Rash of BSoDs - What Could Be the Culprit Here?

[oldskool]

It wasn't clear to me that the test was ran. The post was kinda long. I had the same problem with X64bit and a bad stick of ram. The error was not always the same. I initially ran memtest and came up with no errors. It wasn't until I started tested sticks individualy did the error occour. I think your video card is bad man Idk what else to say. There is only so many things that can cause those BSDs and the revolve around memory, bad sectors or HDDs, and Bad video cards. I usppose other things could cause it but its easy to remove all cards wxcept the video card to narrow it down.

[TrevMUN]

Well, it was almost 19 days before I had another BSoD. Almost fooled me into thinking the clean reinstall of the nVidia drivers fixed the problem. However, it just happened again, another PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA. Here's what WhoCrashed has to say about it:

On Sun 4/27/2014 3:12:54 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini042614-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x2E890)
Bugcheck code: 0x50 (0xFFFFFA880C4857C0, 0x0, 0xFFFFF97FFF0416BC, 0x5)
Error: PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This indicates that invalid system memory has been referenced.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.

The actual BSoD screen didn't mention ntoskrnl.exe, however, but win32k.sys.

As far as the circumstances of the crash, I can tell you that I had both Opera and Firefox running, as well as City of Heroes (I'd been using the demorecord system for a school project). Both browsers had at 15+ tabs open each. Firefox was in the foreground on a YouTube page, as I was listening to videos from a playlist while mucking around in CoH. I had tabbed to and from CoH multiple times, going between Firefox and CoH checking on certain commands I'd need to for the demorecord system. The BSoD happened as I was tabbed out of CoH and looking at Firefox the currently playing video on the playlist: there was a second or two of looped audio and screen freeze, followed by the BSoD screen.

Several of the other BSoDs since March involved having both Firefox and Opera open, and YouTube as well as a game being involved as well. There does seem to be some kind of pattern there.

Where should I go from here, you guys think?

[MagicAndre1981]

without the dmp files we can't help you.

[Guest]

Since you brought up Win32k, TrevMUN, there is a fix for what's probably an unrelated issue with memory allocation when using nVidia video drivers in XPx64. It has to do with desktop heap exhaustion when opening new windows or starting services, and not necessarily video performance.

The specific error is the following entry shown in Event Viewer (EventVwr.msc):

Event Type: Warning

Event Source: Win32k

Event Category: None

Event ID: 244

Date: Date

Time: Time

User: N/A

Computer: ServerName

Description: Failed to create a desktop due to desktop heap exhaustion.

A solution is hinted at in Guru3D's forums. Setting SessionViewSize to 120 MB (78 hex) fixes the problem for me. A reboot is required after adding or changing this registry entry.

INF format

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management","SessionViewSize",0x10001,120

REG format

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]"SessionViewSize"=dword:00000078

Edited April 27, 2014 by 5eraph

[TrevMUN]

without the dmp files we can't help you.

.dmp file attached to this post as a .zip.

Since you brought up Win32k, TrevMUN, there is a fix for what's probably an unrelated issue with memory allocation when using nVidia video drivers in XPx64. It has to do with desktop heap exhaustion when opening new windows or starting services, and not necessarily video performance.

I checked Event Viewer to see if that's ever come up, but it doesn't look like I've been hit by that problem. I'll keep this in mind if it ever does show up though.

Mini042614-01.zip

[MagicAndre1981]

Debugging Details:

------------------

Could not read faulting driver name

Run CPU-Z and look at that the RAM timings match to the SPD data.

[TrevMUN]

 

Run CPU-Z and look at that the RAM timings match to the SPD data.

 

 

I've never heard of this program until you mentioned it, and due to finals week I didn't have time to figure out what you meant by SPD data. I was going to try and set aside time to do that once finals ended, but wouldn't you know, I got yet another BSoD just earlier.

 

This is what WhoCrashed has to say about it:

 

On Fri 5/9/2014 7:57:57 AM GMT your computer crashed

crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini050914-01.dmp

This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x2E890)

Bugcheck code: 0xA (0x1C, 0x2, 0x1, 0xFFFFF800010F141F)

Error: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe

product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System

company: Microsoft Corporation

description: NT Kernel & System

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

This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.

The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.

 

Different error message than the previous crash. I didn't notice any particular file mentioned in the BSoD message this time.

