Attack of the BSOD's

S

Scorpio721

New Member
Hi ALL,
I suspect my computer has faulty memory but need help determining if is indeed the case. Recently (within a week) i have installed a new SATA DVD Writer and even formatted and reinstalled windows (<-- this was after DVD writer installation).
However after a good while of being on my computer throws a seemingly completely random BSOD (out of a select few).

The Latest Attack
I decided to see what BSODs I got if I kept restarting. The first would occur from Windows, at no apparent time.

First BSOD was "Execute in Non-Executable Memory", so I pressed restart.
As soon as the windows logo comes into view another BSOD came up this time "Page Fault in non-paged Area", so again I pressed restart.
Then at the same bootup place as before another BSOD appeared this time "sptd.sys" was at fault with a "STOP" error. Again I restarted and this time I got "sptd.sys" again.

The Quickfix
To get past this bombardment of BSODs every time i restarted - i decided to turn off my pc and leave it for 20-30 secs and turn it back and it worked!

My Reasoning
After the second time of getting the BSODs - i believed it to be a driver error because of the timing of the BSODs on restart and the fact that both occasions it involved a sys driver (one relating to daemon tools "sptd" and one relating to wireless adapter). However after the latest BSODs I believe it might be a memory problem, what do you think? Please Help!

PC Configuration
> Intel Pentium E5200 Dual Core Processor (running @ 2.5GHz)
> ASUS P5Q SE2 Motherboard
> 2.00GB RAM (2x1GB PC2-6400 Dual-Channel)
> 2xSATA HDD
> 2xSATA CD/DVD Writer
> PCI SATA Controller for Ext. SATA HDD
> nVidia GeForce GTS 250 PCI-Express Graphics Card
> Windows XP SP3

Thank You for your time and expertise
 
If you think you have RAM problems try running http://www.memtest.org/, it sounds like a memory error especially since it appears to be a different driver each time but it's easier to check it before going out to buy new RAM. It could be a hard drive problem as well.
 
Thanks Cromewell I'd thought about using that tool.

I know that MemTest is by all means not proof that any memory is fully functional. However I have done as suggested and ran the memtest for a good 1hr 30 mins (estimated) which it managed to run three passes that where error free passes.
I also ran the Microsoft RAM check tool which ran for around the same time also doing about three passes of extended checks which also returned no errors.

Finally I ran ESTool for Samsung HDD (said to detect 98% of faulty HDD) on my HDD which ran 3 passes including deep surface scans - result was no errors.

Before the tests I got BSOD for "NV4_mini.sys" (this time my graphics driver - I did uninstall my graphics drivers, reboot and install latest signed drivers - but I don't think they are the cause of the BSODs.) As it happened I was right because I another BSOD later this time "USBPort.sys" (windows driver)

Any suggestions anyone?
 
How long after the fresh install of windows did it start blue screening? What make and model of power supply do you have? I first assumed it was a memory issue (still may be) But now i'm concerned it may be psu problem.

However, remove the memory and reseat them. Blow out the slots before reinserting memory.
 
+1 for reseating and cleaning slots;

however sometimes 1-2 hours is not enough to sniff out a memory problem, i had one memory problem plague me for months, had to leave the system running memtest for EIGHT hours to find that the stick was bad. yes that pissed me off good, sometimes more time is better than less, recommend just reseating em, and let her run the test overnight, if you have errors they will show up by morning.
 
It could be faulty RAM but in my opinion I think it is the power supply or motherboard giving you problems.

Symptoms that a motherboard failing can appear as:

The system begins to boot up but then powers down

An error message displays during the boot. Investigate this message.

The system becomes unstable, hangs or freezes at odd times

Intermittent Windows or hard drive errors occur

Components on motherboards or devices connected to it don't work

Symptoms that a power supply is bad can appear as:

The computer sometimes halts during start up. Then after several tries it boots sucessfully.

Error codes come and go during start up.

Computer stops, hangs or even restarts for no reason

Memory errors appear intermittently

The power supply overheats and becomes hot to the touch
 
2048Megabytes said:
It could be faulty RAM but in my opinion I think it is the power supply or motherboard giving you problems.

Symptoms that a motherboard failing can appear as:

The system begins to boot up but then powers down

An error message displays during the boot. Investigate this message.

The system becomes unstable, hangs or freezes at odd times

Intermittent Windows or hard drive errors occur

Components on motherboards or devices connected to it don't work

Symptoms that a power supply is bad can appear as:

The computer sometimes halts during start up. Then after several tries it boots sucessfully.

Error codes come and go during start up.

Computer stops, hangs or even restarts for no reason

Memory errors appear intermittently

The power supply overheats and becomes hot to the touch
Click to expand...

Also with PSU's, they can shut off the entire system under load (games, benchmarks) and just plain die/blow up.
 
To cover All the posts that I have not responded to.
> within 48 Hours after WinXP installation (with complete format of HDD not just a quick one) the First BSOD occurred.
> the system does hang for about 5-15 secs when entering a specific folder - ain't figured out why but i ain't hanging anywhere else, noticeably so it might not be related.

I will try reseating memory then removing one using that for a while and then try the next memory module - might be a while before i get back to you on the result of the test. Might even be longer if everything works.

I will also get back to you on my PSU Information!, however if it is a PSU problem is there anyway to be sure with buying one, replacing and seeing if BSODs occur.

Thanks ALL of you - hope it is just a faulty memory module.
 
If you replace the power supply unit and the errors are still occuring it is likely you have a faulty motherboard. If errors do still occur after replacing the power supply you might want to test the new power supply in another system to see if errors occur in the other system.

Be sure you buy a good quality power supply. There are a lot of poor quality power supply manufacturers out on the market today.
 
I suspect that your PSU is giving you problems. After that I would say the next candidate is RAM but before doing any tests or anything I would try to test the system after your last hardware upgrade which was the new SATA DVD drive. Just unplug the sata and power cable from the drive and check if the system BSOD. Then begin a memtest for at least 8 hours.
 
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