Keep getting BSOD - ntoskrnl.exe - Need help

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bouncybeats

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Hi Everyone,

A few weeks ago, my Windows 7 Dell XPS 410 started to constantly get the BSOD every day. I researched, ran Blue Screen View, and tried all the various solutions but it didn't

fix the problem. So I took the opportunity, bought a new hard drive and installed Windows 10. But this still didn't fix the problem and still getting BSOD with:

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

There were some mini-dumps pointing to: nvlddmkm.sys. I had an spare, unused Nvidia graphics card so I also changed the video card and installed the latest drivers. Was really hoping this would have fixed it but it didn't. In Blue Screen View, majority of dumps are ntoskrnl.exe.

Any help and/or insight would be greatly appreciated. At this point, I don't know what the issue is except that it's probably something hardware related as I'm still getting the BSOD after installing Windows 10 on a new drive. I also ran the memory diagnostic tool and there weren't any errors. Thanks for again for any help you can provide.


My System info:

OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise
Version 10.0.10240 Build 10240
System Manufacturer Dell Inc.
System Model XPS 8500
System Type x64-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40GHz, 3401 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Dell Inc. A12, 10/9/2012
SMBIOS Version 2.7
Embedded Controller Version 255.255
BIOS Mode Legacy
BaseBoard Manufacturer Dell Inc.
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "10.0.10240.16392"
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 32.0 GB




From Blue Screen View:

Filename
ntoskrnl.exe

Address In Stack
ntoskrnl.exe+158ca9

From Address
fffff800`cce8e000

To Address
fffff800`cd6e0000

Size
0x00852000

Time Stamp
0x560ca418

Time String
9/30/2015 8:10:16 PM

Product Name
Microsoft® Windows® Operating System

File Description
NT Kernel & System

File Version
10.0.10240.16545 (th1.150930-1750)

Company
Microsoft Corporation

Full Path
C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
 
Solution
bailojustin
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bailojustin

bailojustin

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This is most likely caused by faulty ram, Take out 1 ram stick and boot see if anything happens use it for a while, remove the other and boot, until you find the issue, you can also install memtest86 on a flash usb to test your memory modules. 32gb ram is not what initially came with it I am guessing, seems you may have installed more, and that is where your problem lies.
 
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bouncybeats

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Hi bailojustin,

Thanks for your reply. So I just ran memtest86. It took a couple of hours for the pass to complete but it didn't find any errors. The memory in my pc is Crucial memory, 4 x 8 GB sticks. I installed the memory when I first bought this Dell XP 8500 several years ago (sorry, it's not an XPS 410, I mixed up with another pc) so it's not newly installed hardware.

Any other thoughts? Could it be the processor itself? The only other pci card I have installed is an esata card for my additional storage device.

Thanks for any info

 
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bailojustin

bailojustin

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Step 1

Go to the NVIDIA folder:
C:\NVIDIA
Look for the file named as "nvlddmkm.sy_" (C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver « version number of driver (example : 186.81) » InternationalDisplaynvlddmkm.sy_ )
Note that: The location of this file may vary depending on the OS used.
Copy the file at the root of C: C:\nvlddmkm.sy_


Step 2

Go to the system folder where the drivers are stored :
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\
Once in this folder, locate the the "nvlddmkm.sys" file and rename as it "nvlddmkm.sys.old"


Step 3

Open the command prompt:
Press Windows key + R and type "cmd"
Type the following commands:
"cd" and press the Enter key.
"expand.exe nvlddmkm.sy_ nvlddmkm.sys" and then press Enter
This command allows you to unzip the nvlddmkm.sys file- previously saved at the root of C and thus creating a new instance of the file.
Copy this file to C:\WindowsSystem\32drivers
Restart your PC
 
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bailojustin

bailojustin

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If the Nvidia card does not work, I see a few issues relating to your symantec virus protection, I would uninstall symantec endpoint protection and see what difference it makes. You should not BSOD after uninstalling it, or if the Nvidea Driver solution I posted earlier works.
 
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TechJames

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Hi,

I have this problem too. i know its the Nvidia GPU because I just installed it a few days ago, since then i get the BSOD once every 3 days.

So will the steps you said fix the errors for the GPU?
 
