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BSOD help, can't pinpoint exact cause

2K views 12 replies 2 participants last post by  Patrick 
#1 ·
Ok, having an issue with my laptop(specs to follow) that when I run videos on youtube on youtube/streaming or within WMP in full scrren(only when HD) and when trying to run 3d games(tried vanilla wow and it would bsod between character select and in game, usually within 10 minutes).

I ran windows hardware test and it detected hardware problems, chkdsk detected no issues and memtest had no issues either.

· OS - windows 7 · x64
· What was the original installed OS on the system? windows 7 64 bit
· Is the OS an OEM version (came pre-installed on system) or full retail version (YOU purchased it from retailer)? oem
· Approximate age of system (hardware) 2-3 years?(not sure, Gateway Nv53 is model)
· Approximate age of OS installation (if you know): fresh install using drivers from Gateway and windows install disc


· Have you re-installed the OS? Yes
· CPU: amd athlon II x2 m300
· Video Card: ATI mobility radeon HD 4200
· MotherBoard: unknown, stock original mobo
· Power Supply - brand & wattage: stock and original


· System Manufacturer : Gateway
· Exact model number (if laptop, check label on bottom): Gateway NV53

Laptop or Desktop? Laptop


Here are my files from the sysnative zip, keep getting an error message saying my perfmon file is invalid, let me see how I can fix this, will update OP once file is fixed
 

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#3 ·
Hi,

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (a)

This indicates that Microsoft Windows or a kernel-mode driver accessed paged memory at DISPATCH_LEVEL or above.

Code:
1: kd> .trap 0xfffff880036a04c0
NOTE: The trap frame does not contain all registers.
Some register values may be zeroed or incorrect.
rax=0000000000000000 rbx=0000000000000000 rcx=0000000000000000
rdx=00000000000001ae rsi=0000000000000000 rdi=0000000000000000
rip=fffff80002ae3798 rsp=fffff880036a0650 rbp=0000000000000001
 r8=fffffa8005860838  r9=000000003bdff000 r10=00000000000001ae
r11=0000000000000000 r12=0000000000000000 r13=0000000000000000
r14=0000000000000000 r15=0000000000000000
iopl=0         nv up ei ng nz na po cy
nt!MmProbeAndLockPages+0x118:
fffff800`02ae3798 410fb601        [COLOR=Red]movzx   [/COLOR][COLOR=Blue]eax[/COLOR],byte ptr [[COLOR=Purple]r9[/COLOR]] ds:00000000`3bdff000=??
Zero-extend copy of contents failed from the r9 register to the eax register.

1. Remove and replace avast! with Microsoft Security Essentials for temporary troubleshooting purposes as it may likely be causing conflicts:

avast! removal - avast! Uninstall Utility | Download aswClear for avast! Removal

MSE - Microsoft Security Essentials - Microsoft Windows

2. Ensure you have the latest video card drivers. If you are already on the latest video card drivers, uninstall and install a version or a few versions behind the latest to ensure it's not a latest driver only issue. If you have already experimented with the latest video card driver and many previous versions, please give the beta driver for your card a try.

Regards,

Patrick
 
#9 ·
Enable Driver Verifier, please:

Driver Verifier:

What is Driver Verifier?

Driver Verifier monitors Windows kernel-mode drivers, graphics drivers, and even 3rd party drivers to detect illegal function calls or actions that might corrupt the system. Driver Verifier can subject the Windows drivers to a variety of stresses and tests to find improper behavior.

Essentially, if there's a 3rd party driver believed to be causing the issues at hand, enabling Driver Verifier will help us see which specific driver is causing the problem.

Before enabling Driver Verifier, it is recommended to create a System Restore Point:

Vista - START | type rstrui - create a restore point
Windows 7 - START | type create | select "Create a Restore Point"
Windows 8/8.1 - Restore Point - Create in Windows 8

How to enable Driver Verifier:

Start > type "verifier" without the quotes > Select the following options -

1. Select - "Create custom settings (for code developers)"
2. Select - "Select individual settings from a full list"
3. Check the following boxes -
- Special Pool
- Pool Tracking
- Force IRQL Checking
- Deadlock Detection
- Security Checks (only on Windows 7 & 8/8.1)
- DDI compliance checking (only on Windows 8/8.1)
- Miscellaneous Checks
4. Select - "Select driver names from a list"
5. Click on the "Provider" tab. This will sort all of the drivers by the provider.
6. Check EVERY box that is NOT provided by Microsoft / Microsoft Corporation.
7. Click on Finish.
8. Restart.

Important information regarding Driver Verifier:

- Perhaps the most important which I will now clarify as this has been misunderstood often, enabling Driver Verifier by itself is not! a solution, but instead a diagnostic utility. It will tell us if a driver is causing your issues, but again it will not outright solve your issues.

- If Driver Verifier finds a violation, the system will BSOD. To expand on this a bit more for the interested, specifically what Driver Verifier actually does is it looks for any driver making illegal function calls, causing memory leaks, etc. When and/if this happens, system corruption occurs if allowed to continue. When Driver Verifier is enabled per my instructions above, it is monitoring all 3rd party drivers (as we have it set that way) and when it catches a driver attempting to do this, it will quickly flag that driver as being a troublemaker, and bring down the system safely before any corruption can occur.

