Various BSODs

[Silvestra]

Hi guys.
Okay, I have a problem that is essentially making me computerless at the moment, and driving me bonkers.

I've had issues with programs over the past few months, usually I'd get a graphics driver has stopped responding error and it's recovered.
I ran a dual booting system, one with Vista, one with 7, and they'd both have the same issues. (Although 7 seemed to be less able to handle them, and would occasionally just freeze, rather than go to desktop.)

I tried pretty much every driver under the sun for all my hardware, and was unable to solve the problem.

Now however, it's gotten worse. I started getting BSODs, with numerous different reason codes.

I decided to reinstall windows 7 and format the hard drive. No luck there, It took me hours to get it to install as it kept BSODing through the install itself.

Thinking it was the hard drive, I went out and brought a new one, everything installed unto it. I got into Windows praying that it would all work. It appeared to, until I started to do windows update, when it failed again.

As a last resort, I took out everything non vital (which was really only the DVD drive and a wireless card I do not use.) and the issue still persists.

I've had a memory cache error, System service exception and Memory Management.

I now cannot even get into windows to get the dump files, as it BSODs with Memory Management almost straight away. (Even in safe mode)

I have tried putting bios back to fail safe defaults also.

Please please PLEASE help me.
I'm desperate to get back to playing Starcraft 2.

Silv

Info I can recall from memory:
4 gig ram.
Windows 7 64 bit.
2x 9800GT.
Quad 2.6 Ghz.
500W PSU.

 

[TorrentG]

Hey.

Trying all different drivers will only make matters worse. The newest version of any driver should always be used. It is generally a bad idea to let Windows Update install any drivers. They should always be downloaded and installed from the manufacturer's websites.

Other than that, all I can recommend since you can't even get into safe mode, is to low level format the hard drive with Killdisk. This way, any malware can not carry over if it exists.

Then after, proceed to install Windows 7 clean to the disk.

If you begin to get bsod, then use safe mode + networking to follow the stick thread's instructions on how to post the crash dumps.

Good luck.

 

[Silvestra]

As stated, I am now using a brand new hard drive, there is no malware.
I've always used the latest drivers, the problem has persisted so long that I've used at least 10 versions of 'latest drivers' and they've never fixed the issue.

As also stated, I cannot get into safe mode to post the crash dumps.
It seems to take longer to crash if it's a completely cold boot, but I still dont get time to do anything.
Also possibly related, Google Chrome (which is the only thing I managed to install before it went after the first fresh install) crashes continually, it cant even handle this website.

 

[TorrentG]

Any machine that crashes in safe mode is either compromised by malware or has a hardware problem.

Just because a drive is new doesn't mean malware has not gotten to it. If you had Windows on it, it could have gotten malware.

It's very likely that your memory (RAM) is having issues. Either a module is defective or the bios isn't set up correctly for the specific modules.

Anyhow, if you eventually can get the crash dumps posted somehow, we will be in a far better position to make a diagnosis with possible repair steps.

You could attach the hard drive to another working pc to access the Windows\Minidump folder and files.

 

[Silvestra]

Okay, so for whatever reason, neither IE or Chrome will let me log on this forum, always saying I've put the wrong password in, and when I try to recover from my email, says that email address isnt registered (even though it's the correct address as I'm receiving email notifications of your replies.)

I just now managed to get the dump files on to a USB stick just before it crashed.
Had another 0x00000024 BSOD (with no name at the top) as it did.

 

[Silvestra]

I'm now running this Killdisk thing on dos if I can. Shall see what results for you

 

[TorrentG]

Which motherboard do you have?

All of the errors you're getting are memory management and memory corruption type stops.

Usually, this happens when a driver is at fault. I like all the drivers on your system I see, with the exception of one:

nvm62x64 nvm62x64.sys Fri Oct 17 17:01:06 2008

Go to safe mode. C:\Windows\System32\drivers

Rename nvm62x64.sys to nvm62x64.bak.

Reboot to normal mode and see how it goes. Use Ccleaner to clean the registry for good measure.

If it's impossible to do so in safe mode because of further crashes, use a Live Linux burned cd. Boot to it. Knoppix comes to mind.

Please keep us updated on the sitch....

Edit:

I see you're going to reinstall. Make sure one of the first things you do when you can connect to the net is to update the video card driver from here. Your current version was having problems:

nvlddmkm nvlddmkm.sys Thu May 14 16:48:07 2009

NVIDIA

 

[Silvestra]

Okay. Well I used that Killdisk program to wipe the hard drive.
When I try to reinstall windows, it comes up with an error. 'Windows cannot install required files. The file may be corrupt or missing. Make sure all files required for installation are available and restart the installation. Error code: 0x80070570.'

