Help! BSODs on new desktop

[PaladinWhite]

Hey, all. I just finished my first homebuild, and I've gotten a couple of (to me) scary-looking BSODs that have me terrified. Can anyone help?

My system is as follows:

■Case: Antec Three Hundred Black Steel
■Power supply: Rosewill HIVE-650
■Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-990XA-UD3
■Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition 3.5GHz
■RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 (Way overkill, I know, but I had a coupon and a gift card to use. If this is a "Too much memory!" problem, I'll shed a tear of joy.)
■VGA: GeForce GTX 560
■HDD: A used 500GB SATA drive. I'll have to pop back and post the exact one later.
■Optical: LITE-ON DVD burner

I got everything put together without too much trouble, and Windows 7 installed fine. I created a profile and downloaded the mobo drivers from the included CD, and then went to do Windows Update, and it crashed the first time, with a BSOD that said "The driver is mismanaging system PTEs."

I hoped it was a weird one-off problem that would be solved with a restart, and this time I figured I'd do the VGA drivers before Windows Update, in case that had anything to do with the problem. But as I was searching for drivers, I got another BSOD that just said "System service exception."

I know this isn't a lot of information to go on... But hopefully someone will have an idea. If there's anything useful I can do to diagnose, please let me know - hopefully the system will be stable enough to stay on while I do it.

Thanks for any help you can offer! You guys are awesome.

I'll keep this post updated if I figure out anything else.

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UPDATE: I booted from the Windows disc again, just to see if I could learn anything there, and I decided to run Windows Memory Diagnostics. The results read "Status: Hardware problems were detected. [...]" Does that mean there's a problem with RAM? Or does that apply to hardware problems more generally...?

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UPDATE: Another BSOD. This one read: "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" and "STOP: 0x000000D1 (0xFFFFF80002C904DA, 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000008, 0xFFFFF80002C904DA)".

 

[PaladinWhite]

Here's one new bit of info... Hopefully it will help. I booted from the Windows disc again, just to see if I could learn anything there, and I decided to run Windows Memory Diagnostics. The results read "Status: Hardware problems were detected. [...]" Does that mean there's a problem with RAM? Or does that apply to hardware problems more generally...?

 

[suteck]

I'm thinking it's more of a compatibility issue. The memory you listed is not on the QVL nor is it listed on gskill's list. While those are not always all the memory that will work on your motherboard I find that sticking to those lists help considerably when building systems. You might try using just 1 or 2 sticks of memory in the correct slots and see if it will boot that way. I'd be more inclined to return the memory and get something off the Qualified Vendors List if you can still use the coupons and stuff. Otherwise, you can try things like loosening the timings and increasing the dram voltage.

 

[PaladinWhite]

Really? Wow, that would stink... But not as bad as having to replace eg. the processor, I guess.

I encountered (was victimized by...?) another BSOD. This one read: "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" and "STOP: 0x000000D1 (0xFFFFF80002C904DA, 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000008, 0xFFFFF80002C904DA)".

Guess if it comes to it, I'll change the memory. But I'd like to see if there are any other suggestions first. Is there any further memory testing I can do to tell whether it's faulty memory or just a mismatch with the mobo? I've heard of, but never used, Memtest86+. Is that something I should explore?

Thanks for the help, suteck!

 

[PaladinWhite]

Well, I have three new problems to report.

I got a "PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA" BSOD, and after restarting and logging in again, almost immediately got a "BAD_POOL_HEADER". Then, when I restarted again, I didn't even get as far as logging in before I saw a quick flash of a three-line screen that said "Hardware malfunction" and "The system has halted." I didn't catch the third line.

To my very inexpert eyes, this all does seem RAM-related, doesn't it? It's a surprise, because my first suspect was the hard drive, since it's used.

I'm going to try and run Memtest86+ in a few minutes here... I figure if nothing else, the results may be useful in justifying an RMA.

 

[nuts32605]

Random BSOD's with little/no correlation between them usually points to a memory problem or, less often, a power supply that's being pushed too hard. I would start with Memtest86+ as well.

 

[PaladinWhite]

Guh. Well, that didn't go well. Keep in mind that this is the first time I've run Memtest86+, so I wasn't entirely confident about what I was looking at... But it got about halfway through Test #3, and my screen turned into a waterfall of red address listings - when it hit 100k (that's a hundred thousand) errors or so, I quit the test, figuring any more would be pointless.

With that sort of Memtest result, what's the prognosis?

(1) Can I assume that this is bad memory as a cause, and not as a symptom? Can other likely hardware issues lead to this sort of overwhelming RAM failure...?

(2) Assuming it's the RAM, and only the RAM, that's bad, what are the chances it's actually bad vs. suteck's suggestion that it might just be mismatched? If I RMA it, I'm looking at either a free replacement or a refund minus 15% for a restocking fee, so if possible, I'd like to try another identical set of RAM.

Guh. This is frustrating. Thanks again for all of your help, guys!

 

[nuts32605]

Try testing one stick of RAM at a time. It'll take a while, but you may just have a bad stick.

 

[PaladinWhite]

Well, I bought them as a 4x4GB set, so I'd rather RMA 1 bad stick + 3 good ones than pay to replace the one bad stick (assuming it is just one).

 

[JKatwyopc]

You still need to test each one individually. just insert one and leave the rest out and then run Memtest86+. If it passes then test the next one the same way untill you find the one that fails. That way you will know for sure that a memory stick is actually the cause of the problem.

 

[JKatwyopc]

BTW, Since you bought it as a set you will have to RMA it as a set but at least you will know that you are RMA'ing the correct part(s).

 

[PaladinWhite]

Yeah, that's what I meant - even if only one stick is bad, I'd rather RMA the whole set than toss the one stick and pay to replace it... But I see what you're saying about double-verifying that memory is indeed the problem. Guess this is my next-step homework for tomorrow.

 

[PaladinWhite]

Well, one of the four sticks didn't pass a Memtest, so I'm RMAing them. Hopefully that's the extent of my troubles.

 

[Corby_70]

Just waiting to get new RAM back, and we'll see if everything runs smoothly...