Tracking down the cause of a blue screen in Vista64

cwolf78

cwolf78

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 7, 2005
Messages
456
How do I track down the cause of a blue screen 'crash' on Vista64 ? Is there a log somewhere I can look at that includes all the BOD errors ?
 
Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Event Viewer -> Windows Logs -> System.
 
Also, right click my computer, advanced system settings, then click on start up and recovery, and uncheck the 'auto restart' box. Next time it blue screens you should be able to see the name of the file that caused it, about 3/4 the way down the screen. Then just do a Google search for that file.
 
bigdogchris said:
Also, right click my computer, advanced system settings, then click on start up and recovery, and uncheck the 'auto restart' box. Next time it blue screens you should be able to see the name of the file that caused it, about 3/4 the way down the screen. Then just do a Google search for that file.
Click to expand...

This is what I am getting:
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: 1000007e
BCP1: FFFFFFFFC0000005
BCP2: FFFFF80001C5E080
BCP3: FFFFF98000C75208
BCP4: FFFFF98000C74BE0
OS Version: 6_0_6000
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 256_1
 
Here is some more info:
Windows NT Version 6.0 Build: 6000
Product (0x1): Windows Vista (TM) Ultimate
Edition: Ultimate
BuildString: 6000.16754.amd64fre.vista_gdr.080917-1612
Flavor: Multiprocessor Free
Architecture: X64
LCID: 1033
 
cwolf78 said:
This is what I am getting:
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: 1000007e
BCP1: FFFFFFFFC0000005
BCP2: FFFFF80001C5E080
BCP3: FFFFF98000C75208
BCP4: FFFFF98000C74BE0
OS Version: 6_0_6000
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 256_1
Click to expand...

Did you updated your video driver or change your video card recently?
 
It looks something is crashing during or before the video. It has to be usb, irq, or firewire. i doubt it is a controller.

you can also read the your sysdump file. use a live cd and copy over to another machine, and start debugging. download debugging tool and symbols for Vista 64bit from MS. it should give you some clues.
 
Database said:
What does the actual blue screen say when it happens?
Click to expand...

After the basic 'A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down...' bit it says:
Technical information:
*** STOP: 0x0000007E (0xFFFFFFFFC0000005, 0xFFFFF80001C5E080, 0xFFFFF980000C8A208, 0xFFFFF98000C89BE0)

'Collecting data for the crash dump...'
etc
 
requiemnoise said:
It looks something is crashing during or before the video. It has to be usb, irq, or firewire. i doubt it is a controller.

you can also read the your sysdump file. use a live cd and copy over to another machine, and start debugging. download debugging tool and symbols for Vista 64bit from MS. it should give you some clues.
Click to expand...

Sounds like something I can do. Is there any particular debugging tool to use ? What about symbols ? I have never attempted anything of this nature.
 
He is getting the popular STOP error message. Stop 0x0000007E
Basically, it means driver can't continue. Yea, I know it is vague...
It can be many things... bad driver, bios, attached devices... etc...

If you never did this before... crap... I'm too lazy to walk you through reading the symbols... These tools are located in your technet cd, but i'm pretty sure you can download it off their website.
 
let's start with the basic. if you can do two thing at the same time...for now, try booting in safe mode... which will cause to use a generic VGA driver. on a good machine download the tools i said to get.

bitlocker is the drive encryption for Vista.

oh god... why am i doing this again... if you don't mind. i will finish up later. for now... try the safe mode. it can also be the video.
 
requiemnoise said:
let's start with the basic. if you can do two thing at the same time...for now, try booting in safe mode... which will cause to use a generic VGA driver. on a good machine download the tools i said to get.

bitlocker is the drive encryption for Vista.

oh god... why am i doing this again... if you don't mind. i will finish up later. for now... try the safe mode. it can also be the video.
Click to expand...

I have rebooted in safe mode already. I can get safe mode with networking and get to the web as well.
I am about to step out for 3-4 hours myself.
 
Regardless of what the BSOD says have you run Memtest? If not download the pre-compiled ISO, burn it to a CD, and boot from it.

Bad RAM is the most likely cause of system instability and is easy to test for.

requiemnoise said:
One more thing... Did you already turned on bitlocker?
Click to expand...
Huh? Why would you ask that? :confused:
 
Memtest, could be video drivers - might want to downgrade drivers or upgrade.

Can you also list your hardware?

Usually if it's really vague and the message doesn't really say much and the basics have been done, I read the dump file. If this problem continues to persist, I might be able to help with reading your system's dump files.
 
cwolf78 said:
I have rebooted in safe mode already. I can get safe mode with networking and get to the web as well.
I am about to step out for 3-4 hours myself.
Click to expand...

Awesome. now, try using the MS provided driver for video. Also, disable your USB, and firewire. Don't worry about the bluetooth. It is loaded after USB. Also, check bitlocker wasn't turned on.


Huh? Why would you ask that?
Click to expand...

Because, chipset driver can override the bitlocker driver during boot.

BSOD says have you run Memtest?
Click to expand...
It can be memory, but if he can run it on a safemode and actually booted to the graphic manager, run a browser, and other basic functions.... the lower register of the memory chips are fine. This problem is driver related.
 
requiemnoise said:
It can be memory, but if he can run it on a safemode and actually booted to the graphic manager, run a browser, and other basic functions.... the lower register of the memory chips are fine. This problem is driver related.
Click to expand...

The only way to know for certain is to run a test like Memtest, it should be the first thing you do after a BSOD.
 
That would be the first thing I would do if he couldn't get to the safe mode. He is on the safe mode, so focusing on the driver issue would save his time.
 
requiemnoise said:
That would be the first thing I would do if he couldn't get to the safe mode. He is on the safe mode, so focusing on the driver issue would save his time.
Click to expand...

Being able to use safe mode does not rule out a memory issue. It only takes a half hour or so to run memtest depending on how much RAM he has, so he might as well do it to completely rule out a memory issue.
 
I keep getting BSOD as well. Specs are in sig and everything is running at stock speeds.

devil22 said:
Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Event Viewer -> Windows Logs -> System.
Click to expand...

I did this but what am I looking at?
 
BillLeeLee said:
Memtest, could be video drivers - might want to downgrade drivers or upgrade.
Click to expand...

I tried downgrading to some older more stable drivers on the 9800GT/GTX ... but that did not change anything for me, still got a BSOD during bootup.
BillLeeLee said:
Can you also list your hardware?
Click to expand...

Mobo: ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe | Proc: AMD Phenom 9850 BLACK EDITION 2.5GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 2MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core | Mem: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 8GB (4 x 2GB) DDR2 SDRAM 1066 Dual Channel | Video: 9800 GT/GTX | OS: Vista 64 Ultimate
 
requiemnoise said:
That would be the first thing I would do if he couldn't get to the safe mode. He is on the safe mode, so focusing on the driver issue would save his time.
Click to expand...

I will run memtest just to make sure. Gives me time to scrounge up a cable for debugging.
 
Khaos Kid said:
I keep getting BSOD as well. Specs are in sig and everything is running at stock speeds.



I did this but what am I looking at?
Click to expand...

System Messages. If you had a blue screen/stop error, scroll down and it should be in there, with details, maybe even a culprit file or an error code you can search the web for.
 
I ran the memtest and their are no error messages. What is the next step ? debugging ?
 
BillLeeLee said:
Usually if it's really vague and the message doesn't really say much and the basics have been done, I read the dump file. If this problem continues to persist, I might be able to help with reading your system's dump files.
Click to expand...

I could use the help. :(
 
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