Recurrent BSOD?

shadow_boxer · 21 Nov 2011 at 23:59

Hi guys, just after your thoughts on the above problem. The spec of the PC is (used as a HTPC),

AMD Athlon II X2 240
Foxconn Cinema II Deluxe 785G
4GB OCZ Platinum
64GB Crucial M4 SSD
LG Blu Ray ROM
2TB Western Digital Green EARS
XFX Radeon HD 5450 512MB Passive
Low Profile Vision Media Center Case w/ 250W PSU
D-Link DWA 556 Low Profile Wireless N PCI-e
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

So had this setup now for 6 months or so and it's was fine for the first 4 months I'd say, running well with no issues. Then started getting the occasional BSOD, Windows crashing and system restarts. Now this would happen seemingly randomly, sometimes watching a film other times when the system was shutting down. Over the last few weeks it's become much more frequent and again happens fairly randomly.

Things I've tried,

Memtest86+ - overnight 12 passes,
Windows Memory Diagnostic Test - passed,
Chkdisk - no errors,
SSDlife free - healthy,
HDtune - no errors or bad sectors,
4 hours Prime95 - CPU peaks at 65ºC but no errors

Done a fresh installation of Windows earlier today, updated drivers & BIOS, no crashes or blue screens UNTIL I added the media storage drive interestingly? :confused:

Bluescreenview and the dmp files don't really pinpoint anything in particular.

Finally, system froze and now won't boot at all.

Just tested with another PSU and all boots up OK so thankfully it hasn't taken anything else with it.

I suspect the el-cheapo PSU has had it and is probably the cause of the original problems. Sound reasonable?? and is there anything else which I could do to try to pinpoint the errors?

Ta

BluSky · 22 Nov 2011 at 00:11

can you take a picture of the error message on the blue screen at all? It would be interesting so see why it thinks it crashed.

Cheapo no name PSU's are generally a no go so yes it could well be the root of your problems. It is always worth spending a few extra quid on a good branded one .

Also have you run any disk checks on the media storage drive? Not likely to cause the problem but it is a possibility

shadow_boxer · 22 Nov 2011 at 00:22

Yeah can upload them tomorrow. Ran HDtune on the storage drive, again no bad sectors seen. Yeah this was just the PSU that came with the case and just never bothered with upgrading it. From memory the BSODs included,

bad pool header
system service exception
driver_irql_not_less_or_equal
page fault in nonpaged area

The majority seemed to point to "ntoskrnl" driver error?

Buchanan0204 · 22 Nov 2011 at 06:12

I had the exact same problems with my WD green drive. Had to RMA it.

Download "Data lifeguard diagnostics for windows." Run a scan on your WD drive and see what it reports.

I'm sure I had all of those bluescreens you had when mine went. Mines was in a raid array at the time and was more difficult to diagnose.

I'm sure your RAM & SSD are fine. I've never known of a PSU to cause a bluescreen before. I definitely wouldn't be blaming that. Especially since your not doing anything intensive at the time. Some of these cheapo PSU's are actually alright.

You also mentioned when you were installing the media storage drive.

My monies on the WD green.

P.S. Don't always go on bad sectors.

Buchanan0204 · 23 Nov 2011 at 10:55

Any joy?

shadow_boxer · 23 Nov 2011 at 12:27

Thanks for the suggestion Buchanan, just running the extended test as we speak. The inital Quick Test was passed?

Also, the PSU now seems to be working strangely, I suspect there's a dry joint somewhere.

Had the system up and running with just SSD, no mechanical or Blu Ray drive and was fine for a couple of hours, didn't have a single bluescreen or restart.

Will be ordering a new PSU but I think you may well be right about the WD drive being a culprit.

The PSU only has 15A on a single +12V so I think even for a relatively low powered Athlon II X2, 5450, 2TB Green drive, Blu Ray drive & SSD it's not providing enough stable power. Oh the joy of trying to find an SFX PSU.

Admiral Huddy · 23 Nov 2011 at 13:09

15a??

Have you tried striping down to bear essentials? i.e. remove the GC and use on-board VGA, use 1 stick of ram, one HDD, no case fans, no Optical unit etc If that works ok, then add one device back at a time and retest.

Alternatively, get a wall meter (£10 from same places) and check what draw it's taking from the wall.

Buchanan0204 · 23 Nov 2011 at 14:30

It's never simple is it? Maybe Windows 9 blue screens will report.

"Hey mate... your WD green hard drive is a bit dodgy, I can't carry on working with him. Just take it out and get a replacement and I'll be fine in the mean time."

I'm not holding out any hope though!

shadow_boxer · 24 Nov 2011 at 13:52

So the Western Digital Life Guard Diagnostics proved negative and showed drive to be healthy?! Took the PSU apart and gave it a good clean and now this seems to be working OK?! :confused:

Stripped down to the essentials, all working OK with 2GB RAM, SDD, nil else.

Rebuilt inside machine...fails to boot.

Tried using the reset button to boot from and it intermittently boots. Unfortunately the motherboard doesn't have an onboard power on or restart button. Perhaps the front panel connector on the motherboard is dodgy?

Reinstalled all software except XBMC and Microsoft Security Essentials and it seems to be working OK at the moment. Played 1080p video fine and running Prime95 now for a few hours.