Frequent BSOD and other problems

sarnak417

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Sep 2, 2014
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This is probably going to be a long post, but I hope someone can help me because I have no more ideas to solve this issue. Full troubleshooting: A couple of months ago I tested OC on my GPU and CPU (R9 280X TOXIC and FX 8350) using AMD Catalyst software. I didn't go into extreme overclocking and tried Heaven benchmark after, which crashed in the end so I restored every setting to default. A few days after I started receiving several BSOD, expecially 0x7 0xf and 0x3b always including win32k.sys and/or ntoskrnl.exe failures. I also started experiencing problems with SSD performances (Samsung 840 EVO, yes) which slowed the PC down a lot. Also I started having problems to reboot the system, because sometimes when powering it or when rebooting I end up with a black screen and no sign of life, even if the PC seems to be started (leds on). Also, I often got ATA/ATAPI boot errors at every startup that I "resolved" by disabling secure boot option in bios. So I tried to update firmaware to address the issue, but Magician didn't allow me to complete the update, searching some solutions I found that many addressed AMD chipsets and said to disable AHCI mode to perform update.. Tried, and I couldn't boot without this option, so I had to erase the SSD + HDD and install Windows 7 from anew. Firmware updated, SSD problem solved however while doing a System Rating test I got BSOD (0x7) and after the restart my PC wasn't able to recognize Dual-channel memory anymore (It was reading both slots but never allowed Dual-channel, reading only A2 as single). I pulled out memories and put them back and they worked for a while, then again it didn't read them as dual. Switching to slots 2/4 seems to have resolve the issue, for now. I performed some stress tests on GPU/CPU but I never received a clear BSOD response and I usually don't crash with ULTRA settings on heavy games but sometimes I do with much lower requirements ones (I don't crash with DAI max settings but I sometimes do with League of Legends on the lowest),Sometimes I get a BSOD, system reboot then black screen and reboot again. The last thing to add to all this is microphone not being recognized at all after a reboot, even if it was perfectly working a while before.

SO, I am out of ideas other than throwing my PC out of the window, however I feel like this might be a motherboard fault issues. Do someone have any idea on how to stop these BSOD and boot problems?

PS: Forgot that I also tried several times to restore bios to default, changing settings and even clearing CMOS.

Full PC specs:
CPU: AMD FX-8350
GPU: SAPPHIRE R9 280X TOXIC TRI-X
MOBO: AsRock 970 Extreme 3 R2.0
RAM: 2x Hyper-X 4gb 1866hz
SSD: Samsung EVO 840 250gb
HDD: WDC 1TB
PSU: EVGA Supernova 1000W Platinum rated
OS: Windows 7 64-bit SP1
 
Solution
If your HDD has a 100mb system reserve partition in Disk Management then delete it. Maybe you installed Windows onto the SSD while the HDD was still connected.

Run a Virus Scan eg Avast, Malwarebytes and run a Checkdisk of both drives.

3b is usually a graphic's driver (display adapter/video driver), other possibilities include
but are not limited to antivirus/antispyware/security programs and even memory (mapping).

Have you ever had a different OS on the PC?

Bugcheck 0x7 errors can occur after frequent use of your PC. Opening programs will be slower and response times lag as well. When you have multiple applications running, you can experience crashes and freezing. The main source of these performance decreases are startup clutter...
If your HDD has a 100mb system reserve partition in Disk Management then delete it. Maybe you installed Windows onto the SSD while the HDD was still connected.

Run a Virus Scan eg Avast, Malwarebytes and run a Checkdisk of both drives.

3b is usually a graphic's driver (display adapter/video driver), other possibilities include
but are not limited to antivirus/antispyware/security programs and even memory (mapping).

Have you ever had a different OS on the PC?

Bugcheck 0x7 errors can occur after frequent use of your PC. Opening programs will be slower and response times lag as well. When you have multiple applications running, you can experience crashes and freezing. The main source of these performance decreases are startup clutter, registry errors, RAM decline, fragmented files, unnecessary or redundant program installations, and more.

Bugcheck 0xf -
Incorrectly configured, old, or corrupted device drivers. (very common)
Corruption in Windows registry from a recent software change (install or uninstall).
Virus or malware infection that has corrupted Windows system files or Windows Operating System-related program files.
Driver conflict after installing new hardware.
Damaged or removed system files after you’ve installed software or drivers related to Windows Operating System.
Error 0xF blue screen caused by a damaged hard disk.
SPIN_LOCK_ALREADY_OWNED STOP error due to memory (RAM) corruption.
 
Solution

sarnak417

Reputable
Sep 2, 2014
37
0
4,530


Hi, thanks for the suggestion, I removed the 100MB partitions and was forced to format afterward, which I did. This seems have resolve most problems and the BSODs. However I still experience two frustrating problems, if you have any idea.. When I shutdown the computer, the next time I'll power it, I'll get stuck on a black screen (before bios/boot options) with mouse/keyboard disabled and I have to press the reset one to make it start. Same happens with every manual or automatic restart. Also I get freezing problems with no error detail that force me to restart, expecially when watching videos online.