The dreaded blue screen

[thom]

My new build is complete. My tech guy says everything is installed in the right place. I have booted several times successfully always on a warm start. However, on a cold start I inevitably get the blue screen asking me to reboot. The tech guy has already rebuilt the OS with the same results. So, I am wondering if anyone else with a similar configuration, has experienced this?

[Iamjosh]

Please go to C:WindowsMinidump and zip up the contents of the folder. Then upload/attach the .zip file with your next post.

Left click on the first minidump file.

Hold down the "Shift" key and left click on the last minidump file.

Right click on the blue highlighted area and select "Send to" ; Select "Compressed (zipped) folder" and note where the folder is saved. Upload that .zip file to a file hosting site. Post the link here.

[thom]

Apparently I have no C:WindowsMinidump.

I think that I misunderstood you. You mean minidump on the computer that I am having the problem with. Duh!

[Iamjosh]

Which O/S ( OS-Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit??) are you running?

[thom]

Win7 Pro 64bit.

[Iamjosh]

I'm guessing that your version does not come with the feature then.

[Panama Red]

Do you get a STOP: error on the bsod? If so, what was the error message? Some will be a listing in all caps with _ between the words and/or a number after the word STOP: (something like 0x000000fe).

[Jeffesmi]

Hi, I'm the tech working on Thom's computer. I'll post the minidumps. What I've done so far:

1) Reloaded the OS on a different hard disk that I use DBAN to do a quick wipe
2) Downloaded all of the updated drivers from ASUS
3) Have shuffled the four chips through all through all 6 combinations using two installed chips
4) Heavily researched this on the Internet (seemed to point to RAM)
5) Recored BSOD event:
A problem has been detected...
MEMORY_MANAGEMENT
If this is the first time...
Technical Information:
*** STOP: 0x0000001A (0x0000000000005003, 0xFFFFF781C0000000, 0x0000000000005D01, 0xFFFFF8A0017E0009)
Colllecting data for crash dump...
6) Ran Windows 7 Memory diagnostics over night with no error
7) Ran Windows 7 in Safe Mode with same crashing/locking up/BSOD type events
8) Ran CHKDSK /P /R without errors reported
9) Just 1/2 hour ago, modified the "overclocking" settings to the lowest level and manually input the memory speed, and memory voltage, and set the power management to S3 ONLY(it's been about 1/2 hour without a crash, but I'm not holding my breath as I've seen it run several hours between crashes.
10) My next step is to swap the video card out
11) I havent' reviewed the minidumps, but I've never found them to be a good troubleshooting tool in the past. Maybe someone on this forum has more expertise and can spot an issue I've missed.
12) If the video card swap doesn't work, I will be contacting ASUS to see what they think about this issue

btw, at this point, I'm afraid the OS may be corrupt from all of the BSOD as I had to manually start the event viewer services to get the information from the CHKDSK. It may lead to one more rebuild if the video card swap doesn't pan out.

I don't know if Thom posted the specs, but they are:

ASUS P7P55D
Intel Core i7 CPU 860 @ 2.8Ghz
BIOS ver: 1207 12/7/09
freq: 3.38Ghz
ASUS ATI Radeon HD4850 512MB (maybe 1024MB)
4 2GB GSKILL F3-10600CL8D-4GBBHK
DDR3-1333 PC3-10600 2GBx2
SPD CL8-8-8-21 1.5V

Unless three of the four memory chips are bad, I don't think it possible for it to be a memory error. If you have any input, please let me know.

Thanks,

Jeff

[ryuk999]

Perhaps removing a candidate to your problem you could try to run memtest86+

http://www.memtest.org/

[Jeffesmi]

As I mentioned in my post, I ran the Vista memory diagnostics utility. I believe they are either the same or at least compatible in functionality. I ran it overnight without an error reported. It was almost on it's fourth full scan of the 8GBs when I stopped it in the morning. I do appreciate the input. Any other ideas?

Thanks,

Jeff

[Spools]

Is the BIOS at the current rev?

[Panama Red]

I checked the Asus QVL and the ram you are using IS listed. That's always my first check. I seem to remember some issues years ago with G.Skill memory on some chipsets. The solution was raising the Memory Voltage (vdimm) to gain stability. Since the QVL chart shows a voltage range for your ram/mobo combination of 1.5-1.6, I would do this: Reset the bios to factory default settings. Increase the memory voltage to 1.6.

As a side note, I'm not a fan of the built in memory testers that MS uses. I prefer to use Memtest86+. You can download it and make your own disk from an iso or download the Ultimate Boot CD and make a disk from that iso. The UBCD offers a multitude of troubleshooting tools. It is probably the #1 used tool in my arsenal.

