recurring BSOD on Starting Windows screen - Stop: 0x0000007E

josh2000

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Sep 1, 2011
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I was using a program called Lightzone when it suddenly stopped loading photos. I discovered that my main drive (128gb Crucial m4 ssd) was completely full, 0 bytes remaining. So I closed Lightzone and restarted, only to get a BSOD. I didn't download or install anything before, just browsed my regular websites a bit, and then plugged my camera in to import some photos. the camera wasn't new, it's been used on this machine several times.

I'm able to boot into safe mode, and I've tried the following:

-moved some files to free up about 3.5gb of space on my main drive
-unplugged camera and other non-essential usb devices
-checked for driver updates for all hardware via device manager
-updated video driver (really just re-downloaded and installed the latest nvidia package again)
-ran the windows memory diagnostic tool, no errors found, just rebooted to BSOD
-ran chkdsk (didn't see any errors, the command window just closes when it's finished)
-ran driver verifier, again booted to BSOD

the full STOP message is:

0x0000007E (0xFFFFFFFFC0000005, 0XFFFFF88003F8DCA3, 0xFFFFF880009A8E58, 0xFFFFF880009A86BO)

i5 2500k stock clock
asrock z68 extreme3 gen3
gtx 560ti
antec earthwatts 750w
8gb ram
windows 7 home premium

Does anyone know what could be causing this problem? I haven't had any other issues with this machine since building it in 2011.

I guess I will try updating the BIOS next. Any help is MUCH appreciated.
 

Xyos

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Is anything overclocked? Can you boot into safe mode? (Usually press F8 during start-up before windows loads). If you can get into safe mode set windows to minimal boot with all extra programs/services disabled and see if that helps. If it does something starting up is causing it.
 

thicks083

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Jul 21, 2013
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Inside safe mode I would use msconfig.exe to edit Start-up and get rid of excessive or potentially dangerous items from there. This could be causing boot issues.
 

josh2000

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Sep 1, 2011
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Ok, I used the WhoCrashed application, as suggested in another BSOD thread, and it pinpointed the issue - my Avast Antivirus driver was broken. I removed Avast entirely and downloaded a fresh install, now it's booting up with no problems, for now at least. Thanks Xyos and thicks083 for the advice!