bsod involving ntoskrnl.exe. i dont even know what to do anymore!

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lordbredd

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Hello tom's hardware community. I come to you with help about yet another DREADED BSOD!!!

First I shall describe my situation. My computer is a custom build I did myself and I have been using it for over a year with relatively no problems. However, for the past few months everything has been going wrong with it in such an inconsistent way I cannot isolate the problem. Yesterday it ran perfectly fine nonstop for 12 hours while this morning I can't boot without crashing as soon as I reach my desktop. I get crashes that only sometimes are blue screens. When this problem started the crash code I would get was mainly bc code f4 but sometimes it would be bc code 50 or 51. When it crashes w/o a blue screen my computer just goes to black and all the fans spin up as if the computer is trying to start up, but I cannot hard reset it. Only thing I can do is pull the power plug. The kicker here is that these problems have persisted through multiple reinstalls of windows using different hdds and different methods, i.e. cd vs usb. While the bc codes might change between the three, using bluescreenview to look at my dump files they always say ntoskrnl.exe was the problem. Right now the only way I can boot is into safe mode.

Now as far as what I have done to try to fix this on my own I'll try to give as much detail as I can. I have looked up each bc code to see what it affects and how to fix it. I have run Seatools, Western Digital's hdd checker, and check disk but all my hdds pass short and long tests. One drive did have a bad sector after a Seatools long test but it was fixed and now consistently passes. I have switched my hdds around with different sata cords and in different sata ports on my motherboard. I have tried booting with every possible combination of ram and it still crashes exactly the same. I have run memtest individually on my ram sticks and on them together getting no errors after 4 passes. I have switched my graphics card in case that was the problem and it had no effect. I have completely taken my computer apart, cleaned everything, put it back together and it still happens.

What am I doing now? Well after this most recent reformat and reinstall of windows on a fresh drive I'm getting mostly bc code 50. So I'm trying out memtest again.

I should say my computer was originally overclocked but completely stable. It ran prime 95 a full 24 hours with no errors and not going over 60C. Since these problems started though I returned it to stock settings.

Once this memtest is finished I'll get some dump files to share.

At this point I'm thinking my motherboard is just bad. I have no idea what to do anymore.

Motherboard: Gigabyte F2A85X-UP4
CPU: AMD A10-5800K with Corsair Hydro H60 cooling system
RAM: 2 sticks of Patriot Memory G2 Series 8GB
GPU: EVGA Geforce GTX 650 and EVGA Geforce GTX 550TI. The 550ti is currently plugged in as I'm writing this post.
PSU: Rosewill Green Series RG630-S12 630W
HDDs: Seagate SV35.5 500GB <----plugged in, has windows
WD Caviar Blue WD10EZEX 1TB <----plugged in, just used as storage
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 80GB
WD Caviar WD2000 200GB
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 160GB
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

Please let me know if there is any other information that is needed and thank you in advance for any help you may be able to offer.

EDIT: The memtest passed with no errors after 4 passes again. I'm providing a link to a .zip file with the minidumps I have recieved.
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=EAD96ADC7E2A068%211631
 
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pudoo

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Besides the hydro what is you cooling like, and how are the fans configured? And is the case in an optimal cooling area, for instance, is it on carpet or in a desk?
 
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lordbredd

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2 front intake fans for my hard drives, 1 side intake right over the gpu/fsb area, 1 top exhaust fan, and the H60 is set up with a push/pull fan config. Because of all the issues I've been having with it, right now it is laying on its side on a broken computer chair that functions like a low pedestal so I can easily access its insides. Gpu never went over 60C and fsb never went over 40C. However, I have new events.

So about 6 hours or so after I made this original post my computer started booting fine. It ran for a good 5 hours only with intermittent hangs for a second here or there. But just as I was done and about to go to sleep i got another bsod giving me an f4 error. I tried to go into safe mode when it recovered from this crash but it froze while loading the drivers for safe mode then reset on its own. It booted to desktop then crashed again with a bsod but this time giving me a 1a error. Again it tried to boot to safe mode but it froze during the driver startup and at that point I just did a hard shutdown by holding the power button. The problem is only the f4 error made a dump file and now none of my previous dump files are there when I view them through Bluescreenview. Windows says my minidump directory is corrupted so i cant access it directly.