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bailojustin

bailojustin

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Im pretty sure it will if you know for a fact your having the same BSOD
 
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bouncybeats

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Hi,

So I began to follow the steps for the NVidia driver as you outlined. But to preface, yesterday, when I had this problem, I also did see a couple of other dumps where the nvlddmkm.sys was referenced. So I had a spare Nvidia Geforce card which is quite new, swapped out the card from my pc, and installed the latest drivers from Nvidia's site.

So as I followed through the steps, I checked the version of the Nvidia driver file in Windows\system32\drivers and indeed, it has the latest version I just installed yesterday:

NVidia Windows Kernel Mode Driver, version 358.50
File Version: 10.18.13.5850
Date Modified: 10/6/2015 11:45 AM

In this case, I didn't proceed with the steps since the driver is the updated one I installed. But in terms of uninstalling Symantec Antivirus from my PC, in Blue Screen View, the dump file didn't specify anything (highlight in red) anything to do with Symantec? Or did I read something incorrect?

Btw, the behavior is strange. Yesterday, even after I changed the video card, my pc got the BSOD like 7 times in a row. But since today, it hasn't happened. It's very sporadic but when it happens, it happens a lot.
 
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bouncybeats

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So I spoke too soon. My pc just crashed about 8 times in a row. Once it comes up, I would log in and in about 5-10 minutes, it would crash again. I just uploaded my last 3 dumps in case anyone has time to help me. Again, this is about a 3 year old Dell XPS 8500, I just bought a new drive and installed Windows 10 (but the BSOD problem was also happening on my previous hard drive with Windows 7), I installed a new NVidia video card, installed the latest drivers, I also just updated my nic drivers just now too.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bskp1y8yypoy3bq/Dumps.zip?dl=0

Am starting to think there's a problem on my motherboard maybe. But would that cause an ntoskrnl.exe error?

Thanks
 
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bailojustin

bailojustin

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I just wanted to give you a heads up, I am working as hard as I can to solve this issue for you, I just need your patience while I sort through and debug these dump files you provided me with, I can tell you that it is caused by a driver. Ill let you know more once im done.
 
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bouncybeats

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Hi bailojustin,

Thank you, really appreciate your time and your help. Windows is just so frustrating some times...well, a lot of the times. It's so strange, I've already reinstalled win10 twice in a week's time and still the same. In any case, thank you

Btw, I did follow through the NVidia steps and extracted the driver file. Was the same file - byte count, date, etc, was the same. But I did replace the previous driver file just in case

Thanks
 
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bailojustin

bailojustin

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after following those steps have you bsod recently?
 
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bailojustin

bailojustin

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AFter tons of research and sifting, ive come upon the conclusion that your BSOD is most likely caused by
??\C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Symantec Shared\EENGINE\eeCtrl64.sys
\??\C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Symantec Shared\EENGINE\EraserUtilRebootDrv.sys
\??\C:\Windows\system32\drivers\MBAMSwissArmy.sys
\??\C:\Windows\system32\drivers\mbam.sys

I would uninstall MBAMswissarmy and MBAM and the drivers along with it as well as uninstallling Symantec Endpoint Protection, it seems that these are most likely the root of the BSOD you are constantly having, after you do said uninstalling let me know if you BSOD, because you shouldnt.
 
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bouncybeats

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Hi bailojustin,

Thanks for investigating. So far, since yesterday after I followed your steps with the NVidia driver, I haven't had a bsod in almost a day. But I don't want to again speak too soon. Will keep using my pc normally for a few days to see what happens. But the NVidia driver file is exactly the same at before. Any way, will see. If it happens again in the coming days, I'll try uninstalling Symantec, then Malwarebytes. But just curious, what gave you the clue that it can be these apps?

Thanks
BB
 
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bouncybeats

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So far, so good today. My pc hasn't crashed. The bsod usually happens after a reboot. For safe measure, I rebooted this morning and it's lasted through the day without a single bsod. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Only major thing I did was follow the NVidia instructions. But both the newly extracted nvlddmkm.sys and the one I renamed to nvlddmkm.sys.old have exactly the same file properties so is strange, especially since I installed the new driver file from NVidia yesterday as well. In any case, I hope this solved the issue. Will keep monitoring and will update in the next days.

