Solved BSOD Posting

[americancritic]

Hello I will start with this one, stop code 0x3B - ntkrnlmp.exe

Please se the following from Microsoft...

The computer crashes, and you receive a "Stop 0x0000003b" error message after you enable large image-based page files in Windows Server 2003

0xA stop code
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/892045

0x3B stop code igdkmd64.sys
www.vistax64.com/crashes-debugging/280377-bsod-error-0x0000001a.html#post1277177

 

[americancritic]

Hello

Can you tell me if your computer security is McAfee....

 

[stanoak]

No, it's Norton Internet Security

 

[americancritic]

Thank you I am still researching your mini dump files and hope to get it back up and running the way you want it to very soon.

 

[Shadowjk]

Okay Before I start to help in this situation - When do you receive the blue screens? How long have you had them?

Do you have an install disk?

Do you receive bluescreens during safe mode?

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/123496-safe-mode.html


Many Thanks,
Josh

 

[stanoak]

The blue screens seem to be completely random - sometimes they occur in the middle of night when no one is using the computer, sometimes in the middle of running some program. It's impossible to guess when one might happen - the machine will run fine for days on end with no BSODs but eventually it will crash again.

I've been getting them almost from the beginning, so several years.

I don't have an install disk - the machine came with a D: drive that has the original image on it. I do have the instructions that came with it for creating recovery disks but I haven't done that.

I haven't tried running in Safe Mode to see if the BSODs occur then - as mentioned above, they are completely random and I can't predict when they might occur. I could just leave the machine running in Safe mode for a while to see what happens but I'd probably have to do that for a week or more.

 

[Shadowjk]

If you can try and run the system in Safe mode for as long as possible

Please take up the option of creating some Recovery Disks just in case when you Restore from the image to find that it is corrupt which most likely will happen at some point in the future

Josh

 

[stanoak]

Ok, running in Safe Mode now - we'll see what happens. I also created the recovery disks as you suggested, just in case.

 

[stanoak]

After a week of running in Safe mode there have been no BSODs or other crashes. Although it's by no means conclusive, since there have been other week-long (and longer) periods in the past with no BSODs, it's certainly suggestive.

What's the next step?

Stan

 

[stanoak]

I returned the system to normal mode today and it crashed twice - once about 10 minutes after I had rebooted Minidmp files attached.

 

[americancritic]

Hello

This time you have 2 bsod files...

1. 0xA Memory_Corruption

2. 0x50 DHDrvx64.sys

I am going back through the reports and try and figure this out.

 

[richc46]

If it runs in safe mode but not regular, most likely a driver.

 

[stanoak]

Here's the latest batch of minidmp files from the past week, in case they provide any additional information.

At this point, what do you suggest I do? Rerun Verifier to try to isolate the bad driver? Reload the operating system from scratch? Upgrade to Windows 7? Something else?

Stan

 

[stanoak]

I decided to try running Verifier again since we seem to have decided that it's a driver problem. I'll post the next set of minidmp files in a few days...unless anyone has any other suggestions...

Stan

 

[stanoak]

Here are the minidmp files generated while Verifier was running. Can someone tell me if they point to a specific driver that's bad? What are my next steps?

Thanks again for your help with this issue.

Stan

 

[stanoak]

Is anyone still looking into this for me?

 

[richc46]

The driver verifier has come up with nothing, but its definately pointing toware memory again.
Did you test each slot with a known good memory stick?
If so, did you ever buy new ram?
Sometimes these problems are are caused by mismatches in speeds/brands/latencies between the sticks, but not always.
Sometimes prime95 weeds out bad memory, when the actual memory test does not
Prime95 Stress Test - free from here: http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft/

Prime95 Setup:
- extract the contents of the zip file to a location of your choice
- double click on the executable file
- select "Just stress testing"
- select the "Blend" test. If you've already run MemTest overnight you may want to run the "Small FFTs" test instead.
- "Number of torture test threads to run" should equal the number of CPU's times 2 (if you're using hyperthreading).
The easiest way to figure this out is to go to Task Manager...Performance tab - and see the number of boxes under CPU Usage History
Then run the test for 6 to 24 hours - or until you get errors (whichever comes first).
The Test selection box and the stress.txt file describes what components that the program stresses.

I dont know if I will be able to help in the immediate future. Major hurricane coming to the area, we expect a loss of electricity and possible even evacutation.

 

[stanoak]

I ran this as you suggested - here are the results:

"Torture Test completed 781 tests in 24 hours, 17 minutes, - 0 errors, 0 warnings"

The strange thing is that this is not my main computer and that most of the crashes occur randomly when no one is using the machine and nothing is running. It does occasionally crash though when a program is running, e.g. J. River Media Center. So the mystery is, why would bad memory cause the machine to crash when nothing is running (other than normal background stuff, e.g. antivirus, etc.) but not crash when being stressed?

Hope the hurricane doesn't affect you too much....let me know what you think I should do next.

Stan

 

[stanoak]

The solution to this problem turned out to be quite simple: I installed two new memory sticks and voilà! - no more BSODs. The Kingston website (kingston.com) has a good Memory Search tool if you're not sure what part to purchase.