SOLVED BSoD seemingly random occurance

[psanzari]

Hi everyone.

I am having a Blue screen of death meltdown. My rig is a custom built by yours truly, for architectural modeling and rendering:

AMD Phenom II X6 1100T
16 GB of DDR3
Geforce GTC 560 with 2gb
Crucial M4 SSD 128GB [win7+program files]
Seagate 3TB 7200rpm [media/storage drive]
currently, the OS is managing page on seagate, and i allotted 8-16gb on ssd for page.

nothing is overclocked. runing smart-er drive software as well for SSD.

The BSoD error is a
KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR

*** STOP: 0x0000007A (0xFFFFF8A0312EF5F0, ....etc)


The BSoD is unable to actually write the crash dump, ending with:
Collecting data for crash dump...
Initializing disk for crash dump...

This last time, it also told me:
volmgr.sys - Address FFFFF88000E2BFD0 base at FFFFF88000E00000, DateStamp 00000000

i am afraid the SSD is failing. it first happened while watching a .mkv video in WMP with some codecs, i think it was divx or ac3. the system will freeze up, first the desktop/gadgets, then the programs one by one, until its full froze (video off seagate still playing but not controlable) and then goes to the BSoD.

I have done system restore back to a day before the crashes. i have removed the mkv file and done full Norton scans (x2) and norton reputation scans, and malwarebytes (x1). I have run checkdisk once and memory check once, but the momory check hung at 99% forever, and the f1 option was not responding, so i took it as a freeze.

 

[Shintaro]

Welcome to the W7 forums.

Could you please export the events from the Event Viewer. Zip them and upload it to the forum.

 

[psanzari]

I am not sure of what specifically to look for, so i went to system log, i turned on a filter that omitted the information logs, and for the last 7 days (so including first time, its only been 4 or 5 days). I exported as all 4 formats. Thank you!

 

[Shintaro]

Could you please make sure that there is a page file on each of the disks (SSD & HDD).

Let us know when you have please.

 

[psanzari]

Yes, and thank you for your time and help Shintaro.

It is configured for 8192-16384MB on the SSD, System Managed on the 3TB HDD. The total paging file size for all drives dialog at the bottom of the virtual memory window indicates it is currently allocated 24573MB total, meaning that it taking advantage of both drives.

 

[Shintaro]

Sorry mate, were the page files already configured on both drives?

 

[psanzari]

Yes, this was the existing configuration when these BSoD's started. I have been changing them a lot depending on space available on the SSD, and about four days before the first BSoD i had just given page file back to the SSD when i removed 40GB of Steam. The system manged page file on the 3TB HDD has been consistent for a while tho, its really just the SSD that i have tweaked occasionally.

 

[TrainableMan]

I thought you weren't supposed to have a page file on an SSD because of the constant writing & rewriting? I've always heard it's best to move it to the regular HD.

 

[psanzari]

I had not heard that. I assumed it was best on SSD because of the speed for read/write, making the whole system faster. I bought the SSD because given my other specs, the disk drive was my 'speed weakest link' and the need to spin up often gives a little hang.

 

[TrainableMan]

I had read it before but then I just found this site that says that Microsoft says to leave the paging file...

Many sites on the web also tell SSD users to disable the paging file because it allegedly wears down the disk too much. While the paging file is an active file on your computer it is not written to as much as you would suspect. According to Microsoft, reads to the paging file outnumber writes by about 40 to 1. Additionally, Microsoft recommends placing the paging file on a SSD claiming, “there are few files better than the pagefile to place on a SSD.”

So nevermind.

 

[psanzari]

Very good information. I have spent some quick google searches after your comment and that seems to be a common misconceptions. Thanks mate.

 

[Shintaro]

Have you had any further crashes?

 

[psanzari]

Yes, I am still experiencing these crashes. I booted up in safe mode without networking yesterday, and started running a full norton scan. It did the same crash, i didnt wait for it to get to the blue screen, but it began freezing the program, and then the OS. I cant decide if I think it is a virus or a SDD issue. Were you able to find anything of not in the .rar? would you like more/different exports? Again, thank you both for your help and attention.

 

[Shintaro]

Could you please enable Driver Verifier:

(Borrowed from Zigzag3143 posts)
Driver verifier

Using Driver Verifier is an iffy proposition. Most times it'll crash and it'll tell you what the driver is. But sometimes it'll crash and won't tell you the driver. Other times it'll crash before you can log in to Windows. If you can't get to Safe Mode, then you'll have to resort to offline editing of the registry to disable Driver Verifier.

So, I'd suggest that you first backup your stuff and then make sure you've got access to another computer so you can contact us if problems arise.
Then make a System Restore point (so you can restore the system using the Vista/Win7 Startup Repair feature).

Then, here's the procedure:

1. Go to Start and type in "verifier" (without the quotes) and press Enter
2. Select "Create custom settings (for code developers)" and click "Next"
3. Select "Select individual settings from a full list" and click "Next"
4. Select everything EXCEPT FOR "Special Pool", "Force Pending I/O Requests" and "Low Resource Simulation" and click "Next"
5. Select "Select driver names from a list" and click "Next"
6. Then select all drivers NOT provided by Microsoft and click "Next"
7. Select "Finish" on the next page.

