Weird freezes / BSODs

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polman.et2

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Apr 15, 2018
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10,510
Hello,

about a week ago, my computer (Windows 10) started experiencing freezing issues. Every 15 minutes it would freeze or restart but wouldn't boot up unless I've hard reset it. Downloading games from steam, uplay or origin would freeze it up (games 20 GB +) so I've assumed the problem was in my SSD (Kingston UV400 240 GB) but first I wanted to make sure it wasn't windows or something. I've reinstalled windows 7 on it because I have an original CD. After that I downloaded the latest realtek LAN and audio drivers, my wifi mini usb adapter driver (Tenda W311M). I also downoaded latest version of Nvidia drivers (current driver is 392.35, something like that). Then something weird started happening: I've started getting BSOD screens for IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and it had something to do with pci.sys. Let me also mention that these BSODs ocurred a few times after 2 months of getting this PC but I ignored it (bad decision, yeah). Now I'm getting freezing issues again and I'm out of ideas on what exactly is causing these issues.

Things I've tried:

- booting to safe mode. got BSOD (the one I described above) after a few minutes.
- cleaning up dust on RAM slots. There wasn't any dust anyway but was worth a shot
- moving RAM to another RAM slot. Didn't help.
- checking if all cables are properly connected, including GPU, PSU, SSD.
- upping voltage on RAM. didnt make any difference so I've changed it back to Auto
- turning off auto clocking of CPU

My rig:

MOBO: ASRock AB350M PRO4
CPU: Ryzen 3 1200
GPU: GTX 1060 3 GB
RAM: Crucial Ballistix Tactical DDR4 8 GB
PSU: FSP HEXA 85+ 450W
SSD: Kingston UV400 240 GB
HDD: WD Caviar Blue 1 TB

Minidump:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1r3CAZGON7oHy_A5VH0KbfPdQdAinYOW4
 
Solution
MicroT
ok, check out this site. https://www.solvusoft.com/en/files/bsod-blue-screen-error/sys/windows/microsoft/applications-sdk-ddk/pci-sys/
This will explain what the error is you are having and also have 10 steps that you can attempt to fix the issue, go through these and see if the issue still occurs.
If you are still having problems then let me know.
There is also a rare chance that there is damaged hardware due to a virus for example, this is not a common occurrence with this error i believe but is a possibility and will only know once you have tested the 10 steps.
Some of the steps you have already done but it wont hurt to try them again after the others to ensure all is good.
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MicroT

MicroT

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Apr 5, 2016
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Double check all connections.
power cables
Check the cpu to ensure no pins are bent on it and also check the motherboard slot that no dirt is in there.

Replace the drive if you have one to check if the drive is producing the errors.

Otherwise there may be an issue with the motherboard.

A picture of the bsod would be handy to see the actual error messages
 
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polman.et2

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Apr 15, 2018
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10,510


I removed nvidia driver. Currently 2 hours without bsod and Im downloading windows 10 now. Wd caviar blue was installed yeaterday because I thougth SSD clogging caused freezes. Should I try disabling or removing ssd and installing windows only on hdd?
 
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MicroT

MicroT

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If its working for now leave it on the ssd, it will be a mich better option. If the problem persists install and boot windows on the hdd to see if the ssd is faulty. If the hdd works grand u may need to replace the ssd
 
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polman.et2

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Apr 15, 2018
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10,510


Ok thank you. Will report back if I'll need to install on hdd and if it worked.
 
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polman.et2

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Apr 15, 2018
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Disconnected SSD. Installed fresh W7. No BSODs during installing. However, after the installation completed, the Pc had to restart but it didnt boot into windows so I had to press the restart button on the case.

With my new fresh w7 installation, I installed the driver for my mini wifi usb adapter so i could connect to internet and download w10.

Got BSOD during download and installation. Pic: https://imgur.com/a/kjaII

What should I do now? I didnt install anything besides the wifi adapter driver and mozilla firefox.
 
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MicroT

MicroT

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Apr 5, 2016
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18,710
ok, check out this site. https://www.solvusoft.com/en/files/bsod-blue-screen-error/sys/windows/microsoft/applications-sdk-ddk/pci-sys/
This will explain what the error is you are having and also have 10 steps that you can attempt to fix the issue, go through these and see if the issue still occurs.
If you are still having problems then let me know.
There is also a rare chance that there is damaged hardware due to a virus for example, this is not a common occurrence with this error i believe but is a possibility and will only know once you have tested the 10 steps.
Some of the steps you have already done but it wont hurt to try them again after the others to ensure all is good.
 
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Solution
P

polman.et2

Honorable
Apr 15, 2018
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Tried everything in here except memtest. pci.sys occurs on a fresh install of windows 7 so my remaining options are to try installing windows 10 instead of windows 7, run memtest or buying a new RAM stick.
 
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MicroT

MicroT

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Apr 5, 2016
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Do you have any antivirus software installed on your system at all?
I am seeing that some like ESET Smart Security have issues runnning on windows 7 ultimate.
If you have any antivirus/antimalware uninstall it and restart the computer and see what happens.

We need to try and avoid new hardware unless you have any you can borrow of someone since we dont want it to be a waste of a purchase if it doesnt fix it
 
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polman.et2

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Apr 15, 2018
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Its a clean installation, no programs and drivers whatsoever.
 
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MicroT

MicroT

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Ensure all your motherboard drivers are installed if you say you dont have them installed
 
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polman.et2

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Apr 15, 2018
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My new RAM arrived yesterday (was gonna upgrade to 16 gb anyway and none of my friends or colleagues had a spare RAM stick). Replaced it with previous RAM stick. Everything worked fine for a few hours, tested some games where it used to freeze up (Hearthstone, Path of Exile). Left the PC overnight downloading a 55 GB game and after 8 hours of uptime, it restarted. To be more specific, it looked like the PC restarted but there was no booting to Windows and I had to press the reset button on the case to boot it up normally.

What should I do now? Should I rule out the RAM as the culprit?
 
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polman.et2

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Apr 15, 2018
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10,510
UPDATE: 2+ days without a freeze or crash. Here is a little rundown:

Installed Windows 10 and Nvidia drivers from Gygabyte website (october 2017 drivers). Ran some updates, installed a few essential programs like malwarebytes, adobe reader, etc.

Put my previous RAM inside which raised the total RAM memory to 16 GB. What made a difference was booting up BIOS and setting XMP 2.0 profile for RAM. The new voltage was changed to 1.35V (as declared on the RAM memory packaging). Until now the voltage in BIOS was set to 1.2V. New frequency is set to 2133 MHz.

Tested by downloading a large game (Ghost Recon Wildlands). No freezes or crashes. Played it for two hours straight 2 days before, no freezes or crashes (it used to crash in 15-20 minutes). Played it again for about an hour yesterday and still no freezes or crashes.

Seems like the voltage wasn't set high enough which could also explain all the BSODs I received few months ago that I ignored.
 
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