I have a WMC HTPC with the following hardware\software:
Win 7 64-bit Pro
ASUS P8H67-M EVO Motherboard
Core i7 2600K CPU
Western Digital 3TB Green HD
Intel 510 120GB SSD (SSDSC2MH120A2)
Seasonic Passive power supply
Passive cooled HD6770 Graphics
2x8GB Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz memory.
IR USB
Ceton Infini USB Tuner
I started noticing random BSOD's a few months ago and dug through the logs to find that a stick of RAM had gone bad. Windows only recognized one stick also. I replaced both sticks with new Vengeance RAM and then a few weeks later, noticed more BSODs randomly. During POST, the onboard controller showed one of my 3TB drives going bad (At the time I had two in a RAID-0). I opened Intel's rapid storage manager and it confirmed that one showed "failed". The data was still accessible, but the system would BSOD as soon as I attempted to copy files to a network location. I ran WD diagnostics and they also locked up and confirmed the problem with the disk. I've since removed the failed drive and have been running the single 3TB "good" drive since.
When I dropped to the single 3TB drive, I decided to do a complete reformat and reconfiguration of my media center for a fresh start, which was about 3 weeks ago. Everything has been running fine until I started doing some handbrake conversion tasks while copying data from the 3TB drive to a network share when the system would throw up random BSODs. Now, when I try to copy just one file to a network share, i get a BSOD every time just like before. However, HD diagnostics now come back clean with no errors or evidence of a bad drive. What's also interesting is that the system appears to be fine when recording TV to the drive and copying locally between the 3TB drive and the SSD. But literally 10 seconds after i start a network copy, it shoots a BSOD.
I used bluescreeview to analyze the memory dumps and found that the crashes are being caused by hal.dll (see below)
113012-8049-02.dmp
11/30/2012 9:02:33 AM
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL 0x0000000a 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000002 00000000`00000000 fffff800`031ec488
hal.dll
hal.dll+2488 x64 ntoskrnl.exe+7efc0 C:\Windows\Minidump\113012-8049-02.dmp 8 15 7601 277,224
The only information i can find is that hal.dll is simply hardware extraction layer and errors from this file typically result from bad hardware. While its possible the dll itself is corrupt, it seems unlikely in my case, given that I've done a complete system reformat after the original problems started happening.
I've downloaded HD temp monitors as well as core temp and have been monitoring GPU temps in catalyst. All seem normal. I've confirmed BSOD occurrences while HDD temps were at 36C and CPU temps were at 45C.
At this point I'm completely stumped on what could be causing these issues. Aside from buying and replacing each component one by one, does anyone else have suggestions that could be the cause of these issues?
I've considered heat related to Case temps (PSU, HD or motherboard), but it seems unlikely. The air inside the case doesn't feel too warm. The system can run handbrake for days without a problem. The errors seems to revolved around copying data from my 3TB drive to a network location.
My next step is to remove the 3TB drive and grab a new drive that has never been used before and slap it into a USB 3.0 enclosure and run it that way.
Just to note, I've updated to the latest drivers and BIOS for all of my hardware.
Win 7 64-bit Pro
ASUS P8H67-M EVO Motherboard
Core i7 2600K CPU
Western Digital 3TB Green HD
Intel 510 120GB SSD (SSDSC2MH120A2)
Seasonic Passive power supply
Passive cooled HD6770 Graphics
2x8GB Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz memory.
IR USB
Ceton Infini USB Tuner
I started noticing random BSOD's a few months ago and dug through the logs to find that a stick of RAM had gone bad. Windows only recognized one stick also. I replaced both sticks with new Vengeance RAM and then a few weeks later, noticed more BSODs randomly. During POST, the onboard controller showed one of my 3TB drives going bad (At the time I had two in a RAID-0). I opened Intel's rapid storage manager and it confirmed that one showed "failed". The data was still accessible, but the system would BSOD as soon as I attempted to copy files to a network location. I ran WD diagnostics and they also locked up and confirmed the problem with the disk. I've since removed the failed drive and have been running the single 3TB "good" drive since.
When I dropped to the single 3TB drive, I decided to do a complete reformat and reconfiguration of my media center for a fresh start, which was about 3 weeks ago. Everything has been running fine until I started doing some handbrake conversion tasks while copying data from the 3TB drive to a network share when the system would throw up random BSODs. Now, when I try to copy just one file to a network share, i get a BSOD every time just like before. However, HD diagnostics now come back clean with no errors or evidence of a bad drive. What's also interesting is that the system appears to be fine when recording TV to the drive and copying locally between the 3TB drive and the SSD. But literally 10 seconds after i start a network copy, it shoots a BSOD.
I used bluescreeview to analyze the memory dumps and found that the crashes are being caused by hal.dll (see below)
113012-8049-02.dmp
11/30/2012 9:02:33 AM
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL 0x0000000a 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000002 00000000`00000000 fffff800`031ec488
hal.dll
hal.dll+2488 x64 ntoskrnl.exe+7efc0 C:\Windows\Minidump\113012-8049-02.dmp 8 15 7601 277,224
The only information i can find is that hal.dll is simply hardware extraction layer and errors from this file typically result from bad hardware. While its possible the dll itself is corrupt, it seems unlikely in my case, given that I've done a complete system reformat after the original problems started happening.
I've downloaded HD temp monitors as well as core temp and have been monitoring GPU temps in catalyst. All seem normal. I've confirmed BSOD occurrences while HDD temps were at 36C and CPU temps were at 45C.
At this point I'm completely stumped on what could be causing these issues. Aside from buying and replacing each component one by one, does anyone else have suggestions that could be the cause of these issues?
I've considered heat related to Case temps (PSU, HD or motherboard), but it seems unlikely. The air inside the case doesn't feel too warm. The system can run handbrake for days without a problem. The errors seems to revolved around copying data from my 3TB drive to a network location.
My next step is to remove the 3TB drive and grab a new drive that has never been used before and slap it into a USB 3.0 enclosure and run it that way.
Just to note, I've updated to the latest drivers and BIOS for all of my hardware.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram