.Just a thought.
Click to expand...


Same for me. This should'nt be a problem if your install disk is Vista SP1 though.
 
Probably should have mentioned that it is Windows Vista x64 Ultimate SP1 that i have installed including all the updates it came up with after install.
 
Chadder007: Yes i have the latest bios (1306).

Unfortunatly I dont have a spare PSU.
In the bios the values looks alright.
The Cpu voltage is constantly changing a little though. From 1.2 V to 1.192 V.

Dont know if that matters ?
 
I'm having similar problems with the same motherboard currently, and what got my attention was the bios settings issue you mentioned. I haven't disabled Expressgate, yet generally after a crash, it seems unable to start express gate. I don't know if this is related, but with the same motherboard, having similar crash's (ie random reasons, sometimes after 5mins, other times after 4-5hrs of gaming).

I'll update if I find solution to my problems.
 

Hi,

I'm having the exact same problem with almost exatcly the same environment as MartinFrom. BSOD tells I'm having Irql not less or equal and Page fault in non-paged area. I was just wondering if any of you having those issues were able to solve the problem, because I'm running out of ideas. Tested without raid, with different memories, with and without any chipset or graphics card drivers. Basically banging my head against a blue colored wall for a week now. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
i've had the same exact problems... different pc build, though

i reformatted... even though it was a new build. i didn't get any bsod... until just now, after some windows updates were installed. i dunno if that's the cause, but whatever.

i hit f8 before loading windows and i chose the option that allows all drivers to be accepted regardless of signature issues
 

For me it seems that setting SATA as Compatibility mode in Asus's BIOS has improved the situation. No BSODs so far. Keeping my fingers crossed though...
 
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