• Reboot the system and wait for it to crash to the Blue Screen.
• Continue to use your system normally, and if you know what causes the crash, do that repeatedly.
• The objective here is to get the system to crash because Driver Verifier is stressing the drivers out.

If it doesn't crash for you, then let it run for at least 36 hours of continuous operation.

Reboot into Windows (after the crash) and turn off Driver Verifier by going back in and selecting "Delete existing settings" on the first page, then locate and zip up the memory dump file and upload it with your next post.

If you can't get into Windows because it crashes too soon, try it in Safe Mode.
If you can't get into Safe Mode, try using System Restore from your installation DVD to set the system back to the previous restore point that you created.

Let us know how you go.

 

[psanzari]

Driver Verifier

Wow. So driver verifier yielded some interesting results. I wrote out a handwritten log of what happened during the 2 hour trial. It seems internet-active software yielded the crashes. I will now type out the log, and after post the video of the last crash and minidumps from the computer itself. note in the last crash video you can see the bluescreen flash with pbfilter.sys referenced in the BSoD, although i cannot confirm that this was consistent in all the crashes, as they were BSoD 'flashes' before reboots or video output stopped.

Log is as follows:
Verifier set as instructed at 8pm EST 9/23/2012
8:04ish First crash after login - startup software going > video drops to straight restart?
8:09ish BSoD crash when lauched software to agitate, BSoD too fast to read > restart
8:16ish BSoD crash by agitating by launching adobe software and peerblock. chrome/itunes/skype/autocad/revit did not crash on launch and sit
8:22ish peerblock can cause crash, not adobe alone (tested)
8:33ish Typical symptoms of past crashes exhibited, chrome running alone began to crash, then explorer (start bar)
Gadgets still active (system monitoring actively) until clicked upon to cause back around gadget and crash aka no more updating of graphs n info
8:37ish let sit and run without problems. run chrome and use. chrome puts up crash error messages, no explorer > BSoD quickly, no video on monitor or LEDs on backlit keyboard, but system still on based on fans running/lit and front led.
8:43ish power button force shut down
9:13 launched software, no crash (without programs launched since last boot after force shutdown)
9:21-??? no crash still. start running most of installed software, launched one at a time:
open office writer, climate consultant 5.3(java), utorrent (without any files/downloads going), autodesk maya, disk space fan 4 free, picasa 3, quickbooks 2011 pro plus, vitamin d video, foxit reader, acrobat 9, handbrake, wordpad, and then finally the nail in the coffin: internet explorer 9 64bit. IE9 ran for a while, i went on facebook, and finally at 9:44 it caused a slow freeze crash program first, then rest n explorer (start bar), ended on black screen again with tower running fans/leds.
9:51 cold restart via power button
9:54 log on after a beer break, initiate crash via peerblock again. once the admin 'yes' is given for its list updates, it begins the update lists screen for each list i subscribe to, right to BSoD quickly, and quick restart again from there.
10:00 peerblock crash.
10:06 ran speedtest. successful (and fast as usual) but cites firewall found for special parts.
10:57ish after sitting from last crash (logged in after reboot) it finally crashes alone as typical. no agitate in terms of launching software. system on after crash, but no response (fans spinning with LEDs, keyboard LEDs off.)

please see windows minidumps as coordinate to my log. they will be posted seperate from the crisis computer itself in a few seconds.

 

[psanzari]

upload and further explain

attached: mah01155 video file of last crash in log above. BSoD from video as jpg included. minidump files in folder as well to coordinate with log. wetransfer link to my email included, with files above plus the video of how the sequence of last peerblock > BSoD > blank as .mp4 <20mb file. if useful I'm not sure link will work since its to my email from another one of my emails. well see, if it is helpful i can resend, or spend time trying to down sample to small size, although the .rar limit is very small 1.2mb:
wetransfer forward: https://www.wetransfer.com/fw/BmJNT...5e271411845b6ba8c800b7fe654b4b6fb685be5588a81
wetransfer download:
https://www.wetransfer.com/dl/BmJNT...3026948b8d21632a5b4dd9a4cff23722d0c5805588a81

again, thank you so much for you help guys. it means a lot that you would help a stranger blindly for this, with no direct implied gain. your help is unparalleled. seriously, thank you.

 

[Shintaro]

I would start by removing pbfilter.
If the crashes sttle down then maybe try a new version.

 

[Shintaro]

That peerblock software hasn't been updated for 2 years. The poorly written pbfilter.sys is what is crashing the computer.

 

[psanzari]

the interesting part is that peerblock does not launch with windows (has never, for over a year). i have launched it myself whenever i am using adobe or utorrent; this causes a crash. If i don't launch peerblock, no crash. it seems this or a browser will cause the crash based on simple online 'transactions' or any internet related action. if i do not launch or allow the .exe to launch a crash will occur.

 

[Shintaro]

Ok, but start by removing it.
We can then address the other crashes.

If it crashes after you remove that software please upload the crashes.