Sony-Viao BSOD

Hello all,

I have owned a Sony Viao for about 2 years now and all has been fine and dandy untill the recent Direct X update. Since the update my laptop keep doing rather erratic Blue screens when being used. On a side note the machine runs fine in safe mode and all attempts to rectify the problem are being made through that mode.
So far i have tried a system restore which didnt work and also re-installed Windows which also did not solve the problem. Im using Windows 7 64 bit home premium.
Anyway if anyone has any insight as how to maybe solve the problem the help would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

 

Thanks for the quick reply, the model no is VPCEB3C5E. I havent updated the drivers manually so i dont know if they have automatically updated themselves in the past or not. I do use a software program called Driver Agent that tells you which drivers are outdated and my video-card was always upto date according to that.

 

Can i do all this from safe mode or will i have to reboot into normal mode?

 

I'm confused. You said

. There has been no recent update to Directx.
http://majorgeeks.com/Microsoft_DirectX_d2924.html
this is from 2010.
I did see a redistributable dated early 2011 so the "newest" is at least a year old.
What exactly did you update?

 

If it's a dual display driver model (switchable graphics), Intel/ATI, it could be a problem with driver-switching.

It's important that we see some of the most recent minidumps. How to enable minidumps Minidumps should be saved in C:\Windows\Minidump, copy the latest 3-5 onto the Desktop, zip (right-click them and select 'Send to compressed folder') them and attach the resulting zip file.

Sony is one of the laptop makers that you shouldn't try to use the standard ATI/AMD display drivers on, they may clash with the built-in Sony settings.

The latest updates and drivers for the laptop should be here.

Have you tested with the built-in VAIO Care diagnostics and troubleshooting? If so, can you give us the results please?

 

Im no sure exactly, when looking back on recent system restore points i had x2 direct X updates.

The only thing i can think of that may have triggered an update is when i installed and launched a game called Stronghold Kingdoms through Steam. Obviously the game uses rather basic graphics so is it possible new (older) drivers were needed to play?

 

So far i have installed the new display drivers that Satrow linked (thank you) i am currentley still in safe mode so not sure yet if the problem is fixed. just wondering if there are any other drivers i should install that might help?

Also i have uploaded the minidumps should you wish to look at them, and again i just want to thank you guys for your time and help :cool

 

The dumps are all the same type and error, 0x116. This is a very common error and a difficult one to troubleshoot. Here's the generic troubleshooting page from AMD/ATI: http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticle...TIKMDAGhasstoppedrespondingerrormessages.aspx Note that this type of error has been around a long time and nVidia graphics cards also suffer from it.

Try to follow the steps on that page, you might get lucky

Code:

Microsoft (R) Windows Debugger Version 6.2.8229.0 AMD64
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.


Loading Dump File [C:\Windows\Minidump\041412-16442-01.dmp]
Mini Kernel Dump File: Only registers and stack trace are available

Symbol search path is: SRV*c:\symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols
Executable search path is: 
Windows 7 Kernel Version 7600 MP (4 procs) Free x64
Product: WinNt, suite: TerminalServer SingleUserTS Personal
Built by: 7600.16617.amd64fre.win7_gdr.100618-1621
Machine Name:
Kernel base = 0xfffff800`02e5c000 PsLoadedModuleList = 0xfffff800`03099e50
Debug session time: Sat Apr 14 10:25:27.439 2012 (UTC + 1:00)
System Uptime: 0 days 0:12:41.048
Loading Kernel Symbols
...............................................................
................................................................
................................
Loading User Symbols
Loading unloaded module list
......
*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.

BugCheck 116, {fffffa80082a54e0, fffff88004a38e44, 0, 2}

*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for atikmdag.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for atikmdag.sys
Probably caused by : atikmdag.sys ( atikmdag+12e44 )

Followup: MachineOwner
---------

3: kd> !analyze -v
*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE (116)
Attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout failed.
Arguments:
Arg1: fffffa80082a54e0, Optional pointer to internal TDR recovery context (TDR_RECOVERY_CONTEXT).
Arg2: fffff88004a38e44, The pointer into responsible device driver module (e.g. owner tag).
Arg3: 0000000000000000, Optional error code (NTSTATUS) of the last failed operation.
Arg4: 0000000000000002, Optional internal context dependent data.