 

Between now and the previous crash I had been doing a lot of work in 3D Studio Max and Adobe Illustrator working on projects for my classes at uni. However, when the crash happened I didn't have them open. I had Opera, Firefox, and Pale Moon open: Firefox had an active tab with a video on it. Steam was also running, as I was letting it update itself/my library of games, but I had no actual game programs going.

 

Also, since you mentioned requiring it last time, MagicAndre, I've included the .dmp file for this crash if anyone wants to look at it.

Mini050914-01.zip

 

EDIT: Okay, I just downloaded, installed, and ran CPU-Z to find out what MagicAndre meant by the SPD and RAM timings. I'm not entirely sure what it is that needs to match.

 

All four RAM sticks report a timings table of 333 MHz (JEDEC #2), 400 MHz (JEDEC #3), 400 MHz (EPP #1), and 333 MHz (EPP #2). All four sticks have a max bandwidth of PC2-6400 (400 MHz) and are using EPP 1.0. There is no difference in any of them that CPU-Z reports.

Edited May 9, 2014 by TrevMUN

[MagicAndre1981]

the crash happens in steam.exe while doing GDI operation (win32k!vFillGRectDIB32BGRA):

********************************************************************************                                                                             **                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    **                                                                             ********************************************************************************IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (a)An attempt was made to access a pageable (or completely invalid) address at aninterrupt request level (IRQL) that is too high.  This is usuallycaused by drivers using improper addresses.If a kernel debugger is available get the stack backtrace.Arguments:Arg1: 000000000000001c, memory referencedArg2: 0000000000000002, IRQLArg3: 0000000000000001, bitfield :	bit 0 : value 0 = read operation, 1 = write operation	bit 3 : value 0 = not an execute operation, 1 = execute operation (only on chips which support this level of status)Arg4: fffff800010f141f, address which referenced memoryDebugging Details:------------------WRITE_ADDRESS: GetUlongPtrFromAddress: unable to read from fffff800011db3c0GetUlongFromAddress: unable to read from fffff800011db3e0 000000000000001c CURRENT_IRQL:  2FAULTING_IP: nt!MiRestoreTransitionPte+9ffffff800`010f141f 83411cff        add     dword ptr [rcx+1Ch],0FFFFFFFFhCUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT:  1DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID:  DRIVER_FAULTBUGCHECK_STR:  0xAPROCESS_NAME:  Steam.exeSTACK_TEXT:  00 nt!KeBugCheckEx01 nt!KiBugCheckDispatch02 nt!KiPageFault03 nt!MiRestoreTransitionPte04 nt!MiRemovePageFromList05 nt!MiRemoveZeroPage06 nt!MiResolveDemandZeroFault07 nt!MiResolveProtoPteFault08 nt!MiDispatchFault09 nt!MmAccessFault0a nt!KiPageFault0b win32k!vFillGRectDIB32BGRA0c win32k!bRectangleMesh0d win32k!EngGradientFill0e win32k!GreGradientFill0f win32k!NtGdiGradientFill10 nt!KiSystemServiceCopyEnd11 0x012 nt!KiCallUserMode13 0x014 0x0IMAGE_NAME:  win32k.sysFAILURE_BUCKET_ID:  X64_0xA_win32k!vFillGRectDIB32BGRA+36dFAILURE_ID_HASH_STRING:  km:x64_0xa_win32k!vfillgrectdib32bgra+36d

nt!MiRestoreTransitionPte still looks like RAM issues.

 

Post some pictures of CPU-Z, please.

[TrevMUN]

Argh, it happened again not even five hours later! This time I got an entirely different BSoD error message, though. Here's what WhoCrashed says:

 

On Fri 5/9/2014 12:09:18 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini050914-02.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x2E890)
Bugcheck code: 0xC5 (0xFFFFFADD991B37A8, 0x2, 0x1, 0xFFFFF800011A9B28)
Error: DRIVER_CORRUPTED_EXPOOL
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This indicates that the system attempted to access invalid memory at a process IRQL that was too high.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem. This might be a case of memory corruption. More often memory corruption happens because of software errors in buggy drivers, not because of faulty RAM modules.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.

 

As far as what I was doing: I had launched Steam again to let it finish updating itself/my games library. I opened a few games just to poke at them (such as the Minimum open beta, to see if I could run it--and I can). Ace Combat Assault Horizon for the PC was the other game I opened briefly. Unlike Minimum, ACAH's screen would flicker black occasionally. I shut the game down after a minute of poking at its options.