Again, many thanks and keeping my fingers crossed.

Cheers
 
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bouncybeats

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Hi,

Unfortunately, the bsod's still persist. I rebooted yesterday and immediately got 9 bsod's in a row, about every 5-10 min in-between. Again, is strange because it didn't happen for a couple days, then after a reboot, I get a bunch. Now, it's been almost 20 hours since the last bsod and haven't had any. But each time, blue screen view says it's the ntoskrnl.exe. Really don't know is causing this.

Minidumps:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/19njsjscbd645a3/Minidumps-Nov5-2015.zip?dl=0

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks
 
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bouncybeats

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What I just did now - I have 4 sticks of 8 GB Kingston memory in my pc. I just removed one by one to see if it was the memory. After pulling all 4 one at a time, it's not the memory because I still get the bsod.
 
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bailojustin

bailojustin

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After using Windbg 64, it pointed me to those specific files, As the ntkernel BSOD is the most vauge one there is, sometimes its very difficult to tell what is causing it. the reason why i said the apps before is because they dont have a root system file, so the computer does not know what address its trying to connect to next and there is an error that causes the BSOD.

I am investigating your current Crrsh Dump you have supplied me with. Make sure you have symantec protection completely off your computer. I would HIGHLY recommend Avast Anti-Virus as I have used it for years and it comes installed on anyones computer I repair. Its a very intelligent program and the best AV I have ever used. After installing Avast anti virus (Free Edition register with your email, and you get a free year license that can be renewed each year. Use Avast to perform a Boot time Scan, this means avast will be the first program to boot before the windows OS, when this happens incase you have a bad driver or a virus which may be common with BSOD this will find it. This finds all malicious programs on your computer because they can't hide from it as the computers not truly booted up, so it has not booted up itself.

After the full scan delete any viruses you find.
Now download Glary Utilities , once downloaded the screen will look as follows
f0811a4d71846db0849217b175a81575
Now click advanced tools and click on the small blue dot on the right edge
84a5a4d12aab249751a47c4f34507af0


This will make it so you see all the options.

Next lets start with these steps in order
1- Under "Drivers" click update, after that is done
2- system status and click Repair System Files
3- Windows Registry, click repair, it will ask you if you want to save a backup, go ahead and do so in your documents. name it something you will remember.
4. under Hard disk, a Boot check for errors, after all of this is done, then to finish it up, defragment.

Now with the drivers, Go under drivers, Click unistall driver, look to see if there are multiple video drivers, find the one most up to date and that you use, get rid of the others as they just cause address paths which cause BSOD.

In the meantime ill be searching your crashdump
 
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bouncybeats

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Hi bailojustin,

I've been away from home and just catching up on the thread now. Thanks for your reply. I uninstalled Malwarebytes yesterday night and so far, so good, no crashes at the moment. Am going to monitor for the coming days. If crashes again, I'll uninstall Symantec SEP next. Will post a reply soon.

Thanks
 
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bailojustin

bailojustin

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No problem glad to hear, those pesky anti viruses always causing problems.
 
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bouncybeats

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Hi,

So I spoke too soon. The bsod's started happening again yesterday night. I don't think this is related but it started to happen after I reset my IE 11 settings. I've been having problems where all my cookies would delete every time I would reboot. So I reset my IE via the Advanced buttong --> reset IE. Once I did that, the bsod's started happening again.

Here are the latest minidumps:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8dlgslrel32ax00/minidumps-nov29%2C2015.rar?dl=0

At this point, I've only uninstalled Malwarebytes as I previously wrote. Not only are these bsod's really annoying, am worried that perhaps the next time it happens, it may corrupt my c drive. Please help.

Thanks
 
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bailojustin

bailojustin

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Uninstall Symantec Endpoint Protection, you have alot of stray files from that program that could be causing this issue, also try booting with only 1 ram stick in. see if you ever BSOD.
please also download memtest86 and run it on your memory, this will determine if your memory is causing all your BSOD.
Open command prompt and type
netsh winsock reset
after type "verifier /standard /driver myDriver.sys"
REBOOT your computer, after rebooting run command prompt as admin and type
sfc /scannow LET IT FINISH
 
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