This morning it booted to desktop like normal but it seemed to roll back some files. Despite my avast! being turned on Windows isn't recognizing it. Also some Windows updates were uninstalled on their own? I have about 15 updates to be installed now when I know I installed them all 4 days ago when I did a clean install of windows on this computer.

Attempting to restart in safe mode to see if I can access the minidump folder. After loading the drivers it went into check disk automatically and found 0 bad files. It reset once the check disk completed and went to safe mode, but still couldn't access the folder.

Uploading a link for the Bluescreenview report on the f4 error.
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=EAD96ADC7E2A068%211632

EDIT: I was able to fix my minidump directory by getting into safe mode and running cmd prompt as administrator and scheduling a /chkdsk /c /f on next start up.
 
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lordbredd

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When I run system recovering using the install disk it lists Windows 7 on drive E:. Shouldn't it be drive C: or is that normal for recovery? I should say I made a partition on the 500gb HDD for just windows and system stuff while I left the rest of it open for whatever. Also which recovery tool? It has Startup Repair, System Restore, System Image Recovery, Windows Memory Diagnostic, and Command Prompt. I have done startup repair and it says it finds no errors. I never made a restore point or created an image because this install is only 4 or 5 days old and I don't see the necessity when this problem has been persisting through multiple reformats and reinstalls of Windows even on different hard drives.
 
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pudoo

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The system restore could work if you reset the machine back to when the problem wasn't happening. If you can't reset the machine to any point where the problems don't happen then you may have a corrupt installation. Where did you get the install disk or what are you installing windows with?
 
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lordbredd

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Honestly both of my Windows installs are downloaded. One is an older version I burned onto a disk but has worked perfectly for me and other people in the past with no problems. The other version I have is a download that I got a month ago and I put it onto a bootable usb drive. Either one I use I get the same problem. And, like I said in previous posts, this problem persists through reformats and reinstalls of Windows using different or the same hard drive.
 
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junkeymonkey

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I see a lot of folks doing that windows download here at toms and cant seem to make it work.. as important as your os is and doing the download what grantees are there that something did not get lost or corrupted during the download?? why not just get the disk?? not saying something could go wrong there but I feel its more trust worthy than counting on that download .

so , when you install windows ''raw'' before any drivers are added or been added wile your in the install and it has no way to go online to ''update'' as it installs will it go to desktop with out issues ?? leave it there and look thing over that will not be stressful go to device managet and see what bace drivers you need and just load them[ chipset, lan , audio and video ] one at a time and reboot after each one and check things.. don't add all the boards extra ''crapware'' from off the motherboards disk just them 3 core drivers.. windows should pick up the rest if not it will show in the device manager what needs to be added ... [I don't know if your board has the asmeida or whoevers controllers but I found that if windows picks them up with out there drivers and work fine , I'm way better off] as with this new build of mine all I needed was the chipset- lan- audio- video ] and everything in device manager is covered and been running for 3 months now

windows pretty good at getting you to desktop with out any help and the generic default drivers built in the os should have you covered right to the desktop with the disk.. but I do know the 3ed party drivers like asmeida stuff can cause a headache this is why if windows don't need them and the device is working fine and it don't show a caution in the device manager its all good

also the programs like a-tune or asus system suite type programs are better left out -- [crapware]
 
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lordbredd

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Before I start installing the drivers from my motherboard disk it boots to Windows just fine I think. I didn't really take time to test it out in that state though. I just naturally install the motherboard drivers, restart, then install Windows updates and restart. Are you saying I should try reformatting and reinstalling Windows again? Realize I've already done that a bunch of times and it never helped so far.
 
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lordbredd

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Well got another bsod today. Computer worked fine for 2 hours after I turned it on then i got a BC Code: F4. After it shutdown from the crash I tried to start it in safe mode but it hung up while starting the drivers and the top 1 cm or so of the screen was covered in artifacts. It then restarted entirely on its own and gave me this:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: f4
BCP1: 0000000000000003
BCP2: FFFFFA800EF79730
BCP3: FFFFFA800EF79A10
BCP4: FFFFF8000318F270
OS Version: 6_1_7601
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 256_1

Uploading rar file with the report from Bluescreenview:
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=EAD96ADC7E2A068%211633
 
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junkeymonkey

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I don't know - you can stgart removing things from add/remove programs one at a time to see if one of them is the blame starting with less important things . but I do feel its a program or driver also I did not get this earlier but you have 6 hard drives hooked to that board ?? have you removed all but the one that you boot with and see if the issue is still there?? also if you use a 3ed party malware /spyware/firewall you may want to remove it to
 
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lordbredd

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I barely have anything installed as it is. Right now I only have 2 hard drives in and it keeps happening. I've tried switching sata cords, sata ports, and using different hard drives one at at time yet it still persists.
 
