Wife tantrums as windows 8 fails

[tenpole]

This morning while the computer was idling as the trouble and strife was on the dog and bone (as always) the computer went into standby mode with the usual blue flashing led. On pressing the power button to wake the computer it crashed on her.

The pc keeps trying to restart with the blue screen message

"Your PC ran into a problem and needs a restart - We're just collecting some error info, and then we'll restart for you (0% complete)

If you'd like to know more, you can search online for this error: BAD_POOL_HEADER"

This message flashes up so fast you cannot read it without looking at a still image of a film on the mobile.

This message is displayed for a micro second before rebooting, MSI bios page then a windows screen comes on with timer then back to blue screen and cycle repeats.

I suspect either a hard drive failure or a memory stick. Downloading memtest for usb boot as my very very old memtest85 disc from 2002ish would not boot. I did get the windows 8 disc to boot but when I select repair pc the same cycle happens.

This was a self build last year i5, h87 msi, 1 tb h/d.

I removed the second hard drive an old 300 g/b h/d that I use for back ups but it was not this as the problem persists.

 

[Underclocked]

Boot the 8 disc to safe mode with command prompt and run checkdisk on that big drive.

 

[Burpo]

Refresh your PC..
http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-1653072/fix-bad-pool-header-error-windows.html

 

[RampantAndroid]

I came in here expecting some epic wife tantrums. None found.

If the installer is also crashing, it's hardware related I'd think. Try memtest and removing any overclock if you have any.

 

[Burpo]

I did get the windows 8 disc to boot but when I select repair pc the same cycle happens.

Refresh PC..

 

[RampantAndroid]

Refresh PC..

If the install disc repair install itself is failing, refresh will not help and may result in lost programs.

 

[HeXen]

If the install disc repair install itself is failing, refresh will not help and may result in lost programs.

reformat or revert from image. Theres no excuse to not have full backups of all your stuff, so there should be nothing to lose.

 

[RampantAndroid]

reformat or revert from image. Theres no excuse to not have full backups of all your stuff, so there should be nothing to lose.

...Look, I'm just saying that if he's worried about data loss, refresh should not be the first choice...and as before, if the disc initiated repair install is no good, the built in recovery options won't be any good either.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

...Look, I'm just saying that if he's worried about data loss, refresh should not be the first choice...and as before, if the disc initiated repair install is no good, the built in recovery options won't be any good either.

You should never be in a situation where reformatting your hard drive results in lost data.

Back up. Back up. Back up. Back up.

 

[tenpole]

The wife was using profanities with the occasionsal feigned swipe at the case. Memtest produced errors as soon as it ran for each and every test. The Ram is a branded crucial two sticks at 4 gb each. I think it was ballistix
Later I will be able to check up on it so I think that as Rampant Android suggested we have a hardware failure.
I do think it odd that the RAM can have failed so cataclysmically with no apparent reason.

One thing I will mention though is when wife removed the windows 8 disc from the drive tray she commented that it was unusualy hot. The heat seemed to come from my 300 gb back up drive which was why I removed it thinking this may be the problem.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I think it was ballistix
I do think it odd that the RAM can have failed so cataclysmically with no apparent reason.

Uhm, are you aware that Ballistix RAM has "that" reputation? I had some kits go bad on me too.

 

[RampantAndroid]

Discs get hot from spinning the DVD drive as well, FWIW. Try pulling out and running memtest on one stick at a time. You've narrowed to down to a RAM issue, more or less. Find out if one or both sticks are bad. It could just be one.

 

[mikeymikec]

Refresh your PC..

Absolutely do not refresh your PC (or do anything significant to the Windows installation) until you have ruled out the possibility of a hardware issue; Corrupted data or a half-completed OS reinstall/repair just results in more work to do which could have been avoided.

My money is on dodgy memory due to that particular BSOD.

- edit - I said that last bit before I read tenpole's latest post

Run the replacement RAM for a pass or two on memtest86 before considering the machine good to go, IMO. +1 RampantAndroid's advice in the above post; it probably is just one module.

 

[Mem]

Uhm, are you aware that Ballistix RAM has "that" reputation? I had some kits go bad on me too.

Yep I had a Crucial stick go faulty and cause similar issues,this was on XP back then but I never blamed XP,Crucial have good customer support and will send you a new one with their lifetime warranty,in my case I sent the faulty one back and they confirmed it was bad.


I had to reinstall XP however because it really messed up my OS and HD,but that did not take long with the new memory stick installed.

 

[Ketchup]

My money is on dodgy memory due to that particular BSOD...

Another vote for RAM. Fortunately almost all RAM comes with a lifetime warranty.

 

[tenpole]

The memory was actually Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz Vengeance Pro Kit - Blue.
I am running a Memtest now and will report back the results. In memtest it says the RAm is running at 800mhz "PC3-12800 XMP 800Mhz / 9-9-9-24 /Corsair CMY8GX3M2A1600C9"

Memtest produced loads of errors. I reduced it to 5 tests and 1 pass

Test Errors
0 0
1 52524
2 52523
3 431396
4 1759887
5 2156520

I pulled one RAM stick and the system booted. It went through a repair for a while. The system ran very slow, slower than I would expect for just 4gb of RAM. It did blue screen with a memory management problem but it did boot to the windows log in screen. I am running another Memtest and this one also seems to be full of errors.

 

[tenpole]

Dispite the system was able to boot with this one stick I found out this stick was the problem stick. I removed this stick and put the first stick i had pulled back in and booted memtest and it flew through it. It went through the test so fast compared to 12 hrs for one pass that I was originaly having that I assumed I had incorrectly set up memtest in the settings. After I removed the flash drive and let the system boot to windows it was just as quick as it has ever been. Although it only now has half the RAM.

Going to submit RMA to corsair.

I am puzzled how RAM can just fail. There was nothing that gave a warning. It is clear from dust, there is no reason to suspect electrical surge no moving parts that could wear. It has been fine for over a year.

 

[Spungo]

Windows might be partly ruined as a result of bad memory. You can do a file check by running this command:
sfc /scannow

 

[tenpole]

Attention

Wife is smiling. Glued to her screen.

=everyone happy.

 

[mikeymikec]

RAM does just fail like that. It's not a common thing, but if you get system freezes and random BSOD numbers, there's a reasonably good chance that it's caused by bad RAM.

 

[Morbus]

I came in here expecting some epic wife tantrums. None found.

I am disappoint as well.

 

[lxskllr]

I'll never use Crucial again. I haven't had a set of Ballistix last a normal life yet(3 sets). It would start to fail, and increasing the voltage would keep it going a little longer, but it would eventually die completely.

 

[tenpole]

Well Corsair have agreed so far on return of the sticks that it will be replaced. Luckily I have a spare stick of Gb Ram (slower though) that I had replaced by Corsair last year.

Perhaps it is not extraordinary bad luck to have the Corsair RAM to fail. So glad I bought on-line though for finding an invoice.

 

[mikeymikec]

Admittedly I've stopped using Crucial Ballistix memory, but the normal stuff is fine in my experience.

Pricewise I've been going for Kingston ValueRAM for a while now.

 

[Mark R]

My experience is that this super pro ultra hyper-dynamical overclocking grade RAM is much less reliable than your generic normal-speed RAM. I've had some types give near 100% rates over a 12 month period (this was not cheap RAM, this was a very reputable RAM OEM's enthusiast brand).

I've also found that the amount of performance you get from overclocking-grade RAM on modern systems is so tiny as to be almost indistinguishable from zero.

My suggestion therefore is just to buy the regular speed RAM appropriate for your CPU. It's cheaper and more reliable.