Blue Screen Of Death

Not entirely sure if this will end up being a hardware or software issue, but going by the error message I'm getting I figured I'd start here.

So recently I've been getting this blue screen of death on my computer, where it crashes and I'm forced to restart. Now, even though all the hardware in my system is fairly new (I7 cpu, 16gigs of RAM, nice ASUS motherboard and a GeForce GTX 1060), I'm currently running a build of Windows 7 Home installed back in 2012. Because it takes forever for me to configure and install things when I do a fresh OS wipe, I've been meticulously maintenancing and keeping this system up in order to avoid that. So far it's been fine, even through several major hardware swap outs (including a motherboard switch). It didn't take at first, but when I changed the storage mode over to IDE in the bios it finally kicked back in. But that was several months back, and this blue screen error is new as of this week. Here is the message, via a screen cap of my monitor I took on my phone:



I can tell you nothing has really changed about my setup recently, I just think that things are starting to come to a head and I'm hoping I can rectify them without having to do a system rebuild or re-install Windows. I'm in the middle of a major project and that is kind of out of the question right now.

Here is a list of everything I have tried to do to fix things, and my notes on my findings that I hope will help give you good folks a jumping off point in helping me narrow this down. They are as follows:

• TRIED - Since it said something about dumping the memory in the error message, I decided to pull all my RAM sticks and swap them out individually (but kept them in pairs). I had four installed. That did not seem to help.
• TRIED -I tried disabling everything that was running at start-up and disabled all scheduled tasks. Again, no help.
• TRIED -I even tried power draining the PC with the power strip off and popped the battery out of the mother board for several hours, but to no avail.
• TRIED -I tried updating my video card drivers, but still nothing.
• TRIED -I reset my bios, as a last resort and a long shot. But sadly, no change.
• NOTE - The problem only seems to rear its ugly head when I render out videos in After Effects or use my Plex media server, so perhaps its video related?
• NOTE - Sometimes during POST my start up will freeze at the Windows splash screen (where the four color blocks come together to make the logo), but after a restart its fine. Related issue? Not sure.

I'm stumped, and I know it's really hard to diagnose such an 0pen-ended problem via a forum thread. But I'm willing to try and do anything necessary to get this addressed and up and running. Please point me in the right direction.

 

It's the CPU self-reporting an non-correctable error it's detected, usually hardware (CPU/'board/RAM/PSU, ... ) but maybe driver corruption whilst held in memory: https://carrona.org/bsodindx.html#0x00000124

I'd start by checking for dodgy 3rd party drivers/disabling any auto-starting 'net-connected software, etc. Then move on to searching for updated hardware drivers + checking Reliability Monitor. Try to get it as clean as possible, don't run/connect anything that isn't needed for that job.

Check temps and voltages in the BIOS, whilst running at idle in Windows, whilst stress testing - I'd use HWiNFO64 set for sensors only.

 

So I've spent the last several days going down as much of the check list above as I could on my own. I wanted to ensure I eliminated as many of the possibilities as I could, but unfortunately things have not improved. I did what you said, by starting with a minimal setup. I unplugged everything from my PC expect my monitor, power supply and mouse/keyboard. Then I disabled ALL non-Microsoft start up items to do several tests. Things are definitely loading quicker into my desktop, but I still get periodical periods where the POST hangs at the Windows logo. My temperatures are also fine, as I just did a thermal paste clean/reapplying about a month ago. Temps are holding at normal.

It seems, based on this behavior, it's some kind of corruption in the Windows OS (because of it being such an old build from 2012 I've just kept maintenance on, plus all the hardware swaps and different drivers getting overlayed one on top another). I have had at least two motherboard change outs, and I had to change the storage settings to IDE to get to load at start up. Is there an easy way to do some kind of repair or refresh of the standard Windows drivers without overwriting anything with my system settings or apps? Perhaps with some kind of recovery console or boot disk (I still have the original Windows 7 install disc as well).

Thanks!

 

Hello,

Have you tried
Tweaking.com - Windows Repair 4.3.0

What happens when you run sfc /scannow as a Command Prompt with admin. rites.


Good luck

s.

 

Here are the instructions to repair Windows 7.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/243190/how_to_repair_a_corrupt_windows_7_installation.html

You'll have to re-install all the Windows updates.

 

I went with the repair option for Windows 7 using my original disk, after going through and backing up all my data and clearing out some temp files (to help make things run smoothly). Unfortunately, during the compatibility check portion, I get this error that prevents me from moving forward. Please help, as I feel this is my best shot at getting things back on track:

 

UPDATE TO ABOVE:

I have found that the secret to getting this to work is to uninstall Service Pack 1, then put it back via Windows Update after the repair. Only problem is the uninstall button is not available in the Control Panel/Programs menu, and using the line command via the command prompt with admin rights gives me a "This service pack is required for your computer to run." Any thoughts on how I can get rid of that temporarily so my older install disc will move forward past that to the repairs/upgrades?

 

It seems the original install included SP1.
You have to use a disc with the same version of Windows 7 that was originally installed.

 

How about trying the Repair install after removing and fully uninstalling the 'problem' devices, XBox 360 controller and Oculus Rift?

 

UPDATE #2

FYI, I was able to get past the above issue by simply downloading an original ISO of Windows 7 Home Premium from the MS website using my old product key (very handy). So I was able to do the upgrade from the disk to do a refresh, after which I've been re-running Windows Update all day long in order to get caught back up. Everything was running along smooth until I ran into a major .Net Framewok issue that's had me pulling my hair out the last several hours. But since it's software related, I'm picking that up here. Please take a look if anyone things they can help. Link here

 

UPDATE #3

Sad to report that this did not work. Came home to find yet another blue screen crash. So before I just give up and format, is it possible it could be the HDD going bad? What if I tried to restore from a previous disc image on a new drive?

 

Way back at post #2 Satrow mentioned

You appear to be trying to fix a hardware error by reinstalling Windows (software). That never works.

You need to start testing the hardware, not installing Windows 7 again.
You pulled RAM but did you test the sticks?
Have you tested the hard drive?

 

UPDATE:

So I've been going down the list of all possible hardware errors, testing each piece one at time (per the suggestions above). HDD is clear according to my Western Digital Tools app, so is my RAM according to Memtest86. I'm currently on my motherboard, where I ran into something that might be related (but might not, not sure).

When I use the DirectX Diagnostic Tool to try and get the model number of my mobo, it crashes with a mskssrv.sys error/blue screen. When I reload, it says that DirectShow was the cause, and I can bypass it (which does work). Before, the blue screen just gave me a general hardware error. Now this is very specific. Could this be related? Could I have finally pinpointed the cause of the blue screen crash? If so, what's the fix?

 

mskssrv.sys = MS Streaming Service proxy, probably a driver to push the Desktop display remotely for remote access, maybe also used for 3rd party streaming (Oculus Rift/Plex media server?). The memory minidump or the STOP error ~
(0x50, 0x124, 0xA, etc.) would be useful.

 

Strange news. So I took two of my other internal Seagate HDD's out of my case and replaced/consolidated them with one big Western Digital 3TB drive. Something I've been wanting to do for a while, so I have all my files on one disk. Now I'm able to load DirectX Diagnostic Tool with no blue screen crash. Why in the world would that stop just because my other HDDs were removed?

 

Any thoughts any one? I'm trying to figure this out, to help narrow down what could have been a potential problem on one of those other drives (before I re-use them in other builds).

 

Post the full SMART stats from each of those suspect Seagate drives, use both the official SeaTools and the trial version of Hard Disk Sentinel.