BSODs with new build

[timgym]

Proc: Core i7 860
MOBO: GA-P55M-UD2 LGA 1156 P55 mATX Motherboard
RAM: Gold Series XTC Cooler 4GB DDR3-1333 (PC3-10666) Dual Channel
HD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7,200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"
Graphics Card: HIS Radeon HD 5670 IceQ 512MB GDDR5 PCIe 2.0 x16
PSU: OCZ Technology StealthXStream 500 Watt ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive: Samsung LightScribe 22x DVD±RW Burner
Windows 7 64 bit

This is my second build and I am having a lot of BSOD problems. While in use, many applications stop responding and ultimately quit. After a period of time I will get a BSOD and Event Viewer will show a "Critical Kernal-Power" message with event ID 41. The BugCheckCodes have varied on all the BSOD's I have received. Im pretty sure its not a software issue as I have reinstalled windows 7. Im still new at this so I do not know how to analyze a dump file yet. I'de appreciate some help if anyone has any knowledge on this cuz this has been a problem for about a week and I'm really looking forward to using a descent computer for the first time in my life!
Ive had about 7 BSOD's in the last 3 days and 2 are still on my system as i reinstalled after the first 5.

 

[welshmousepk]

run HWmonitor while stressing the system. check temps, and voltages.

the first thing that springs to mind here is the PSU drooping under load. the steealthxStream PSUs are no 80plus certified, so it may not be coping with the load.

 

[pjmelect]

Blue screens are usually caused by either faulty memory or faulty drivers (particularly video drivers). I recommend that you try memtest86 to test your memory overnight. If the memory test fails at the same locations on different runs then the memory is suspect, where as if it fails at random locations on different runs then the power supply is suspect. (this is not a hard and fast rule more an indication)

 

[timgym]

run HWmonitor while stressing the system. check temps, and voltages.

the first thing that springs to mind here is the PSU drooping under load. the steealthxStream PSUs are no 80plus certified, so it may not be coping with the load.

Yeah my first thought was the PSU however one of the crashes also came while my computer was asleep which i thought ruled that out? Can this be caused by under-volted RAM? Being new with this stuff i never mess with over or underclocking any components but I think my specific ram was supposed to run at 1.65 volts and in ur suggested hwmonitor it shows it at 1.5. I am hesitant to raise it only because i dont know much about that stuff. Additionally, in task manager under physical memory it shows "cached-2142", "available-2340" and "free-248" with only 2 simple programs running. I just thought the fact that free memory being so long could be an indication of something

 

[timgym]

Blue screens are usually caused by either faulty memory or faulty drivers (particularly video drivers). I recommend that you try memtest86 to test your memory overnight. If the memory test fails at the same locations on different runs then the memory is suspect, where as if it fails at random locations on different runs then the power supply is suspect. (this is not a hard and fast rule more an indication)

memtest86 as i understand it can only be run on 32-bit software? If thats the case i am running a 64 bit windows?

 

[welshmousepk]

the 1.65 rated voltage is for overclocking to hit the rated speeds. running it at default shouldn't cause any issues unless its overclocked.

I'm not sure how a system can crash while asleep though. that would infer some sort of software error (since none of thew hardware would be doing anything).

do you have all the latest drivers and windows updates?

 

[pjmelect]

memtest86 as i understand it can only be run on 32-bit software? If thats the case i am running a 64 bit windows?

Memtest86 runs from a bootable CD, it doesn’t matter what your operating system is 32 bit 64 bit or 128 bit it's all the same to it.

 

[timgym]

Alright so there were 10 windows updates to instal. 8 of them installed and the 9th,10th failed. I went to reboot and the system does not get past the login stage and i get a BSOD that is finally up long enough for me to see that gdrv.sys might be responsible. Rebooting into safe mode w/ networking in order to finish the update? any other suggestions? Sorry welshmousepk, updates were the first thing i should have checked and im embarrassed to admit i overlooked something so basic

 

[timgym]

Getting a new video card as i think the radeon hd 5670 was a lemon

 

[omnimodis78]

Hey timgym, why do you think your video card is a lemon? What led you to that conclusion? While hardware failure can't and shouldn't be ruled out, be careful to start ordering and replacing stuff before you have conclusively ruled out more probable (and free) solutions. Are you sure you're using the correct drivers?

Have you tried reseting your motherboard to 'safe settings' (or something like that)? Are you sure everything is connected correctly? Do a full visual check just to be sure. Does the system crash in safe-mode?

 

[timgym]

Yes I am pretty sure all the connections are seated correctly as I have taken the system apart and put it together twice to rule that out. Very early on I had video card problems as nothing would display on the screen when it was plugged in. I shrugged this off and clearly shouldnt have. And the GUI for the actual video card was buggy in itself(none of the links would work for ATI's interface e.g. "update driver" link would take me nowhere). Once i booted the system i noticed my ram would continually drop until it reached the 100s MB area and even when quitting application my ram would not be returned to "free". This was not the case when i reinstalled 7, installed everything except the video card driver. Once in windows without the video card driver installed the ram held at a constant level and refreshed once quitting applications. Finally, i went to both amd's and HIS's website to find an alternative driver or more specific driver for my model to no avail. So, in thinking i was using the right driver, i came to the conclusion that the actual hardware had to have been the problem? Still new at this so im doing the best I can with the information I'm given. I appreciate the input and look forward to any other suggestions you may have.

 

[timgym]

Welp new video card put in and a system crash almost 45 minutes afterwards. Im out of ideas? Hey welshmousepk, how would i go about testing a PSU? cant think of any other steps to take really

 

[timgym]

Alright does it make any sense to try and instal snow leopard or Ubuntu to rule out driver issues. Figure if it crashes in some other OS then that solidifies a hardware issue? Just throwing things out there at this point

 

[welshmousepk]

if its a software issue, then usually as reinstall of windows would fix it. thats obviously a final measure though.

as for testing the PSU, you can stress test with prime95 and use HWmonitor to check voltages. if the PSU is flaking then you will see the voltages (often the +5v) faltering. basically, if adding load causes a significant decrease in any of the voltages, then the PSU is having trouble.

 

[timgym]

ok i will do the prime95 w/ hwmonitor, i just thought if i run ubuntu and it doesnt fail then its narrowed down to a windows7 driver problem and if it does fail then its hardware, reinstalling isnt an issue as i have minimal data being a new build. In my searching this problem im finding that similar BSOD issues are relatively common amongst windows 7 users, sometimes with them finding solutions months down the road!

 

[timgym]

Ok well im kinda sad to say my hackintosh has been running stable for 48 hours now with no spinning beachball(Mac equivalent of BSOD?). Hoped i could have made a transition to Win7 with this desktop build...still dont know what the problem was but had to have been a driver i guess

 

[timgym]

Best answer selected by timgym.