[glc]

Can you verify that the ram is on the Asus QVL and is tested in a 4 module configuration?

It looks to me like you are still overclocking.

Intel Core i7 CPU 860 @ 2.8Ghz BIOS ver: 1207 12/7/09 freq: 3.38Ghz

[Jeffesmi]

Spools, I forgot to mention that in my original post. Yes, after checking drivers and such, I applied the latest stable BIOS.

Panama Red, I didn't check the QVL, but Thom purchased this directly from ASUS or an ASUS reseller, so I ass-u-me-d that they wouldn't sell him anything that wasn't. :-) Dangerous assumption, but I've seen so much greater compatibility with memory chips over the last 10 years or so, that I don't just figure it's a compatibility issue... then again, I play with mostly safe business machines now and don't do much with overclocked systems. Thanks for confirming it for me though, its nice to know it's listed.

UBCD is one of my favorites too. I use it everytime I remove Antivirus Pro/Live/360... I've used the memtest and the MS memory testers. I've had memtest86+ pass a system that I then proved had bad memory. It's worth a try though and only loses some night time hours, so I may just run it as you suggest.

glc, I can't, but Panama Red was nice enough to look it up for my lazy self. I CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO RUN WITHOUT OVERCLOCKING ON THIS BIOS!!!! GOSH DARN THING DOESN'T HAVE AN OPTION FOR MY MEMORY AND PROCESSOR W/O SELECTING AN UPLEVEL PROCESSOR!!! ARGHH! I put it to the lowest level overclocking that it allows and still gives me the actual memory speed I'm running.

NOTE!!! After making the changes listed in my earlier post, the system has not crashed. It sat there all day and I came back to find out it had applied MS Updates and still had my calculator up. I didn't realize that WIN7 restored your previous state after applying updates... go figure. However, the OS is so hosed by the thousands of BSOD and crashes that half of the services don't work. I've turned it off and will turn it on in the moring. If it doesn't immediately crash, I will start an OS rebuild. The system seems to consistantly crash after it's turned off for long periods of time, so this is the acid test. I'm not sure it was taking the overclocking off auto, puttiing the memory to actual speed and voltage settings, or changing the power to S3 only, but it seems a bit more stable. Only time will tell.

Thanks,

Jeff

P.S. I'm still not holding my breath, I expect it to burst into flames tomorrow when I turn it on.

[glc]

Jeff, the core components should be stable. I have a long-time friend whose second build all on his own was very similar - same processor and mobo, but with four 2 gig Kingston DDR3-1600 CAS 8 modules. He hasn't had a speck of trouble.

I haven't been into that board's bios yet, but I can't help but think that there HAS to be a way to run that thing at stock CPU speed, which SHOULD run the ram at 1333 automatically.

By the way, Memtest86+ version 4 is out now. You may need that to properly test that memory.

[Jeffesmi]

Well, it started up okay which is uncommon for this machine. Then I started running heavyload by jam software and it crashed within seconds. I'll swap the video out and if that doesn't work, it looks like memtest86 v4. Given I took a quick look at the BIOS setuip, but you would expect a run at core speed type option. If not that, I guess I'm going to have to acquaint myself with the BIOS settings. If you have any thoughts, let me know.

[glc]

Why don't you try running your torture software using only one stick of ram? If it doesn't crash, then you can try it with the other sticks, one at a time. I'm grasping at straws here, but I think it might be an issue with running 4 sticks of that particular ram.

Like PR said, have you tried bumping up the ram voltage a bit? You can also loosen the timings to 9-9-9-24.

[Khalil]

I ran into this issue before a few times, mostly with foxconn motherboards, maybe once or twice with an Asus. From my experience this is not an OS issue.
Generally due to time restrain I send the motherboards back, it is easier for me because I always have extra boards in stock and I simply don't have the time to burn on debugging brand new motherboards. Every time this happened, replacing the motherboard fixed the problem.

That is my experience with this issue. Do you have another healthy working DDR3 motherboard you can test the Ram in before you RMA the Asus back?

[glc]

Thom, something just occurred to me - I seem to remember a member saying that they bought an open box P7P55D from Newegg recently - was that you? If so, return it for a refund and buy a new one.

[thom]

No, it was not me.

[Jeffesmi]

Hey, sorry this took so long to update, but I haven't had a lot of free time to work on this the past couple days. I yanked the video card and put an ATI Radeon X700 in the system. The system was just as unstable if not more so. For grins, I dug out a POS video card I'd scavenged out of a dead system. Specifically, a NVIDIA GeForce 6600. The system is up-and-running, I have heavyload kicking the crap out of it in the background and I'm using it for the web. It's been about 1 hour and so far so good. I'll leave it burning in overnight, and if it works, my recommendation is simple. Avoid ATI/MSI video cards with this motherboard.