Debugging Details:
------------------


FAULTING_IP: 
atikmdag+12e44
fffff880`04a38e44 48895c2408      mov     qword ptr [rsp+8],rbx

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID:  GRAPHICS_DRIVER_TDR_FAULT

CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT:  1

BUGCHECK_STR:  0x116

PROCESS_NAME:  System

CURRENT_IRQL:  0

STACK_TEXT:  
fffff880`059ea9c8 fffff880`050a7ef8 : 00000000`00000116 fffffa80`082a54e0 fffff880`04a38e44 00000000`00000000 : nt!KeBugCheckEx
fffff880`059ea9d0 fffff880`050a7c02 : fffff880`04a38e44 fffffa80`082a54e0 fffffa80`076cf800 fffffa80`076ee010 : dxgkrnl!TdrBugcheckOnTimeout+0xec
fffff880`059eaa10 fffff880`0514ef07 : fffffa80`082a54e0 00000000`00000000 fffffa80`076cf800 fffffa80`076ee010 : dxgkrnl!TdrIsRecoveryRequired+0x1a2
fffff880`059eaa40 fffff880`05178b75 : 00000000`ffffffff 00000000`0000bbba 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000002 : dxgmms1!VidSchiReportHwHang+0x40b
fffff880`059eab20 fffff880`051772bb : 00000000`00000102 00000000`00000000 00000000`0000bbba 00000000`00000000 : dxgmms1!VidSchiCheckHwProgress+0x71
fffff880`059eab50 fffff880`0514a2c6 : ffffffff`ff676980 fffffa80`076ee010 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : dxgmms1!VidSchiWaitForSchedulerEvents+0x1fb
fffff880`059eabf0 fffff880`05176e7a : 00000000`00000000 fffffa80`077b6d50 00000000`00000080 fffffa80`076ee010 : dxgmms1!VidSchiScheduleCommandToRun+0x1da
fffff880`059ead00 fffff800`03170c06 : 00000000`fffffc32 fffffa80`076ff220 fffffa80`03573890 fffffa80`076ff220 : dxgmms1!VidSchiWorkerThread+0xba
fffff880`059ead40 fffff800`02eaac26 : fffff800`03046e80 fffffa80`076ff220 fffff800`03054c40 fffff880`0146aa90 : nt!PspSystemThreadStartup+0x5a
fffff880`059ead80 00000000`00000000 : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : nt!KiStartSystemThread+0x16


STACK_COMMAND:  .bugcheck ; kb

FOLLOWUP_IP: 
atikmdag+12e44
fffff880`04a38e44 48895c2408      mov     qword ptr [rsp+8],rbx

SYMBOL_NAME:  atikmdag+12e44

FOLLOWUP_NAME:  MachineOwner

MODULE_NAME: atikmdag

IMAGE_NAME:  atikmdag.sys

DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP:  4b7101fa

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID:  X64_0x116_IMAGE_atikmdag.sys

BUCKET_ID:  X64_0x116_IMAGE_atikmdag.sys

Followup: MachineOwner
---------

EDIT: Further steps here by Mike Burr: http://mikemstech.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/troubleshooting-0x116-videotdrerror.html, he's running a check on a nVidia crash but otherwise the steps are comparable.

 

Thanks again Satrow, i will follow those steps tommorrow when i get a chance and let you know how i get on.

Just an update on my current situation. After installing the new display drivers i rebooted in normal mode and everything was fine for about an hour. I even ran all of the viao care diagnostics and everything passed but thats the good news. Bad news is my screen blacked out after an hour and i got a Display driver has stopped working and recovered message. Next time i used the machine i got another BSOD after about 3 minutes this time giving me a new message "contact your system admin or technical support group for assistance"

anyway ive attached the minidump for the crash also.

 

The BSOD types are the same; run through as many of those troubleshooting steps as you can over the next day or two.

I suspect it is something Steam has changed, run DXdiag and look at the list of DX files (2nd tab?), check and list any that are Beta or non-Retail.

 

Hello again gloozit, and yes i did install the driver you supplied me with (thank you) And i attempted to install that chipset but the instructions it supplied me with seemed off. It was asking me to look for drivers that i couldnt find! even though i seemed to be in the right place :cry