Random BSODs and system crashes, probably driver related

Hi,

I recently got a new laptop and it's been having some problems that i think are caused by a faulty driver.

The first occurrence of the problem was a BSOD. This happened twice more on two consecutive days, but i haven't had any more since then (about a week ago).
Here are the details:

Code:

Date/Time               Name                      Code        Parameter 1        Parameter 2        Parameter 3        Parameter 4        Driver+Address
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3/08/2013 7:48:15 PM    SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION  0x0000003b  00000000`c0000005  fffff800`02ffef35  fffff880`0b117c10  00000000`00000000  ntoskrnl.exe+75c00
2/08/2013 8:00:00 PM    MEMORY_MANAGEMENT         0x0000001a  00000000`00041284  00000000`0b7e0001  00000000`00001e9a  fffff700`01080000  ntoskrnl.exe+75c00
1/08/2013 7:56:05 PM    MEMORY_MANAGEMENT         0x0000001a  00000000`00005003  fffff700`01080000  00000000`0000c4ea  00000000`05843009  win32k.sys+8d250

The second problem is that sometimes the computer just locks up completely, and i have to do a forced shutdown (hold down power button).
This happened once overnight while i was downloading something, but it also happened right in front of my eyes the other day. I was moving the mouse using the track pad when the mouse (and everything else) just froze.
And today the computer just rebooted itself, no BSOD or anything.

Another problem i get, which seems to follow the above two, is that the wireless stops working on the computer. This problem seems to resolve itself if i reboot the machine.
Here are the details of the network adapters:
1. Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller, version 7.67.1226.2012
2. Realtek RTL8723AE Wireless LAN 802.11n PCI-E NIC, version 2007.6.1123.2012
There is also some VMware virtual adapters, as i have installed VMware Player


I took a look at the Windows event log after rebooting, but the only error i see (other than the forced shutdown), is something to do with WMI

Because the BSODs are happening in the kernel, it doesn't pinpoint exactly what driver is causing them. And i'm assuming there is only one thing here causing all these problems.

Is there any tool i can run to find out exactly what driver is causing the problem? I know there is WinDbg for analyzing the minidump files, but i don't know if that will tell me the root cause, or just where the crash happened (in the kernel). And it won't explain the other crashes. Is there anything else i can do?

thanks

 

"What make and model Laptop do you have?"
EON15-S.
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4800MQ CPU @ 2.70GHz, 2701 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date: American Megatrends Inc. 4.6.5, 26/06/2013
System Model: P15SM
Installed Physical Memory (RAM): 8.00 GB
Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770M

"What Windows version is installed?"
OS Name: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Version: 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601

"Is the Windows version you are using now the original one that came with the Laptop?"
Yes

"Have you used any driver updater applications at any point on this laptop to update your drivers?"
No

"If using Windows 7 or 8 then are all the software apps you have installed compatible with those OS's?"
I imagine so, but i'm not sure how i'd find out.

"If you uninstall VMware Player does your PC work ok?"
Since the problem is fairly intermittent, i doubt i could be sure. VMware did seem to be a likely cause, but in the past it's only caused problems when actually running a guest pc. But I actually haven't ran any yet, i only just installed Player.

 

Well the good news is that i haven't had any problems since i first posted.

 

I think the wireless stopping working is a different issue. It just happened again today after i was playing Crysis and it froze. I was able to kill the game, but then found that i had no wireless. Not just that, but the wireless adapter wasn't even showing in the Network Connections list (Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network Connections).

I did a repair/diagnostic and it said that wireless connectivity was turned off.
Here is the output of the Windows diagnostic tool.
It fixed the issue by simply turning whatever it was back on. But i have no idea how it got turned off in the first place, or how to tell it to always stay on.

EDIT: Just noticed this in the diagnostics -

So perhaps it is an issue with the driver, a bug which causes it to disable the wireless card.

 

More crashes, today and yesterday.
This time, it failed to even gather a minidump, it hung when rebooting and i had to force shutdown.
Yesterday's crash was an UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP (0x7f, 0x00000008, 0x80050033).

The good news is that i fixed the WMI error, by installing Microsoft Fix 50688.

 

I just ran memtest86 on each ram stick individually (there are 2 sticks of 4GB) and they both passed. So i think the hardware is ok. But something seems to be corrupting memory, so maybe it's a bad driver. I just don't know which one or if there is a newer version (or possibly older version) which will fix it.

 

Dig into Device Manager's properties for your WiFi adapter and set it to never save power (always on). Also check in Control Panel, Power settings, Advanced that the WiFi adapter is set for always on (one setting may overrule another).

To dig deeper into your problems, carefully read and follow the instructions here, attach the requested zipped folder to your next reply.

We'll try to work out what's going on

 

Hi satrow,

I have set the WiFi to be always on ("Allow the computer to turn off this device" is unticked).
The power options have it set to maximum performance when plugged in (which the laptop always is).

Another thing is that the "Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter" also often has problems. Now, the device status just says "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)".

 

"Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)"
^ Even after a reboot?

Have you tried updating the WiFi drivers, run SFC /SCANNOW (3x with a reboot between each if the first run comes up with unfixed errors)?

 

Well, it just seems to start working at random times (possibly only after reboot). And the Realtek WiFi only seems to start working again after i power off the computer then turn on a few minutes later. To me, that sounds like a problem with the hardware.

Also, i ran SFC the other day, and it found nothing wrong. I also ran chkdsk, and there were no problems.