System woes

northwestdakota

northwestdakota

northwestdakota

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Joined
23 May 2006
Posts
346
Evening gents,

I got myself a nice new Asus 7970 last week and all was well in the world. Until the next day... my PC crashed halfway through a game I was playing and then refused to boot, pc would come alive for 5 seconds and then reset itself with no display at all.

It was not until I took both sticks of 4GB RAM out and then put 1 back in on its own I could get the PC to boot back to windows. I then turned the PC off and added the second stick of RAM and all was well again. I used Memtest and zero errors were reported. I had no problems for a couple of days then all of a sudden while the PC was idle running nothing but windows, it happened again.

So... I have been racking my brains trying to think what the issue could be. Logically I was thinking it seems like a memory issue or perhaps a problem with the motherboard, but then it is one hell of a coincidence that I have only started getting the issue since I installed the new video card. I have refreshed windows 8, used driver sweeper to get rid of all traces if video card drivers and used the latest drivers. Oh and I updated the bios on my motherboard.

Anyone got any advice? I don't really want to start ordering new parts like RAM and a motherboard only to find out the issue was the video card all along, but I have no idea what I should do next. I have no spare parts to help problem solve, I sold 2 6870 video cards to pay for the upgrade. It is worth noting that all parts are within their warranty.

My system is as follows

Windows 8 Pro
8GB Corsair Vengeance LP RAM (2XGB)
I5-3570K
Gigabyte Z77-3DH MLB
850W Enermax PSU
Asus 7970 Video card

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
Check event logs for any info about the time of the crashes. You can also download and install Whocrashed and see what that can tell you, the next time it happens.
 
I have rebuilt the PC and checked connections, system should be fine but it happened afterwards.

Where can I find the logs in windows 8? I have never looked at crash logs before, so not really sure where to look and what to look for. Ill install whocrashed now though, thanks for the advice.
 
OK, so I installed whocrashed and it stated the following.

On Sat 02/03/2013 22:44:26 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\030213-8687-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x7A040)
Bugcheck code: 0xA (0xFFFFFA81087AF412, 0x2, 0x0, 0xFFFFF801EEB14930)
Error: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This indicates that Microsoft Windows or a kernel-mode driver accessed paged memory at DISPATCH_LEVEL or above.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.

I'm a bit out of my depth, as you cn probably tell. I updated Win 7 to Win 8, do you think it's worth having a fresh install?
 
Ok, time for an update in the hope that someone can offer me some more advice.

The system continues to crash, though the reason for the crash (according to whocrashed) seems to differ each time. The latest system crash is below. It is worth noting that I decided to format my main drive and re-install windows, this time windows 7. I recieved the same crash. Given that this all started to happen within 24 hours of my video card being installed, I asked OCUK for an RMA which they have accepted. I will be sending it back today for testing.

One other thing, I decided to use the on board video out. With the new video card no longer part of the equation, I figured a crash would rule out the card. While the pc did not crash at any point (given the randomness of the crashing before, I can't conclude much) the pc did seem to crash a couple of times while running memtest. The first time, memtest was running for 45 minutes, had completed 1 pass with zero errors but the system had frozen, the 2nd time was last night, it run for 9 and a half hours, completed 8 passes with zero errors but had frozen again.

On Sun 03/03/2013 21:39:52 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\memory.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ndis.sys (ndis!NdisIMNotifyPnPEvent+0x970)
Bugcheck code: 0xD1 (0x1, 0x2, 0x0, 0xFFFFF88001523010)
Error: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\ndis.sys
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NDIS 6.20 driver
Bug check description: This indicates that a kernel-mode driver attempted to access pageable memory at a process IRQL that was too high.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver on your system that cannot be identified at this time.

Any ideas?
 
Good morning all,

Thought i'd give an update, as I think the problem has been resolved and after scouring forums over the past week I have learnt 1 important thing: When you have a problem, for the love of God give an update once the issue is resolved, even if the update is "It's buggered, I gave up and got a new PC"

It seems the issue is a faulty memory slot on my motherboard, as stated previously despite passing many memtests, it did seem to crash memtest after a few hours. After trying the other 2 slots on my board I have not had a single crash since. It looks like the new video card was just a coincidence after all.
 
In general Error: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL will be down to memory, odd it was the slot this time though but glad you got it sorted AND left an update for it. Nothing more annoying than seeing someone fix an issue but never say how.

Reminded me of this XKCD :)

wisdom_of_the_ancients.png
 
Looks like your diagnosis of testing the memory sticks resolved the issue. I've always stated that Memtest will identify a memory related problem but doesn't necessarily mean it's a memory issue.

You can read my memory trouble shooting guide here
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18261596


Also, check your PSU is up for the job.

Just one last thing, it's always a good idea to hold on to your hardware in case of issues like this or at least make sure you have a cheap ***** old card handy if you are in the habit if upgrading.
 
Admiral Huddy said:
Looks like your diagnosis of testing the memory sticks resolved the issue. I've always stated that Memtest will identify a memory related problem but doesn't necessarily mean it's a memory issue.

You can read my memory trouble shooting guide here
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18261596


Also, check your PSU is up for the job.

Just one last thing, it's always a good idea to hold on to your hardware in case of issues like this or at least make sure you have a cheap ***** old card handy if you are in the habit if upgrading.
Click to expand...

Great memory guide, wish I had read it before. The PSU should be fine, its an Enermax 850 watt and only about 8 months old. You're right about keeping my old kit, ill be sure to do that next time. In fact, I have a kid that will probably want his own PC in a couple of years time, so it would be good to keep hold of my gear from now on for 2 reasons.
 
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