There are NO identifying marks on the existing MSI Video card. I know it is an MSI Radeon R4850 because that is what Windows identified it as. My earlier assumption was that it was ASUS branded, but it is MSI. I can't identify the sub-model and some of these cards don't have Win7 drivers and even those that do seem to have Release Candidate drivers for Windows 7. Thom, if you can look up in your docs and post the specific full-model number, I'll see if some type of update is available for the card.

As a note, the system BSODs sometimes when running Windows 7 from the DVD... makes me think hardware fault/incompatibility.

Well, I'm toasted. Too many nights past 1 am this week. To sleep with me. If anyone has any ideas about BIOS adjustments or such to shift compatibility toward the R4580 working, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks,

Jeff

[thom]

Jeff,

I am keeping my fingers crossed! The GC Model is R4850-2D512-OC. There is also some info on minimum system requirement that may be helpful.

[thom]

Here is a link that may be informative:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127414

[glc]

Jeff/Thom, go to ATI's site and get the generic Catalyst drivers instead of using MSI's drivers. The Catalyst Control Center is optional.

Are you running the SATA controller in IDE, AHCI, or RAID mode? Do you have the 3rd party (IDE/eSATA) controller enabled or disabled?

[Jeffesmi]

I just spent 20 min. typing up a reply and boom it went bye-bye, so lets try again.

Suffice it to say that the R4850-2D512-OC is not listed on the MS HCL but is listed on the MSI Win7 HCL. I would lean toward the MS HCL as a best practice. Basically four posibilities:
1) Defective Card
2) Motherboard and GC are incompatible
3) MSI is wrong and it isn't natively compatible
4) Other unknown

My recommendation: Return the R4850-2D512-OC and pickup a card listed in the MS HCL for 64-bit WIN7. I'm sure someone here could make a recommendation. I could as glc mentions, use the generic driver, but the bigger problem is that the OS doesn't load well with this card. It took 3 tries and a repair to get it running as is and I have to do a rebuild as the current OS is messed up by all the BSODs. I could slipstream the driver, but with questions about the card compatibility, that seems like a lot of work with no guarantee that a working product will come out in the end.

Let me know how you want to proceed.

Best Wishes,

Jeff

[Jeffesmi]

I just noticed newegg's return policy. ACK! This leaves us with four options:

1) Eat the cost of this GC and buy a new one
2) Work with MSI, get an RMA, and replace this GC
3) Try the generic driver since I just noticed glc mentioned he has a friend with the same configuration working in a stable fashion
4) Beat-up newegg and see if they will take a swap since this card has issues

If I have the spare time today, I will build the OS with the e-GeForce 6600 card I have working in the system and then load the new card and drivers after a good build. If this doesn't work, we will have to get on the phone with MSI.

FYI, I have this booted to an UBCD4WIN disk right now and while it's running in standard VGA mode, I do have it set to 1600x1200 and no BSOD or crashes yet. I ran Heavyload on it for 15 or 20 min. without a problem as well. While this doesn't prove much since it is a very basic driver, it does make me think driver issue.

Best Wishes,

Jeff

[Khalil]

Call MSI 1-626-913-0828 Extension 1 and RMA it, their customer support has improved recently, it should take couple of weeks to get a new card back.
If you are a registered MSI reseller they may allow you to do advance RMA as long as you have a credit card for them to use as security and you can have your card replacement in 3 business days.

[glc]

Possibly related:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/ATI...5870,9549.html

[thom]

Jeff,

Let me try to beat up Newegg today and see what happens. If I don't get any results, lets RMA the card back to MSI.

[Jeffesmi]

Hello Everyone,

Thom and me spoke today. I could not slipstream the drivers into the windows 7 installation but I put the Ge6600 back in and did a perfect install without a single problem. It was very quick as well. I then installed the general Radeon driver from ATI's web site. After the installation, I swapped cards. While Win7 ignored that I had Radeon Drivers and installed it's own, I forced the driver update and ran the system on Heavy load and a little graphic stability test I found. Everything worked great. Not a single problem. I'm not declaring success because I had problems when I installed the 4GB of RAM I pulled out. It will take a day or two, but I'm testing the chips one at a time with the memtest+ 4.0 as recommended by glc. I've already identified one chip that has a single error on it. I've got the next chip in and will run the check overnight... ACK, this seems to have been a star-crossed build if ever there was one.