random BSOD

M

master noran

2[H]4U
Joined
Dec 10, 2006
Messages
2,825
Hey, I just got a random BSOD, didin't get a chance to see what it was about, just a bsod and a restart, this happened when I opened up firefox and was really random. I haven't had a bsod for a week, last one was when I was activating a game on steam, I clicked activate and bam BSOD. last one before was when I connected I disconnected a usb mouse and re connected it, instant BSOD. I've checked my memory with vista memory diagnostics tool and it said it was ok. So basically in the month and a half I've had this pc I've had like 5 BSOD's (some, I don't remember the reason for) my e7400 is stable at 3.65, stable as in like 22 hours of prime 95.

specs are in my signature.
 
[Testing the RAM]
Download Memtest86+ v2.11 or whatever the latest version is, unzip it, burn the ISO file to a CD, and then boot from it, just like you would do with the XP/Vista install CD. Let Memtest+ run for at least three hours on each stick of RAM separately as well as test the RAM all together. Go for a full 24 hours if you want to be completely sure that the RAM is not a problem. If you start seeing errors, than your RAM is defective or you have incorrect settings for the RAM.

[Testing the Hard drive]
Download the CD image of Hitachi Drive Fitness Test, burn the ISO file to a CD, and then boot from it, just like you would do with the XP/Vista install CD. Test the hard drive and see if any problems are found. DFT will run on most manufacturers' hard drives. Alternatively, you can use Seagate's SeaTools for DOS to test a Seagate or Maxtor drive. For a Western Digital drive, you could use Data Lifeguard Tools for DOS to test a Western Digital drive.

[Testing the CPU]
Use Prime 95, OCCT, Orthos or Intel Burn Tool to stress test the CPU

[Testing the GPU]
Use Furmark or ATI Tool to stress test the GPU
 
Just tested the gpu, it's fine. Cpu is also stable. I used the seagate seatools thing after I built the system, everything was fine. As for the memtest, whats wrong with the vista memory diagnostic tool?
 
master noran said:
As for the memtest, whats wrong with the vista memory diagnostic tool?
Click to expand...

Independent verification and the fact that testing the memory from within the OS is not accurate from what I've heard.
 
Since your GPU and CPU check out fine, the next possible culprit is your ram. But yeah, use memtest to test it. Good luck.
 
first off.. right click my computer, go to properties, advanced, startup and recovery and uncheck automaticlly restart.. so the next time you get a bsod wrote down the code.. it will look something vaguely like this " 0x00000 0x000000 0x00000" it will be a series of those but with numbers and letters.. write them down.. then restart your computer.. and google that code.. you should be able to troubleshoot the problem from there..
 
Good advice sirmonkey. I just finished running memtest for just a bit over 10 hours, it was with both stick in and I ended up with 17 passes no errors. Should I go ahead with seperate sticks or just wait for the next BSOD so I can write it down and google it?
 
Try different video/chipset drivers. Also try flashing your BIOS.
 
I ran one stick of ram for 1.5 hours, 4 passes and 0 errors. I'll run the second one now. I also noticed something strange when I went into the system part of the control panel. It says my cpu stock is 2.8 and that it's running at 3.5? even thought it's running at 3.65 cpuz confirms that.
 
alright, I just finished testing the last mem stick by itself, I ran memtest for 1.5 hours it came back with 4 passes and 0 errors. I put the other stick back in and tried to boot into windows and got a black screen saying it needs to check my c:drive for inconsistency or something. Anyway after the test It restarted and I booted into windows fine. I'm starting to think it's hard drive problem. Any ideas?
 
master noran said:
alright, I just finished testing the last mem stick by itself, I ran memtest for 1.5 hours it came back with 4 passes and 0 errors. I put the other stick back in and tried to boot into windows and got a black screen saying it needs to check my c:drive for inconsistency or something. Anyway after the test It restarted and I booted into windows fine. I'm starting to think it's hard drive problem. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Sounds like your drive. You could do a full test by writing zeros but you would lose your data. I assume SMART is not reporting anything?
 
You should be able to find your BSOD's in your system event log.

5 BSOD's in a month is NOT good. Basically you should never have any. So I would start to look at your overclock. It's getting warmer out, so it could be heat related. Have you looked at your temps? Do you have any motherboard "utilities" running? (i've had one caause a BSOD in the past)

Your ram seems to test OK. You might back your clocks down to stock speeds for a while to see if it ever blue screens at stock speeds.
 
I remember the first BSOD was with stock cpu speeds. All the temp programs say my cpu is at 37C bios says 30C, when I prime it never goes above 45 or so.
 
Alright, I left my pc untouched and it turned of by itself so I turned it back on and got a screen that its resuming windows and it just got stuck at a black screen with the white underscore flashing at the top left of the screen, I tried a couple more times to get it resume and it woulden't so I picked the second option which go me into windows fine. So is my HD messed?
 
I just tried to run short self drive test with seatools. The bar fills up probably 1/15 way and just hangs out there, I waited for a good 15 min and nothing changed. I remember when I first build the system I ran the same thing and it finished testing much quicker.
 
yeah I would back up any important files you might have at the same time...
 
I concur with seanmcd: Might want to start backing up your files. If the test hangs like that, probably a sign of HDD troubles.
 
Ok, so last night I ran the sort generic test and it passed. Then I tried to short drive self test and again it hung there, so I waited almost an hour and it made progress it was really close to the end and I waited another 15 min and it was in the same place so I went to sleep. I come back this morning and the computer is off, I turn it on and there's no post sound so I press restart, and it goes on fine until I see a resuming windows screen which I can't get past because of the flashing underscore on the top left so again I have to restart and press the second option. It's weird because I NEVER ever my computer do that while I was away, before I've left it on for hours with nothing running. Any ideas? could this be a MB problem or the HD overheating?
 
It's a sata drive so I can't test it in my pentium 3 dell. And if I were to take the drive from there and pit in this current rig how would I go about testing it?
 
master noran said:
It's a sata drive so I can't test it in my pentium 3 dell. And if I were to take the drive from there and pit in this current rig how would I go about testing it?
Click to expand...

Same way you tested your current drive: Seatools and/or Hitachi Drive Fitness test.
 
Alright, so I pulled out my 80 gig western digital IDE drive and put in the pc, on startup I got a black screen saying it wants to check the F drive drive, even though the new drive is the E drive (it might have said E, but I'm pretty sure it said F) anyway I cancelled the check and proceeded to windows were I opened up seatools and was pleasantly suprised to find that it can also test the WD drive, both passes the short generic test but the WD drive failed the drive self test almost instantly and the 500GB seagate is still going. Now I'm really confused, should I just go buy another sata drive and hope that my current one is the problem? so far I've checked CPU (overclock is stable) MEMORY (10 hours of memtest with both stick and 1.5 hours which each stick, no errors) GPU (It's allways worked fine except I had some driver problems were I would get a grey screen when trying to OC)
 
Just an update. It turns out it was the memory and possibly the HD, either way the HD is messed up. I decided to run memtest on the sticks for more than an hour and a half and one came back with multiple errors after like 6 hours or so. And so far I've been BSOD free for 2 days.

Thanks Hardforum!
 
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