BSOD Randomly

[Ovibag]

I was given a computer by a friend I knew had this issue prior to him giving it to me. So the random BSODs have been going on for 1-2 years. Hes never really bothered to fix it so I'm giving it a crack.
The BSODs happen at completely random times, even when I'm not on the computer and nothing is running it can do it. It has happened on both Windows 7 64-bit and 32-bit. The system is currently on 32-bit.

Heres the Dxdiag
http://pastebin.com/Wr7T43Mv

And the crash reports from WhoCrash
http://pastebin.com/nE8zhvaA

 

[Ovibag]

How do I check?
Excuse the ignorance

 

[casper1973]

That bugcheck can often be associated with bad RAM. I would start by eliminating RAM as a problem.

Download this - MemTest86+

Burn it to a cd or dvd. If you need software to do this, I recommend - ImgBurn

Restart the computer and boot from this disk. It will start testing your RAM and keep going until you tell it to stop. Let this run for at least a couple of hours, preferably overnight.

If no errors are found, we can move on to looking for bad drivers.

 

[Ovibag]

Okay I'll run the program tonight and post the results in the morning

 

[Nedal0]

So from what I gather, you have done a clean install of both Win 7 32Bit and 64Bit but still having the same BSOD issue ?

Please go to Windows 7 "Action Center", select the "Maintenance Tab", then go to "View Reliability History" link.

This should open some kind of a graph with Blue Informational Events & Red Critical Events Circles.

Identify a date that corresponds to one of the Critical Event Circles then click it. This should further open both type of events at the bottom of the graph.

Now the "Action" section of the table should allow you to view Technical details of the issue and be able to copy.

Please post the error here if possible

 

[Ovibag]

Okay so I've found a couple of the critical events. Here are some of the descriptions.

The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x0000007e (0xc0000005, 0x828b3c50, 0x8e147974, 0x8e147550). A dump was saved in: C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP. Report Id: 011613-25724-01.

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 2057

Extra information about the problem
BCCode: 1000007e
BCP1: C0000005
BCP2: 828B3C50
BCP3: 8E147974
BCP4: 8E147550
OS Version: 6_1_7600
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 256_1

Description
Faulting Application Path: C:\Windows\System32\dwm.exe

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: Dwm.exe
Application Version: 6.1.7600.16385
Application Timestamp: 4a5bc225
Fault Module Name: dwmcore.dll
Fault Module Version: 6.1.7600.16385
Fault Module Timestamp: 4a5bda08
Exception Code: c000001d
Exception Offset: 0001720f
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 2057
Additional Information 1: 0a9e
Additional Information 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789
Additional Information 3: 0a9e
Additional Information 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789

 

[Ovibag]

Right I ran the MemTest all night, for literally 8 hours. Came up with 0 errors.
Results here:
http://www.abload.de/img/dscf0065a4pan.jpg

 

[Nedal0]

Do you have any of the following hardware installed :

Graphics Card
TV or Freeview Card Installed

Can you please tell me the Specs of your PC ?

 

[Ovibag]

I've got a graphics card installed, not a TV or Feeview card. Specs should be in dxdiag I linked.

 

[Nedal0]

The cause of your BSOd is the Graphics Card. Either the Ram on the Card is bad or the Drivers are corrupted.

Are you using Windows 7 Default Graphics drivers or ATi Specific drivers from their website ?

The best course of action is to :

1. Uninstall any ATi Drivers on the system, find a Driver Sweeper or Total Uninstaller Software, then remove every trace of the ATi drivers.

2. Go to Device Manager and uninstall the windows Default Graphics driver, then reboot the PC so Windows 7 can install a new Default Graphics Driver.

3. I also realize there are quite a lot of BIOS updates for this motherboard and you might want to make sure you have all of them as they do fix some major issue including some for DRAM and Ram Compatibility. You can find them all in the link below;

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2960#bios

If successful, test the PC with the Default Driver to see if the BSOD still exists.

 

[Ovibag]

Right all those steps have been completed, will let you know if it BSODs.

 

[Ovibag]

I also just got CPU-Z to update you on the timings.

DRAM Frequency: 553.3MHz
FSBRAM: 1:2
CAS# Latency: 5.0 Clocks
RAS# to CAS# Delay: 5 Clocks
RAS# Precharge: 5 Clocks
Cycle time: 15 Clocks
Row Refresh Cycle time: 68 Clocks
Command Rate: 2T

 

[Ovibag]

Okay the computer just BSOD

 

[Nedal0]

From what I can see, your motherboard does not have Integrated Graphics. Am I right ? Is the Win 7 on the PC a Clean install ? An finally, No offence but your Win 7 copies are legit or at least clean right ?

If that's the case, the fault is with your Graphics Card. The only other thing I can suggest is swapping Ram modules or restarting the PC with just a module first, if the BSOD still exist, then use a different module or slot and vice versa.

Another major thing you can do if you haven't already, is uninstall any current Anti Virus software, then install Avast Free then do a Boot Time Scan if the Current OS is not Clean installed or has been used by someone else previously. I'm getting the feeling there might be an infection here.

Let me know if anything changes. By the way do you have a spare Graphics Cards to test ?

 

[Ovibag]

Its all a clean install. Installed it myself the other day. Its been happening with and without loads of different anti virus software. I'll try to find an old graphics card laying around and report when its done

 

[Nedal0]

Please keep me updated when you try a different Graphics Card.

Good Luck and hopefully that solves the BSOD issue.

 

[Ovibag]

Right the new card was installed this morning, no BSOD yet, lets hope it keeps going like this

 

[Ovibag]

Okay spoke to soon, just got a BSOD. Its not just a BSOD either anymore, its started to just completely freeze and the only way to get it to do anything I have to hold the power button down.
Also the motherboard does have integrated graphics

 

[Nedal0]

Have you tried with the Integrated Graphics Card on the Motherboard ? I suggest you stick with the New Graphics Card then do a Registry clean as it didn't give you any BSOD's for quite a while :

I'm guessing you used a good uninstaller to completely remove remnants of the old ATi drivers before installing the new Card and Drivers

Here are a couple of suggestions :

1. Find a very good Registry Cleaner and give your Registry a very good clean (Run in both Safe Mode and in Windows)
2. Also can you check and Post Idle Temps of the PC please ? (CPU, GPU & any other Temps available)

Can you run the PC long enough to know if the frequency of the BSOD has changed ?

Its starting to look like a definite Software or Driver Issue but I don't want to rule out Hardware yet.

 

[gamerk316]

0x0000007E SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED

So driver or RAM, possibly GPU (especially if the Desktop Window Manager is always the module that crashes).

 

[casper1973]

Sorry for not getting back to this thread earlier. Quick suggestion for clearing out old drivers - Driver Sweeper from Guru3D

Could your try clean booting and see if it continues to BSOD.

Just follow Step 1 in this guide - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

 

[Ovibag]

Will need to wait until tomorrow to remove the graphics card and just run without one. But I do have the reports from WhoCrash

http://pastebin.com/hn6vr8Hb

 

[Nedal0]

Once again, everything leads to a Graphics Driver as I can see from the WhoCrash report.

If you haven't done the registry clean already, I suggest you get onto that as there is still a corrupted driver stuck in there creating issues.

 

[Ovibag]

Is CCleaner a decent enough registry cleaner?

 

[Nedal0]

Yea CCleaner is not bad but try Wise Registry Cleaner. I like Wise Registry Cleaner because it doesn't delete important items in registry, and its free

http://www.wisecleaner.com/index.html

If you are comfortable with CCleaner then use it.