Computer randomly crashes

[Mehta23]

Other useful info:

[ This happened during the day when I thought I might have a problem with my PSU]


I had to remove one of my RAM sticks to get at the motherboard power cable. After checking that works, I rebooted my PC, but forgot to plug in the RAM again. Shut it down, put it back in and booted into the bios. I think I changed some settings around, and realised that there was no point ( changed to quiet mode) and then laoded up the optimised deafults. I then realsied that this would underfclock my RAM to 1333Mhz, not the specified 1600, so I went back in and OC'd it. Because Im an idiot , I clicked the wrong button and set it to 1800Mhz.

When I booted up with ram at 1800, I had a BSOD, and then when I changed it back to 1600, i was A-OK.

Just in case, I am going to run memtest tonight.

 

[Slug]

How do I know where the BOSD comes? Or should I have noted the time....

Just check the logs once you reboot; you'll have a good idea of when the BSOD occurred so will only have to look back a few minutes. It's been a long time since I experienced one myself, but I think they're logged as "critical". You can filter the different event logs by right-clicking on their name in the left panel and selecting "Filter current log...."

If the crash is caused by a low-level driver it's possible that a useful error log won't be generated, in which case you can examine the automatically-generated .dmp file with a tool such as BlueScreenViewer to find out which file(s) are at fault (no pun intended!)

I [...] then laoded up the optimised deafults. I then realsied that this would underfclock my RAM to 1333Mhz, not the specified 1600, so I went back in and OC'd it

I don't think the RAM is a problem tbh. The SPD rating on those modules is 1333MHz, and the SPD voltage is listed as 1.5V. However Corsair themselves state that the "tested" speed of 1600MHz required the same voltage, suggesting that the modules are well within tolerance at that clock speed.

 

[Mehta23]

I'd have thought that I just look for the critical files but there were a few and i got a bit confused.

But am I right in going into the application folder from the event viewer..?

 

[Mehta23]

I had a look , but there were no critical logs in the event viewer?

 

[Slug]

am I right in going into the application folder from the event viewer..?

There or System are where they are normally found, iirc.

I had a look , but there were no critical logs in the event viewer?

Check your /windows/temp directory for *.dmp files created around the time of the BSODs, and use BlueScreenViewer to see what caused them.

 

[Mehta23]

I looked for .dmp files in the folder - nothing.

Gonna try the program you linked me to.

Is the info I posted earlier not useful?

 

[Mehta23]

 

[alostpacket]

By those logs it looks like something with your hard drive. Might want to tun chkdsk just in case.

The How-To Geek Guide to Using Check Disk in Windows 7 or Vista - How-To Geek

Also may want to test your RAM with MemTest:
RAM - Test with Memtest86+ - Windows 7 Forums


By your description though, it sounds like the gfx card but those temps are not very high at all.

A couple of other questions:

Do you use norton AV?
Have you tried updating to more recent GFX drivers?


Your error on jan 1st-driver error)
https://www.google.com/search?q=0x000000c4

Your error on dec 30th-NTFS file error)
https://www.google.com/search?q=0x00000024

Other error on dec 30th-some kind of file error)
https://www.google.com/search?q=0x000000b3


:alberteinstein:

 

[Mehta23]

I tested my RAM before, and everything was fine. Shortly after these recent BSOD's, I did another test, but I only had time for a 50% check. I'll do another later on.

Yeah, I thought it could be the gfx card as I never had these problems before...

I use Avast and I forgot to uninstall Microsoft Security, so I have that there too.

I have updated the drivers , I think I did it yesterday or the day before.

Edit: I looked at the check drive thing... as my 1Tb hdd is nearly half full / half empty, I'll have to do this overnight or maybe in the morning.
I'll post my findings! Cheers

Edit Edit: Just forgot to mention that I havent had any major problems since the BSOD I posted about in here. I had some stuttering/pausing in TF2, but that might have been due to the sever

 

[Mehta23]

I did the check disk, but I had to go out midway. When I came back, my PC was at the Windows Log in page.

How do I check the results of the check?

 

[palmtree5]

There are instructions here on how to check the event log for the information

 

[Mehta23]

I found the results, doesn't seem like there's anything bad, it said it had made some changes....

Spoiler

Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.

A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 5)...
324096 file records processed. File verification completed.
322 large file records processed. 0 bad file records processed. 2 EA records processed. 60 reparse records processed. CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 5)...
389756 index entries processed. Index verification completed.
0 unindexed files scanned. 0 unindexed files recovered. CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 5)...
324096 file SDs/SIDs processed. Cleaning up 515 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 515 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 515 unused security descriptors.
Security descriptor verification completed.
32831 data files processed. CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
35459968 USN bytes processed. Usn Journal verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
324080 files processed. File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
133672629 free clusters processed. Free space verification is complete.
CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the
master file table (MFT) bitmap.
CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the volume bitmap.
Windows has made corrections to the file system.