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junkeymonkey

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like what barely do you have installed? just chipset, lan , audio, and vid card? I don't want to download your bsod files to look at them do to I don't download just anything so sorry about that. I don't know if you can copy and past ithem here or make it where I can view them with out downloading ?? but one other thing I wonder about is the amd cpu driver for the gpu part in conflict with your NVidia card[???] now have you removed the card and all its drivers and just ran of the on chip gpu?? I know it sounds like I'm pulling at straws but anything is a possibility .. also recheck at gigabyte to see if the boards drivers are the same ones you got installed
 
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lordbredd

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I have chipset, lan, audio and vid card installed. I also have flash, avast!, winrar, bluescreenview, western digital hard drive checker, seatools, microsoft updates including .net framework and all that crap, and vlc media player. The dump files all say the cause of the crash was ntoskrnl.exe despite there being different error codes. I have run the computer w/o the video card in and still received a crash. I don't think there is a conflict between my amd cpu and nvidia video card because it has run for over a year like that just fine. Currently I'm running a chkdsk /r on the drive and its taking a long time but it has found 2 bad clusters that it repaired so far. I will update with any new information when it is done.

UPDATE: The chkdsk /r finished and reported that Windows has made corrections to the file system. The end report states there are 16 KB in bad sectors. I hoping that means they were repaired and that this at least had some effect. It's really hard to tell because my computer will run fine for like 12 hours then the next day it crashes every start up. This inconsistency is what's killing me trying to troubleshoot this.
 
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junkeymonkey

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well them bad sectors my have had something in them at the time before they went bad that is needed and are now damaged ,lost or corrupted . avast may be something to look at to remove it may have updated something that's preventing something to work. [google advest causes bsod] I stoped using these programs along time ago and just use the one from Microsoft because of issues with them like this..[??]
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security-essentials-download

I use vlc with no issues
 
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lordbredd

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Is there any way to fix these 16 KB in bad sectors? Since last night when I ran the chkdsk /r I have done a chkdsk this morning and it still said 16 KB in bad sectors. I scheduled a chkdsk /r at boot and it said everything was fixed and that the volume was clean yet when I rerun a chkdsk from windows it still says 16 KB in bad sectors.
 
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johnbl

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your bugchecks are windows system integrity checks. Basically, windows detects that critical internal data structures have been modified from the shipped version and shuts the system down.

the most common cause of this will be:
1. virus infection
2. pirate version of the OS
3. certain classes of manufacture defects in the electronic in the computer
in particular bad solder junctions /and or cracks in circuit traces

the first two are very easy to fix and test for
- virus scan
- you can install microsoft windows enterprise version and run it for free for 90 days + a rearm period and see you you still get the crashes.

if the above still show crashes you will have to Isolate down the hardware failure to a on of the various components.

Most of the time this error will be caused because someone applied windows system updates to a pirated version of windows and the update actually detects the pirate modifications and calls a bugcheck and shuts down.


 
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lordbredd

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I know I'm virus clean. I've downloaded nothing strange and virus check comes back clean. It might be the second issue, but I've been using this download for a while now on multiple computers and there hasn't been an issue at all. I'm inclined to think it is the third thing and I have a piece of hardware that messed up. I can't narrow it down though that's why I came here for help.

I just can't afford to buy a bunch of parts and swap everything out to test each piece individually. This is my downfall.
 
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johnbl

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update: just noticed your minidumps, will take a quick look in a minute or two

bummer the hardware failures are the hardest to find. do you have a actual memory dump file you can upload. I can take a look and see if i can see a root failure cause.