- After enabling Driver Verifier and restarting the system, depending on the culprit, if for example the driver is on start-up, you may not be able to get back into normal Windows because Driver Verifier will detect it in violation almost straight away, and as stated above, that will cause / force a BSOD.

If this happens, do not panic, do the following:

- Boot into Safe Mode by repeatedly tapping the F8 key during boot-up.

- Once in Safe Mode - Start > Search > type "cmd" without the quotes.

- To turn off Driver Verifier, type in cmd "verifier /reset" without the quotes.

- Restart and boot into normal Windows.

If your OS became corrupt or you cannot boot into Windows after disabling verifier via Safe Mode:

- Boot into Safe Mode by repeatedly tapping the F8 key during boot-up.

- Once in Safe Mode - Start > type "system restore" without the quotes.

- Choose the restore point you created earlier.

-- Note that Safe Mode for Windows 8/8.1 is a bit different, and you may need to try different methods: 5 Ways to Boot into Safe Mode in Windows 8 & Windows 8.1

How long should I keep Driver Verifier enabled for?

I recommend keeping it enabled for at least 24 hours. If you don't BSOD by then, disable Driver Verifier. I will usually say whether or not I'd like for you to keep it enabled any longer.

My system BSOD'd with Driver Verifier enabled, where can I find the crash dumps?

- If you have the system set to generate Small Memory Dumps, they will be located in %systemroot%\Minidump.

- If you have the system set to generate Kernel Memory Dumps, it will be located in %systemroot% and labeled MEMORY.DMP.

Any other questions can most likely be answered by this article:

Using Driver Verifier to identify issues with Windows drivers for advanced users

Regards,

Patrick
 
#10 · (Edited)
How to enable Driver Verifier:

Start > type "verifier" without the quotes > Select the following options -

1. Select - "Create custom settings (for code developers)"
2. Select - "Select individual settings from a full list"
3. Check the following boxes -
- Special Pool
- Pool Tracking
- Force IRQL Checking
- Deadlock Detection
- Security Checks (only on Windows 7 & 8/8.1)
- DDI compliance checking (only on Windows 8/8.1)
- Miscellaneous Checks
4. Select - "Select driver names from a list"
5. Click on the "Provider" tab. This will sort all of the drivers by the provider.
6. Check EVERY box that is NOT provided by Microsoft / Microsoft Corporation.
7. Click on Finish.
8. Restart.
Followed these steps, system came back up and is just sitting here. Is there a window that pops up when this is successful or is this just some process windows will run in the background for the next day or so that I won't know has worked until a random bsod occurs?

Edit: also, if it is a background process, is there a certain name for it that I can search for to make sure that it is running?

Sorry for what even to me seems like a bunch of stupid questions but in 10+ years of system building this is the first time I have ever firsthand encountered a BSoD issue like this.
 
#11 ·
There is no success prompt, but if you restarted after enabling it, it's enabled. Now you use your system as normal and wait for a crash.

If it's really imperative you check the status of verifier, you can check verifier's settings by running an elevated cmd and typing verifier /query

Keep me updated.

Regards,

Patrick
 
#12 ·
kept doing my normal thing, games hung and then crashed instead of bsod, had explorer reset a few times and then 1 reset from streaming video, no resets from local save HD video now though

Short checklist:

HD Video saved/local- Plays fine, for hours even, with no crash or BSoD
HD Video stream- crashes or BSoD within 30 mins
Games- No game will play for longer than 20 mins(up from instant crash/BSoD or BSoD @ ~5 min mark)
 
#13 ·
Disable verifier please, and Run Memtest for no less than 8 passes. I know you ran it in the pass, but I want to see the results for no less than 8 passes, and a recent run.


Memtest86+:

Download Memtest86+ here:

Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool

Which should I download?

You can either download the pre-compiled .ISO that you would burn to a CD and then boot from the CD, or you can download the auto-installer for the USB key. What this will do is format your USB drive, make it a bootable device, and then install the necessary files. Both do the same job, it's just up to you which you choose, or which you have available (whether it's CD or USB).

Do note that some older generation motherboards do not support USB-based booting, therefore your only option is CD (or Floppy if you really wanted to).

How Memtest works (you don't need to read, it's only for those interested in the specifics):

Memtest uses algorithms (specifically two), namely moving inversion & what is deemed Modulo-X. Essentially, the first algorithm fills the memory with a pattern. Starting at the low address, it checks to see if the pattern was changed (it should not have been), writes the patterns complement, increments the address, and repeats. Starting at the highest address (as opposed to the lowest), it follows the same checklist.

The reason for the second algorithm is due to a few limitations, with the first being that not all adjacent cells are being tested for interaction due to modern chips being 4 to 16 bits wide regarding data storage. With that said, patterns are used to go ahead and ensure that all adjacent cells have at least been written with all possible one and zero combinations.

The second is that caching, buffering and out of order execution will interfere with the moving inversions algorithm. However, the second algorithm used is not affected by this. For starting offsets of 0-20, the algorithm will write every 20th location with a pattern, write all other locations with the patterns complement, repeat the previous one (or more) times, and then check every 20th location for the previously mentioned pattern.

Now that you know how Memtest actually works, it's important to know that the tests it goes through all mean something different. It goes from Test 0 through Test 12, many of which use either one or the other algorithm discussed above, among many other things.

Any other questions, they can most likely be answered by reading this great guide here:

FAQ : please read before posting

Regards,

Patrick
 
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