It's the same disc as before, so I dont see why it'd be having issues with the disc itself.

It also crashed with System_service_exception just after coming up with this error the first time. (Not the second however, as I tried again to get the exact wording.)

I checked the disc itself and cannot see any damage on the read surface.

 

[Silvestra]

Another update, the point at which it crashes when installing windows does not seem to be fixed, it can go at 0% or 25%.

 

[TorrentG]

If you create a USB stick with the Windows install files then install from that, the file missing or corrupt error will not happen. You'd have to boot to the USB stick.

There are many guides online about how to do that easily.

 

[Silvestra]

It's okay, on the 5th try it went all the way through. So I've now got windows 7 installed, I managed to get the graphics drivers update. Anything else I should do now, or is it a case of waiting to see if it crashes again?

Edit:
In answer to your question, it's an MS 7567 Motherboard.

 

[Silvestra]

Okay, so it's been running for about 30 minutes now and has not crashed as of yet, so for the moment it looks fixed. Thank you

Any idea what would be causing the default drivers to cause such an issue?
What should I be doing when I update the drivers in the future?

 

[TorrentG]

The default driver installed with Windows is a very basic driver. It offers very little in performance and usability.

When you install the video driver from NVIDIA, it installs the "proper" driver with all features and performance active.

Perhaps the original driver files became corrupt somehow in your old installation. That would make most sense since you were crashing in safe mode.
In any case, it's great you're now running the right video driver.

If you run into further problems, let me know. You're welcome.

 

[Silvestra]

Okay, so problem not apparently so easily fixed.
Last night after fixing things, I ran windows update for all the important updates and installed zonealarm, Trillian and Starcraft 2.

I then proceeded to play Starcraft 2 at the maximum graphical settings for 3 hours. No problems whatsoever, went to bed.

The next morning, I've woken up and gone to login to windows, and BSOD again. Back to square one, I can barely get into safe mode or normal windows before it crashes. The second time loading it got into windows with a black screen, the windows has encountered an error dialog came up, which I couldnt click or do anything on.

2 of 4 dumps are here, I'm having issues getting on for long enough to get the others.

edit: 3 dumps now, it doesnt appear to have recorded the 4th.

edit 2: Okay. I'm now in normal windows, hasnt crashed as of yet, but Chrome is not working correctly, and I got a message saying windows desktop needs to close.

edit3: Nevermind, it crashed as I typed this. Memory_management_error.

 

[TorrentG]

Okay, so problem not apparently so easily fixed.
Last night after fixing things, I ran windows update for all the important updates and installed zonealarm, Trillian and Starcraft 2.

Yup, it was fixed.

Installing ZoneAlarm is what caused the current problems. Uninstall it by using this tool in safe mode:

http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/free/support/cpes_clean.exe

While you're there in safe mode, navigate to C:\Windows\System32\drivers

and delete this driver:

nvm62x64.sys

Reboot.

 

[Silvestra]

Okay.
Done and done.
Why is Zonealarm causing this? Is there another firewall I can use?
Is there any other software that should be off limits?

 

[Silvestra]

When starting up, it has a flashing _ for a good 1/2 minutes.
Windows no longer recognises my ethernet, refuses to connect to the network.
Windows explorer has stopped working message as well.

edit: Computer blue screened but only for a split second, not long enough to see. It's already set to not restart when blue screening.
Same _ comes up, with a noise from the computer like it's struggling to do something.

edit 2: Computer stopped making the struggling noise when I removed the Starcraft DVD from the DVD drive. Computer still restarted instantly when logging into safe mode.

edit 3: Windows explorer crashed in safe mode, followed by a BSOD that stated Memory_Management, lasting a few seconds longer than previously but then restarting before it could do a dump.

 

[Silvestra]

Okay, managed to get a dump this time.

edit: When windows runs a diagnostic on the network card it says the wired network adapter is experiencing problems.
Next page says 'The nvdidia networking controller adapter is experiencing driver or hardware related problems.'

 

[Silvestra]

Okay, so I figured you'd gone to bed, based on where you're living. I uninstalled my network adapter and then scanned for hardware changes, so it's reinstalled.

Edit: Everything seems to be stable so far.

 

[TorrentG]

The Windows built-in firewall does a great job of inbound and outbound blocking when configured to do so.

Here is a 3rd party GUI to make using it easier:

http://www.sphinx-soft.com/Vista/order.html

Any software off limits you ask? For the least problems now and in the future (there will be none), only use MSE for antivirus. Don't install any others ever.

Pretty much the same goes for 3rd party firewalls. Don't install them.

Never install Daemon Tools nor sptd.sys. Use PowerISO for disc emulation.