976657407 KB total disk space.
441371476 KB in 287106 files.
140192 KB in 32832 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
455219 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
534690520 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
244164351 total allocation units on disk.
133672630 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:
00 f2 04 00 cd e1 04 00 b0 db 08 00 00 00 00 00 ................
1e 17 00 00 3c 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ....<...........
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................

Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.

 

[Speed Daemon]

I found the results, doesn't seem like there's anything bad, it said it had made some changes....

"CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the
master file table (MFT) bitmap.
CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the volume bitmap.
Windows has made corrections to the file system."

That MFT message is completely normal. The size of the MFT will change as needed. No problem there.

"Cleaning up 515 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9."

File 0x9 is a hidden file used by the NTFS file system. It's common to see "error" messages related to file 0x9, and 99.999% of the time it's just normal housekeeping. As long as you don't get it twice in a row, you're fine. Even if you do get it twice, you're usually OK. On rare occasions Windows versions prior to 7 had more serious file system problems when CHKDSK kept on returning errors. I haven't seen any major file system problems as of Windows 7.

 

[Mehta23]

SO I guess I'm good on the HDD then.

News:

Whilst in Tropico, the screen went black- again- and this time then went purpled. As before, my headphones stopped playing the music and instead just made a loud buzzing sound. Had to restart my PC again.

More news:

My RMA request from Scan has been accepted, so my card will be sent off this week maybe

Edit:

Went into Event VIewer to see if anything came up, the only errors around the time of the crash were these :

Service cannot be started. System.ApplicationException: Cannot start service. Service did not stop gracefully the last time it was run.
at BlueStacks.hyperDroid.Service.Service.OnStart(String[] args)
at System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.ServiceQueuedMainCallback(Object state)

Event filter with query "SELECT * FROM __InstanceModificationEvent WITHIN 60 WHERE TargetInstance ISA "Win32_Processor" AND TargetInstance.LoadPercentage > 99" could not be reactivated in namespace "//./root/CIMV2" because of error 0x80041003. Events cannot be delivered through this filter until the problem is corrected..

Could Bluestacks be the cause?

Edit Edit:

Found this

The BlueStacks Android Service service terminated with the following error:
An exception occurred in the service when handling the control request.

Which came up during the boot up after my crash... Obviously I'll try quitting/uninstalling it to see if it makes a difference...



Edit:Edit:Edit:

Disabled Bluestacks, and I also googled the Bluestacks error. In two pages, both OP's were told to use this tool
AdwCleaner Download


This is getting serious now, and I fully appreciate anyone's help or thoughts


One last thing:

Would using my GPU in the second PCIe x8 slot be the same as testing it in someone else's PC?

 

[EVGA_RobB]

Mehta23 - Can you try downloading and running EVGA OC Scanner? This should cause the GPU to crash if it is at fault, and will also show any artifacting that is happening with the card. We will get this sorted one way or another!

Link : EVGA | Software | EVGA OC Scanner

 

[Speed Daemon]

Would using my GPU in the second PCIe x8 slot be the same as testing it in someone else's PC?

Not quite, but since PCIe is a serial interface and not a bus, trying the card in the other PCIe slot would be a good check to find out if there's a hardware problem with the one you're using now.

 

[Mehta23]

Mehta23 - Can you try downloading and running EVGA OC Scanner? This should cause the GPU to crash if it is at fault, and will also show any artifacting that is happening with the card. We will get this sorted one way or another!

Link : EVGA | Software | EVGA OC Scanner

How long do I need to run it at? I guess opening it up and leaving it like that for a bit will be ok...

 

[dirtbikerr450]

Sometimes, just during normal use, my computer will crash and show a black screen. The sound goes and i can just hear a low pitched sound from the speakers.

It's happened in Chrome when I switched tabs and during a mission on GTA.

Any idea what could be the source of the problem?

GTA ? maybe

 

[Mehta23]

Well... Nearly every time I open it... I have to FC it nd then restart the game.

But it's happened in Chrome, Trópico and in the log in screen.

 

[Mehta23]

Just got an email saying the rma for my graphics card has been completed. Considering there is no parcel at my door, I guess they gave me a refund.

Also not sure if it's worth dedicating a whole thread to this/ any of my other threads are better suited to these questions:

Question is, now what do I do?

1. Buy another 670
2. Buy a different 670
3. Buy a 660Ti
4. Buy a 7970

No refund. Saw a DPD van on the way home. Opened the door to find the package containing a new gpu. Hopefully this one works.