 

The crash happened all of a sudden an hour or two later when I had Opera, Firefox, Winamp, and OpenOffice open. The sound from Winamp hung in a looping state.

 

Here's the .dmp file for this crash.

Mini050914-02.zip

 

the crash happens in steam.exe while doing GDI operation (win32k!vFillGRectDIB32BGRA):nt!MiRestoreTransitionPte still looks like RAM issues.

 

Post some pictures of CPU-Z, please.

 

Here you go.

CPU-Z Information.zip

 

EDIT: Should I also post the dmp files from all the previous crashes since March?

Edited May 10, 2014 by TrevMUN

[MagicAndre1981]

this time the crash happens while doing pool allocations (driver memory):

********************************************************************************                                                                             **                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    **                                                                             ********************************************************************************DRIVER_CORRUPTED_EXPOOL (c5)An attempt was made to access a pageable (or completely invalid) address at aninterrupt request level (IRQL) that is too high.  This iscaused by drivers that have corrupted the system pool.  Run the driververifier against any new (or suspect) drivers, and if that doesn't turn upthe culprit, then use gflags to enable special pool.Arguments:Arg1: fffffadd991b37a8, memory referencedArg2: 0000000000000002, IRQLArg3: 0000000000000001, value 0 = read operation, 1 = write operationArg4: fffff800011a9b28, address which referenced memoryDebugging Details:------------------BUGCHECK_STR:  0xC5_2CURRENT_IRQL:  2FAULTING_IP: nt!ExAllocatePoolWithTag+c74fffff800`011a9b28 48897008        mov     qword ptr [rax+8],rsiCUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT:  2DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID:  DRIVER_FAULTPROCESS_NAME:  realplay.exeSTACK_TEXT:  00 nt!KeBugCheckEx01 nt!KiBugCheckDispatch02 nt!KiPageFault03 nt!ExAllocatePoolWithTag04 nt!ObpAllocateObject05 nt!ObCreateObject06 nt!IopParseDevice07 nt!ObpLookupObjectName08 nt!ObOpenObjectByName09 nt!IopCreateFile0a nt!CcPfGetSectionObject0b nt!CcPfPrefetchSections0c nt!CcPfPrefetchScenario0d nt!CcPfBeginAppLaunch0e nt!PspUserThreadStartup0f nt!KiStartUserThread10 nt!KiStartUserThreadReturn11 0x0SYMBOL_NAME:  nt!ExAllocatePoolWithTag+c74FAILURE_BUCKET_ID:  X64_0xC5_2_nt!ExAllocatePoolWithTag+c74BUCKET_ID:  X64_0xC5_2_nt!ExAllocatePoolWithTag+c74

run the driver verifier to get new and better dumps:

 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/244617

 

 

The RAM timings are ok. You can also try to increase the RAM voltage a BIT to 1.825V.

[MHz]

Note that GDI is graphics related which could be a clue.

 

I had some problems with nVidia drivers late december. I was getting system freezing from nvlddmkm with id 14 in the event log.

 

I noted the bad drivers to a txt file.

314.22 OK320.18 Issue331.82 Issue332.21 Current running on which are OK

So that may help you try versions that gave me no issues. I have not tried the latest nVidia drivers yet to know whether a issue exists with them and not sure from the bad experience if I want to update yet when things are working well. I have 2x GeForce GTX 560 Ti graphic cards on the PC.

[Andromeda43]

Older XP machines are starting to exhibit all sorts of aging problems.  Mine is no exception.

I built my own XP machine in 2005.

 

First it's the ram that's old, dirty and basically shorting out.  It's been blasted by dirt off of the

CPU cooler, for how many years?

I fix that by washing the ram with soap and water, then rinsing it thoroughly in Alcohol and after

a thorough drying, polish up the edge connector and reinstall it.  Over 90% of the time, that

fixes bad ram.

 

Next problem, is the Chinese capacitors on the motherboard and in the PSU, that short out, bulge and leak.

When I looked at my 9 yr old MOBO, under a good light, I found several capacitors that

were bulging.  I have new caps on order.  I removed the bad ones just today.  That's not

for the faint of heart or beginners, but it can be done, so save an ailing mobo.

 

Just seeing my trusty old PC all scattered out on the work bench is enough to make a grown man cry.  Almost.