 
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johnbl

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update:
there is a beta BIOS update for your board
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4343#bios
version F5d dated 3-5-2014 (just fyi, I have no idea if it would help)

and chipset updates dated 1-9-2014 for your actual motherboard
and a AMD AHCI driver dated 4-11-2014
(all of these drivers can fix errors in the electronics of the motherboard that the generic driver from microsoft will not fix)


looked at the first crash:

looks like it was caused by a virus scanner
1: kd> lmvm aswSP
start end module name
fffff880`04200000 fffff880`0426d000 aswSP T (no symbols)
Loaded symbol image file: aswSP.sys
Image path: \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\aswSP.sys
Image name: aswSP.sys
Timestamp: Mon May 05 01:11:11 2014 (5367479F)
CheckSum: 00075AAC
ImageSize: 0006D000
Translations: 0000.04b0 0000.04e4 0409.04b0 0409.04e4

you might want to remove avast or update it to see if the problem still occurs.
will look at the other dumps in a minute

- second problem looks like a side effect of your systems prevous bugcheck.
kind of looks like your system bugchecked while writing to the registry, the second bugcheck is because the registry is marked dirty (power cycled before a write completed)

- third problem is the same as the second. the system is trying to sync a registry change and is unable to correctly read the data from the file and bugchecks. basically your registry is corrupted.

this can be caused by many things. I would think that you are having IO errors writing/reading from the drive, as your root problem. the registry corruption and the 2nd and 3rd bugchecks are caused as a side effect from your earlier bugcheck.

I would do the following:
change your sata cable to another port, and make sure you are getting a good connection. Enable hotswap in the BIOS for the sata port that connects to your drive. There are errors in the electronics that can make a sata port go "deaf" these will not reconnect unless you have hotswap enabled for the port. Current version of windows 8.x will reset the port as a work around. I am not sure what a old version of windows will do.

-I would also update the chipset drivers for your CPU. This will often fix know issue with various versions of CPUs and chipsets on the motherboards.

at the point you need to check for file system corruption and fix it
via the chkdsk command then check for actual file corruption using the
sfc.exe /scannow command

windows 8 also has a dism.exe command that will repair corrupted copies of windows files and their hidden backup copies directly from a known good copy via the internet but that will not help for windows 7. ( you have to provide the known good copy)

after you fix the file system and the actual files you have a chance to find the root cause.


-another potential root cause for this error can be lazy write failures in the drive.
(drive has enabled lazy writes but the writes never complete and the system refuses to shutdown and you are forced to power down, and the data is lost)
I don't think it is the cause of your problem because it is generally related to a particular version of a drive.

- you can also get the same issue with bugs in the BIOS, and often a BIOS update seems to fix the problem. it is not because the problem was actually fixed, it is because the BIOS update process forces the system reset the BIOS info that gets corrupted because of various bugs and spec changes. The BIOS update will also force a rebuild of the small database of hardware info that the BIOS sends to the windows OS.

So, I would update the BIOS if there is a new one OR reset the BIOS to defaults.
you can even toggle off and back on a BIOS hardware feature to force the BIOS to rebuild the database.


overall your problem should be in the connection to the SATA port or a error in the electronics to the SATA port. These errors in the electronics are corrected in the BIOS updates (microcode) or in the chipset updates for the CPU chipset (chipset drivers for your processor).












machine info:

BIOS Release Date 03/13/2013
Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
Product F2A85X-UP4
Processor Version AMD A10-5800K APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics
Processor Voltage 8dh - 1.3V
External Clock 100MHz
Max Speed 3800MHz
Current Speed 3800MHz

 
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junkeymonkey

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My computer is a custom build I did myself and I have been using it for over a year with relatively no problems. However, for the past few months everything has been going wrong with it in such an inconsistent way I cannot isolate the problem. Yesterday it ran perfectly fine nonstop for 12 hours while this morning I can't boot without crashing as soon as I reach my desktop. I get crashes that only sometimes are blue screens. When this problem started the crash code I would get was mainly bc code f4 but sometimes it would be bc code 50 or 51. When it crashes w/o a blue screen my computer just goes to black and all the fans spin up as if the computer is trying to start up, but I cannot hard reset it.


after rereading your post I wonder if the psu is failing ? lets say its not putting the correct power to the board or vid card and comes and goes so one time its seems good then next time its bad .. read a few reviews at newegg on your psu and there a few with the ''lasted 6 months -good for a year'' tour right at that point in its life [??] I know where your coming from when you get down to should I need to replace something and now its a gamble ..

did you not want to open the files you linked to se we can look at them with out having to download ?
 
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lordbredd

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Alright I updated my bios and chipset drivers. Hopefully that will do something. I have been changing sata cords and sata ports to see if there is a change in crash frequency and the current configuration I have right now has only crashed once and that was 2 days ago. If anything else happens I will provide an update with any information I can give.
 
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