 

Good Luck,

B)

[TrevMUN]

run the driver verifier to get new and better dumps:

 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/244617

 

Looking into this now. Should I just run it with standard options, or ... ?

 

 

Note that GDI is graphics related which could be a clue.

 

I had some problems with nVidia drivers late december. I was getting system freezing from nvlddmkm with id 14 in the event log.

So that may help you try versions that gave me no issues. I have not tried the latest nVidia drivers yet to know whether a issue exists with them and not sure from the bad experience if I want to update yet when things are working well. I have 2x GeForce GTX 560 Ti graphic cards on the PC.

 

Well, I hadn't actually updated my graphics card drivers until the rash of BSoDs started happening. However, I will be interested to find out if there's some kind of driver corruption going on. If there is, though, you'd think that uinstalling the driver entirely combined with nVidia's Clean Install option would have taken care of it ...

 

All I know is, I'm regretting having ever installed Renegade-X's open beta, however fun I found the game and however much I love Command and Conquer. (There has been at least one verified issue: Renegade-X's Open Beta 1 would delete the entire Start Menu folder for the current user when uninstalled, so it leaves open the possibility that Renegade-X's devs left something in game that's caused this issue.)

 

 

Older XP machines are starting to exhibit all sorts of aging problems.  Mine is no exception.

I built my own XP machine in 2005.

 

My rig's parts aren't as old as that. The oldest parts on the rig at present are actually the RAM and CPU, both from 2008. The motherboard is from 2009, the video card is from 2011, and the hard drives are from 2012.

 

I am looking forward to overhauling this machine with something based around Haswell-E or Skylake once they hit the marketplace ... Most likely Skylake, since by that time DDR4 prices are expected to start coming down from premium and it gives me more time to build up the funds for the overhaul. (My machine will still be using XP64 though!)

Edited May 12, 2014 by TrevMUN

[TrevMUN]

Still haven't run the driver verifier yet, been too busy with a move and several end-of-semester things going on at once. However, the day after moving my rig to the new place, I woke up to Acronis Drive Monitor alerting me that a high-risk critical event had occurred at 5:00 AM my time:

 

"The file system structure on the disk is corrupt and unusable. Please run the chkdsk utility on the volume Primary Drive."

Error code 55. Primary Drive is my C: drive, of course. It's the first time I've ever seen this happen, at least for as long as I've been using Acronis Drive Monitor. If it happened on the older drives I've had before then, I'd never known about it.

 

Anyway, I looked this up at Microsoft's technet, then ran chckntfs. The drive is indeed "dirty;" my secondary drive isn't.

 

I'm in the middle of making a new copy/backup of my files to a USB drive as I write this. I haven't yet run chkdsk /x (or more likely, have it schedule a chkdsk run when I restart) because I wanted to confer with you guys on some things:

 

• Is chkdsk the best tool for the job in this case? Would it be better for me to get Spinrite and run that?
• Do you guys think just copying my personal and/or necessary files to a USB drive is adequate in this case? Should I be using some kind of hard drive imaging software like Acronis TrueImage or something, if the corrupt file system has led to certain files "disappearing?"
• I may just buy a new hard drive, create a fresh install of XP64, and start over given the problems I've had with that BSoD issue. Is that wise at this point? Is this error a sign that the drive may be going bad?
• If I do start fresh on a new hard drive, would the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard copy over things like drivers/etc.? If the BSoDs have been caused by a bad driver, I don't want to migrate them to a fresh copy and keep having the same problems ...

[jaclaz]

Is chkdsk the best tool for the job in this case?

Yes.

Would it be better for me to get Spinrite and run that?

No.

Do you guys think just copying my personal and/or necessary files to a USB drive is adequate in this case?

No.

Should I be using some kind of hard drive imaging software like Acronis TrueImage or something, if the corrupt file system has led to certain files "disappearing?"

Yes.

I may just buy a new hard drive, create a fresh install of XP64, and start over given the problems I've had with that BSoD issue. Is that wise at this point?

It may be wise, but won't change the current status (botched/unknown) of your curret file system.

 

Is this error a sign that the drive may be going bad?

Yes, I would say it is a symptom, not necessarily when you start sneezing you get a cold and this develops into pneumonia , but taking a couple of aspirins and going to bed won't do any harm .

Make an image of the disk, NOW!

 

If I do start fresh on a new hard drive, would the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard copy over things like drivers/etc.?

No.

jaclaz